Server Version#: 1.21.1.3795
Player Version#: 8.11.0.22186 (a1b8a7fb)
Before the “big” interface upgrade a few months ago there was no problem with x265 playback. From then until now some green arctifacts (one line at the top-right and one at the bottom-right) and flickering on the screen appeared on some X265 that used to look good.
No application updates since then.
There is no problem with the rest of my devices (including a Philips AndroidTV).
Same problem with Sony Bravia XBR-65X850C. It also happens with some X264 content for me as well. I have been trying to figure out why it only happens for some files without success so far.
Is it happening for all x265 content for you?
Anyhow, it’s definitely a Plex problem since I have been able to play the same content on other players on the same device without problems.
No, It’s only happening for some of them (always with the same x265 files).
It must be a Plex problem, I don’t know if on the player side or in the server side, because they looked good in previous versions.
You can confirm server vs player side by playing the same file on a Windows client (or any client running on a platform other than Android). I also have a friend who is using Nvidia Shield TV Pro and it seems to work fine there as well. So, I believe it to be an Android TV player problem.
However, I haven’t been able to figure out why some x265 plays just fine. There must be something different between the ones working and the ones failing. That said, I have found that other players (TV specific, Kodi, etc.) have no problems playing the files with the problem. So, I am guessing that it is a really small bug in the Plex player on Android TV. The files that don’t work might also have a minor encoding issue.
Anyhow, I have reserved some time next week to do some more research. Hope I can finally find the difference. At the moment, I don’t see this being fixed without us being able to pinpoint the problem.
Happy Holidays!
I think the difference is Dolby Vision.
Those files which do work are not Dolby Vison encoded, but are just using HDR10 data.
The reason why it works on the Shield is because the Shield (the 2019 model at least) is Dolby Vision-compatible and is also able to perform color space conversion if a screen doesn’t support HDR and/or Dolby Vision.
Dolby Vision should manifest itself with additional lines in the Plex media info, which start with D V I
(you need to use the hosted version of the web app https://app.plex.tv to look at the Plex media info)
Sorry about the delay in response, but I have been busy with work in the past two weeks.
That said, I am really happy that you are responding to us. Thank you! I have been looking at this problem for quite some time now without being able to find a solution. My only workaround has been to use Kodi with the Plex plugin, but I would really prefer using the native Plex app on my TV instead.
I have just checked some files that have this problem using the web app, but I don’t see any extra lines starting with DVI. In which section of Plex media info would I find these extra lines?
So, now that we might know the root cause, is there a way to fix it in a future release of the Plex Android player? I mean it should be able to ignore HDR and Dolby Vision, right?
Happy to do some more testing on my end. Will also look at some other video files with the same problem once I am done with work today.
If you can’t find it in the Plex media info, you can also try with the latest version of https://mediaarea.net/en/MediaInfo
I have both 2015 and 2018 Sony Bravia android models, and the Plex app on the 2015 model sometimes struggles with hevc / x265. Any resolution. It appears as corruption in the image, often with green blocks or lines. I believe it is due to the specific media player that the Plex app uses and how it interacts with the hardware for the older Sony model, as the same issue was not present last year with the old media player in the Plex app. No such issues at all with the 2018 model.
The solution for me has been to use Kodi and the Plex for Kodi plugin: each time that a random HEVC file doesn’t work in the Plex app it will always work in Kodi as they seem to be using a different media player. Very occasionally you see a few lines of static / artefacts when playing back HEVC on Kodi, but it’s not a major issue.
I’ve become quite fond of the Plex for Kodi plugin as it is quite lean: it focuses on your personal media and libraries without any of the streaming or live TV features. On older devices like my 2015 Bravia it is far quicker to navigate and has fewer playback or performance quirks. And it now has the Skip Intro feature, so I’m all set!
@OttoKerner Thank you for pointing out MediaInfo to me. That seems to be a very helpful tool. Just wish it could do batch processing.
