I’ve run into a consistent issue on my Samsung TV (Tizen, QN85D) where FLAC playback fails whenever Direct Play is enabled in the Samsung Plex app. This looks like a capability-reporting bug. I am running the latest Version 1.42.2.10156, and a fully updated Plex app.
Reproduction steps:
Samsung Plex app → Settings → Video
Enable Direct Play = ON
Enable Direct Stream = ON
Force Direct Play = OFF
Play any FLAC file → result is buffering followed by a playback error.
Turn Enable Direct Play = OFF (leave Force Direct Play = OFF).
Play the same FLAC file → plays correctly (server transcodes FLAC → PCM).
What seems to be happening: When ‘Enable Direct Play’ is ON, the Samsung client advertises full FLAC support to the server. Plex sends the raw FLAC stream, but the Samsung app fails to initialise FLAC playback and does not request any fallback. The result is a playback error after some time buffering.
When ‘Enable Direct Play’ is OFF, the client stops advertising FLAC capability, the server transcodes to PCM, and playback works reliably.
Expected behaviour: ‘Enable Direct Play’ should attempt native playback but fall back to Direct Stream or Transcode when codec initialisation fails. Only ‘Force Direct Play’ should suppress fallback.
Actual behaviour: ‘Enable Direct Play’ behaves like ‘Force Direct Play’, causing FLAC playback to fail with no fallback path.
Notes:
The TV itself supports FLAC (confirmed via specs and casting tests).
FLAC files all work on other Plex apps on my mobile, PC, and tablet.
Video Direct Play/Transcode behaviour is normal.
This issue seems limited to FLAC capability reporting in the Samsung client.
It would help if the Samsung client or device profile downgraded FLAC capability (or handled fallback correctly), so the server can deliver PCM when native FLAC initialisation fails. This seems like it should be default behaviour.
Here is a recent reddit thread with people reporting the same issue, with the same solution.
Thanks — happy to provide logs if needed.
