Actually, I meant the Play Store app for Nvidia shield, which is routinely updated. My bad. I don’t use the Android TV Plex app but assume it has to be updated every so often like the Nvidia Shield one?
I think that is part if my frustration… shield is andriod based, andriod phones are andriod based, as is andriod tv/Google TV. It seems logical that all these would share a core service or data layer in programming then have respective ui paths. If it were programmed in that manor, adding these screens would be relatively trivial since it already exists in shield app. (I’m a project manager for software development, I do this type of planning all day). But from what sixones said above, they have different andriod apps that don’t share the same core. “Updating the andriod TV app would require significant refactoring of the app…” very poor development choices if I am that understanding correctly.
I’m pretty sure this is exactly how Plex already is. If you install the Plex apk on you phone you get the mobile layout and setting options. If you install that exact same APK on an AndroidTV device, the install detects that and shows you the TV layout.
The main differences in th APKs is 32bit/64bit as well as for FireOS devices because Google Play services are missing.
Having more options for selecting supported codecs isn’t an issue of whether it’s difficult to add, because the options are already there hidden in different versions of the GUI. It’s always about Plex developers not wanting to trust the users not to screw something up.
The problem with this attitude is that Plex is not able to correctly determine what codecs are supported in many cases, and a minority of users with alternative setups are screwed over.
On my FireTV+Studio setup which relies on WiFi/ethernet rather than optical/HDMI, TrueHD is still transcoded to Opus (stereo) rather than EAC3. There is no Optical/HDMI option to check off EAC3 as it is now.
I totally get that. It’s my life is to balance power users with the rest of the population. It can be done… though in most cases it ends up like this…
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I say they just allow an “advanced options” section like the plex.tv web app and let the users choose every single codec they’d like and to block opus for instance for those of us who use optical, where opus is only going to give us 2ch pcm. More options is always better, and if one doesn’t agree with this, then make these ordinarily hidden and instead available to “advanced users” like plex.tv. Good compromise.
Will there be a fix for WiFi based speakers like the Amazon Echo Studio and AppleTV Homepod that don’t use multichannel PCM?
Although v8.25 allows AC3 transcoding for those using optical, TrueHD is still transcoded to Opus on WiFi setups like the Echo Studio.
Prior to v8.24, TrueHD was transcoded to EAC3 on the FireTV/EchoStudio, which worked perfectly to preserve 5.1 channels.
Right now I only have two options, Stereo Opus or change passthrough to optical every time I have TrueHD, to force AC3 transcoding which keeps 5.1 channels but sounds worse than EAC3.
I’ve discussed this with the team, we will be adding an override option to allow HDMI connections to turn off passthrough codecs like we have with Optical, this will show a list of supported codecs that your HDMI connection shows as supported and allow you to uncheck options including PCM 5.1.
This is a rather big change so it won’t be in the next beta. As a temporary solution I will put a build together that adds EAC3 to the optical codecs, this should allow you to select Optical and then enable EAC3. Will share this tomorrow hopefully.
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It’s the same Android app, the problem though is the mobile settings detect what codecs your device supports and the TV app needs settings to determine what passthrough support is available.
Adding the setting itself is easy enough, but it will require a refactor to how we decide the level of PCM output that can be supported. This gets tricky because Android itself supports 5.1 / 7.1 PCM and will downmix channels to your TV / speakers / AVR if it needs too. Now we need to improve the code to say this assumption is wrong, just because Android supports 5.1 PCM doesn’t mean the user wants that.
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That is amazing, this will make alot of users happy!
That’s great news
I am facing one more problem, not sure to create a new topic so posting it here
When the audio transcoding happens on a file having Dolby Vision then it does not play it in dolby vision but normal HDR, though it says video copied in playback info. For example, if the original audio is 7.1 true HD, then it will be transcoded to 5.1 EAC3 but will strip dolby vision. On playing same file by choosing second audio available i.e 5.1 AC3, as it does not do any transcoding files plays in original form and Dolby Vision is intact
As mentioned before, here’s a build that should help those that have trouble playing PCM 5.1. To use, install the build, select Optical from the passthrough options and then in the codecs enable AC3, EAC3 and DTS.
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This should be fixed in the next Plex Media Server release.
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Thanks for the quick turn around time on this. Here are my initial observations on selecting only EAC3 and AC3 in optical setting pass through.
- 7.1 True HD transcoding to EAC3 by default but there is noticeable artifact in sound like sound is coming from a hollow pipe
- 5.1 DTS transcoding to AC3 by default. Audio fine. On selecting only EAC3 in setting, again same artifact in sound as mentioned before
Have you updated the server recently? Client side we have enabled Opus and haven’t modified EAC3 so its most likely a server issue. Could you grab the server logs?
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I am running latest server Version 1.24.5.5173. Any specific log you are looking for?
Hi, I noticed that if both AC3 and DTS are selected as Optical Passthrough, everything with a higher quality gets transcoded to AC3. Wouldn’t it be better (speaking of quality) to transcode to DTS instead? Is there any technical/licensing problem for which DTS is never transcoded to?
P.S. if I select only DTS as Passthrough, everything non-DTS gets transcoded to stereo AAC, and not DTS, hence the question.
Noticed that even when the native audio is EAC3 and it is not transcoding and optical passthrough is enabled there are artifacts in sound but when HDMI is selected the sound is clear, So it has something to do with optical EAC3 option
I am also experiencing Opus audio issues with any version of the Plex app after v8.23.1.
In my case, if I use v8.23.1 on my Chromecast with Google TV then EAC3 audio is transcoded to AAC and all is well.
With v8.24.0 and beyond (including the internal releases posted above) EAC3 audio is transcoded to Opus and there is a loud pop/crack when the audio track starts.
@sixones I don’t think the HDMI passthrough options will address my particular problem. Is there any chance of providing an option to choose the target audio codec (maybe an option to prefer AAC over Opus or to disable the Opus codec)?
I finally had a chance to download and try the 8.26 beta on my FireTV. When I try to open it, I see the Plex splash screen for a second or two and the app force closes. I’m guessing Plex is doing a Google services check resulting in a force quit?
Can you make a FireTV version of the beta for testing too?
Can you please generate a FireTV version of this beta. The Armv7 version you posted force closes at the Plex splash screen.
