Hi Plex 5.6.1 on tizen 5.5 always transcodes DVR live video despite the fact that the samsung tv is capable to play the same video without transcoding if I play a recorded (non live) clip.
Plex Media Server Logs_2021-01-11_22-37-03.zip (4.0 MB)
Thanks
I get the same thing. Live tv works fine on my Fire stick 4K. Strange that the Samsung is showing 10gbps bit rate.
According to your log, PMS could not determine the codecs in the Lvie Stream so it had to remux the video to help identify them. Then it found the video did not have a color space that was compatible so it had to transcode the video to make it work.
On your screenshot comparing to the Fire TV, that stream is 1080i. The Samsung does not support interlaced video so it has to transcode it. The 10 Gbps also means that PMS could not identify the video like I mentioned above.
Ok, I hadn’t noticed the 1080i vs 1080p. That show was being recorded as I played it. When I play it back from the tv shows library when the recording is finished, it direct plays.
This last part of my statement can also lead to PMS transcoding.
If I stream the same content as Iptv in an IPTV app it works perfectly in the Samsung so it’s not color profile nor interlacing.
Ok, so Plex couldn’t identify the video when trying to play Live TV. (from a HDHR Prime). Why did it not have a problem with playing the recording from the Plex library?
Correct, the recording goes on directplay. I wonder if the difference is the fact that plex is forcing an hls stream for the live content but the stream is only mpegts
Is the original an IPTV stream or OTA broadcast?
IPTV stream thru xteve. Same stream works perfectly on plex for androidtv
Plex does not support IPTV. It just sort of works so YMMV when it doesn’t.
I have the same issue as OP, but for OTA/Antenna using HDHomerun. When watching Live TV, on my Samsung TV, it does not support direct play. But if I record a show and then play back, it does support direct play. According to this post from 4 days ago, it seems this is by design (Samsung TV Q85R (2019) Transcoding All Live TV / DVR Instead of Direct Play or Stream). But I am disappointed by this answer and I would like to add my vote to allow direct play for live tv. This is a deal breaker for me… trying out Plex Pass monthly to evaluate but if I need to transcode just to watch live tv it is unacceptable. My QNAP TS-251A server can transcode to 720p but causes buffering on 1080p, and I’m not going to upgrade my NAS any time soon.
It is not by design. If PMS could detect the stream in real time, then it should be able to direct play supported streams. Sometimes due to the way a live stream is handled, this info can’t be determined. When you save the file, it has a header and all the necessary information.
Thanks for the response. I did another test last night. Hockey game at 720p 60fps, and football at 1080i 30fps. Both OTA antenna. On my Fire TV 4K Stick, both worked perfectly, direct play and no buffering issues. On my Samsung Tizen (2019) tv, using the native Plex app, both feeds were forced to transcode. So, when you said,
Sometimes due to the way a live stream is handled, this info can’t be determined
How come it can be determined on the Fire TV app, but not in the Samsung Tizen app?
I’m happy to continue testing and provide more info to find a resolution. I’m very excited that Live TV is working perfectly on my Fire TV 4K, but I need it to work on my Samsung Tizen also please.
The Plex app on the Fire TV can analyze the live stream to determine if it can be played or not. If not, it can request PMS to transcode.
The Smart TV app just tries to play the stream. If it fails and can recover from the failure, then it can request a transcode from PMS. However, if the playback fails without a known reason, then it can’t fallback to PMS. This is likely what you are seeing.
If it fails and can recover from the failure, then it can request a transcode from PMS.
This seems to be what is happening because it always ends up transcoding LIVE tv. But, if I play the same show after recording it (DVR), it plays direct fine, without transcoding.
So the question is why does direct play fail/transcodes only on live tv, but the same show plays direct (no transcoding) after it is recorded?
This really sounds like a bug to me. I would like this addressed before I renew my Plex Pass subscription.
A Live stream and a recorded file are different and need to be handled differently by the player.
Hi @anon18523487 and @sa2000. I recently started a new thread Live TV transcoding/buffering issue on Samsung TV client and I haven’t had any replies on it. Then I found this thread which I realized is exactly the same issue.
As you may see from my thread I noticed I could induce the same issue on my Firestick as there is a client setting “Transcode Interlaced”. If I switch this on I get the same issue as on my Samsung TV, but on the Samsung TV client this option does not exist.
I did a bit more digging and I found that the option was added to the Firestick client based on this thread: Interlaced content now transcoding on Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K? by @sa2000.
Please can you check if this is the same issue seen on the Samsung TV client and whether it can be fixed in the same way?
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