There are anecdotal report(s) that the Tube/Stick Shield struggled with some Plex playback while Shield Pro did not. Notable differences of the Tube Shield vs Shield Pro 2019 (which shouldn’t have too much of a performance impact):
32-bit (vs 64-bit)
2GB RAM (vs 3GB)
Small measured performance dip (single digit %)
MicroSD slot (vs onboard storage + USB ports)
If your PC, which plays fine, and your Tube Shield both connect to the identical audio and video setup, then the Shield Pro and its seemingly minor performance benefits may be the ticket. An AppleTV 4k might also be worth a shot.
If you are experiencing these audio issues when playing back audio via sound bar, that is most likely your culprit. Not much options with that one short of switching to a receiver and wired audio systems, or potentially a newer sound bar with HDMI connectors. Soundbar audio drop outs seem to be attempts to deal with issues with lag and/or difficultly converting original audio from something like DTS to something “simpler” like PCM.
Leave the drama/pity party at home mate - its media streaming, not food/water/shelter/health.
I do have a soundbar but its the LG sl9y so its 2019 and top end. Also connected through HDMI arc.
I suppose it could be the fact that it’s the tube vs the pro but looking at the specs 1GB of ram shouldn’t make all the difference in this case. Seeing other people having this issues with other nvidia but builds makes me think it’s a software / codec issue on nvidias side.
Also, thanks for trying to be the hero and “bring me down to earth” but it’s my hard earned money spent and I have a right to be upset if it’s not working correctly. Please save your chivalry for another place and either choose to not respond to me or save your comments for yourself. Appreciated.
Try connecting the Shield directly to the soundbar. This takes the TV out of the equation. Not all TVs passthrough all audio codecs, even if said codec can be passed by HDMI-ARC.
Also, HDMI-ARC is bandwidth limited. It cannot pass lossless audio such as TrueHD or dts-HD MA. In such a scenario, Plex will transcode TrueHD to a format that can pass over HDMI-ARC. dts-HD MA may transcode, or the dts lossy core may be passed via HDMI-ARC (it can vary depending on TV & receiver/soundbar).
Thank you FordGuy. I will try the direct connection and see if that helps. I was also advised in the Nvidia forums to try different (better quality) HDMI cables. I ordered a new set and between your suggestion and that one hope to have this issue fixed.
If not, I will inquire with ChuckPa on further assistance. Thanks.
This won’t fix it. This problem has been around for awhile. Was mainly affecting Atmos playback but now hampers all my 4k and 1080p playback files on my Plex server.
Only way around it is using MrMC player. Only thing that works
I’m a bit unfamiliar with the shield as a whole as of yet. Is MrMC player an playstore app? Or how do I set that as the player? Am I going to be unable to watch things in plex using it?
First connect the Shield directly to the soundbar and see if that helps with Plex and Netflix.
The issues that started this thread had to do with how the Shield handled TrueHD and TrueHD + Atmos. The fix required updates from Nvidia and Google, and those fixes are in the 8.1.1 software release.
Since your setup involve HDMI-ARC, which cannot pass TrueHD, any TrueHD audio will be transcoded by Plex Media Server to another format (and Atmos data lost in the process). This means your Shield received the transcoded audio, not the TrueHD audio. So, any audio dropouts you experienced when playing movies with TrueHD audio were more than likely due to a different problem than what started this thread.
Also, Netflix streams Atmos using Dolby Digital Plus + Atmos, and at a far lower bitrate than TrueHD + Atmos found on Blu-ray discs. I did not see anything on the Nvidia forum where Netflix was also affected by the bugs that affected TrueHD.
So… it is possible your audio dropouts are unrelated to the issues that started this thread, at least the way I’m reading things (If I’m mistaken then others on this thread will let me know). The only way to know is to connect the Shield directly to the soundbar and see what happens.
As far as Mr MC goes, it is a fine alternative Plex client. It supports TrueHD + Atmos and dts-HD MA passthrough w/o issue. If you do use it instead of the Plex app you can still use the Plex Media Server. You do not have to completely leave the Plex ecosystem.
Minor PSA/reminder (probably was mentioned before):
Official Plex client in Shield Experience 8.1.1 has the fixes for Atmos time-specific dropouts.
3rd Party players that utilize Plex plugins (such as latest regular release of Kodi, which has a Plex Add-On) most likely do NOT yet have the these fixes. Noticed it today when tried Kodi w/ Plex plugin and had time specific drop-outs in Atmos playback of Big Hero 6 - official Plex client worked properly. Its been 1 month since the fixes have been released in Shield 8.1.1, so might be worth reminding in case someone is testing Atmos w/ troublesome media using something like Kodi or Kodi based players.
Also, fully confirming Big Hero 6 at 4k Atmos 7.1.4 playback is working properly with Official Plex client in Shield 8.1.1 release - just finished watching.
i just bought my first shield a few days ago. I have the shield pro 2019
i get audio dropouts on plex, youtube and also netflix
just random split second cut out no disturbance of the video as listed above and in other threads after a google.
I am running over gbit lan. after i plugged it in first time it wet through updates and is on 8.1.1
plex and netflix and youtube all seem to be latest versions.
I have read if maybe i revert to WIFI it may stop audio dropout? i havent tried yet as just read about it.
I bought shield to fix buffering issues my xbox and TV have with plex and thats solved but now this bloody audio issue
I am plugged directly into samsung q90R sound bar with the shield
Unrelated to this thread, probably should spin off another thread.
Its the soundbar, specifically wireless soundbar.
