@drinehart: I thought the same too, but apparently transcoding multi-channel AC-3 to AAC is more CPU intensive than I credited it for. In any case, people run it on all sorts of hardware, and it’s hard to convince them that they need to change hardware just because we now need to transcode something which didn’t need transcoding before. I had also hoped that Microsoft would not take this long to fix the issue even after getting a perfect repro scenario several months ago (and me nagging them about the issue for almost a year).
@pombeirp How about adding a setting to enforce this connection for those who want it (and can handle it)?
I mean conversion, not connection.
Is this a Windows 10 general bug or specific to Mobile?
I’m only experiencing issues with AC3 transcoding in Windows 10 Mobile (RS2).
Session show up has “Transcoding (throttled)” and pauses immediately.
Trying to play in Edge (Mobile) I get an instant error saying there was an issue playing that media.
It works properly in Windows 10 x64 RS2 and also in Edge (desktop).
Thanks,
anthonws.
@anthonws: this is a general Windows 10 bug. I’m on the latest Fast Insider build (RS2) on my Surface Pro 3 and I still see the issue.
@pombeirp said:
@anthonws: this is a general Windows 10 bug. I’m on the latest Fast Insider build (RS2) on my Surface Pro 3 and I still see the issue.
I’m not able to replicate the issue since in my desktop (latest RS2 also) it works, either in “Direct Play” or “Transcoding (throttle)”. Using the latest Plex UWP.
But the only thing, in my case, being transcoded is the video and not the sound (sound shows up as “Direct Stream”).
While in the phone, it’s always an issue when I’m trying to play a media file that has AC3 sound. Which according to what I understood from this thread, it’s a transcoding capacity issue (AC3 to AAC). And this happens because Windows 10 Mobile does not contain any decoding capabilities for AC3. Or at least, only in very select models: Supported codecs - UWP applications | Microsoft Learn.
Please correct me if I’m wrong 
Thanks,
anthonws.
300 mkv’s none will work, starting to see a movie after few minutes will start to freez… audio out of sync…
I tried using a software called Pavtube to convert an MKV to AAC 5.1 audio but the issue still persisted. I’ll play with it on my end to see if I did something wrong but I’m concerned there might be more than 1 issue causing this. The conversion is a very time consuming process; takes 2+ hours per MKV on my system. The other concerning part, unless I misunderstood, is the mention that this issue is mainly affecting slower computers. My system is an i7-Skylake 4 GHz with 32 GB RAM and the problem persists. It works with Chrome browser, Android, Roku, and even the Xbox One, but not regular Windows 10 or Windows 10 Mobile.
Not sure if this helps, but go to the download section and get plex media player. For some reason it never buffers for me, but the plex windows app always does. Need to overclock my i5 CPU and see if that helps.
Just be mindful that it’s not as good looking as the windows app.
No idea how to delete posts on here. 
@pombeirp said:
this is a general Windows 10 bug. I’m on the latest Fast Insider build (RS2) on my Surface Pro 3 and I still see the issue.
Any chance that the new Creators Update SDK fixes this if the app is recompiled? Or it’s one of those things MS has chosen not to address?
They were working on a fix for the upcoming version of Windows, which I can only assume is the Creators Update, but they have been very silent about the whole thing. If the fix is indeed there, it should work as soon as the OS is updated, no recompiling needed.
@pombeirp said:
They were working on a fix for the upcoming version of Windows, which I can only assume is the Creators Update, but they have been very silent about the whole thing. If the fix is indeed there, it should work as soon as the OS is updated, no recompiling needed.
I’m running the most recent version of the Creator’s Update which is now in Preview Release for Windows Insiders. It currently does not fix the stuttering at the beginning of playback. It seems to play more smoothly after the very beginning but so far my experience is that when you hit play on almost every video I have it does the same thing: You see a frozen image of the first frame in the video and you hear the first two or three seconds of audio play. Then suddenly the video starts playing and the audio starts from the beginning again. After that everything works fine.
