Plex app on Samsung smart tv. 4k hdr video file on laptop that has plex server. If choose subtitles, either pgs or srt it transcodes and colors are washed out. Can I use subs with hdr? Tried all settings with direct play,direct stream and subtitles from the app
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No PGS/VOBSUB subtitles. No subtitles of any kind if audio is transcoding, so avoid TrueHD & dts audio formats.
See this post regarding LG TV subtitle limits. As far as I know, the same applies to Samsung.
Thanks. Well, thats just bad. Hdr atmos movies play fine on the laptop with a media player (Lenovo Legion Y530)
That’s the thing: your TV is not a laptop. It doesn’t even come close to the computing power of a computer.
Most TV manufacturer’s strip down the abilities of the hardware inside to the bare minimum, to 1) increase profit, and 2) reduce heat emission and power consumption.
Rendering of pixel-based subtitles (which both PGS and VOBSUB are) is not needed in a TV device, because a normal user only comes in contact with these when s/he stuffs a DVD or Bluray into a hardware player – which of course does decode the subtitles on its own, so the TV doesn’t need to support it.
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I’m having the exact same issue as OP. Im trying to play a 4k hdr video with .srt subtitles which transcode if I enable them. The video has truehd and ac3 audio tracks. Both convert to aac. Is there a way to play the movie in ac3 so the audio doesn’t have to transcode so it works?
Samsung TVs should direct play AC3 audio. Check the Plex app settings. Check the audio section and make sure AC3/Dolby Digital is selected. Make sure Direct Play and Direct Stream are enabled and local & remote quality is maximum/original. Look for any other settings that might cause the audio to transcode (I’ve an LG. The menus are similar, but I’m not sure exactly how things look on a Samsung).
Also, how many tracks are in the file - video + audio + subtitles? If 20+, then use MKVToolNix or similar tools to remove the unnecessary tracks. Samsung TVs have a limit and if exceeded it can result in Plex having to direct stream or transcode the video or audio.
The movie had more then 30+ subtitle tracks so that was why the audio was being transcoded.
The movies that I am trying to watch are the hobbit and lotr extended 4k remux versions which are more then 80gb each (some more then 100gb). They are in a Google Drive that is linked though Raidrive to my Plex. I guess I will have to download each, remove subtitles and upload them again.
It sucks that Plex has to transcode the video if it also transcodes audio if you want subtitles since transcoding video will make the hdr look grey. Also a shame that Plex doesn’t have a workaround to disabling subtitle tracks so it doesn’t go over Samsungs limit. I have a lot of movies in my Gdrive that are over 30 tracks so this is going to take ages to fix. Or I will have to watch movies without subtitles but English isn’t my native language.
But I am glad that I found the problem. Isn’t there a way to transcode the audio and still add subtitles?
Buy a Nvidia shield. I don’t think Plex will change their approach.
If you do not want to remux your media, you will need to use a different Plex client. I have a Nvidia Shield Pro and an Amazon Fire Stick 4K, both Android TV based. They both direct play PGS and SRT subtitles when the audio is transcoding. I do not know if they have a limit on the number of tracks in a stream. I do not have any media in my library with 30+ (or even 5) subtitle tracks. Note if you do acquire a Shield, avoid the 2019 non-pro “tube” model, as it has issues with high bit rate media such as 4K HDR movies.
As for an explanation of the behavior of the Samsung Plex app, here’s the details as I understand them. This comes from information in forum posts from users, Plex employees, etc. Also from some Samsung documentation. I’ve added some references at the end. And I’m more than happy to make any necessary corrections.
The Plex app uses the video player Samsung includes with the Tizen OS. Plex does this on many platforms. For example, on Android devices, Plex uses ExoPlayer, the video player that is part of the Android OS.
As the Plex app uses the Samsung video player, it is subject to the limitations of that player. When the limits are exceeded, the Plex Media Server must take corrective action in order to play the media. The corrective action may involve transcoding either the audio or video streams or remuxing (direct streaming) as needed.
The limitations include:
- A stream cannot contain more than 30 tracks.
- A limit of 60 Mbps for H.264/AVC video and 80 Mbps for H.265/HEVC video.
- Limitations / bugs in the transport protocols between the server & client (details below)
- No support for image based subtitles, PGS & VOBSUB , nor SSA/ASS subtitles.
When you play a movie, Plex first tries to Direct Play the file, sending the media unaltered to the client. This means Plex sends all the tracks in the file to the client - the video and every audio track and every subtitle track, whether you listen to/watch them or not.
