Same problem here with some of my files on ATV4K. I do not encounter this issue on my phone or computer with the Plex app/web app
Iām aware of the performance issues on older devices, Iām looking for reproduction on the newer ones.
Understood - just wanted to provide the file if itās showing the same on the 2022/2021 models for @Nylon to validate.
I have a 2017 Apple TV 4K connected via gigabit ethernet to my Plex Server, which is running on an Intel NUC 8. My Apple TV > Settings > Video and Audio is configured to Match Content (Range & Frame Rate) and the format is set to 4K Dolby Vision. Iām running Plex Client v8.13 (4532). I have Direct Play ON, Use Old Player OFF, Auto Adjust Quality OFF. My TV is a LG 4K OLED.
For me, itās been working perfectly for years but since upgrading from tvOS 14.X to tvOS16 about a month ago Iāve started having the same issues of dropped frames / laggy playback with UHD Blu-ray ripped content, and issues with TrueHD audio just going silent after a few minutes (the only āfixā for this is to switch to a AC3 audio track).
Hereās some details from mediainfo on two movies Iām testing this with right now:
Back to The Future
Dolby Vision, Version 1.0, dvhe.07.06, BL+EL+RPU, Blu-ray compatible / SMPTE ST 2094 App 4, Version 1, HDR10+ Profile B compatible and a bitrate of 78.4 Mb/s
Star Trek The Motion Picture
Dolby Vision, Version 1.0, dvhe.07.06, BL+EL+RPU, Blu-ray compatible / SMPTE ST 2086, HDR10 compatible with a bitrate of 61.0 Mb/s
Iāve tried all the recommended fixes for the frame drop issues (eg using old player, turning direct play off, etc), but none seem to work consistently between different movies.
eg ā if I turn on Auto Adjust Quality then Back To The Future plays back almost perfectly, dropping maybe 1 frame every 10 seconds, but Star Trek The Motion Picture is still dropping frames like crazy. As you can see above, both movies are of comparable spec.
eg ā if I turn off Direct Play, then both movies just show an endless spinning wheel and donāt play.
eg ā If I turn on Use Old Player then it plays for like 3 seconds then says that my server isnāt fast enough.
Just really bummed out about all this. If there was an easy way to rollback to an earlier iOS and app version I would, but thatās basically impossible. Hoping for a fix soon!
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Iād love to but this procedure is way too complicated for me.
No issue with the test file you provided on my latest gen Apple TV 4K (2022 model). But I feel like there is no consistency as to how this issue manifests. As I said, once the issue appears I back out to the main menu and then resume playback and the issue will disappear for a few minutes and then start again. I donāt think it has anything to do with the file, as such.
Any update on this? This problem has rendered my ATV useless for 4K Remuxes
I have the Apple TV 4K (2022) connected with lan cable. No prior issues whatsoever until I got the prompt about the update to 4532. I can play files but itās buffering for a while and nothing is played above 480 because āmy connection is too slowā or āApp cannot direct play this item. No video direct play profile exists for protocol http, with containter mkv, and video codec h264ā although Iām watching it. When switching Play Original Quality it automatically switches to 480.
4K files cannot be played at all.
Please, fix this asap.
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Got the issue confirmed with this sample on Apple TV 4k 1st gen (2017) :
2160p HEVC HDR EAC3 54.1 Mbps
Also, for what itās worth from various distinct other files
(details picked from āTechnical Detailsā during playback, sorry no time for further inspections at the moment):
- 2160p HEVC HDR EAC3 29.4 Mbps => stutters
- 2160p HEVC HDR EAC3 26 Mbps => stutters
- 2160p HEVC HDR EAC3 17 Mbps => stutters
- 2160p HEVC HDR AC3 10.3 Mbps => fine
- 2160p HEVC AC3 7.4 Mpbs => fine
- 1080p HEVC HDR AC3 7.6 Mbps => fine
- 1080p h264 EAC3 10.6 Mbps => fine
- 1080p h264 DCA 18.4 Mbps => fine
- 1080p VC1 AC3 29 Mbps => fine
All playbacks were without transcoding, with enhanced player (mpv).
Stutters mentioned above are generally quite heavy, except for the 17 Mbps one, looks almost watchable.
I didnāt have TrueHD content on hand.
I sincerely hope it will get fixed in a short delay because it becomes a pain to downgrade quality to watch content.
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All I use Plex for is consuming my own media. So for me, this bug is a literal show stopper because it makes a large portion of my library unwatchable.
Disappointing that this issue has been around since at least November and remains unfixed. I get that the developers have a list of priorities, but surely this issue is a critical bug and deserves to be high up on that list.
I just wish there was a way to roll back to an earlier version of Apple TV Plex client.
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I have a new 2022 Apple TV 4K and am having this problem with certain (not all) 4K and 4K HDR files. I have one show that was 4K non-HDR that stuttered to the point of non-watchable and I have a 4K HDR LotR Extended that plays fine (beyond transcoding TrueHD which is a gripe for a different thread). Then I have a 4K HDR version of the latest Grand Tour special that stutters like hell on playback. And by stuttering, I donāt mean it skips a frame every so often, I mean the playback is 5-10 fps the entire time.
