Heavy performance issue playing 4K HDR remuxes with release 8.12

[markpaterson]

Same for me. v8.14 seems to have fixed this issue on my 2017 Apple TV 4K.

My settings are…

Direct Play = ON
Use Old Player = NO
Automatically adjust quality = OFF

And now Dolby Vision content is Direct Playing again (and only Direct Streamed when the audio is TrueHD, which I think was always the case previously). Either way, the video seems to be fixed for both Direct Play and Direct Stream. Hurrah!

However, now that 4K DV video is buttery smooth again, it’s very apparent that the audio is out of sync!

It appears to be ever so slightly ahead of the video. For testing, I’m using a scene where a character slaps another character across the face.

It’s worse for TrueHD audio but it’s also apparent on AC3 and DTS. I don’t see this problem with non-Dolby Vision content or with HD rips

My 4K DV library consists of my own UHD collection which I have ripped to MKV using the current version of MakeMKV.

According to mediainfo, they are all either…

Dolby Vision, Version 1.0, dvhe.07.06, BL+EL+RPU, Blu-ray compatible / SMPTE ST 2086, HDR10 compatible

or

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

Didn’t the Plex app used to have a setting to adjust the sync by a certain number of frames in each direction? Or did I imagine that? Maybe you could add that to the pull down options when a video is playing.

I hate to say it, but Infuse plays all these files in Direct Play mode, supports TrueHD audio, and the audio perfectly in sync across all formats.

But is Infuse playing it in Dolby Vision? I don’t know, because my LG OLED only says “HDR” in the corner when the playback starts, yet when I start it in Plex it says “Dolby Vision” – although from what I’ve read above, it seems that Plex is faking it somehow? Some clarification on this would be great!

[millercentral]

I believe what infuse is doing is taking the original media to the client, then using client libraries to convert it into something the AppleTV framework will accept. For DV, this means “converting” the color format from DV to HDR10 (RPU is almost certainly ignored, but they may integrate the EL data I don’t know) - it is not an “official” way of presenting DV content, but still looks good. And for TrueHD audio, converting it client side to FLAC or maybe EAC3 (likely losing any Atmos data). And while this “just works” for most users, I’m guessing it does not align with what Dolby wants, and companies with official Dolby relationships likely are limited on taking that same approach…

[schwaggy]

Have you tested any files that are not DV? I actually don’t have any (but could rip one), and my “standard” hevc 4K content is still jumpy as hell with the same settings as you.

[markpaterson]

Sorry you’re still having issues. I just now tested “Arrival” which is HDR10, and “Alien” which is 4K HDR10+, and they both play smoothly. The audio is still slightly out of sync on both though.

What was actually changed on v8.14? If the devs didn’t “fix” anything related to this performance issue, then there’s a good chance the problems could return on a future update. I feel like I need to just enjoy while it lasts and not mess with anything further haha. Is there a way to turn off mass automatic updates for all apps? Is there a way to just update each Apple TV app manually like on the iPhone?

[mcoit]

v8.14 has help some of the stuttering on some 4k movies but not all, this is of course only on the 2017 version of Apple TV. Also, TrueHD still drops after a few seconds.

The logical thing would be to re-release the last know working version which will give the development team time to resolve these issues. Please, stop over thinking this and re-release the version we know works.

[DaveBinM]

If you’re seeing issues with the TrueHD audio dropping out, please ensure your server is up to date, as this was a server side issue.

[evensteven_swe]

This is still an issue, it’s been over a month now and I still can’t any view content I have over 480p. I never thought this would be such a dragged out problem, just give us 8.12 again so we can use the service the we like so much please!!

[schwaggy]

Well over a month. I have not been able to enjoy my content in Plex since before Christmas. Just got my 2nd month charge for InFuse - paying for that just so I can watch my content, using the Plex libraries no less. We’ve asked over and over why they can’t roll back, at least the code, to what worked prior to 8.12

[BDDam]

Seeing there hasn’t been much news in the past few days, here is another sample that I mentioned a few posts above which still presents stutters on my 1st gen ATV 4K (2017):

sample.mkv (OneDrive public link) @DaveBinM

Also what was more precisely adressed in 8.14 release to have some files playback fixed, while some others still have stutters ? Any feedback on the actual fix/investigation progress for all ATV models would be highly appreciated. Thank you.

[evensteven_swe]

It seems this thread is abandoned, since no solution is coming.

I updated my Apple TV last, a for a few seconds it seemed like I could use Plex again. But no, even deleted and reinstalled the app but it made no change what so ever.

[markpaterson]

It seems this thread is abandoned, since no solution is coming.

What generation Apple TV do you have? v8.14 seems to have fixed this issue on my 2017 Apple TV 4K. But it’s also unclear from the devs if this fix was intentional or not. For all I know, v8.15 could break it again.

