I guess I got busy and did not keep up with the server versions. I have installed the latest version and this is still an issue. I can transcode to 720p, no problem (not sure why 1080 isn’t an option).
All media is full sized BD rips in MKV container. I will admit, the iMac I am running the server is failing, miserably, and I cannot replace it fast enough. But I can’t right now. I am having graphic card issues, so it doesn’t make sense that I can transcode without a problem, but I cannot direct play.
Any ideas? I am getting desperate. Is it truly the computer?
(I moved this thread into the Xbox One forum just because the issue is pretty specific)
Is this a Sony Bluray rip?
I have been able to reproduce the same issue, it shouldn’t be related to your server at all. The problem appears to be something caused by the the low number of reference frames in the direct rip from the Bluray. The two files that I have seen that also cause this both of a refFrame of 2. (It also appears to possibly be a problem for the iOS apps)
I actually took this screen shot of one of my Blurays causing the same problem before I realized you link was a video and not just a picture (I used Windows Media Player as it should be the same h264 decoder the Xbox One is using: Just my hunch, but the results are the same):
As for why you can only transcode to 720p my guess would be that the bit rate in the file is too low to be above the cutoff for 1080p. The app’s typically will not transcode to 1080p quality level if the bitrate is below the bitrates for 1080p level.
You should however be able to force a trancode by going to the settings menu (hamburger button) outside of the video playback and disabling direct play and direct stream. This should actually clear the artifacting out as well.
Other options could also be: Manually convert the file with ffmpeg (ffmpeg -i “File name” -vcodec libh264 -acodec copy -scodec copy “File name(2)”), use the server to create an optimized version and the replace the original afterwards. Personally, I don’t like to leave my app forcing everything to transcode so I use ffmpeg to conver the video stream with the above option which clears the artificats out for me.
The movie I showed was the Lego Justice League vs. Bizarro League and it appears to be a Warner Brothers disc. We tried to watch Underworld last night and it is indeed Sony. I remember this happening on Hot Pursuit also. It is a Warner Brothers.
I did not have this issue until late last year. Did the do something with the dashboard update. This is pretty crappy. I should not have to transcode or optimize.
I’ll try some more titles, but either I’m only a fan of certain studios or they all do it. Give or take.
Oh another I remembered having an issue the other night was Transporter refueled - 20th Century Fox.
Are you thinking its hardware or Plex?
I want to figure out the 720p issue because these are all full sized and should have a bit rate of 20-40mbps. I think I might have a “limit quailty” setting I forgot about?
@hatcher.server said:
Are you thinking its hardware or Plex?
What we have been narrowing it down to is the video stream on these files directly copied from Blurays. It has been reported in both VC-1 and H264 video streams. The only shared characteristics we can find is the low number of reference frames.
Because Plex uses the native decoders on the device it will be up to manufacturers to actually patch the decoder themselves. The biggest issue is that the only solution the developers have is to force a transcode on videos that have this problem. The only common factor is the low number of reference frames which at first was attributed to Sony Blurays but you’ve given us a few more publishers that have the problem as well. (Which means forcing a transcode could affect a larger of people then I first thought)
If you could, it would be helpful if you could share the media information from these files. The only straight blurays I have seen that exhibit this are the Sony one’s so I would love to verify that they do have the same refFrames that we are thinking of (Otherwise it would be a different video aspect that we need to try and identify)
I want to figure out the 720p issue because these are all full sized and should have a bit rate of 20-40mbps. I think I might have a “limit quailty” setting I forgot about?
This seems pretty weird and may need @moussa.uk to help out with. There isn’t a global setting for the Xbox One so the only limits that can be applied are during video playback. So it should be listing from Original with the next bitrate cut off being the one below the videos bit rate. The only exception I am aware of is for some mid ranged NAS’s that limit transcoding to a specific level (IE 480 and below). But I didn’t think the Xbox One had these limits in place and you’re running on a iMac which should have no limitations. (It may have trouble with some settings, but it shouldn’t be forcing any lower transcode options either)
I pulled the publisher/studio from the back of the disc. Is it possible Sony is lending their resources (lending used loosely) to press these movies? Is that the prospect way to get you the publisher?
Not for my post count, I promise, but to make things easier to find. I will keep my eye out on others. @moussa.uk will hopefully make some sense of the 720p issue.
