No Direct Play possible on the Fire TV?

Plex Players Streaming Devices
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1

Server Version#: 1.23.1.4571 (on a QNAP TS-251)
Player Version#: 8.17.1.25326 (on FireTV 4k)

Hello everyone,

I took the 20% offer for Plex a few days ago as an opportunity to switch from Emby to Plex. I thought: Plex can do everything Emby can do and maybe even more.

After installing and setting it up, I was totally blown away by how easy and fast everything was. But then i tried to play the first movie with the FireTV 4k stick on the TV - the great disappointment:

The 1080p video is transcoded and only played at 720p.(Messages: “Not enough bandwidth for direct play. Required bandwidth is 24916kbps, but only 2000kbps is available.” or “Resolution or bit edge exceeds maximum values.”)

I read in instructions that you have to activate “Direct Play” for the client, but I do not find this option on the FireTV. In the web browser I can set this and there runs the same movie with 1080p directly. It can’t be a problem of the FireTV or the network either, because I can play the movie in full 1080p directly with Emby on the same FireTV.

Did I miss something in the settings or does Plex just not work with the Fire TV correctly?

My client settings

Adjust Video Quality:On (have also tested Off)
Home Network Streaming: Max
Remote Streaming: Max
Play Smaller Videos at Original Quality: On
Max. H.264 level: disabled (have also tested 5.2)

Metadata of the File 
Format                                   : Matroska
Format version                           : Version 4
File size                                : 7.78 GiB
Duration                                 : 1 h 29 min
Overall bit rate                         : 12.5 Mb/s
Encoded date                             : UTC 2013-10-07 20:58:12
Writing application                      : mkvmerge v6.3.0 ('You can't stop me!') built on Jun 28 2013 20:09:41
Writing library                          : libebml v1.3.0 + libmatroska v1.4.0

Video
ID                                       : 1
Format                                   : AVC
Format/Info                              : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile                           : High@L5
Format settings                          : CABAC / 5 Ref Frames
Format settings, CABAC                   : Yes
Format settings, Reference frames        : 5 frames
Codec ID                                 : V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC
Duration                                 : 1 h 29 min
Bit rate                                 : 12.0 Mb/s
Width                                    : 1 920 pixels
Height                                   : 1 080 pixels
Display aspect ratio                     : 16:9
Frame rate mode                          : Constant
Frame rate                               : 23.976 (23976/1000) FPS
Color space                              : YUV
Chroma subsampling                       : 4:2:0
Bit depth                                : 8 bits
Scan type                                : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)                       : 0.241
Stream size                              : 7.35 GiB (94%)
Writing library                          : x264 core 133 r2334 a3ac64b
Encoding settings                        : cabac=1 / ref=5 / deblock=1:-1:-1 / analyse=0x3:0x113 / me=umh / subme=8 / psy=1 / psy_rd=1.00:0.15 / mixed_ref=1 / me_range=16 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=1 / 8x8dct=1 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / fast_pskip=1 / chroma_qp_offset=-3 / threads=12 / lookahead_threads=2 / sliced_threads=0 / nr=0 / decimate=1 / interlaced=0 / bluray_compat=0 / constrained_intra=0 / bframes=3 / b_pyramid=2 / b_adapt=2 / b_bias=0 / direct=3 / weightb=1 / open_gop=0 / weightp=2 / keyint=250 / keyint_min=23 / scenecut=40 / intra_refresh=0 / rc_lookahead=50 / rc=2pass / mbtree=1 / bitrate=12000 / ratetol=1.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=0 / qpmax=69 / qpstep=4 / cplxblur=20.0 / qblur=0.5 / ip_ratio=1.40 / aq=1:1.00
Default                                  : Yes
Forced                                   : No

Audio
ID                                       : 2
Format                                   : AC-3
Format/Info                              : Audio Coding 3
Commercial name                          : Dolby Digital
Codec ID                                 : A_AC3
Duration                                 : 1 h 29 min
Bit rate mode                            : Constant
Bit rate                                 : 448 kb/s
Channel(s)                               : 6 channels
Channel layout                           : L R C LFE Ls Rs
Sampling rate                            : 48.0 kHz
Frame rate                               : 31.250 FPS (1536 SPF)
Compression mode                         : Lossy
Stream size                              : 287 MiB (4%)
Language                                 : German
Service kind                             : Complete Main
Default                                  : Yes
Forced                                   : No
2

The FireTV will direct play when possible. It does not have to be activated.

