Plex on Chromecast w/google TV refusing to play certain titles, and some without audio

Plex Players Streaming Devices
1

Server Version#: 1.25.4.5487-7000
Player Version#: 8.29.0.30433 I believe, shows up in settings bottom right corner

I’m new to this, but I have a synology 720+ nas set up and have loaded it with some shows/movies. I have a fios setup that technically runs with two networks, the lan from the fios router and a google wifi mesh system. My NAS runs off the fios router. I have two chromecast, one is on the fios router’s lan, and one is on the google wifi lan. The one that is on the Google Wifi lan launches everything without issue. The issue is the chromecast that’s currently on the Fios lan, it will refuse to open certain movies regardless of the playback options I choose. This chromecast was first on the fios lan with the NAS server but I switched it to see if that would resolve the issue, it did not.

I have checked both chromecasts and they have the exact same settings yet the first one will simply buffer indefinitely when loading certain titles. I have even attempted to go into the settings and restrict the maximum quality to things like 720p or 1080 and this does nothing. I’m at a loss as to why one chromecast works flawlessly and the other refuses to load certain titles. I’ve tried reinstalling the plex app which did nothing also. A few specific titles also sometimes load without audio, but after restarting them a few times there will be a brief “updating player” message then the title loads and audio works. Any suggestions, literally just bought a year of plex pass last night and have had headaches all day.

2

Nothing you are doing requires a Plex Pass as far as I can tell. and it should have no bearing on what you are describing.

which one is your phone you are casting from on?

3

I’m not casting from a phone on either one, they’re both the Chromecast With Google TV that have a dedicated OS and remote. They’re both the same model purchased at the same time with the same OS version.

I had initially planned to switch both of the chromecasts to the same LAN that the synology is on, but my bedroom CC has had zero issues streaming anything on my plex server, so that one is still connected to my Google Wifi network.

The other CC is one I have connected directly to the LAN that my NAS is connected to, I originally had it connected to my google wifi, switched it to the Fios wifi to troubleshoot and it has retained the same issue both times.

So I’m using the Plex player app that you can download from the Google Tv app store on both of them, haven’t used my phone for any of it so far (except for testing the plex app, which works perfectly on my phone)

Edit: I’m still very much a beginner with plex so if there’s anything specific I can provide to assist in the troubleshooting I’d be happy to give it, logs or anything I can give

4

Ok that is the Android TV app. Are these connected directly to TV ( no receiver) and have you double checked the audio settings in the app and of the device?

the android logs after something fails may be able to see something

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Alright sorry for the confusion. Yes, they are connected directly via HDMI into the tv. As far as audio settings, when I encountered an error I would go into the settings and toggle around the audio controls like hdmi/optical passthrough and eventually got that sorted out, so audio is no longer as much of a problem. The remaining problem is that some devices straight up refuse to play certain movie titles. These titles are 4k-hdr titles but I don’t know why one chromecast would play it perfectly and the other would not. This error also occurs sometimes on a laptop with the plex desktop app so i’m not sure if perhaps it’s a limitation with 4k hdr videos being transcoded? In the server page it shows the video is direct-play and the audio is transcoded and the load on the NAS cpu is less than 30%

6

Are they both the same TVs models? Are the two networks wifi the same speed?

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The TV’s themselves are different. One is a Samsung(problem) and one is an LG(older, but no problem).

The wifi speed is pretty much the same with the Google wifi capable of around 800 Mbps (speed tested) and similar for the FiOS router.

8

Do you have any suggestions? The TV still refuses to play some larger 4k files while the same Chromecast model on a different TV plays perfectly

9

Just a suggestion - try swapping the Chromecasts between TVs. This way you can see if the issue is caused by the chromecast, or by the TV.

10

and make sure the sound settings of the device itself ( not the app) are the same. Suggest leaving it on “auto”.

11

Any resolution to this issue? I am having similar issues. Some 4K titles play fine on my Google TV w/ Chromecast and others do not. All titles are Dolby Atmos in MP4 format. File sizes are all roughly the same. I’ve never had this issue until the last month or so.

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What are the audio settings on the device itself ( not the app) and what are the audio settings of the app.

Recently had another user with similar issue and all audio codecs were disabled in the device audio settings.

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I have tried several different audio settings on the tv that has issues. I’ve tried it as HDMI/Optical passthrough, no passthrough. Most titles that have issues are EAC3 audio and load indefinitely. Different chromecast on the same network on an LG 4k tv has zero issues loading anything with EAC3 or AC3.

I heard chromecast natively “allegedly” supports EAC3 but it appears that it always transcodes it to OPUS or something else. In this situation where almost all the modern content is EAC3 should I be running HDMI passthrough and just hoping that my TV supports EAC3?

I have been looking into this a lot and just am not sure if the chromecast SHOULD be supporting the EAC3 itself or if that’s supposed to be passed through to the TV and perhaps the tv with issues doesn’t support it. If that’s the case though, then why doesn’t plex transcode all the time?

14

those sound like the settings of the app. I was talking about the audio settings of the device.

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