I have set up Plex on my windows machine and have it pointed to various external hard drives, one being where my MediaMonkey files reside. I did this initially to see what it can do and if it can fill most of my needs. My goal is to continue using FLAC at higher res options besides my CD quality FLAC files. I would also prefer moving all this to a NAS so that I don’t have to keep my computer on all the time. I was trying to research what is being delivered to my sound system, but Google’ing this proved fruitless. Perhaps I didn’t try long enough. So I don’t even know to what degree high res files will translate from my NAS to the Roku to my Denon. Is it being degraded along that path? Based upon all this, can anyone point me towards options that will get me close to my destination… if it’s even possible.
@gdkinsman said:
I have set up Plex on my windows machine and have it pointed to various external hard drives, one being where my MediaMonkey files reside. I did this initially to see what it can do and if it can fill most of my needs. My goal is to continue using FLAC at higher res options besides my CD quality FLAC files. I would also prefer moving all this to a NAS so that I don’t have to keep my computer on all the time. I was trying to research what is being delivered to my sound system, but Google’ing this proved fruitless. Perhaps I didn’t try long enough. So I don’t even know to what degree high res files will translate from my NAS to the Roku to my Denon. Is it being degraded along that path? Based upon all this, can anyone point me towards options that will get me close to my destination… if it’s even possible.
Plex won’t degrade quality as long as your player supports FLAC. It’s unclear to me what your setup is; what will send those audio files to your denon avr? Your pc? A chromecast?
EDIT reread and saw the roku you mentionned… Im notnsuper familiar with rokus, but if the client supports flac, then it will be played exactly as is through your avr, so its just a matter of knowing if your roku can play it. What model of roku is it?
Roku 3. Looking at the Roku website, I couldn’t find anything about flac. Looked at their forum, I found a thread on it stating that is does not, but later in the thread it stated someone contacted Roku directly and they reported it does through DNLA, as long as everything along the path accepts it. They did not address hi res, although I would have to upgrade my Denon for that anyway. I couldn’t find anything on this in Plex support, finding answers is not easy. If Chromecast is this solution I’ll gladly get one, although I am running out of hdmi inputs…
Also, from reading thorough Plex support, I can either point Plex to my existing library (which I did), or create a new library. I didn’t see what the pros and cons were to either. Don’t want to re-invent the wheel here…
From the Roku website:
The following media file formats are supported:
Video — MKV (H.264), MP4 (H.264), MOV (H.264), WMV (VC-1, firmware 3.1 only)
Music — AAC, MP3, WMA, FLAC (firmware 5.3 and later), WAV (firmware 5.3 and later)
Photo — JPG, PNG, GIF (non-animated)
Only supported file types are shown in the Roku Media Player channel. The channel hides unsupported file types. Dolby Digital audio in MKV and MP4 movies is only supported via pass through.
DTS in MKV movies is also only supported via pass through. You must connect your Roku player via HDMI to a TV or receiver capable of decoding Dolby Digital or DTS in order to hear videos with audio tracks in those formats.
Some media server software may convert files into Roku compatible formats.
DRM-protected content is not supported.
Note: The current version of Roku firmware on the Roku 3 is: V7.0 B 9044 so FLAC is supported on the Roku 2, 3 and 4.
So I guess, as far as FLAC goes you are good to go.
From :
https://support.plex.tv/hc/en-us/articles/203824396-What-media-formats-are-supported-
Music Support
The following audio formats are currently supported for music playback:
- MP3
- M4A
Other supported audio formats (e.g. ALAC, FLAC, OGG, etc.) will be automatically transcoded for compatibility.
If I’m reading this right, FLAC gets converted to M4A, which I understand is a lossy format. I choose FLAC because of it’s lossless qualities. Frustrating…
Still looking through PLEX’s site for the incentive and ramifications to move my music library to their premium music library. Since I have my music in MediaMonkey and have PLEX pointed to it, will creating their new library necessitate me to continue to refresh and reconcile the two libraries. Does it get copied to a new location and end up using more harddrive space?
Maybe I should start up a support ticket…
You’re reading that right. One some clients (like the Xbox one that you just linked to) that doesn’t support FLAC, it will be transcoded to MP3. But I was under the impression that this was about Roku and not Xbox? I believe that Plex uses the audio player shipped with Roku - but I can’t say for sure. I don’t own a Roku myself. If you’d like you could move this thread to the Roku instead and I’m sure you’ll get help. I see several Audio-threads in that subforum that has got an answer by those who knows about these details.