This is better than I experienced before, which would cause the video to stutter at random points during playback for the whole duration of the video.
@pombeirp said:
They were working on a fix for the upcoming version of Windows, which I can only assume is the Creators Update, but they have been very silent about the whole thing. If the fix is indeed there, it should work as soon as the OS is updated, no recompiling needed.
As i understand - Microsoft let you download and install the new creators update,
Source:
lifehacker.com/how-to-download-the-windows-10-creators-update-right-no-1793908179
Did anyone by chance installed already the update - and can confirm the issue has been fixed?
Thanks!
@smounche said:
@pombeirp said:
They were working on a fix for the upcoming version of Windows, which I can only assume is the Creators Update, but they have been very silent about the whole thing. If the fix is indeed there, it should work as soon as the OS is updated, no recompiling needed.As i understand - Microsoft let you download and install the new creators update,
Source:
lifehacker.com/how-to-download-the-windows-10-creators-update-right-no-1793908179Did anyone by chance installed already the update - and can confirm the issue has been fixed?
Thanks!
EDIT - 6:52
Sorry spoke too soon. It seems like the test file I loaded has some kind of issue. I just tested several other full HD 1080p files at large file sizes (again 8-15gb) and they all play perfectly in the windows 10 Plex App when the quality is set to “Original”. Fantastic news!!!
I did not test creators update yet but for my setup problem occurred also with the MS “Film and TV” app but not with desktop VLC app…
I have honestly switched away from using the plex windows app because half of my files stutter and freeze intermittently. Not sure if this is the same stuttering thats being referenced here. I am pretty sure its just my mkv files, but will check later. Video will seem to freeze for a second or two while audio keeps playing. Not sure if its just the beginning of playback or during the whole thing because I usually switch to a web player (cant use pmp anymore since they removed high dpi scaling).
I can double check this tonight. Are there specific types of mkv files that people are finding are worse than others? 1080p content for instance? Or just any mkv files?
And I loaded the creators update a week ago and have definitely noticed this behavior since.
I have also been using the Creators Update since last week and the stuttering didn’t change at all. Almost all of my media files produce this problem. Sometimes it stops after giving the app some minutes but mostly the problem persists. None of the changes I could do seemed to improve this issue.
Basically, now I am using Google Chrome to watch films on my Surface using the web interface. But it is really annoying because the app would be much more convenient as I can see when using the Android app on a kindle fire or on my mobile.
I think the Plex team should try to find a workaround for this issue as it cannot be an option forever to always blame Microsoft and postpone any improvements until next big Windows update.
So I assume there still has been no progress on this? I have been using PMP in the meantime, but its painfully obvious that PMP was designed to be used on TV screens with remotes and not really on a desktop (as evidenced by the complete lack of a normal full screen mode that doesnt switch to TV mode). So i reinstalled the windows app… and the first thing I play stutters horribly. I remember now why I switched to PMP (has more file support than browser).
So, any progress on this front? Would really like to be able to use this app, but with the stuttering its just not usable. I see the last post in here was April, and the last update from plex seems to have been in March.
I am running the creators update, latest windows, latest version of the app.
I’ve got a Win 10 tablet that I use Plex on for travel but likewise the store app is terrible with the stuttering which makes it unusable.
Problem is the tablet is 32bit and can’t run 64bit Windows, so I can’t use the desktop app. Any chance of a 32bit build of the desktop app?
What does work is the Kodi plugin, and everything plays smooth in it (so the tablet is not the issue, and there’s no issue with 32bit either). It’s a slight pain though as Kodi is poor at touch, even with touch enabled. With the Kodi app it wants to use touch as a means of moving the mouse pointer which is rubbish, and it’s tricky to get back into Kodi or exit the thing. Go into settings and get stuck, having to force close the app.
Yet to try OpenPHT. Looks like it’s not being developed any more though? Likewise the Kodi plugin?
Still though, I can’t see any way to sync media for offline playback with Kodi or OpenPHT. This is vital as using it on the move, there’s frequently no network.
