Plex on AppleTV, Handbrake H.265 encodes, and stuttering

Plex Players Streaming Devices
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Server Version#: 1.24.2.4973
Server Type: Qnap TVS-882 (i5 7500)
Player Version#: 7.23 (1076)

Hello - and thank you for reading this. I’m a bit of an amateur at this so please bear with how I set up my question/situation. I’ve read several similar threads on the Plex forums but they either determine the fix to be something that doesn’t apply to my situation or the thread has died with no apparent solution.

I have a Plex library with almost 1,000 movies that I’ve ripped over the last 15+ years from my own collection of DVDs, Blu-Rays, and UHD discs, probably a 45/45/10 split respectively. For fun (I’m a weirdo perhaps) I’ve decided I’d embark on the tasks of re-ripping and re-encoding my movies to make sure that they are all up to my current standards and to use H.265 - with the idea of saving disk space.

The devices our family use for Plex movie viewing are almost always AppleTVs. We have 4 total, two of the second gen 4K models, a first gen 4K model, and one HD model. In the past I’ve usually ripped my movies using MakeMKV and encode using Handbrake using the “General Super HQ” Surround preset with the appropriate resolution for the original source media. This has generally meant that H.264 was used as the video encoder.

For audio - I only include one track and I always use passthrough for the best audio track on the disc. I don’t care about space savings when it comes to the audio track.

For the re-rips that I’ve done so far, I’ve tried both the “Devices Apple” preset and the “General Super HQ” preset with the appropriate resolution for the original source media. However, on on the Video tab I’ve changed the encoder to H.265 and left the other video settings the same. Most of the time I leave the format option at the default which is MP4, but occasionally I need to change it to MKV to allow TrueHD to be set to passthrough.

The disk space savings have been impressive so far, some times up to 20%. The quality of the video looks every bit as good as the H.264 video except…

The issue: There are very noticeable hiccups, or stutters, in the video playback. If you’re not watching closely you may miss them, and it doesn’t always happen in the same places if you rewind and rewatch a spot. I’ve found that I can most easily observe the skipping or stuttering by watching scrolling credits. It seems to happen easily once every 15 seconds or so.

I’ve checked the CPU usage on my Plex server and it doesn’t seem to be taxed, Plex is generally using <10% of the CPU.

These are the Handbrake settings I’m using
Summary Tab
Dimensions Tab
Filters Tab
Video Tab
Audio Tab
Subtitles Tab
Chapters Tab

Things I’ve checked/tried and observances

-Turning match framerate on/off on the AppleTV settings. Makes no difference
-Turning the enhanced player in Plex settings on the AppleTV on/off. Makes no difference
-Infuse on the AppleTV playing the same file. No stuttering is present
-Plex web client on a Windows PC. No stuttering is present
-H.265 files I’ve obtained from other sources don’t have the stuttering.

Its very frustrating to be able to create H.264 movies that play fine but not H.265 files. I am chomping at the bit to covert my library to H.265.

I would be grateful for tip or ideas I can try.

Thank you

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Well shoot. I was hoping at least someone would strike up an idea or two for me to try to fix this issue.

As a Plexpass lifetime member am I entitled to any support from Plex themselves for an issue such as this?

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I wish I had some advice for you. My only suggestion is to maybe try one of the more general Matroska .265 preset and just go through and change it to meet your needs. This is what I do with the few videos I need to run through Handbrake and I have never had an issue. My brother’s family all watches on an Apple TV and my wife uses an iPad with no issue.

As for your second question, no Plex does not have any responsibility in making sure that our files are correct for playback. But hopefully someone with a bit more knowledge will come in here and help you.

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Thank you for the reply and the suggestion. I just tried another encode using the Matroska H.265 preset, only changing the option to match original framerate and, unfortunately, the same stuttering issue exists.

As for support I’m inclined to disagree as I think of the issue a bit differently. I don’t think the issue is really with my encodes. Although I concede that I could be wrong. But, Plex plays them OK on other devices I’ve tried, like an iPhone and a Windows PC. Also, other players, such as Infuse, on the AppleTV don’t seem to suffer the same issue. The issue seems to lie with Plex - on the AppleTV - so I think it would be at least in Plex’s interests to investigate and converse on this.

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Not trying to be rude or combative but your encodes definitely have something to do with it. You said so yourself in the initial post when you said other H.265 files don’t exhibit the same issues. I would say try the encode again and don’t touch anything except passthrough the audio. I know the files I have done that way work fine with my bothers Apple TV’s. If that doesn’t work, it may be the actual rips themselves have issues. Again I’m not an expert, just trying to help :slightly_smiling_face:

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I appreciate your replies, no worries.

It’s a combination for sure. My rips and encodes work on other devices, even with Plex. I realize that when I say other H.265 files from other sources work fine that points to something in the encode I’m doing - and I agree - but with Plex too. I just can’t put my finger on what that is.

I’ve tried encodes more than a dozen times with different settings. If I use H.265 the results are the same so far, stuttering. If I use the same settings with the same rips but instead choose H.264 then the movie plays fine on my AppleTVs on Plex.

It’s a puzzler for sure.

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I think your right, its a combination of all of them. The reason I suggested to redo the encode like that is I wonder if changing the framerate setting could be causing the issue, but that is definitely grasping at straws. Do the files try to direct play or transcode? Sometimes Plex can be weird about transcoding HEVC files in my experience because it has to take them all the way over to H.264.

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Yeah, I’ve tried the framerate setting at “match source” and I’ve left it at the default of 30. Didn’t make a difference.

The container is transcoded if its MKV but the H.265 video is direct played.

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If you’re using H.265/x265 you might as well use 10-bit encoding. It’s more efficient even for SDR content, better at avoiding banding, and you can frequently go from CRF 18 → 20 or even 21 at the same visual quality.

Does it change if MKV is used, or if you remux an existing file into MKV with MKVToolNix?

Does it change if AC3/EAC3 is used instead, or if an AC3 track is included and selected during playback? The ATV can’t pass uncompressed audio, so something is transcoding it during playback.

Does the stuttering improve if the encoding is changed from Variable Framerate → Constant Framerate (Same as source)?

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Yes, the audio is transcoded to AC3 in the case of this particular movie. I generally keep only the best audio track and let Plex transcode it down if necessary. This has worked perfectly, as far as I can tell.

MKV or M4V as the container, doesn’t seem to make a difference with the stuttering. I’m not familiar with MKVToolNix. Should I really look in to using it?

Variable Framerate vs Constant Framerate - this is something I tried this week and it didn’t make a difference.

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Sometimes the way streams are muxed in the container can make a difference. I’m not aware of any problems with recent HandBrake, only that MKVToolNix is the gold standard for MKVs.

I’m curious if you also see the video issue with NO audio in the file - just trying to narrow down possible correlated factors.

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With MKVToolNix - would I just load one of my MKV encodes, specify an output file, and hit ‘Start Multiplexing’ or are there other options I need to select/trigger to get the remux you’re speaking of?

Let me also try one without the audio.

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Yes, exactly.

I don’t think it will help, but it’s a quick test. :slight_smile:

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MKVToolNix didn’t seen to help, at least not how I used it. :frowning: Also, the encode without audio had the same stuttering as well.

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Ive been using Ivi Software by Southpole for yrs to rip and encode. Its only available for Mac systems. You may want to look into it.

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I don’t have a Mac, just Windows. Thanks for the suggestion though.

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