Server Version#: 1.21.1.3795
Player Version#: 6.7.4.6764
I’m having some major issues with one of my clients and audio transcoding. I’m not sure if this just started happening with the latest server update or what. I’ve tested all of my other devices and they all transcode to AC3 640kbps just fine. My Roku TCL TV is transcoding to AC3 just fine, My PC and Google Pixel 4a 5g are direct playing 7.1 AAC no problem.
However my Roku Steaming Stick + keeps transcoding all my AAC 7.1 Audio to Stereo MP3 at around 258kbps. I can’t really watch any 4K HDR movies because they’re all 7.1 and the sound is absolutely HORRID. If I resume the 1080p copy on my server that transcodes AAC 5.1 to AC3, it sounds 10x better.
I’m having a hell of a time trying to wrap my head around how this is the only device doing this. Is it the way I have my hardware setup?
Sharp 4k TV
Yamaha AVR connected to TV via Optical Audio
Roku Streaming Stick +
So basically since my receiver is so old and doesn’t have HDMI, I have to use digital audio. Therefore it defaults to PCM. When I change the input on the Sharp TV to Dolby Digital or RAW, it still transcodes to MP3 258kbps and sounds awful. Plus my speakers will crackle when set to DD or RAW.
Would a new receiver with ARC support help fix this? I know the Roku should be able to transcode to AC3 instead of MP3 no problem since my TCL Roku TV transcodes AAC 7.1 to AC3 just fine.
I don’t mind transcoding audio at all, but to 256k MP3? Completely ruins the viewing experience. I didn’t even know it was a thing to transcode audio from a movie to MP3. Don’t think I’ve ever seen that before. I’m hoping this is a simple fix but have a feeling I might need some new gear? It makes sense for my PC, Phone and TCL TV to transcode appropriately since they’re all newer devices and my AV receiver is 15+ years old.
I have a similar - but different - transcoding to stereo MP3 audio issue with my Roku Ultra connected to an older non-smart Samsung TV. I’m running same server\player version with latest Roku updates.
I have AC3 5.1 transcoding to stereo MP3 and getting an audio delay - it would start to lag, I’d step back once in the playback and it’d resync and then start to delay again. I also don’t remember transcoding to MP3 being a thing before.
I fixed it by changing my Roku HDMI setting in the Audio setup from “Auto” to “Dolby Digital” (which my TV supports - had to look it up but you can just try the different settings). Plex stopped trying to transcode AC3 to MP3 stereo and the TV handled the downmixing itself (only stereo speakers). I hadn’t had to do that before - or at least that setting never caused me trouble before. You might try switching the HDMI audio settings to auto-passthrough or finding the right option that includes Dolby Digital or Dolby Digital Plus.
That Roku “auto” option for HDMI doesn’t always seem to work right even with modern ARC devices being connected so I don’t know if updating to a newer ARC\eARC model will help. I have two soundbars that support DTS and Dolby Digital connected by ARC and the auto option only detects stereo support. I manually switched that setting to the support I know it can handle and the DD and DTS lights come on now and I’ll get the fuller sound.
There is a bug with Roku and AC3\EAC3 and maybe this is related (not a Plex bug but you’ll see it in Plex). I had fiddled with the audio settings on this same Ultra recently and something changed since but I don’t recall the exact timing of fiddling with the audio settings for the AC3 bug, and the recent Plex and Roku updates so it’s hard for me to pinpoint for sure about this transcoding thing. I did come to the forums to see if anybody else had stereo transcoding issues. Maybe there is a bug in there.
I also had this issue with a Roku Streaming Stick +. Audio was being transcoded to MP3 instead of AAC and created a delay/sync issue. I rolled my server back to 1.21.0.3616 and it resolved the issue. Audio is now being transcoded to AAC properly. It seems that something in the last few versions introduced a bug that needs to be resolved by the Plex team.
I have tried to do the XML fix but I am running Plex on a Synology server and I cannot for the life of me find the Resources folder. I’ve even searched the entire Plex folder structure for “roku” with no results.
I really don’t want to roll back my server but I may just do so at this point. I have also discovered now that Plexamp does not seem to be transcoding properly either. I listened to about 6 songs in the car yesterday and even though Plexamp was showing OPUS, when I checked the dashboard it said it was direct playing FLAC Stereo.
6 songs burned up 65mb of mobile data. If it’s transcoding properly to 256kbps OPUS, I imagine it should only be maybe 15-20mb of data, if that. So it appears that one of the server updates possibly broke transcoding for plexamp as well.
