Recently bought an Apple 4K TV which is connected to a Sony AF8 tv through an Arcam Avr 550. My movies are on a Synology NAS running the Plex server and were all ripped using Pavtube to mkv. The issue I have is that when I play them through the Apple 4K TV although it says on the Arcam it’s 5.1 I get no sound from the rear speakers. If however I use the inbuilt Plex app on the Sony TV to play the same files then I get surround sound. I’ve also tried converting the mkv files to mp4 and also re- ripped one straight to mp4 to see if it was a file format issue on the 4k TV but that made no difference. Can’t seem to find any settings on the 4K tv which have made any difference and don’t understand why it plays iTunes movies or movies from Netflix without issue as does the inbuilt Sony TV Plex app. Any suggestions appreciated as it’s driving me slowly mad.
Do you get the same result when adding the same video to iTunes and playing it through the Apple TV’s “Computer”(?) app?
That’ll imply the issue (whatever it actually is) is with the native tvOS video player (considering the new, more capable player is currently still in testing and restricted to Plex Pass members).
As for the “whatever it actually is” part… from what I remember, Apple is quite strict in their handling of media standards. So if your ripping app uses some “tweaks” when encoding the media, this might already tip things for their player (while others like your Sony migth be more tolerant). – long story short: the latter is hard to tell without more details on your actual content.
If I try and add mkv file to iTunes it doesn’t support it. If I convert the mkv to mp4 and add to iTunes when it plays through the computer app on the 4K tv it says Dolby 2.0 plus surround and get sound from the rear speakers but I don’t think it’s the same as a 5.1 track. If I then play through the Plex app it’s says 3/2.1 but no sound from rear speakers.
I also tried Plex through Roku and get same issue so wondering if it’s the way the files were ripped or if there’s an issue with the Plex apps.
I then tried the VLC, Emmy and Infuse apps on the 4K tv and get the same issue.
I could do with knowing exactly what preferences the 4K tv would need for the audio track to play correctly so I can try and re rip the dvd again and see if it then works. If I then get the correct settings should I be able to convert all my mkv files and amend the audio settings at conversion? I want to avoid having to have to re rip hundreds of dvds.
Perhaps Pavtube has converted the audio to a format not compatible with all devices. That is, the Sony (probably Android?) can deal with it, but the other devices - The Apple, Roku, etc can not.
Maybe if you posted the XML for the file, it would provide a few more clues
Hi,
This is the xml for Gladiator which i re-ripped with Pavtube using settings which supposdely should be ok but doesn’t give me sound from rear speakers, even though when i look at the info on my Arcam its saying 3/2.1.
Mod-Edit: link removed… you don’t want to expose your Plex Token like this… simply post the content of the XML as a text file (or directly add the content in a post). All that is needed is the part between <Media> and </Media>
If I may share what I use.
- MakeMKV for ripping the raw disk - all tracks included.
- MkvToolnix (GUI) to remove those tracks I do not want (mostly subtitles and other language tracks)
I am left with a video file where the video and audio tracks are untouched (no “re-encoding” of any kind)
Yes, the files are large but they should be. These files play on everything I have with every application I have (Plex, Infuse, VLC, whatever). The Onkyo detects and indicates the presence of all audio metadata it finds.
Bit more investigation of the 4K tv app
Files that are mkv I get the following message
If I re rip the movie with Handbreak to m4v with multi track audio and then
select the stereo option I get surround (says 2.0 plus surround).
If I rip the original dvd to mp4 with multitrack audio using Byte copy I get
. Same story only get surround sound when the stereo track selected and it says (2.0 plus surround)
It all seems to point to the 4K tv and Plex app being the issue as all the files in Plex app on the Sony Tv play with surround straight away.
Although it’s hard to be sure with the tiny images, it looks like in one case, you have converted the video to HEVC with AAC audio tracks, and in another case converted at least the audio to 5.1 AAC
I personally would keep the original 5.1 AC3 audio for surround. Surround AAC audio doesn’t work in a bunch of devices without being transcoded or converted to another format. AAC is a common format for stereo sound, but results are not reliable for more than 2 channels.
Not sure of the capabilities of the receiver and apple TV, but I’ve always found that things work better if you connect the devices to the AVR receiver (not the TV), and then out to the TV from the receiver Not sure from your OP how you have it connected.
Hi,
The receiver is capable of playing Dolby Atmos, Dolby Surround
DTS:X, DTS-HD Master Audio, DTS-ES 6.1 Discrete, DTS-ES 6.1 Matrix, DTS 5.1, DTS Neural:X, DTS Virtual:X, IMAX Enhanced.
The Apple 4K tv plugged into the receiver and then receiver to Sony TV.
For now think I’ll just watch movies through the Plex app on the Sony and will have to try and re format the movies on the Synology NAS when I get chance.
The original rips were H 265 mkv and it look like they only had AAC 5.1.
I’ll do some more experiments AC 3, AC 3 passthru plus stereo and see what happens.
Depending on your workstation - particularly if it’s Windows:
https://www.xmedia-recode.de/en/download.php
Xmedia Recode works wonders for converting an audio stream to - anything else - while ‘copying’ the video stream. Could save a bunch of time if you only need to fiddle with the audio.
Also if you had an original audio track you’d like to preserve - you can copy that one to the second slot while converting a version for slot one - I mean, if you had an audio track worth maintaining intact. <---- like one, or more, of @ChuckPa 's Super-Duper Originals.
If there’s an Xmedia Recode counterpart for Mac - I wouldn’t know what it is, but it would be a coveted item in your bag of tricks.
Have re ripped using the multi track audio feature in Pavtube and rather than mkv did as mp4 and AC3 rather than AAC which seems to have fixed it thanks. Would rather use the 4K TV to play movies as it’s more responsive than the Plex through the Sony TV but would have to re rip my collection so will have to think on that one.
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