It would be good if someone (perhaps a moderator or a Plex employee e.g. @DaveBinM ) could create a table or summary of where we’re at on this issue, ie which models are users experiencing issues with, which models have Plex devs been able to recreate these issues with, which models are confirmed to be ok now, etc.

I feel like this kind of transparency would go a long way to alleviate a lot of the frustration on this issue. We’re all Plex Pass paying customers here and clearly a lot of people are beginning to feel abandoned on this issue.

[evensteven_swe]

I have the 2022 edition connected with cable, still I can’t play anything above 480p. Plex lags and sometimes have trouble find my library, like it times out. Could be a separate issue, I’m not sure.

I can live with that, just fix so my content plays and automatically doesn’t switch to 480 or complain that my connection is slow. With 8.12 and before I had no problems at all.

[BDDam]

Version 8.15 dropped today: Plex for Apple TV - #140 by steve_barnegren

• Fix stuttering playback that could occur with certain files.
• In some cases Direct Stream DoVi playbacks wouldn’t display correctly.

From what I could verify for a few minutes, it appears to fix remaining issues for me (ATV 4K 1st gen 2017), at least for my previous sample and few other files I had kept aside in the last couple weeks.

I might be wrong (and my apologies if I am) but wording seems to indicate some kind of per-file fixes over time and doesn’t provide good confidence about the root cause of the issue being fixed (issues apparently introduced in version 8.12) or at least to avoid such regression in future releases.

Still, I am happy to enjoy watching high-quality content once again !

EDIT 26th Feb 23:
lies, deception … issue not fixed on other media files …

[DaveBinM]

We’re not likely to make a table, but this certainly isn’t abandoned. There were a number of different issues that appeared when we were given samples, and have been working to resolve them, as indicated in that 8.15 thread. Internally, we have Apple TV HD, Apple TV 4K (2017), Apple TV 4K (2021), and Apple TV 4K (2022) devices, which we continue to support and try to ensure the best playback possible on.

[markpaterson]

That’s awesome to hear @DaveBinM, thank you!

[evensteven_swe]

Read the good news that a new version was available, downloaded it and no. The same error still remains. I have the 2022 version of Apple TV, cable connected.
That is automatically switching to 480, the reason being I don’t have enough bandwidth. Like so..

And video showing the issue, slow to open and a crazy loading time.
See the video I link to —> Dropbox - Plex behaviour

But two different speedtest says this can’t be true

So I deleted the app, downloaded it to make sure I do have 8.15. Open Plex, it lags and have trouble finding my server/library
Like so…

So I cleared Authorized Devices, now I see my Library again and I only have my Apple TV, my browser, my phone (both without issues) and of course my server.

Now, this isn’t my field of expertise, far from it. So I have done anything wrong? But I have never changed anything with Plex ever, it just works which is why I use it. If you have any suggestion I should try, please do so. Because this is getting really annoying.
And yes, before 8.12, my setup of not changing anything worked perfectly every day.

[DaveBinM]

My guess here is you have a relay connection to your server. We’d need the Apple TV Logs and Server Logs to see what’s actually happening though, without those, it’s a bit hard to tell.

[evensteven_swe]

Okey, so it turns out the relay function was actived for some reason. I haven’t done it, so is it by default? Anyways, I deactivated it but that did not change anything.

So then I deleted everything everywhere. Servers, databases and uninstalled Plex server and app on the Apple TV. Started from scratch, made a new library and synced up all meta. As previously it worked on my phone and computer. But ATV, no.

I figured is it just not meant to work for me anymore. So just for the h*ll of it, I took out my cable and choose wifi on my Apple TV instead. It’s like magic, it works! So far everything seems to be exactly like before the update.

Every other service I use on ATV have no problem with cable being connected, only Plex. This I want an answer to if possible, cable connected worked perfectly before the update in early January.

[tmart61]

This may not be your case, but I’ll share an experience I had. After an upgrade my Plex on ATV wouldn’t recognize my library. My iDevices would as would my computer.
For some reason I was messing around with my anti virus software when I noticed the IP addresses of several of the devices on my intranet were blocked. Indeed they were my ATV and specifically PLEX. It would seem that the software was so vigorously pinging my server that the anti virus software thought it was a type of DOS attack. After manually telling the software that the local IP address was ok, then PLEX on ATV started working. Not saying this is your problem, but it took me a long time to figure out because it occurred sub rosa as it were.

[Menel]

They both handle TrueHD audio.
Plex does it on the server, TrueHD to lossless.
Infuse does it on the client, TrueHD to lossless.
Both toss the atmos metadata in the trash in the process. There is ultimately no difference. Other than Infuse can keep the audio in sync.