Plex for Vidaa (Hisense) stuttering/lagging

Plex Players
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Symptom: When playing 4K content, there is significant stuttering (approximately once every 3 seconds).

This issue occurs when using the Plex for VIDAA app on my HISENSE PL1 television. However, the following situations do not exhibit the same problem:

  • Using the HISENSE’s built-in browser
  • Using my PC’s browser
  • Using the Plex app on my LG TV

Note that all devices are connected via an Ethernet cable in a local network.

To assist with troubleshooting, I enabled the option in the Plex app to send logging information to the server. After playing the video, I captured these logs: Plex Media Server Logs

Additionally, I recorded a video of the Plex for VIDAA app’s playback attempt: Playback Video

I also took a screenshot of the video quality screen for reference: Screenshot of Video Quality

Are you guys aware of this issue? If so, what can I do to help resolve it?

2 Likes
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Plex Media Server version

Jan 07, 2024 13:41:38.058 [23680] INFO - Plex Media Server v1.32.8.7639-fb6452ebf - Microsoft PC x64 - build: windows-x86 windows - GMT 01:00

You are running the 32-bit version of Plex Media Server. Download and install the 64-bit version from plex.tv. The 64-bit version is required for hardware accelerated HDR to SDR tone mapping.

You can install on top of the 32-bit version. The installer will recognize the update and remove the 32-bit version. This affects only the PMS binaries. The Plex database/metadata/etc and your media are not touched.


Subtitles

Jan 07, 2024 13:59:55.302 [10504] DEBUG - [Req#1135/Transcode] MDE: E1 - I'm Used to It: selected subtitle cannot be converted to a compatible format, burning into video stream

Subtitle support varies widely among Plex clients. If a client does not support a subtitle format, then PMS must transcode the video and burn the subtitle into the video stream (add it to the video frame instead of streaming as a separate track). Burning uses the CPU. It is also single threaded, so it uses only one core. If the CPU cannot perform the task in real time, playback will buffer, waiting for the CPU to catch up.

Your CPU can probably handle burning subtitles into 1080p video. Probably not into 4K video.


Video Formats

Jan 07, 2024 15:57:01.605 [20252] DEBUG - [Req#260c/Transcode] MDE: Oppenheimer (2023): no direct play video profile exists for http/mkv/av1
Jan 07, 2024 15:57:01.605 [20252] DEBUG - [Req#260c/Transcode] MDE: Oppenheimer (2023): no direct play video profile exists for http/mkv/av1/dca
Jan 07, 2024 15:57:01.605 [20252] DEBUG - [Req#260c/Transcode] MDE: Oppenheimer (2023): Direct Streaming is disabled, so video stream will be transcoded
Jan 07, 2024 15:57:01.605 [20252] DEBUG - [Req#260c/Transcode] MDE: Oppenheimer (2023): no remuxable profile found, so video stream will be transcoded

Avoid unsupported video formats, especially for 4K HDR media.

Plex transcodes all video to H.264 SDR. All the HDR “goodness” is lost in the process. Better to stay with formats supported by the Plex clients.


Additional Info

You can monitor playback via Plex Dashboard → Now Playing + Expanded View. It will show you if the video or audio is transcoding.

Tautulli is a very nice 3rd party tool for managing Plex servers. Among other capabilities, its Dashboard shows if Plex is burning subtitles (which the Plex Dashboard does not).

No need to use DropBox for files, pictures, and other attachments. You can drag them into the message window. They will insert at the cursor location. Some formats, such as XML, are not supported, but they can be zipped before attaching.

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First, thank you for the fast answer.

That was a dumb on my part, thank for pointing that out.

I was aware of this one but its not related to my current problem. As you probably guessed, i have problem playing the video you mentioned below. I’ll keep this in mind though.

I didn’t know about this one. I did a bit of digging and my initial search pointed me to : https://support.plex.tv/articles/204080173-which-smart-tv-models-are-supported/.
I also installed Tautulli and tried it with both the HISENSE App, the HISENSE browser and my LG TV.

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From what i get from your answer, the article and these screenshots is that Plex App on LG TV has optimizations that let it DirectPlay the 4K content i want and those optimizations are not available on the VIDAA Plex App even if the HISENSE PL1 has 4K UHD support.

As a test, i tried the DLNA feature with another 4K content and it worked perfectly (thanks to Direct play again).

image

Assuming i am right regarding optimization/features missing on the Plex for VIDAA app, it seems my options while waiting for the app to catch up with the capabilities of the HISENSE PL1 is to either use the Plex’s DLNA features or to switch to another tool to provide multimedia content to the HISENSE.

Am i missing something ?

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FYI, Plex shipped PMS 64-bit in Sept 2022. If you installed before then, it would have been the 32-bit version. Also, when updates were available, PMS never prompted you to update to the 64-bit version, it just kept feeding you 32-bit updates. Now that you’re on the 64-bit version, all future updates will be 64-bit.

Regarding the video formats…

The log files show Oppenheimer is AV1 video, as does the DLNA screenshot.

However, Tautulli shows the video is HEVC, not AV1.

Do you have multiple copies of the movie in different video formats?

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Yeah i did multiple tests with multiple video formats after your initial reply.

Its not clear which formats (video and audio) are good or not for plex depending on the player/hardware/protocol used. Other than testing one by one.

For example : Same file, same hardware, different results depending on Plex player

AV1 4K HRD10, DCA 5.1, Plex for VIDAA : Transcoding

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image1024×488 92.5 KB

AV1 4K HRD10, DCA 5.1, Plex Web : Transcoding

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image1028×486 92 KB

AV1 4K HRD10, DCA 5.1, DLNA : Direct Play

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image833×405 31.1 KB

In this particular case, playing content that i know the hardware can run, i get better results NOT using plex features.

I noticed i left out the server spec info :

  • AMD Ryzen 7 5800x 8-core processor
  • 32 GB RAM
  • SSD
  • NVIDIA Gforce RTX3090

Thus i getting back to my previous question :

Assuming i am right, regarding optimization/features missing on the Plex for VIDAA app, it seems my options while waiting for the app to catch up with the capabilities of the HISENSE PL1 is to either use the Plex’s DLNA features or to switch to another tool to provide multimedia content to the HISENSE.

Am i missing something ?

6

I do not know if the Plex app supports AV1 video.

However, HEVC HDR10 video should direct play.

As a test, download the LG demo file linked below and put it in an Other Videos library.

It is 4K HEVC HDR10 video with AAC 2.0 audio. It should definitely direct play.

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Hello, have you solved the above problem?

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Same here on my new Hisense 75U8KQ (European version - Vidaa OS). Preinstalled Plex app buffers indefinitely if I force direct play. If I don’t it transcodes and the playback works. Only way how I managed to make 4k HDR videos to play without transcoding is to enable DLNA server on Plex and use the Hisense built-in Media app to play the movies/tv shows.

Any ETA on fixing it?

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Hi guys… I am also a happy owner of a Hisense PL1… :-). And I´ve been a massive fan of Plex for many years. For the last 4 years I´ve been using Plex on a Chromecast with Google TV dongle on a Wemax One Pro projector.
I became so used to having Plex on Chromecast with Google TV handling any kind of content (SDR, 4K HDR and even Dolby Vison) that I was really shocked how mindnumbingly bad the Plex app for VIDAA handles HDR content. I can only play HDR content when I activate “Force Direct Play”, which I have never seen before. And while I am using “Force Direct Play” subtitles are branded on my content and I am not able to switch between different audio tracks.
Is there any way for me to make these “problems” go away?
I hope, someone has a solution.

1 Like
10

Another ignored issue. Cool.

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