Onn 4k Pro unable to direct play AV1

Plex Players Streaming Devices
1

Server Version#: 4.147.1
Player Version#: ? latest

I am trying to play a 4k file with the AV1 codec in an MKV container. The audio is TrueHD. I need these files to direct play because the Plex server is on a N150 based NAS that doesn’t have the horsepower to transcode this file. I have video transcoding disabled on the Plex server.

The file direct plays on my Dune HD Homatics Box R 4k Plus but it won’t play on my Onn 4k Pro. This box is supposed to support AV1. When I try to play the file on the Onn 4k Pro I get this in the logs:

Nov 10, 2025 07:32:09.626 [140621245778744] DEBUG - [Req#2638/Transcode] MDE: Aliens (1986): Direct Play is disabled
Nov 10, 2025 07:32:09.626 [140621245778744] DEBUG - [Req#2638/Transcode] MDE: Aliens (1986): media must be transcoded in order to use the hls protocol
Nov 10, 2025 07:32:09.626 [140621245778744] DEBUG - [Req#2638/Transcode] MDE: Aliens (1986): no direct play video profile exists for http/mkv/av1
Nov 10, 2025 07:32:09.626 [140621245778744] DEBUG - [Req#2638/Transcode] MDE: Aliens (1986): no direct play video profile exists for http/mkv/av1/truehd
Nov 10, 2025 07:32:09.626 [140621245778744] DEBUG - [Req#2638/Transcode] MDE: Aliens (1986): no remuxable profile found, so video stream will be transcoded
Nov 10, 2025 07:32:09.626 [140621245778744] DEBUG - [Req#2638/Transcode] MDE: Cannot direct stream video stream due to profile or setting limitations
Nov 10, 2025 07:32:09.626 [140621245778744] DEBUG - [Req#2638/Transcode] MDE: Cannot direct stream audio stream due to codec truehd when profile only allows opus

So it appears it says the Onn doesn’t support AV1? Not sure what to do, I have 2 TVs I want to enable support of AV1 on but don’t really want to pay $200 each for new Dune boxes.

2

As far as I know, Plex currently only supports Direct Play of AV1 if both video and audio is supported by your device. The problem is that the Onn box doesn’t support TrueHD so the audio has to be transcoded which leads to video also being transcoded.

Change the audio to a format that is supported by the Onn box and it’ll Direct Play AV1.

3

Well, thanks for ruining my day :cry: Just remuxed and transcoded to eac3 and it plays fine. Sigh, that is depressing, maybe that is why my Dune is so expensive. I need/want TrueHD for my main theater room that has the big boy sound system but can live with eac3 audio(even stereo) for my living room and office TVs. Pretty sure I can put both the TrueHD and eac3 in the mkv and Plex will pick the one it supports? Will have to do some evaluation, I really don’t want to spend a ton of money on 2 more Dune boxes.

What is strange is that on my Chromecast devices, I swear I saw that it would show the video was direct play but that it was transcoding the audio to Opus, does this make sense? Is it just the Onn that has this strange limitation?