Specify Maximum H.264 Level for Chromecast

Feature Suggestions
1

Request: the ability to specify a maximum H.264 Level for Chromecast.

This would enable playback of some content that exceeds the advertised or device-reported playback capabilities.

This feature is present and widely utilized in many other Plex apps. It would be beneficial to Chromecast users too.

This is particularly important for Chromecast because Google has repeatedly changed - both up and down - the documented levels supported by each Chromecast device.

The Chromecast Ultra is currently documented as supporting up to 4.1, and reports that capability through the API. During the MDE process Plex enforces this limit.

It’s also known that some files exceeding Level 4.1 can be cast and played successfully on the Chromecast Ultra, using non-Plex players that do not validate the level.

Similar reports exist for other Chromecast-enabled TVs.

2

Google’s current “Supported Media for Google Cast”:
https://developers.google.com/cast/docs/media

But if you look at the archive.org history, it’s a wild ride:
https://web.archive.org/web/*/https://developers.google.com/cast/docs/media

There might be multiple things going on - perhaps the documentation for the Chromecast Ultra is incorrect, AND perhaps it’s ALSO reporting the wrong capabilities.

This feature would be beneficial to Plex users in either case, and would address other (and future) similar issues.

3

People will set this to the highest level, because, well, higher must be better, right?
Only leading to an increase in error reports when they are trying to play a file which actually uses the higher levels.

Plex is already analysing the file in-depth to determine the actually used level of the file. So if a wrong level is mentioned in the file header (there are even “patcher” tools out there which allow you to lie about the level), Plex will take it with a grain of salt and rely on its own analysis.

1 Like
4

We all know the story about the 1/4 lb. hamburger beating the 1/3 pounder! And everybody with a younger sibling has traded nickels for dimes …

There’s a lot of discussion about this, especially for the Chromecast Ultra. It’s a very popular device, and was considered a “play everything” solution at one point. Google has changed the documentation repeatedly. I’m not sure if they’ve changed the capabilities the device itself reports.

There are forum complaints about how Plex doesn’t care, hasn’t updated the device profiles to accommodate the Ultra, and that Plex is blocking known-working files from playing. “Another month with no response …” I don’t understand that part of the attitude, but I understand the frustration.

As far as I can tell, the Plex->Chromecast integration behaves as expected. I was accused of being a Plex apologist for suggesting that Plex is doing the right thing. :roll_eyes:

I think Plex does an amazing job of making “good” decisions in almost every scenario. Sometimes I disagree with Plex, or want to turn off the safety and risk shooting myself in the foot. I’ve been on both sides of the fence, and helping people who have fiddled with every setting, for no reason, is indeed exhausting. I know that warnings aren’t effective.

It’s also hard to argue against the fact that some files that exceed Level 4.2 can be played successfully by the Chromecast Ultra. Plex could allow those to be streamed and attempted. It might work, or it might not.

I proposed that this would be a better generic change than editing profiles, making Chromecast Ultra-specific profiles, or overriding or ignoring the profile augmentation process.

I also figured a feature suggestion would help it get better real visibility. If tons of people want and need this, maybe it’s worth doing.

Alternatively, if this gets a bit of attention from Plex, it might help address some of the frustration.

5

Coming here from another thread that’s a year old now with zero responses I’d like to see this feature implemented as well, simply because material I have can be easily direct-streamed using other apps (like VLC) while Plex (my everyday video hub) tries to transcode effectively resulting in unplayable video (CPU not powerful enough)

Make it a config-file toggle that nobody can change from the UI, I don’t care. But please let power users make this adjustment