Underworld:
General
Unique ID : 156646277829215402751587194909545883443 (0x75D8F9C8721A27B6CC7474A922026733)
Complete name : /Volumes/Drobo/Plex Media Library/Movies/Adult/Underworld (2003)/Underworld (2003).mkv
Format : Matroska
Format version : Version 4 / Version 2
File size : 28.5 GiB
Duration : 2h 13mn
Overall bit rate mode : Variable
Overall bit rate : 30.5 Mbps
Writing application : Lavf55.19.104
Writing library : Lavf55.19.104 / Lavf55.19.104
Video
ID : 1
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : High@L4.1
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames : 2 frames
Codec ID : V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC
Duration : 2h 13mn
Bit rate mode : Variable
Width : 1 920 pixels
Height : 1 080 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16:9
Frame rate mode : Constant
Frame rate : 23.976 (24000/1001) fps
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Title : Video Track
Language : English
Default : No
Forced : No
Audio #1
ID : 2
Format : PCM
Codec ID : A_PCM/INT/LIT
Duration : 2h 13mn
Bit rate mode : Constant
Channel(s) : 6 channels
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Bit depth : 16 bits
Title : Surround 5.1
Language : English
Default : Yes
Forced : No
Audio #2
ID : 3
Format : AC-3
Format/Info : Audio Coding 3
Mode extension : CM (complete main)
Format settings, Endianness : Big
Codec ID : A_AC3
Duration : 2h 13mn
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 640 Kbps
Channel(s) : 6 channels
Channel positions : Front: L C R, Side: L R, LFE
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Frame rate : 31.250 fps (1536 spf)
Compression mode : Lossy
Stream size : 612 MiB (2%)
Title : Surround 5.1
Language : English
Default : No
Forced : No
Lego DC Comics Super Heroes Justice League vs. Bizarro League (2015):
General
Unique ID : 133551831332462247495707262814622193913 (0x647925A8F10CC1903A89A824012218F9)
Complete name : /Volumes/Drobo/Plex Media Library/Movies/Kids/Lego DC Comics Super Heroes Justice League vs. Bizarro League (2015)/Lego DC Comics Super Heroes Justice League vs. Bizarro League (2015).mkv
Format : Matroska
Format version : Version 2
File size : 8.08 GiB
Duration : 48mn 43s
Overall bit rate mode : Variable
Overall bit rate : 23.7 Mbps
Movie name : LEGO® DC Comics Super Heroes: Justice League vs Bizarro League
Encoded date : UTC 2015-03-21 19:11:32
Writing application : MakeMKV v1.9.1 darwin(x86-release)
Writing library : libmakemkv v1.9.1 (1.3.0/1.4.1) darwin(x86-release)
Video
ID : 1
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : High@L4.1
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames : 2 frames
Codec ID : V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC
Duration : 48mn 43s
Bit rate mode : Variable
Width : 1 920 pixels
Height : 1 080 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16:9
Frame rate mode : Constant
Frame rate : 23.976 (24000/1001) fps
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Language : English
Default : No
Forced : No
Audio #1
ID : 2
Format : DTS
Format/Info : Digital Theater Systems
Format profile : MA / Core
Mode : 16
Format settings, Endianness : Big
Codec ID : A_DTS
Duration : 48mn 43s
Bit rate mode : Variable / Constant
Bit rate : Unknown / 1 509 Kbps
Channel(s) : 6 channels
Channel positions : Front: L C R, Side: L R, LFE
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Frame rate : 93.750 fps (512 spf)
Bit depth : 16 bits
Compression mode : Lossless / Lossy
Title : Surround 5.1
Language : English
Default : Yes
Forced : No
Audio #2
ID : 3
Format : DTS
Format/Info : Digital Theater Systems
Mode : 16
Format settings, Endianness : Big
Codec ID : A_DTS
Duration : 48mn 43s
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 1 509 Kbps
Channel(s) : 6 channels
Channel positions : Front: L C R, Side: L R, LFE
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Frame rate : 93.750 fps (512 spf)
Bit depth : 16 bits
Compression mode : Lossy
Stream size : 526 MiB (6%)
Title : Surround 5.1
Language : English
Default : No
Forced : No
General
Unique ID : 238693746286668763613953404509624357093 (0xB392BE4C42BFA491576E34F3C8BE50E5)
Complete name : /Volumes/Drobo/Plex Media Library/Movies/Adult/The Transporter Refueled (2015)/The Transporter Refueled (2015).mkv
