Developers have removed the direct stream / play options and now plex must be forced to transcode everything to get smooth playback. Effectively the developers broke the appletv app.
I’m creating a new thread in the plex pass area because all the numerous threads existing are getting absolutely no traction.
Plex is letting their paid customers down heavily with the current appletv software after heavily plugging the device as seamless and making it seem like a clear choice.
Developers or others interested in the details need look no further than the appletv player section, I won’t repeat the much documented issue I’ll just end by saying a bunch of us are really disappointed in your decisions and lack of any tangible support.
What attitude ? Disappointment they broke something that was working and won’t respond to any of the numerous people experiencing the issue?
I’m well aware of how plex works but I can tell you direct play no longer does. And direct str meam is broken.
If this had always been an issue I’d say you were right. Or if the files did not play through other apps on the Apple TV. It’s specifically plex that doesn’t play the files properly after they updated / broke the atv client.
Lets try a “restart” and see if we can get to the heart of your issue.
Could you provide the XML of a file that used to direct play but now transcodes? If you can provide us something concrete to start to look at that would be great. just saying it’s “broke” without helping us diagnosing the issue doesn’t help anyone.
Carlo
PS The XML file mentioned above would be when you click on the 3 dots in web then click on Get Info then the lower left XML option on the info screen.
I’m suffering from this issue as well. In my opinion the real problem here is, that “Direct Play” never really worked on the Apple TV with 1080p movies (as well with some 720p movies) without stuttering for many users as described in this and many other threads:
However, disabling “Direct Play” in the Plex App for Apple TV “resolved” the problem, as the server was forced to “Direct Stream”. In that way, the server would not do a full transcode (low CPU usage). In the “now playing” screen of Plex Web Interface the server would say Transcoding and then beneath that it said Video and Audio as Direct Stream. For me, this was the only way to watch 1080p without this nasty stuttering and “Your connection to the server is not fast enough…” message.
One might think, that something is faulty with our files, but they play perfectly fine through Apple Homesharing and other Video Apps without transcoding.
With the recent updates of the Apple TV App and the PMS this options for “Direct Play” and “Direct Stream” are gone and so is the only chance to actually watch something in HD on the Apple TV.
And nobody from Plex is responding to this widespread issue and thats deeply disappointing to us.
@laturius said:
However, disabling “Direct Play” in the Plex App for Apple TV “resolved” the problem, as the server was forced to “Direct Stream”. In that way, the server would not do a full transcode (low CPU usage). In the “now playing” screen of Plex Web Interface the server would say Transcoding and then beneath that it said Video and Audio as Direct Stream. For me, this was the only way to watch 1080p without this nasty stuttering and “Your connection to the server is not fast enough…” message.
The settings are gone but the app will still direct stream if it applies. If Direct Play isn’t working well, please provide details so we can look into this. Direct Playing a file should provide better results then direct stream.