If the media file contains too many tracks, then Plex must Direct Stream the media. The Plex Media Server will remux the file, sending only the selected video, audio, and subtitle tracks.
If the desired audio track is not supported by the client, then Plex will transcode the audio to a supported format before sending it to the client. This also results in Direct Streaming, as the Plex Server must first separate the audio track from the media, transcode it to the supported format, then remux it back into the media stream.
EDIT: The problem with DASH & HLS applies to Tizen 5.5 based sets. It does not apply to Tizen 5.0 based TVs. Samsung TVs running Tizen 5.0 can direct stream audio with SRT subtitles enabled and the video will not transcode.
This is where the transport protocols come into play. When direct streaming, Plex can use either DASH or HLS to stream media to Samsung TVs. DASH has issues with stuttering, so Plex must use HLS. Unfortunately, HLS has problems with subtitle drift (keeping in sync with audio & video). To get around the drift problems, Plex has to burn the subtitles into the video stream, which means transcoding the video.
The net result of things:
Transcoded audio + subtitles on Tizen 5.5 TVs: Transcoded audio results in direct streaming, which means Plex uses the HLS protocol. Therefore, Plex must transcode the video to burn in the subtitles.
Too many tracks + subtitles on Tizen 5.5 TVs: Too many tracks means Plex must remux the stream which means using HLS, which means transcoding the video to burn in the subtitles.
Image based subtitles: These are not supported by the TV, so Plex must burn them into the video stream. Enabling them results in transcoded video, irrespective of any audio format.
Exceed the video bit rate: Plex will transcode the video to a supported bit rate. If subtitles are enabled they will be burned into the video stream.
References & Notes
See this thread for information on the 30 track limit and the bandwidth limits.
If you enable logging to the Plex server in the Plex Samsung client, you can see the messages when the limits are exceeded. See this post.
This Samsung document shows the supported media formats, including bandwidth limits. It also lists supported subtitles in the General Specifications area.
See this post and this post regarding DASH & HLS on Tizen 5.0 and 5.5 based TVs.
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Did Samsung just chose to do a max of 30 tracks or is it the max that the specs can handle? I still think it is weird that you can’t disable the subtitles. I was using subtitles from opensubtitles.org anyway.
I don’t think I can ask Samsung to change this since such a big company doesn’t listen to me but it is weird that it worked in earlier tizen versions.
Another question, why does it need to transcode the audio if there are too many subtitle tracks?
As far as I know it is a Samsung limit. Why they chose that number I do not know.
Irrelevant. It is the total number of tracks in the file that matter. They can be any type, not just subtitle. If you had a file with 30+ audio tracks and one subtitle you would run into the same issues.
See previous comments & references regarding HLS limitations.
Too many tracks means Plex has to direct stream. Direct stream means using HLS. HLS + subtitles means transcoding everything to keep video + audio + subtitles in sync with each other.
Hi
Is 30 tracks really a Samsung limit? I have tried several mkv-files that Plex transcodes/direct streams because of "more then 30 tracks’, but when playing same files over DLNA in the built in player from another server they play without issues (with subtitles too). It looks to me as a plex limitation?
Also, I have noticed that even if I disable subtitles in plex it still transcodes with more then 30 tracks, instead of only direct streaming. However if a file doesn’t have subtitles at all the video is direct streamed. So it seems that just the occurrence of subtitle tracks, even if disabled, results in plex transcoding everything instead of just transcoding audio.
Any experiences?
I don’t get this either. I heard so much of the Plex and many praises about it, and I just recently got into a world of smart TVs, Plex, etc. (I used to watch everything via PC which is day and night difference when it comes to resolving issues and custom configuration.)
I just don’t understand why Plex seems to complicate things. I have Samsung TV connected to DS218+ and from what I’ve read Plex is using video player from the TV.
TV’s player lets me pick a subtitle and plays it without any issues, but whenever I want to watch something with subtitles via Plex it horribly stutters and it’s a nightmare for a beginner to locate the culprit. (It loads for about half a minute, then plays 5 seconds, and it goes like that forever.)
Playing a file without subtitles works like a charm. Use subtitles → stuttering.
Getting into server and running the very same file from there, and then also choosing subtitles → works without problems.
So how come Samsung’s video player handles it without any issues and Plex complicates things so much, especially if it’s using the very same video player?
I totally agree. I got fed up with this, so I returned the Samsung TV and got a Sony with Android instead. These particular problems are now gone.
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