Plex can't Direct Play FLAC on LG TV but Emby can?

Plex Players Smart TVs
1

Server Version#: 1.25.4.5487
Player Version#: 5.30.1

Hi All,

Can anyone advise on this? Have Plex Server running on RPi 4 8GB and when trying to play some anime with subtitles enabled, it cant seem to cope and buffers REALLY badly. I have investigated this thoroughly and the issue appears to be that the audio codecs are being deemed as unsupported which causing the streaming session to be transcoded. The audio codecs in question is FLAC.

I tried the same anime on Emby Server, using the Emby client for LG TVs and it Direct Plays no problem using .ass subs. This this tells me that the LG TV itself supports the audio codec so why does it transcode via the Plex client? I also have some Opus based files but Emby struggles with those also albeit, nowhere near as bad as Plex does (buffers way less often but it is being transcoded).

The files are using the following containers & codecs: MKV; HEVC main 10; FLAC. Full details in case its of any help:

  • Container MKV

  • Video Profile main 10

  • Codec HEVC

  • Bitrate 5088 kbps

  • Bit Depth 10

  • Coded Height 1080

  • Coded Width 1920

  • Frame Rate 23.976 fps

  • Height 1080

  • Level 4.0

  • Profile main 10

  • Ref Frames 1

  • Width 1920

  • Display Title 1080p (HEVC Main 10)

  • Extended Display Title 1080p (HEVC Main 10)

  • Codec FLAC

  • Channels 2

  • Bitrate 581 kbps

  • Language Japanese

  • Language Tag ja

  • Audio Channel Layout stereo

  • Bit Depth 16

  • Sampling Rate 48000 Hz

  • Title Stereo

  • Display Title Japanese (FLAC Stereo)

  • Extended Display Title Stereo (Japanese FLAC)

  • Codec ASS

  • Language English

  • Language Tag en

  • Title English Subs FMA1398/Redc4t

  • Display Title English (ASS)

  • Extended Display Title English Subs FMA1398/Redc4t (ASS)

2

With the Plex for LG app:

If the audio is transcoding, enabling any subtitle results in a video transcode.

If Burn Subtitles = Automatic, enabling ASS subtitles results in a video transcode.

If Burn Subtitles = ASS subtitles direct play (unless audio is transcoding), but formatting information (location, color, etc) is ignored.

3

The Audio is being transcoded from FLAC > MP3 but it does not transcode when using the Emby Client, only the Plex client.

4

That has nothing to do with this.As the guy said,Plez transcodes Flac to mp3 for no reason,and when subs are enabled which we know that will transcode.Why not add Flac support?Is it that hard?

6

Well it kinda did! The guy didn’t actually say Plex doesn’t support FLAC or that it transcodes FLAC > MP3 as a rule on Smart TV’s. But I decided to look into this and you are spot on. It seems the only Plex client that support FLAC is on Vizio, according to this article: https://support.plex.tv/articles/203810286-what-media-formats-are-supported/

I find it mental that Plex does not support FLAC more widely.

7

The audio format is irrelevant when using ASS subtitles. Enabling them forces a video transcode, and the RPi is not able to do that in real time.

@d_mhnallaich
I do not know why FLAC will not direct play / direct stream on LG and other Smart TVs.

Regarding how Plex on the LG handles subtitles, see this post for additional details:

8

Thank you for the response and addiitonal information. I was considering upgrading from the RPi but the low power nature of it is a huge draw for me. Given that Emby is able to play the same files without any issues whatsoever, and even shows as ‘Direct Play’ when I check the server, I may switch to this platform instead but I really hope Plex address this.

9

Plez will not direct play flac even without subtitles.I always wished this would gwt fixed,but here we are,still nothing.Have lost hope by now

10

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