I get that there are many supported devices with Plex but Roku is one of if not the most mainstream applications out there. Would really appreciate if a staff member could chime in as there are multiple reports of it. Or if anybody knows why I can’t find the XML on my Synology server in the meantime.
Synology hides a lot of the raw structure for package\app folders so you’ll need to use SSH and Terminal to mess with them. There isn’t an “unhide” option for these. I have a Synology as well … it’s just part of the prosumer nature of the devices to hide some functions behind a technical experience wall. Check around the Synology section of the Plex forums and there’s usually some instructions for getting to the package files posted up.
Holiday time in the states is usually a “don’t expect any updates” time so I’m not terribly surprised; I’m hoping to see an update for servers and client in first half of January.
I know nothing worthwhile is getting done at my job these couple of weeks.
Yeah that’s completely understandable, I made that post more as a “bump” hoping someone from Plex would at least acknowledge the issue. There are other threads as well such as yours and minicarters that nobody from Plex has acknowledged yet either. I’m trying to allow several days before responding again to give them time but I also don’t want this issue we’re having to be completely left in the dark either.
I saw a server update available today, I’m going to run it later tonight but there’s no mention of it fixing any transcoding issues in the release notes. I’ll report back after I update to 1.21.1.3842. I would do it now but I have a user watching a movie.
Fixes
(DVR) Plex Tuner Service would sometimes fail to start up on Windows, when machine was under load (#12035)
(Library) Studio would be listed twice in custom filters (#12124)
(Pivots) Only display playlist pivot if it is non-empty (#12097)
(Scanner) New movies would have incomplete metadata if the scan was invoked from the command line (#12156)
Edit: Just ran across this thread.
Someone tagged a Plex employee with @ and they responded. So at least it seems they’re aware of it on Android TV. Not sure if they’re aware it is effecting Roku and Chromecast for others.
Interesting thread, since I seem to have it all working perfect now when using my Roku 4K Ultra (I’m the guy that tagged some people in the Android TV thread).
Whatever I throw at it now, it gets played. Some lossless stuff gets converted to EAC3 (5.1 or 7.1) but all the rest is just plain pass through.
I want to test the scenario in this thread to, but I am not sure if I have anything with AAC… I can Google and find (seems to be when using MP4 - I stick to mkv), but if somebody can hook me up with a file that is not working, that would be great.
The transcoding to MP3 would happen to me with AC3\EAC3 5.1 converting to MP3 stereo on my Roku Ultra (and TCL) with MKV files. Others are getting 7.1 converting to MP3 stereo instead of 5.1 - 5.1 to stereo transcoding was able to be worked around with some settings changes (but then triggers a Roku AC3 audio delay bug as well which required additional tweaks). There’s another linked thread with more technical info in it earlier in this topic (see my previous post) that has more references (transcoding logs) and goes over that AC3 specific bug as well which might help you with any testing.
I just find it so strange that my problem is only with 7.1 AAC while others have the same problem but with 5.1.
I really feel for you guys having trouble with 5.1. Most my 1080p collection is 5.1 so I’m fine watching most my content. I mean 7.1 AAC to Stereo MP3 is still watchable but even turning my receiver way up it still sounds awful compared to my 1080p copy direct playing or transcoding properly.
I’m going to give Plex a little more time. But if it hits a month or longer with no resolution or acknowledgement then I suppose I will just have to downgrade and keep an eye on release notes and/or these threads before I ever update again.
I just don’t want to break Plexamp, DisqueTv, etc. in the process of downgrading. I’m sure it’ll be fine I’m just worried if for instance running a newer version of Plexamp with an older server version would cause issue.
It’s not hard to get native support for AC3 5.1 (my TV will do it and it’s a 2013 Samsung non-smart TV). I was only getting 5.1 transcoding to stereo because I had my Roku setup to force Roku\Plex to downmix to stereo for me via transcoding because it sounded better than the TV native playback of AC3 5.1 to the built in stereo speakers. So transcoding AC35.1 to stereo really shouldn’t be that common on most modern TVs … but 7.1? That’ll force more transcoding situations for sure. That’s my guess anyways…
For Roku owners: be sure to check your audio settings - if you have it set to “auto” and it doesn’t detect format support it’ll default down to Stereo only. You may have to set it manually for DD, DD+ or DTS supported hardware.
If it can be of any help: I have set my audio settings manually and not auto. As said, I can’t replicate the issue where EAC3 is converted to MP3 stereo.
Maybe this setting does the trick?