Some Plex clients have the option to disable Direct Play and Direct Stream. That option does not exist on Android / Android TV based clients.

Additional information: Plex Documentation → Direct Play, Direct Stream, Transcoding

Turn it off. When enabled it can cause transcoding.

Return to default value. Do not change it again. Doing so can cause problems, such as transcoding.

  1. Is the FireStick local or remote?

  2. When playing a movie, monitor playback in the Plex Dashboard. Expand the view to show the details.

Is the connection listed as Local, Remote, or Indirect?

Attach a screenshot if possible (example below). To attach, drag the picture into the message window. It will attach at the cursor location.

If Indirect, then the stream is using Plex Relay, going through servers at Plex, and is limited to 2 Mbps (1 Mbps without a Plex Pass).

If Indirect and a remote FireStick, then your Remote Access is not working correctly.

If Indirect and a local FireStick, then there is an issue with your local network.

Plex Dashboard → Now Playing example:
Screenshot (650)

1 Like
3

Ok, thanks. I changed the settings to
Adjust Video Quality: Off
Max. H.264 level: 5.2 (recommended)

2021-05-27_18h06_52

The fire tv is local, but plays indirect (as the screenshot shows). So, according to your explanation, there is a problem with my network? And what exactly is that? Emby, Jellyfin and Samba are also running, so I don’t know what could be wrong with my network. :frowning:

2021-05-27_18h20_39
Direct Play on iPhone also works.

4

Thanks for the info. There’s some configuration items to check.

  1. Are you running the Plex server on Windows?

If so, make sure the network is set for Private, not Public.

In Windows 10 Pro: Settings → Network & Internet will show you the status. Choose Properties if you need to change the setting.

If the network is set to Public, it blocks Plex Server from communicating directly with other devices on the network. Great if you’re at a library, coffee shop, etc. Not so good if you’re at home.

  1. Is the FireStick on a different IP subnet than your Plex server?

For example, does the server have an IP address of 192.168.1.x and the FireStick have an IP address of 192.168.2.x?

If so, go to Settings → Network (Show Advanced) and add the FireStick subnet to LAN Networks. Example: If the FireStick has a 192.168.1.x address, then enter 192.168.1.0/24.

5

No, the server runs on a qnap nas.

That was my first thought too, but server and client are in the same subnet.

6

I put “analytics.plex.tv” on the whitelist in adguard and blocked it again, then restarted the stick and now the film plays directly. :smiley:

7

Dang it. I always forget the “reboot it and see if that helps” option. :rofl:

Glad you have things working. :grinning:

FYI, Plex clients and server communicate with several Plex hosts on the Internet, for authentication, downloading metadata, remote access, etc. Best to whitelist the plex.tv domain if possible.

Also, when using the web interface, whitelist plex.tv in any cookie blockers, etc. Plex sets cookies to store some Plex Web settings. If you block them you are not locked out, but some of your settings will not stick from session to session.

1 Like
8

Ok, thank you for the advices! :slight_smile:

Thanks to you, I learned something else in this thread:

So if I want to stream 1080p on the go, I guess I’ll have to access my server via VPN again, as I had to with emby. :frowning:

9

Plex supports direct connections for remote streaming. No VPN required. Plex Relay is a fallback.

You have to forward a port through your router. You can use automatic port forwarding via UPnP/NAT-PMP or manually specify a port.

Personally, I use manual port forwarding. I find it more reliable. Others use automatic without issue. You can try both and pick which one works best with your equipment.

There are situations where remote streaming does not work, such as when the ISP uses CG-NAT and cannot provide a public IPv4 address for the server (ex: Starlink, home Internet via mobile networks, etc). Also in some shared tenant services situations (apartment buildings, etc) where port forwarding is not permitted by the service provider. Plex Relay can generally be used in these situations.

See the Remote Access documentation. That should get you started. If you run into issues, open a thread in the Remote Access section of the forum. Opening a thread in that section will get more eyes on the problem. It will also help if there are ISP specific issues.

1 Like
10

Thank you! Ich also prefer manually port forwarding, so i configured it and it works well. :slight_smile:

11

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