Server Version#: Latest official docker container
Player Version#: Latest iOS / tvOS / Mac app
For the life of me I can’t understand the need for playback profiles. I read somewhere that the players communicate back to the server what their capabilities are. But that does not seem to work at all… I even set up my Server new using the official Plex container (used the Linuxserver one before). No difference.
When I play any of my files using the iOS Player it always transcodes - both video and audio - regardless of the file format (usually mkv container, h264 or h265 video). This is also true for the Apple TV 4 (or 4K - no difference).
I’m pretty sure that iOS (and tvOS) support hevc/h264/h265 natively these days.
Audio is worse. I have a Sonos system connected to my Apple TV that can do 5.1 - without a player profile it always transcodes audio.
I found a profile online for both iOS (to support Spatial audio - but only for the native player on iOS) and for tvOS so that I can actually play all the DTS-MA etc. formats and have the AppleTV convert those.
What I can not find: where is documentation for profiles? What can be set? What should be set? What shouldn’t be set? E.g. right now with the spatial audio profile the Enhanced Player doesn’t work anymore… and everything gets transcoded to EAC51. Adding “ma” to the transcode targets didn’t help.
So basically long story short:
Why do we need custom profiles? Players should know the platform they run on and what it can do?
The same client can work on multiple device so the profile is used for the device the client is installed on. Typically you should not mess with the profiles. You probably have some other issue. I would look in the server logs and see why it is wanting to transcode to begin with.
Hm. Yeah. That was actually another question. I have one profile that works the Plex Player and one that works with the built-in player on iOS. I haven’t found a way to do one that works for both. And of course the new Plex player can’t do Spatial Audio. So falling back to the built-in one on iPad.
The server log is a bit overwhelming (and I’m an IT guy. ). I only saw ERROR messages related to where it couldn’t load a transcoder library. But to be honest I don’t want to transcode video anyway - my NUC where PMS is running on way too weak for that…
They are leftovers from before clients could talk back to PMS. Clients and PMS don’t need them now but they can still be used. They are still needed if you use DLNA.
Gonna need details. Check if you have the option enabled to use Automatic Bitrate Adjustment. That feature doesn’t work with the new player so it always reverts to the old player which doesn’t have great codec support.
The Apple TV doesn’t support DTS so this is not possible. PMS has to transcode the audio.
Thanks for the reply. What I don’t quite get is that If Profiles are leftovers why are they still necessary for things like Spatial Audio? Couldn’t that be added to the client pretty easily then?
Your statement about the AppleTV is definitely wrong. I can direct stream both DTS-MA 7.1 and 5.1. See screenshots from PlexDash attached.
I do not have the variable bit rate turned on (says Beta anyway).
I removed the iOS profile and restarted the server. Now PlexDash reports Direct Stream for Video (HEVC Main 10 HDR) but transcode for Audio (DTS-HD MA 7.1 to MP3). But using the native player it doesn’t actually play on the iPad. It times out and throws an error…
Using the new player it plays direct both video and audio.
I can attach my server log if that helps. Or any other logs that might be helpful.
Sorry, the Apple TV is not my normal device I support. I did find that the new player on the Apple TV can decode DTS even thought the device itself does not support it. I’m not sure if iOS does the same. If you can provide me the log from the iOS app after trying to playback the DTS audio, I can check.
Let me be a little more clear on how the profiles are used. Previous PMS would use the profiles to decide if a file is direct playable or not. The newer client apps can now make this decision on their own. Please note this is only to say if the file will direct play or not. If the answer is NOT, then the decision goes back to PMS on what to change it to. The client will send some information to PMS, but PMS also uses the information in the profile, but it should repeat what the client already told it. You can change the profile which can change how PMS handles the file. That doesn’t mean the file will actually play but PMS will try. Modifying these profiles is not something Plex recommends or supports.
And of course the new Plex player can’t do Spatial Audio. So falling back to the built-in one on iPad.
). I only saw ERROR messages related to where it couldn’t load a transcoder library. But to be honest I don’t want to transcode video anyway - my NUC where PMS is running on way too weak for that…
