Server Version#: 1.19.4.2935
Player Version#: 7.2.1
Hi,
When direct playing files there are instances of a random frame rate stutter for no apparent reason. This can be on any quality or any file type, including live tv.
If I change the playback settings to convert automatically then this appears to fix the issue, however seems wasteful to have this turned on when direct play should just work.
Agreed. Direct play on PMP is awful. Jerky. Pc direct playback.
Transcode will fix. Not ideal. Will lose atmos / hdr.
A real mess either way. Watch jerky video or poor quality.
Happy to provide logs etc if needed! Be good to get some dev thoughts on this.
For the last few days I have noticed the same issue when trying to play MKV rips of DVDs. I am on the same versions of the software as you; server = 1.19.4.2935 and Apple TV = 7.2.1. At first I thought this was an issue with the sever so I restarted this but this did not fix the problem. I tried copying the video again from the DVD using MakeMKV but I still had the same issue.
I then remembered that my Chromecast can be used by Plex so I watched one of the same videos, casting it to the device. When casting the video to the Chromecast it plays without any stutter in the video stream.
From the testing I have done it would appear that version 7.2.1 of the Apple TV app is having problems playing direct streams of files copied straight from DVD into an MKV container. Looking in the Apple TV App Store version 7.2.1 was released on the 26th June and my device installed it a day or so later. This matches up with the issue I have had with stuttering in the video stream. Prior to the last update the Plex app on my Apple TV would play the DVD files ripped into MKV containers without any problem.
Just updating this topic. Without making any changes to my Plex Server or Apple TV app (they are still the same versions and neither system has been restarted) the stutter in videos appears to have stopped. I have played a few videos over the last few nights (all MKV containers with direct rips from DVD) and the playback has been fine.
I have no idea what caused the problem (or what changed to fix it) but the stuttering in the video stream is no longer happening.
Exactly the same for me. No app updates or anything.
It’s come back again for me.
Before I replied to your post I wanted to do a little experimenting first. Like you. using the Plex app on the Apple TV (ATV) the same stuttering issue has returned for me. To try and isolate where the problem is I have done a little test which would appear to show that the issue is with the Apple TV app, not the video files or the UnRAID server I am running Plex from.
I already use an application called Infuse to play tutorial videos (e.g. those from Screen Casts Online) which I want to via on my phone/tablet/Apple TV but do not want to keep in Plex. The Infuse application also has the ability to natively access a Plex server (PMS) as well. Having signed into PMS through the Infuse app on my ATV I have watched three of the videos which were stuttering in the ATV version of Plex. When watching through Infuse they all played without a problem. Looking at the web dashboard in PMS the Infuse app is direct playing the videos, just like the ATV Plex app was doing. Watching the same three videos again in the ATV Plex app resulted in the same stuttering I had seen before.
From the testing I have done it would appear that changing the application used to view the videos on the ATV from Plex’s own app to Infuse removes the stuttering issue. Both apps were accessing the same PMS server on the same UnRAID NAS. Both applications were direct playing the videos, not transcoding (as reported in the PMS dashboard). From this testing it would appear that the stuttering problem is caused by ATV Plex app, not the media or the server it is running from. I am running the latest version of the ATV Plex app (7.3.1). Looking at the release history in the App Store it would appear that version 7.3 (released 15th July) fixed the stuttering issue but version 7.3.1 (released 23rd July) has caused this to return.
came across this thread because I have been having similar problems recently. I have a 4th gen Apple TV and I was playing .ts files recorded off my HDHomerun. It direct plays, but stutters every 10mins or so (I haven’t timed it).
That’s the same model of Apple TV I have. Which version of the Plex app is running on it? Is it 7.3.1?
Yes; 7.3.1
I’m a long time user of PLEX pass features like DVR and enhanced player and always had some minor issues with high FPS videos on PLEX, like 720p @ 59.94 .ts or mp4… I suspect the MPV version embedded in enhanced player doesn’t handle 60 frames per second very well. This issue comes and goes. I don’t remember if I ever saw frame dropped at more regular FPS (like 23.976), it always seems to occur with high framerate. Disabling the new player and using the good’Old AVPlayer always do the trick for me, as the old player never loose any frame.
my files are 25 fps.
Do you try to change your “match frame rate” settings from the Apple TV General > Audio Video menu ? There is also a thing to try with Dolby audio settings but I don’t remember the details
I’m getting frame stutter on direct playback on X265 encoded files. This used to not be an issue but ever since PMS 1.19, it’s become an issue. Plex App on AppleTV is 7.3.1 and the issue has existed even before that version. Apple TV is set to match the FPS of the file in settings and the Plex app is run 1080p60hz. There is also latency after watching 40+ minutes on H264 files in transcode mode. Overall, it looks like Plex is running pretty poorly on the Apple TV. Any chance we can get a fix for these issues? I know that X265 HEVC is done via hardware in the Apple TV 4 and 4k so Netflix, Disney Plus, Amazon Prime, and Hulu all work fine. .
Just set it - let’s see how it goes tonight.
Thanks!
So my frame rate matching is on, should I turn it off?
So I turned it off and it’s a lot worse! Turned it back on.
Since your videos are 25FPS, you could try to set resolution to 1080p 50 Hz
I did try this for the last few days and it did fix the stuttering issue. Looking at the dashboard in PMS showed that the video portion of the file was now being transcoded. When using the new video player the video portion of the file was direct played.
A development on the above happened today. PMS updated to version 1.19.5.3112 and the ATV Plex app updated to 7.4. As an experiment I switched the video player back to the new version and played a couple of files. So far all seems well and the stuttering has gone. The files I played were both MKVs. One was a rip from a DVD (done using MakeMKV) without any additional processing. The video codec is MPEG2VIDEO and the audio is AC3. This file direct played without issue. The other file was ripped from a Blu-ray (also using MakeMKV without any additional processing). The video codec is H.264 and the audio codec DCA/DTS. Again, this file played without issue.
Hopefully the updates to the server and app (or at least one of them) has fixed the issue with the stuttering which has been present for the last couple of weeks.
