Long files from one show has strange video

Plex Media Server
1

Server Version#: 1.41.2.9200
Player Version#: Miltiple - WebUI, Plex.TV web player, Android App, IOS App, Chromecast App
<If providing server logs please do NOT turn on verbose logging, only debug logging should be enabled>

Hi, I’m not sure how to describe the issue that is occuring. No matter what player I use, if I try to play an episode of a specific show, the audio is completely fine, but the video is choppy and strange. It’s almost as if there are frames out of order every 0.2 seconds, making it look like it’s jumping back and forth.

I’ve done some tests to try and rule some things out:

  • Checked the files: All my files are encoded using the exact same settings, I’ve checked files that work and files that don’t and I can’t see any difference between them.
  • Tested files from a different show with similar run times and file sizes. It’s only this particular series that has issues.
  • Played the files from the machine directly outside of plex: The issue only occurs when played through plex.
  • Tried multiple different players, devices and episodes: Same results no matter what I use. So far I have tried native apps on Android, IOS, MacOs, Windows, Web Players on Chrome, Safari, Firefox and even TV apps on CCWGT, Apple TV, Roku TV. All the same result.
  • I’ve updated server version, player versions: No difference.
  • I’ve resourced the files from the same and different locations, testing them before and after processing. Same results no matter what.
  • Testing different transcode options: The issue occurs when playing original file resultion, whether thats Auto, original or any 1080p HD setting. As soon as I set it to 720p or below, the issue stops.
  • Tested both on and off my own network: Same results whether playing locally or oti.

My server has a gigabit NIC, and I have gigabit broadband. The files are H264, MP4 container, AAC audio. Full details from plex are:

Media

  • Duration 2:40:51
  • Bitrate 4382 kbps
  • Width 1920
  • Height 1080
  • Aspect Ratio 1.78
  • Video Resolution 1080p
  • Container MP4
  • Video Frame Rate 24p
  • Web Optimized No
  • Audio Profile lc
  • Has 64bit Offsets true
  • Video Profile high

Part

  • Duration 2:40:51

  • File Dimension 20 - S21E02 - Summer Breakdown - WEBDL-1080p.mp4

  • Size 4.93 GB

  • Audio Profile lc

  • Container MP4

  • Has 64bit Offsets true

  • Web Optimized No

  • Video Profile high

  • Codec H264

  • Bitrate 4193 kbps

  • Bit Depth 8

  • Chroma Location left

  • Chroma Subsampling 4:2:0

  • Coded Height 1088

  • Coded Width 1920

  • Color Primaries bt709

  • Color Range tv

  • Color Space bt709

  • Color Trc bt709

  • Frame Rate 23.976 fps

  • Height 1080

  • Level 5.0

  • Profile high

  • Ref Frames 5

  • Scan Type progressive

  • Stream Identifier 1

  • Width 1920

  • Display Title 1080p (H.264)

  • Extended Display Title 1080p (H.264)

  • Codec AAC

  • Channels 2

  • Bitrate 189 kbps

  • Audio Channel Layout stereo

  • Profile lc

  • Sampling Rate 48000 Hz

  • Stream Identifier 2

  • Display Title Unknown (AAC Stereo)

  • Extended Display Title Unknown (AAC Stereo)

I honestly have no clue what test or do to try to fix it at this point. Any ideas?

Please let me know if there is any info I have missed.

Thanks for any help you can provide!

2

Wikipedia: Advanced Video Coding (H.264) Levels

It is a poorly encoded file. Consider acquiring it from a different source, if possible.

You could run the file through Handbrake (or similar tools) to fix the encoding issues. That can affect video quality, since you’re compressing lossy video that has already been compressed once. The effect may or may not be visible. You’ll have to give it a try to find out.

Notice the video is H.264, high@5.0, 4193kbps.

1080p Blu-ray discs use Level 4.1.

Level 5 may exceed the limits of your clients. The video should really be Level 4 or 4.1 (see the Wikipedia info).

I’ve run across similar files. Sometimes they play OK, sometimes they do not.

3

Thanks for the info. Could you advise what settings i could change to reduce the level.

I use Tdarr with a handbrake plugin with these arguments: -Z “HQ 1080p30 Surround”.

Thanks for any more help you can provide. Really appreciate it.

4

I do not use Tdarr, so not sure about plugins.

In Handbrake 1.9.0, the HQ 1080p30 Surround preset is configured with profile = high and level = 4.0.

With ffmpeg, you can set the video profile and level: ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vcodec x264 -vprofile high -vlevel 4.0 -acodec copy output.mp4

If you can add arguments to Tdarr, try adding profile=high:level=4.0 (Handbrake format) or -vprofile high -vlevel 4.0 (ffmpeg format).