Now that I have the eye of a Ninja, let me ask the question differently. If I want to stream FLAC audio throughout the audio chain to my speakers at the highest quality, CD or higher resolution, what devices should I be considering. I’ve looked at this forum and others and it’s not an easy thing to find out. It looks like Roku keeps it FLAC throughout although I’ve seen differing opinion of whether it does 24/96+ or not. It looks like Plex trans-codes to a lossy version for Apple TV, so if that’s true, I won’t go there. What about Chromecast, etc. Is this hard for everyone else to determine, or is it just me?
I’d recommend a Raspberry Pi - if codec support at a low cost is a priority. Most other cheap players will degrade the quality due to transcoding.
@NedtheNerd - can you confirm the Pi’s FLAC capabilities, please?
Rasplex plays FLAC files no problem, no transcoding, see this topic https://forums.plex.tv/discussion/comment/1099277
Regards
So, the Raspberry is currently the only solution?
I saw reports about the Chromecast Audio DP’ing Flac.
Haven’t confirmed that myself though.
Pretty much any HTPC with PHT or OpenPHT or PMP will direct-play FLAC.
I have a couple of RPi’s with Rasplex running headless to Sony Amps for music playback only (in addition to 3 others for full media playback), I use the Plex for iOS clients as a remote for these. Both have HiFiBerry DAC’s attached and output via RCA connectors to the amps, no need for HDMI for music playback, you can use any amp you own.
Rasplex is the most feature rich Plex client at the moment, and will Direct Play everything except H.265 (although 720p support for that will be in the next release, hardware limitation).
Regards
OK, it looks like using an RPI is the only confirmed solution. I’ll start reading up on that. Thanks.
I am also trying to decide if I should continue to use my current library structure via MediaMonkey which I have Plex pointed to, or to create a new premium music library. They state the reasons for doing so are “better artwork and artist bios, album reviews, improved matching, videos from Vevo without interruption, and more”, But I’m not understanding what’s going on behind the scenes. Does it continue to use the library structure I already am using from MediaMonkey, and everything is transparent, or is it copying an moving around things that I should be aware of.
Plex doesn’t mess with library structure. You do. 
Plex doesn’t touch your media files. In any way.
If they are already meticulously tagged and you have them organised in folders like this:
Artist
Album
1. track
2. track
I recommend you to try a premium library and tick the checkbox ‘use embedded metatags’ in the properties of the library. But prepare yourself for a long time waiting until all the data is fetched/processed…
Maybe start with a subset of your whole music, just to try things out.
I used one of MediaMonkeys default folder structures when creating the library:
Example -
\The Beatles\Abbey Road\10 The Beatles - Sun King.flac
Since this appears to be working fine with the basic library, I assume it will continue to work with premium, correct? Reworking all the paths would be prohibitive…
One of Plex’s recommendations is:
If your content does have embedded metadata for identification or if you’re using a premium music library with sonic fingerprint matching, you can also use an alternate
Music/ArtistName/AlbumName/TrackNumber - TrackName.ext
organization.
I have lots of metadata tagged with all these files( Album Cover, lyrics, track no, etc.). I was never sure if the meta data was in the MM database, built into each file, or both.
I guess I’m ready to give it a try…
@gdkinsman said:
\The Beatles\Abbey Road\10 The Beatles - Sun King.flac
Since this appears to be working fine with the basic library, I assume it will continue to work with premium, correct?
This should be fine if your internal metatags are in order.
Reworking all the paths would be prohibitive…
It is actually very easy and fast to do with the right software (see below).
But you are already close enough to the ideal naming schema.
I have lots of metadata tagged with all these files( Album Cover, lyrics, track no, etc.). I was never sure if the meta data was in the MM database, built into each file, or both.
You can verify that with e.g. mp3tag or similar software.
A bit more info here
https://forums.plex.tv/discussion/comment/1050849/#Comment_1050849
I have made significant progress in setting up my Plex environment. Besides getting my music library cleaned up in PLEX, it also helped point out places where my data in MM was deficient in some ways. About the only thing I don’t have working in PLEX is creating Playlists. I eventually will be using a NAS to run PLEX. Before I get any further and much more into painting myself in a corner, is it advisable to wait and start up a NAS with a fresh install of PLEX or will moving PLEX from my computer to the NAS be less daunting than it looks? I was reading https://support.plex.tv/hc/en-us/articles/201370363-Move-an-Install-to-Another-System, which was giving me cause for concern…
@gdkinsman said:
Before I get any further and much more into painting myself in a corner, is it advisable to wait and start up a NAS with a fresh install of PLEX or will moving PLEX from my computer to the NAS be less daunting than it looks? I was reading https://support.plex.tv/hc/en-us/articles/201370363-Move-an-Install-to-Another-System, which was giving me cause for concern…
A beginner should better not try this.
I’m up for trying if anyone knows or has chronicled the steps to perform this. I’m new at PLEX but have been computer friendly for the last 30+ years…