Short term:
upgrade fw if available on soundbar, satellites, tv
Will potentially provide slightly improved algorithms/tradeoffs to deal with inherent wifi problem (FCC rule 15 & radar forcing GTFO, flooded wifi spectrums)
Force downsample audio from DTS to PCM, as far up the chain as you can, minimizing reliance on decoding on soundbar. To achieve this from source, if you tell your nvidia shield it can’t do DTS etc, it should request Plex transcode your audio stream into PCM straight at stream source. This should also inform Netflix to not to send DTS audio tracks. Alternatively, you can try selecting lower quality track from audio selector in whichever app you are using.
this is ~high probability how your xbox audio works “properly”/masks this, by sending relatively lower quality audio (if not basic 2 channel stereo). The closer to the playback device this conversion happens, you run risk of lip sync issues - getting a PCM/transcoded stream from source will help minimize this. In ideal circumstances, this might be seemingly perfect, but in general this is a mitigation rather than actual solution (i’ve had it work sufficiently well for years, YMMV).
Different devices may handle this kind of thing differently (ala xbox vs nvidia shield): You may find an AppleTV has marginally better algorithms/compute power for the non-atmos soundbar setup. Similarly a PC might work better, in exchange for losing set top box experience.
Truly though, the real answer is: replace with receiver and hardwired speakers. I hate this answer as much as the rest, but years of fighting it through various solutions means usually compromising in audio codec/quality… I’ve personally spent dozens if not hundreds of hours mitigating (some years getting better results than other). They are doing pretty innovative things with wire conduit and even wire as tape (GhostWire) so it is easier to get a wired setup now days.
Whatever you do, wireless audio is inherently problematic proposition - stereo has been cleverly handled by some manufacturers (e.g. sonos), but others still struggle with even getting stereo working consistently - and for 5.1 and up it has been very much best effort with pretty impressive results but audio drop outs are cropping up more and more as atmos and higher bitrate audio continues to come out.
Hi thanks very much for that info. spewing would have thought such an expensive sound bar i got for the upstairs TV wouldnt do this.
i will bring up my yamaha dolby atmos amp and speakers and try that instead with the shield
just need to get a new SUB for it
feel like i got ripped off with the soundbar as it was meant to get EARC to
I previously had 2017 shield, never had issues of audio dropout. Have NAS and regularly watched 4K Atmos truehd. I have a Samsung Q90R soundbar which supports all ATMOS etc. Shield is connected directly to soundbar, then to TV. All working fine.
Just received new Shield 2019 Pro, basically swapped out, and having issues. It happens on Netflix app on Shield, Disney+ and also Plex. Currently watching Thor on Disney+ in 4k and every minute it drops out either a millisecond or a second, it varies.
I have noticed that previously, when watching anything Atmos, the soundbar shows Atmos, and now it doesn’t.
Tomorrow I’m going to plug the old shield back in and test to see if it has same problem, but as it stands right now, whatever has changed/updated, it horrible.
I saw previous posts on wireless soundbars which I have, but as stated, I have been watching 4k truehd Atmos on all media apps no problems until new shield.
Edit:
Watching 4K truehd Atmos version of lion king from Plex off my NAS, and there is no audio dropout. Soundbar identified and switched to Atmos (visual display shows this). Doesn’t seem to identify through shield apps for Netflix, prime, Disney+.
Check App and System audio settings (some override system, others rely on system settings). And obviously, check latest app and system updated version. From what I understand at least one of those apps do support Atmos. Based on previous experience (fully working audio setup), I posit new device may not have all configs set to working parameters.
Also, good to hear that Q90R seems to be working properly. Your precise config (firmware of sound bar/players/satellites, speaker config, connection setup could probably be spun off into a separate thread as a “working config” that fellow Q90R owners could try to adhere toward. I don’t have a Q90R, but I know I definitely would of appreciated a confirmed working config thread if I did.
Thank god I found this thread as I thought I was going crazy. I’ve been experiencing the same issue with Atmos track in Disney UHD’s like:
-Tangled (when rabbit is on train going into city)
-Frozen II (37:44, 1:00:31, 1:00:49)
-Incredibles 2
I have a Shield 2017 running the latest Version 8.0.2 (32.5.205.105) and I’m still experiencing these specific dropouts. Has this fix not made it’s way to the 2017 Shield or is it only available via a hotfix?
Ok, I’ve caught up on all the reading and currently this fix is only available via the 3rd 8.0.2 hotfix for the 2015/2017 models. Whereas, it’s currently included in the main 8.1.1 release for 2019 models.
@Achilles, I just wanted to see if you confirmed you no longer were seeing this issue on any titles/shield hardware versions you were running. The reason I’m asking this is the developer behind MakeMKV recently released v1.15.1 of their software that contained the following fix:
“MakeMKV was (rarely, but still) dropping wrong audio frames on segment boundaries, so MKV files are bad (with clicks on scene change) but backups are good.”
I can’t comment on other remux/ripping software (eg CloneBD, DVDFab) as I don’t use them, but if MakeMKV has just 2 weeks ago fixed a related issue it’s possible some anomalies people are still seeing is related to what version of the software they were using to rip their discs. For example, a Disney title with multiple segments ripped by MakeMKV before v1.15.1 may no longer exhibit the random/fixed dropouts reported in this thread, but could still exhibit dropouts due to the “segment boundary” issue that existed in prior versions of the software.
Hopefully, we are nearing the end of this issue so Atmos/DolbyHD tracks won’t be an issue anymore once everyone is using the latest versions of each software type.
