Plex not playing video with EAC3 audio

Server Version#: 1.14.0.5470
Player Version#: 3.69.1 (in Chrome)
I cannot get Plex to play any video with EAC3 audio on it. I have tried changing the level (to 4.0/4.1) I have tried forcing play through, I have tried deleting the “codecs” folder and letting it rebuild. I am stumped. In reading the logs the Easy Audio Encoder seems to have no codec for EAC3…
Can this be added manually? Any other ideas?

Plex Log.txt (2.3 KB)

Anyone, Plex Devs, anyone???

Seems odd that the developers would not be watching and providing input on an issue such as this one. This effects the server, not a playback device. I have tried playback on Chrome, Edge, Android, Apple etc all with the same result. Every video file plays except the EAC3 audio ones. I have tried changing the playthrough options, deleting the codecs folder and letting rebuild. I am out of options now.

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Has anyone been able to get the EAC3 decoder codec (.dll file) to show up in their Codecs folder under Plex Media Server (Windows)? If so, could you share the file. Maybe copying it to the appropriate folder on a local system will resolve the inability of the encoder to play video files with EAC3 content.

Sorry you haven’t gotten a response sooner. Can you provide the entire log file? That small part you provided shows the error but not what lead up to it.

Below is the entire set of debug level log files
Plex Media Server Logs_2018-12-24_10-06-21.zip (4.3 MB)
These are the entire debug level log files.

Do you have a directory on your server to TRANSCODE files to convert them to the platform your trying to stream at ? Certain devices that your try to stream to may not have the correct CODECS to produce the audio you are trying to produce at the other end.

I’m assuming you are using the RAW recorded file that is in " *.TS " format, correct? You aren’t using another app to convert the video for streaming?

I normally convert all my recorded “TS” files to a streaming “MP4” that’s coverts the file and audio into a universal format that any device on my network can stream it, even across the internet, when I’m away from home.

Thought I’d try and help on this.

Did you try moving your transcoder folder?

Dec 24, 2018 10:05:53.824 [38408] ERROR - Error creating directory “Y:\PlexServerFiles\TranscodeTemp”: boost::filesystem::create_directories: The system cannot find the path specified: “Y:\PlexServerFiles”

PMS reports that EAC3 is not supported so it’s trying to transcode the file, but it can’t find the transcoder folder. This is why it’s not playing.

I do have a transcode folder. I am not using any .TS files though. All MP4 or MKV

Once I change the location (not sure why it wasn’t pointing to right one), deleted the contents of the Codecs folder and then tried to play it a couple of times it seemed to get the right H264 codec. It is now playing the EAC3 audio files. I can’t attach the H264 decoder file that Plex is using for the video with EAC3 audio. It would be interesting to see if just copying this to the folder allows playback.

The codecs are specific to the version of the transcoder in PMS, so it’s not a good idea to try using just any codec file you find. It’s best to allow PMS to get them automatically.

Found some news on this from reading elsewhere in the forum. The standard, or what most codecs can play is the AAC format, which is more universal. The EAC, is only found on certain devices, and why maybe it doesn’t play nice with where you are trying to use is. I found by experimenting this HandBrakeCLI line that makes your recordings so any device can play it. Plus improve your sound / audio and video quality but take less than half the file size of a “Universal” preset.

use this after your input and out put files of HandBrakeCLI:

-–auto-anamorphic --adither auto --aencoder ca_aac --mixdown 5point1 --optimize --two-pass --turbo --preset=“Very Fast 1080p30”

New line produces English (AAC 5.1) sound track @ 1080p for higher resolution 720p recordings at Width 1280 x Height 720. And for 1080p recordings at Width 1920 x Height 1078 . This will allow your device to directly play it with no Transcoding.

Enjoy!

New and improved syntax to give you ACC audio which is more popular for any device playback for direct play. This will also make sure your audio track is in English at a 1080p HD stream-able file:

echo "" | HandBrakeCLI -i "$1" -o "$2" --audio-lang-list eng --all-audio --first-audio --preset "Very Fast 1080p30" --optimize --two-pass --turbo --aencoder av_aac --mixdown 5point1 --adither auto --auto-anamorphic

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