Playback to Roku results in 100% transcoding for recent Plex releases

General Discussions
1

I believe Plex is no longer recognizing properly the formats compatible with Roku 3 or Roku Premiere+ players. Anything I play from Plex to a Roku device is transcoded, when this did not used to be the case very recently. Content sent to my Android device continues to play normally, generally transcoding multichannel audio but direct playing video.

All content is in an .mkv container, containing both AC3 or DTS 5.1 audio, and another AC3 or AAC stereo track. Most are encoded using x264, but some more recent content is x265.

I was running Plex v. 1.9.7.4460 on a Windows 10 server when I noticed the problem, and couldn’t figure out why PlexPy kept reporting so much transcoding. I tried rolling back to version 1.9.6.4401, but continued to have the same issue. Forcing direct play on either version does play video, but the audio is not played.

For further testing, I have Plex version 1.9.0.4252 running on a Synology NAS (also hosts my files, the Windows box is only for Plex playing). This version of Plex does not exhibit this issue. It direct plays the files normally, with no transcoding to my Roku players.

I know there will be transcoding of x265 content for my Roku 3, which is why I set up the Windows box to begin with. However, anything with the auto setting is being transcoded to Roku when played with a recent version of Plex, and again, forcing direct play results in no audio.

2

@Cetera5, you’re going to have to provide Plex server logs of a clean session when this occurs. I use Rokus for 90% of my media viewing, and according to PlexPy and, when I manage to catch a live session, live Plex activity, I’ve not been seeing what you describe.
Roku 3 doesn’t do DTS or x265, so it would definitely transcode those. Not sure about the formats of the premiere.
Here’s my Roku 2 XS “Direct playing” a 1080p x264 MKV with an AAC and a AC3 track.

Most of my MKVs are 720p x264 level 4.1 at 6-8mbps.

May want to check your main Roku plex local quality settings

3

My Roku passes through the 5.1 audio to the receiver, and generally doesn’t need to transcode anything. However, I’m watching things tonight, and even when playing in a browser it is transcoding everything.

I’m not certain which logs are needed, so here are all the log files from today:

4

Actually, futzing around with this some more, I think something is not working right with my Roku Premiere+. It seems to be having audio issues.

If I set the Roku Premier+ audio settings to Dolby D/DTS audio, it does indeed play the Plex media files with directplay, no transcoding, sending it through to the receiver. However, then Netflix audio doesn’t work. Setting it to Dolby D+/DTS, the Plex is transcoding everything (even the video, which seems weird), and Netflix audio works, but is not outputting proper 5.1 audio. Setting the option to “auto” seems equivalent to setting it to Dolby D+.

Hooking my Roku 3 back up to the primary TV, it passes through everything just fine from both the Plex and Netflix, no transcoding, full 5.1 audio on both. I think there is either a hardware or software issue with the Roku Premiere+.

If you can show me what to look for in the Plex logs, I would still very much appreciate it.

5

In my Roku’s - I set Roku - settings - audio to HDMI “autodetect” - if the av receiver is communicating with the HDMI of the Roku properly, Roku should determine what the receiver is capable of on it’s own.
No need to set to individual settings. Netflix I think uses D+ for it’s 5.1 - Plex will passthrough whatever the default roku is capable of, in combination with it’s own sound settings for the current firmware.
Most of your audio issue has little to do with Plex, but what your Roku is set to.

(BTW, I was incorrect about Roku DTS - if the file is MKV, Roku 3+/firmwares v4+ can do MKV/DTS, else, MP4, can only do AC3.)
In your Plex Media Server.5.log (when offering logs in future, please restart server, replicate issue, then restart server again, then get logs - this ensures the info needed will usually be easily found in .1.log, and in a smaller file)

Nov 17, 2017 18:45:01.248 [8824] DEBUG - Request: [192.168.1.217:33005 (Subnet)] GET /video/:/transcode/universal/decision (13 live) TLS GZIP Signed-in Token (Cetera5)
Nov 17, 2017 18:45:01.249 [8824] DEBUG - Found session GUID of 93c45b291fb880481f20260a94ad22ae in session start.
Nov 17, 2017 18:45:01.252 [8824] DEBUG - TranscodeUniversalRequest: using augmented profile Roku-7.x
Nov 17, 2017 18:45:01.253 [8824] DEBUG - Downloading document http://127.0.0.1:32400/library/metadata/460539?includeBandwidths=1&X-Plex-Client-Capabilities=videoDecoders%3Dh264{profile%3Ahigh%26resolution%3A1080%26level%3D41};audioDecoders%3Daac{channels%3A2}&X-Plex-Session-Identifier=93c45b291fb880481f20260a94ad22ae
Nov 17, 2017 18:45:01.253 [8824] DEBUG - Auth: authenticated user 1 as Cetera5
Nov 17, 2017 18:45:01.260 [8824] DEBUG - Audio Stream: 2010316, Subtitle Stream: -1
Nov 17, 2017 18:45:01.261 [8824] DEBUG - MDE: analyzing media item 884388
Nov 17, 2017 18:45:01.261 [8824] DEBUG - MDE: Bears (2004): Direct Play is disabled
Nov 17, 2017 18:45:01.261 [8824] DEBUG - MDE: Bears (2004): no direct play video profile exists for http/mkv/h264/ac3
Nov 17, 2017 18:45:01.262 [8824] DEBUG - MDE: Bears (2004): no direct play video profile exists for http/mkv/h264/ac3
Nov 17, 2017 18:45:01.262 [8824] DEBUG - Codecs: testing aac_mf (encoder)
Nov 17, 2017 18:45:01.263 [8824] DEBUG - Codecs: testing mp3_mf (encoder)
Nov 17, 2017 18:45:01.263 [8824] DEBUG - MDE: Bears (2004): selected media 0 / 884388
Nov 17, 2017 18:45:01.263 [8824] DEBUG - Streaming Resource: Changing decision parameters to fit bandwidth limit of 12000kbps

That very LAST line actually concerns me the most. “bandwidth limit of 12000kbps”
It seems as though you’ve set your Roku settings in Plex for Local playback too low. Or, Plex defaults too low.
That may be whats forcing disable of the direct play, if you’re using MKVs that have higher bitrates.
Go into your Roku - Plex - Settings - Video and set Local to 20 perhaps. Make sure all the other settings (direct play/etc are enabled/automatic)