Multiple version movies: wrong default selection by Plex

Plex Players Mobile Devices
1

Server Version#: 1.32.0.6973
Player Version#: 9.20.1.979

I started to use multiple versions of the same movie on my Plex server. Mostly 1080p and 2160p (4K).

Now it seems to me, that Plex clients always try to play 4K, no matter what client I use. In the Android client on my Smartphone, this results in an endless spinning wheel. Of course it can’t play 4K content, and I have disabled transcoding for it. The Plex client should automatically use the 1080p version in this case, but it doesn’t.

I can cancel playback and manually select the 1080p version for playback, but I’d have to do this in every case of multiple versions of a movie and on every playback.

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Definitely not always. Plex chooses 1080p version just fine on e.g. my Fire TV connected to a SDR display.

My Android phone chooses 4K version, but that plays fine on my phone (including HDR).

Afair it comes down to HDR vs. SDR support for the decision, not to the resolution.

In order to prevent 4K from playing you could set the quality limit to 20Mbps 1080p on the devices, where you don’t want 4K to play.

However thats not a sharp control, because it only looks after the bandwith needed, not the resolution (like the title suggests).

3

Why would HDR/SDR support be the key value for the decision? My phone display has a resolution of 1600 x 720. There is absolutely no need to choose the 4K version over the 1080p version here. No matter if it supports HDR or not.

Missing HDR support would not explain the endless loading animation by the way. The Android Plex client just can’t play a 4K movie on my phone, whatever the reason for that might be. Choosing the 1080p version would be the right decision here.

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