Nvidia shield transcodes mpeg2 ota recordings

Plex Players Streaming Devices
1

Hi there
my OTA mpeg2 recordings videos are being transcoded while watching on a nvidia shield (2017) using the plex player. on my roku smart tv or any ios device instead they are played directly, no transcoding. audio is direct play on the shield and transcoded on the roku and ios.
Subtitles are always enabled ( i need subs to be on all the time) on both platforms

The plex server is hosted on a qnap nas with intel cpu, but when transcoding video stutters

Any idea on why the shields gets the video transcoded but the roku tv and ios do not ?

Thanks.

Server Version#: 1.18.2.2058
Player Version#: latest

2

if you turn off the subtitles before it starts does it still transcode the video?

3

If I turnoff the subtitle (before or while vide is playing) then no transcoding of the video.

4

leaving the subtitles off so the video direct playing, is the audio still been transcoded?

do you have passthrough enabled ?

if its not got passthough enabled and it is trancoding the audio, its likely going to be this.

5

Pass through is enabled. I need to check if the audio is transcoded without subtitles.
If that is the case, hopefully this limitation can be removed. It’s funny that a cheap roku/smart tv can play what an nvidia shield top-of-the-streaming-boxes cannot…

6

I’m seeing this issue on my (2019) Shield, even with direct streamed audio:shield_mpeg2_subtitles_cause_transcoding
If I disable subtitles, the same live TV stream doesn’t require transcoding:
shield_mpeg2_no_subtitles_no_transcoding

I’ve confirmed the same symptoms for recorded (MPEG2) TV as well. This reddit thread also seems related:

The frustrating part is that this issue is unique to my (more expensive) Shield client. I also own a Roku Streaming Stick+, and that device doesn’t have this problem. In fact, while that device does require audio transcoding for this same Live TV content, it doesn’t require video transcoding, even with subtitles (note: this requires “Enable MPEG2” in the Plex client playback settings on Roku):
roku_audio_transcoded_video_not_transcoded_subtitles_actually_on
(^ subtitles are actually still showing up for this content on the Roku, despite what the screenshot above implies - seems to be a dashboard bug)

There are some additional oddities with subtitles on the Roku, particularly compared to my Shield.

To disable Live TV subtitles on the Shield, I have to change my (global) Plex server settings (Languages->Subtitle mode->Manually selected). I prefer to leave my subtitle mode on “Always enabled”, and then occasionally disable subtitles depending on the content I’m viewing. Sadly, I haven’t discovered a way to leave that setting enabled and turn off subtitles for just Live TV. I hope this can be improved in the future to give the user more control over Live TV subtitles on the client, without having to change the global server config.

On my Roku, however, even with my plex server subtitle mode set to “Manually selected”, I still see subtitles. I even have the subtitle track set to “None” in my Roku playback settings, and the subtitles still show up. I apparently have to change the global Roku settings to disable closed captioning (for all apps) before these subtitle will disappear for me.

One last oddity with the Roku. As I mentioned above, even with my plex server subtitle mode set to “Manually selected” and even with my subtitle track set to “None”, I still see subtitles on the Roku, and the video is not transcoded. However, as soon as I change my plex server subtitle mode to “Always enabled”, the video playback for Roku suddenly requires transcoding, just like the Shield:
roku_audio_transcoded_video_transcoded_subtitles_always_enabled

In summary:

  • Using plex server subtitle mode “always on” causes Live TV video transcoding for both my Roku Streaming Stick+ and (2019) Nvidia Shield. Changing this setting to any other value disables subtitles in live/recorded TV playback on the Shield.
  • Using plex server subtitle mode “manually selected” allows for the Roku to direct stream video without transcoding, but with subtitles still enabled. For some reason, the Plex server dashboard view doesn’t show that these subtitles are actually active (see 3rd screenshot above)
  • I haven’t found any way to playback Live TV (or TV recordings) on the Shield with subtitles enabled and without video transcoding, even though this is possible on the less expensive and less powerful Roku.
  • Disabling subtitles on the Roku is odd. Even if plex thinks they are disabled (subtitle mode set to “manually selected” in server settings, and client subtitle track set to “none”) I still have to change the global Roku closed captioning settings to disable them before the subtitles will actually disappear from playback
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