Heavy performance issue playing 4K HDR remuxes with release 8.12

Plex Players Streaming Devices
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A real actual human friend who might be able to share how the file was prepared? Or the other kind of “friend” who isn’t available to testify? :laughing:

A genuinely real human friend. I realized how sus that sounded and tried to edit a couple times before just giving up. haha

I asked him and for this one it actually was not very complicated, could’ve done it myself. He said he screen recorded using an AverMedia Live Gamer 4K in the RECentral app with NVENC and then ran it through Handbrake with HEVC (CPU x265, not NVENC) to get the file size down. I then found external SRT subtitles on my end and ran it through MKVToolNix with the subtitles to make them internal. And then I added it to Plex. Hope that helps. Maybe it’s just a case of a software error that wasn’t caught.

I do have gMKVExtractGUI, so I will try the extract/merge fix on these files and report back!

@DaveBinM, are you unable to reproduce this issue using the sample file I sent like Volts was able to?

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That’s an interesting way to capture media. It makes me wonder about frame timestamps. Even then I’m a little bit surprised - I would expect Handbrake to normalize anything.

Any customized or unusual settings in Handbrake? Was a preset used? Any Additional Options?

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That’s an interesting way to capture media.

Truthfully, I wouldn’t know. Lol

Any customized or unusual settings in Handbrake? Was a preset used? Any Additional Options?

From my mate:

"Hmm. Nothing out of the ordinary. MKV, passthru common metadata, x265, Constant Quality 18RF, Encoder Preset Fast, E-AC3 audio 5.1 channels @ 640 kbps.

I don’t use Handbrake default presets, I have my own that I made for streamlining. But I didn’t add any advanced options either. Just adjusted the parameters in the GUI. Pretty standard fare, no enthusiast meddling."

EDITING TO ADD:

I extracted the original tracks of the file with gMKVExtractGUI and remuxed with MKVToolNix and that fixed the issue with these particular files. Going to test with a different 4K HDR I had issues with and will report back further.

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Thank you for confirming.

I ran into this issue with my first generation 4K with quite a few files. I bit the bullet and upgraded to the 3rd generation today, and upgrading fixed all files except for one. If you would like I can privately send you a file that I confirmed does not play correctly on either the 1st or 3rd generation.

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Please try this short test clips. File size around 35MB, 25secs. A scene smoothly panning over a bridge.

I ripped this UHD disc in lossless format.

Tested on both Apple TV 4K 2nd and 3rd generations (using direct LAN connection). Direct play only (no transcoding) Both with heavy stuttering. Old video player mode does not even play the clips.

On both Apple TV 2nd & 3rd generations, using Infuse app, plays the clips PERFECTLY, from the same Plex server.

Plex please fix Apple TV Plex player! Thanks!

3 Likes
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I can confirm the @megumihutchcity_comlion’s sample file also stutters on my 2022 Apple TV 4K. I tried the MKVToolNix extract/remux fix and it still stutters, so that did not work.

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Can also verify the above file is extremally choppy during playback on my 3rd gen ATV 4K.

@DaveBinM , could you also confirm if this file doesn’t play correctly on yours as well?

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90

How about you just put the latest update back in the box? Revert to the previous and try to solve this issue without having the pressure from us waiting for a solution, just a thought :slight_smile:

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I also/still experience this issue on 4K/HDR/Remux content on 8.13/Apple TV 4k gen1. The old player method works for me, but gives issues with other content formats. So switching back and forth to the old player is a P in the A.

Is there anything, but to wait, to fix this issue?

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Same issues here. Please fix.

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Hey @DaveBinM I have a new 2022 ATV and am having the same issue that others are reporting. It seems like this issue has been going on for quite sometime and really needs to be resolved. Is there anything you need specifically from us in regards to replicating the issue that I can provide.

I have since moved to infuse for the time being and the experience has been far superior. Thanks for the help.

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While Infuse fixes the problem, for me it is not the solution. For two reasons…

  1. Infuse is not free if you want to play 4K HDR. I know it’s only $1 per month or $10 per year but it’s just the principle of it. I’ve paid for Plex Pass Lifetime. It’s annoying to then have to give money to a 3rd party just to be able to use the original product which worked perfectly fine a few months ago.

  2. Infuse UI doesn’t respect multiple Plex libraries. eg – I have several ‘movie’ libraries (Documentary Movies, Standup Specials, Feature Films, etc) but in Infuse they’re all just collected together into a giant ‘Movies’ library at the top level. To see them as individual libraries I have to click on the ‘Plex Library’ section and navigate through them like folders. Not the end of the world, I’ll admit, but as a UX experience it’s not great. The Plex app is much better in this regard because it’s written first and foremost as a Plex experience rather than a generic video player.

Hoping for a fix to the original Plex app soon.

3 Likes
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I can confirm that I’m seeing the issue on some content, but we’re continuing to investigate this.

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I hadn’t used Plex in a while, but decided to watch a 4K HDR movie tonight on my new ATV4K gen3.

I am glad I’m not alone in seeing frame drops and performance issues. I was able to work around this by having Plex transcode on the fly.

Edit: just after I wrote this frames started to get choppy again even with the transcode. Infuse Pro seems to work without issue.

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97

I’m having the same issue on a 1st generation Apple TV 4K (2017); on tvOS 16.3 and Plex 8.13. It happens when trying to DirectPlay (enhanced player, auto adjust off) high bitrate content, specifically UHD HDR content encoded in HEVC and wrapped in an MKV container. Here is a list of files tested so far (all of which were ripped from discs I own using makeMKV):

  1. Blue Planet II (Episode 1)
  2. The Dark Knight
  3. Avengers: Age of Ultron
  4. Aladin
  5. Planet Earth (Episode 1)

I also tested an H.264 1080p version of Age of Ultron (again, ripped straight from the included Blu-ray), and that seemed to play back without issue.

1 Like
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The workaround for me was to go into the plex app on the Apple TV and drill down to “Settings” then scroll down and change “Use Old Video Player” to ON

High bit rate 4K HDR plays fine for me now.

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@DaveBinM Do you want any additional sample files that stutter on an Apple TV 2022 (3rd gen)? I can produce some if desired.

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This morning’s update looks to have fixed this issue. I know the release notes only say 2017 Apple TV but i was having this issue on my 2022 and i tested with material that caused the stuttering and its working after the update to 8.14.

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I upgraded to 8.14 (as well as upgraded tvOS to 16.3). Neither files from my personal media collection nor the sample file provided by @megumihutchcity_comlion are playing correctly on my 3rd gen ATV

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Sure. More samples are always appreciated. There are a few cases we’ve come across so far:

  • 60fps content: Our player currently isn’t performant enough to handle these, but we’re working on improvements
  • HW Decode not triggered: Some HEVC files are failing to hardware decode for some reason, and this is something we’re investigating. Software decode of HEVC content is not performant enough to play smoothly.
  • Some other issues on specific files where we’re not sure on the exact cause of yet, but are investigating.

So anything in that last section, or that we haven’t seen before would be great.

3 Likes