Plex on Apple TV Still Can't Direct Play MKV?

Plex Players Streaming Devices
1

Server Version#: 1.20.0.1406-f47a81b7
Player Version#: 7.6.1 (21714)

I see that the “experimental player” is now enabled by default (the “Enabled Enhanced Video Player” toggle has been replaced with a “Use Old Video Player”. I have “Use Old Video Player” disabled, so I assume that means I’m using the “new” / “experimental” player.

When I play an MKV file on the Apple TV, I see this message under “Technical Details”:

App cannot direct play this item. No direct play video profile exists for protocol http, with container mkv, and video codec h264

I seem to recall hearing that support for MKV was part of the new player. Why am I still unable to direct play MKV files with H264 video? (The audio is AC3, if that matters?)

I’ve reproduced the problem and am attaching logs for Apple TV, Plex Media Server and the XML for the movie that was used to reproduce this problem:

logs.zip (31.4 KB)

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You’ll need to provide more details. Please provide the log from the Apple TV (Apple TV Logs | Plex Support) and form PMS (Plex Media Server Logs | Plex Support) after reproducing the problem. Also provide the XML (Investigate Media Information and Formats | Plex Support) for the file you used.

3

I’ve attached the requested logs. Here’s what the server logs show:

Oct 11, 2020 10:21:19.516 [0x70000c96a000] DEBUG - [Transcode] MDE: analyzing media item 2369472
Oct 11, 2020 10:21:19.516 [0x70000c96a000] DEBUG - [Transcode] MDE: Bill & Ted Face the Music (2020): no direct play video profile exists for http/mkv/h264
Oct 11, 2020 10:21:19.516 [0x70000c96a000] DEBUG - [Transcode] MDE: Bill & Ted Face the Music (2020): no direct play video profile exists for http/mkv/h264/ac3
4

The Apple TV actually seems to be playing the video and audio as-is – just putting it in a different container.

Oct 11, 2020 10:21:20.156 [0x70000c96a000] DEBUG - [Transcode] Streaming Resource: Reached Decision id=2146341 codes=(General=1001,Direct play not available; Conversion OK. Direct Play=3000,App cannot direct play this item. Direct play is disabled. Transcode=1001,Direct play not available; Conversion OK.) media=(id=2369472 part=(id=2445080 decision=transcode container=mpegts protocol=hls streams=(Video=(id=4630554 decision=copy width=1920 height=800) Audio=(id=4630551 decision=copy channels=6 rate=48000))))

The more telling line in your logs is this:

2020/10/11 10:21:19.358 (205 MB) (4718300) ➖ PMKPlaybackSession.m:634 | Switching to AVPlayer since ABR is enabled

If you disable Automatic Quality (ABR = automatic bitrate reduction), you should actually get the video to direct play (instead of just direct stream).

1 Like
5

Brilliant! Disabling “Auto Adjust Quality” on the Apple TV worked! Thanks.

6

Yup. The Auto Adjust Quality does not work with the new video player so having that on reverts the app back to the old player which cannot direct play MKV.

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