Intel based QNAP Plex Server Not Transcoding Atmos to DD/AC3/FLAC for playback on AppleTV/GoogleTV

Plex Players Streaming Devices
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I am having problems playing back mkv files with Dolby Atmos tracks on any player other than my Nvidia Shielf Pro.

I understand there are limitations to the client/apps on AppleTV and Chromecast with Google TV devices, but that is when the Plex server is supposed to step in and transcode the audio, right?

My QNAP based Plex server does not seem to be transcoding the Atmos tracks into Dolby Digital or AC3 or whatever format these other devices require.

I feel like I have tried every setting possible on my server and my streaming devices, but the server never seems to transcode the audio to allow playback.

I always sit while the player spins until it says, “an error occurred.”

Server Version#: 1.29.2.6364
AppleTV Player Version#: 8.11 (4115)
Chromecast with GoogleTV/Android TV Player Version #:9.12.0.36630 (741b4bad)

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We should be able to make some headway, and yes your Plex server should adjust the media so that it can be played. I’ll focus on the ATV playback. No idea about the CC, though. I’ll assume you have Direct Play, Direct Stream, and Transcoding all enabled and can see that work elsewhere.

  1. Describe all your hardware, model numbers, and operating systems.
  2. Describe how your network is laid out between server and ATV.
  3. Put the server into debug mode logging & save.
  4. Power cycle every piece of hardware in the playback chain from TV to Internet.
  5. Demonstrate the problem on the ATV until it errors.
  6. In the hosted web app, use Settings → Troubleshooting → Download Logs
  7. Also grab the Apple TV log
  8. Grab the XML Info for that file you tried to play.
  9. Create a sample file of it, and put the sample on a drop box website.
  10. Zip up the logs and media info, and drop those into your reply.
  11. Give us a link to the sample.

It’s a lot of work, but making a good topic that we can bite into takes time.

3

Thanks for your attempt to help.

I am really at a loss for words. I just decided install the latest Beta version of Plex Media Server, and all my clients started working as intended.

I went from 1.29.2.6364 to 1.30.0.6406 and it works now. Not sure if there was a bug, or if just restarting the service/server was the fix, though.

4

Give yourself the solution :slight_smile:
I don’t often suggest upgrading to the latest. It seems a little cheesy, but you can see I really just duck the issue and hope power cycling everything helped >.< don’t tell anyone. Sometimes a cached codec needs to be grabbed again.

Well, you earned a good week!

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