Happy to provide sample files, if needed. I have not been able to test with Dolby Vision yet. I have some Dolby Vision files I will be adding to my server soon and can report back if nothing has changed before then.
Switching to the old player has temporarily fixed the problem. But I should hope this is a temporary solution.
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when can we expect a fix? Please provide an eta.
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A sample file that reproduces on a 2021 or 2022 model would be much appreciated. Weāve been unable to reliably reproduce the issue on those devices so far
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Hi, Dave. Sure thing. Here is a OneDrive link to a sample file that currently has this issue on my 2022 Apple TV 4K.
Just turned the old player off and tested this sample on my Apple TV and it still has low framerate/stuttering playback.
Thank you.
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Whatās your process for creating that file? Something about it is very weird indeed. Timing or inband parameters maybe.
If I extract the hevc track to a raw file, then mux a new file, it plays perfectly.
This fixes that file:
mkvextract original.mkv tracks 0:video.h265 1:audio.eac3 2:sub1.txt 3:sub2.txt
mkvmerge -o newfile.mkv video.h265 audio.eac3 sub1.txt sub2.txt
Attempting to extract or remux with ffmpeg results in similar errors as described in this ffmpeg bug. I dunno if the real issue is related, but I suspect my two-step mkvextract+mkvmerge process fixes the file because it also forces the metadata/parameters to be recreated.
#7799 (hevc_mp4toannexb filter inserts extradata wrong position (hevc_cuvid ffplay too)) ā FFmpeg
The sample file or the file itself? I created the sample file in MKVToolNix. I did not create the source file myself, my much smarter friend made this one and shared with me. I will ask him what he did specifically for this file, but Iāve never had an issue with his files before.
Whatās odd about it is that when I switch to the old video player, it plays perfectly fine with no issues whatsoever. I watched the entire series with these files on the old player and not one issue through all 10 episodes. It also plays fine in VLC, etc. which that ffmpeg bug page said their file was not playing properly in VLC.
I have MKVToolNix, but I just use the GUI. Iām trying to learn the scripting, but not quite there yet. How do I run the above on my source files?
If it is indeed a problem with the files itself, thatās a relatively easy end-user fix. It only happens with certain video files (at least my issue does), so this could be it. Iād suggest anyone else in this thread whoās having similar issues try the same if they can and see if that fixes it!
I just updated my Plex Server (Ubuntu 1.30.1.6562) and I am running into similar stuttering issues on all of my devices (LG OLED C2, Windows (1.61.1.3432-3929cb60), iPhone 14 Pro (8.13), iPad Pro 5G (8.13)) when direct playing a 4K HDR file. It even crashed the Plex app on my C2.
LAN is gigabit, file is only 18mbps. Video plays best on Windows Plex app (running a 12th gen i7 and a 3090 w/ hardware decoding enabled) but still stutters a few seconds in (CPU +10% and GPU +15%). File plays normally using VLC with no discernible GPU/CPU impact.
Codec HEVC
Bitrate 17454 kbps
Bit Depth 10
Chroma Location topleft
Chroma Subsampling 4:2:0
Coded Height 2160
Coded Width 3840
Color Primaries bt2020
Color Range tv
Color Space bt2020nc
Color Trc smpte2084
Frame Rate 23.976 fps
Height 2160
Level 5.0
Profile main 10
Ref Frames 1
Width 3840
Display Title 4K HDR10 (HEVC Main 10)
Extended Display Title 4K HDR10 (HEVC Main 10)
Codec EAC3
Channels 6
Bitrate 768 kbps
Language English
Language Tag en
Audio Channel Layout 5.1(side)
Sampling Rate 48000 Hz
Display Title English (EAC3 5.1)
Extended Display Title English (EAC3 5.1)
EDIT: Well, I spoke somewhat too soon. I cannot find any other example files (4K HDR) in my library that exhibit the same behavior. Seems that I just happened to play exactly the wrong file. Although I played this file before in late November with no problems.
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I meant the original file. MKVToolNix preserves most of the stream data when used like that to trim samples.
A real actual human friend who might be able to share how the file was prepared? Or the other kind of āfriendā who isnāt available to testify? 
MKVToolNix doesnāt do extraction in the GUI, but mkvmerge.exe and mkvextract.exe are included when you download MKVToolNix. So you can use them from the command line.
Or gMKVExtractGUI is a great GUI front-end option. Use it to extract the raw tracks, then drop them on MKVToolNix and mux a new file.
I havenāt looked closely enough at your sample file to say that itās ābadā or ānoncompliantā or anything. Itās definitely unusual. Maybe Plex can accommodate it - thatās why Iām curious how it was produced.
@DaveBinM, have you been able to reproduce this issue on the newer devices?
Not as yet.
