Playback Error: File is unplayable. Color space is not supported. (and file is not optimisable and crashes on iOS)

Plex Media Server
, ,
1

Server Version#: 1.26.1.5798
Player Version#: 4.81.1

As per title:

  1. Unable to play file on Plex Web on a Macbook and a Windows desktop, and the web shows error in title.
  2. Unable to Optimise the 4K file for TV (into 1080p), stating that it already exists, when there isn’t any other versions.
  3. Crashes using Plex iOS app when playing. (iOS 15.4.1, Plex version 8.2)

Basically seems like the video play broke all of Plex products I use. How do I report this bug?

2

What color space is the file?

3

Unfortunately I am not sure and no idea on how to get it, but these are the properties shown:

Codec HEVC
Bitrate 14304 kbps
Language English
Language Tag en
D O V I B L Present true
D O V I Level 6
D O V I Present true
D O V I Profile 5
D O V I R P U Present true
D O V I Version 1.0
Bit Depth 10
Chroma Location left
Chroma Subsampling 4:2:0
Coded Height 1608
Coded Width 3840
Color Range tv
Frame Rate 23.976 fps
Height 1608
Level 5.0
Profile main 10
Ref Frames 1
Width 3840
Display Title 4K DoVi (HEVC Main 10)
Extended Display Title 4K DoVi (HEVC Main 10)
4
  1. Plex Web does not support direct playing HDR or Dolby Vision media.
  2. Plex does not support transcoding and tonemapping Dolby Vision video. If available, it will use the HDR10 compatibility layer in the file.
  3. Dolby Vision Profile 5 has no HDR10 compatibility layer.

That is why you receive the Color Space Not Supported error when using Plex Web.

The Plex for Windows desktop app direct plays DOVI Profile 5 media, but does not tonemap it, so the colors are off.

If the display device and the associated Plex app support Dolby Vision, then you can watch DV Profile 5 media (ex: LG OLED TVs and Plex LG app).

I’ve no iOS devices, so unsure about their capabilities WRT Dolby Vision and HDR10 media.

To tell if the media has a HDR10 compatibility layer, look at the pre-play page in Plex Web.

Dolby Vision media without a HDR10 compatibility layer show Video 4K DoVi (HEVC Main 10).

Dolby Vision media with a HDR10 compatibility layer show Video 4K DoVi/HDR10 (HEVC Main 10).

MediaInfo is also helpful for viewing detailed information on audio/video files.

2 Likes
5

Thanks for the info! Much appreciated. Maybe these information should be in a support article as well as they are quite helpful (or it already exists but I couldn’t find it). At least we now know it isn’t a Plex issue…

I have also updated iOS Plex from 8.2 to 8.3 and it no longer crashes now, and shows the same error message, so I guess it isn’t supported there too.

6

iPhone 12 and newer can play HDR10, DV Profile 5, DV Profile 8.4.
ATV 4K can play HDR10 and DV Profile 5.

@thesoreloser’s sample is DV P5. I’ll bet it’s stored in a way that’s not compatible with Apple devices, but is probably fixable.

I would like to see mediainfo -f for this file, or if you upgrade Plex to the latest version and then share the XML info, I would like to see the Codec ID.

Color space is not supported error after updating to 1.25.5 - #86 by Volts

7

This topic was automatically closed 90 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.