Well, I looked at some files that don’t work and give green artefacts and all of them seem to be in HEVC / x265 format. Here is an example:
General
Complete name : \\nas1\video\Test 1.mp4
Format : MPEG-4
Format profile : Base Media
Codec ID : isom (isom/iso2/mp41)
File size : 1.53 GiB
Duration : 1 h 37 min
Overall bit rate : 2 228 kb/s
Movie name : Test 1
Encoded date : UTC 2020-03-26 01:20:17
Tagged date : UTC 2020-03-26 01:20:17
Writing application : Lavf58.20.100
Comment :
Video
ID : 1
Format : HEVC
Format/Info : High Efficiency Video Coding
Format profile : Main 10@L4@Main
Codec ID : hev1
Codec ID/Info : High Efficiency Video Coding
Duration : 1 h 37 min
Source duration : 1 h 37 min
Bit rate : 1 999 kb/s
Width : 1 920 pixels
Height : 1 036 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 1.85:1
Frame rate mode : Constant
Frame rate : 23.976 (24000/1001) FPS
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 10 bits
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.042
Stream size : 1.37 GiB (90%)
Source stream size : 1.37 GiB (90%)
Writing library : x265 3.3+4-rarbg-30eb4de83092:[Linux][GCC 8.3.1][64 bit] 10bit
Encoding settings : cpuid=1111039 / frame-threads=4 / wpp / no-pmode / no-pme / no-psnr / no-ssim / log-level=2 / input-csp=1 / input-res=1920x1036 / interlace=0 / total-frames=0 / level-idc=0 / high-tier=1 / uhd-bd=0 / ref=4 / no-allow-non-conformance / no-repeat-headers / annexb / no-aud / no-hrd / info / hash=0 / no-temporal-layers / open-gop / min-keyint=23 / keyint=250 / gop-lookahead=0 / bframes=4 / b-adapt=2 / b-pyramid / bframe-bias=0 / rc-lookahead=25 / lookahead-slices=4 / scenecut=40 / hist-scenecut=0 / radl=0 / no-splice / no-intra-refresh / ctu=64 / min-cu-size=8 / rect / no-amp / max-tu-size=32 / tu-inter-depth=1 / tu-intra-depth=1 / limit-tu=0 / rdoq-level=2 / dynamic-rd=0.00 / no-ssim-rd / signhide / no-tskip / nr-intra=0 / nr-inter=0 / no-constrained-intra / strong-intra-smoothing / max-merge=3 / limit-refs=3 / limit-modes / me=3 / subme=3 / merange=57 / temporal-mvp / no-frame-dup / no-hme / weightp / no-weightb / no-analyze-src-pics / deblock=0:0 / no-sao / no-sao-non-deblock / rd=4 / selective-sao=0 / no-early-skip / rskip / no-fast-intra / no-tskip-fast / no-cu-lossless / no-b-intra / no-splitrd-skip / rdpenalty=0 / psy-rd=2.00 / psy-rdoq=1.00 / no-rd-refine / no-lossless / cbqpoffs=0 / crqpoffs=0 / rc=abr / bitrate=2000 / qcomp=0.60 / qpstep=4 / stats-write=0 / stats-read=2 / cplxblur=20.0 / qblur=0.5 / ipratio=1.40 / pbratio=1.30 / aq-mode=3 / aq-strength=1.00 / cutree / zone-count=0 / no-strict-cbr / qg-size=32 / no-rc-grain / qpmax=69 / qpmin=0 / no-const-vbv / sar=1 / overscan=0 / videoformat=5 / range=0 / colorprim=2 / transfer=2 / colormatrix=2 / chromaloc=0 / display-window=0 / cll=0,0 / min-luma=0 / max-luma=1023 / log2-max-poc-lsb=8 / vui-timing-info / vui-hrd-info / slices=1 / no-opt-qp-pps / no-opt-ref-list-length-pps / no-multi-pass-opt-rps / scenecut-bias=0.05 / hist-threshold=0.01 / no-opt-cu-delta-qp / no-aq-motion / no-hdr10 / no-hdr10-opt / no-dhdr10-opt / no-idr-recovery-sei / analysis-reuse-level=0 / analysis-save-reuse-level=0 / analysis-load-reuse-level=0 / scale-factor=0 / refine-intra=0 / refine-inter=0 / refine-mv=1 / refine-ctu-distortion=0 / no-limit-sao / ctu-info=0 / no-lowpass-dct / refine-analysis-type=0 / copy-pic=1 / max-ausize-factor=1.0 / no-dynamic-refine / no-single-sei / no-hevc-aq / no-svt / no-field / qp-adaptation-range=1.00 / no-scenecut-aware-qpconformance-window-offsets / right=0 / bottom=0
Encoded date : UTC 2020-03-26 01:20:17
Tagged date : UTC 2020-03-26 01:20:17
Codec configuration box : hvcC
Audio
ID : 2
Format : AAC LC
Format/Info : Advanced Audio Codec Low Complexity
Codec ID : mp4a-40-2
Duration : 1 h 37 min
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 224 kb/s
Channel(s) : 6 channels
Channel layout : C L R Ls Rs LFE
Sampling rate : 48.0 kHz
Frame rate : 46.875 FPS (1024 SPF)
Compression mode : Lossy
Stream size : 157 MiB (10%)
Language : English
Default : Yes
Alternate group : 1
Encoded date : UTC 2020-03-26 01:20:17
Tagged date : UTC 2020-03-26 01:20:17
I am quite sure that I have also seen some x264 videos with the same issue in the past, but so far I have only found x265 encoded videos. I will spend some more time on this over the weekend.
@jdbrookes Yes, I am having exactly the same issue! Also using Kodi with the Plex plugin as a workaround. And ,yes, I started having issues some time last year. Basically, some x265 videos that worked before suddenly started having issues.
The Kodi plugin workaround kind of works for me, but I would love it to support Collections.
My current solution is to use Kodi Matrix with the beta release of the Plex plugin. There is even a x265 configuration switch and it seems to work just fine on my older Sony Bravia. It pretty much plays everything including some 4k videos. If you haven’t tried that yet, you should give it a go. It definitely is a big improvement over the older Kodi release. Performance on library browsing seems also quicker to me. I haven’t tried the Skip Intro feature yet. In fact, I am not even sure if it part of the Matrix Plex Plugin beta, but then I have just installed that one like two weeks ago… Might have just missed it.
But, all said and done, the native Plex player has more info and features. Also looks better.
I guess I will have to live with that until I replace the TV. Planning to do so once more 2021 models will become available because I want to have HDMI 2.1 for better gaming console support. Also looking at the Apple TV as a better player, but waiting on the hardware refresh supposed to come out in Q1 of this year. Nvidia Shield Pro looks also great, but I am suspicious that there will be a hardware refresh rather sooner than later and so I don’t want to be stuck with a device that will be outdated a few months from now…
This topic was automatically closed 90 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.