Format : Matroska
Format version : Version 4 / Version 2
File size : 30.1 GiB
Duration : 1h 35mn
Overall bit rate : 44.9 Mbps
Movie name : The Transporter Refueled
Writing application : Lavf56.30.100
Writing library : Lavf56.30.100 / Lavf56.30.100
General
Unique ID : 302364909824576987460843272345457581419 (0xE3795D078A629173B7CAE6FF5278DD6B)
Complete name : /Volumes/Drobo/Plex Media Library/Movies/Adult/Hot Pursuit (2015)/Hot Pursuit (2015).mkv
Format : Matroska
Format version : Version 4 / Version 2
File size : 16.9 GiB
Duration : 1h 27mn
Overall bit rate mode : Variable
Overall bit rate : 27.6 Mbps
Movie name : Hot Pursuit
Writing application : Lavf55.19.104
Writing library : Lavf55.19.104 / Lavf55.19.104
Video
ID : 1
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : High@L4.1
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames : 2 frames
Codec ID : V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC
Duration : 1h 27mn
Bit rate mode : Variable
Width : 1 920 pixels
Height : 1 080 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16:9
Frame rate mode : Constant
Frame rate : 23.976 (24000/1001) fps
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Title : Video Track
Language : English
Default : No
Forced : No
Audio #1
ID : 2
Format : DTS
Format/Info : Digital Theater Systems
Format profile : MA / Core
Mode : 16
Format settings, Endianness : Big
Codec ID : A_DTS
Duration : 1h 27mn
Bit rate mode : Variable / Constant
Bit rate : Unknown / 1 509 Kbps
Channel(s) : 6 channels
Channel positions : Front: L C R, Side: L R, LFE
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Frame rate : 93.750 fps (512 spf)
Bit depth : 16 bits
Compression mode : Lossless / Lossy
Title : Surround 5.1
Language : English
Default : Yes
Forced : No
Audio #2
ID : 3
Format : DTS
Format/Info : Digital Theater Systems
Mode : 16
Format settings, Endianness : Big
Codec ID : A_DTS
Duration : 1h 27mn
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 1 509 Kbps
Channel(s) : 6 channels
Channel positions : Front: L C R, Side: L R, LFE
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Frame rate : 93.750 fps (512 spf)
Bit depth : 16 bits
Compression mode : Lossy
Stream size : 945 MiB (5%)
Title : Surround 5.1
Language : English
Default : No
Forced : No
Confirmed on Hotel Transylvania 1 and 2, both Sony films.
Sorry for flooding the thread:
I plugged up the Apple TV 4. I had previously posted how it did not handle the full sized BD rips. I queued up Hotel Transylvania 2 and I find it awfully coincidental that it has problems at or around the same spots issues present as artifacts on Xbox One - they are jitters/still frames on the Apple TV 4.
The only solution will be to force a transcode of the video stream. The problem that the developers have to work on now is that the only key factor we have seen is the low number of reference frames. And from what you have seen it is a large number of Blurays that are affected.
So the 2nd part of my suggestion involved a way to have the server fallback to direct play if the server cannot transcode. The reason why this is important is that if the profile is updated to simply transcode right away most users who are using a NAS based server will instantly lose the ability to playback any of those movies.
My personal solution was to run these blurays I encountered through ffmpeg to re-encode the movie myself. ffmpeg -i 'in name' -vcodec libx264 -acodec copy -scodec copy 'out name' was the command I used. It does fix the artifact problem and didn’t decrease quality in any noticeable way for me.
I will take this down - I will work with @moussa.uk to figure out why I can only set to 720p. Once that is solved I will probably just leave it at a high setting. But, any speculation as to why it is just not a problem? I mean, every movie I watch is pretty much a full sized BD rip, so . . . .
For the 720p question, I honestly have no idea why it is not populating the full list. With full bluray rips you should definitely be seeing 1080p options for transcoding. The only thing I could think of would be trying to completely remove the app and reinstalling it or possible a hard reset of the Xbox One (Which typically is just unplugging the power brick for ~ a minute to clear out the temporary memory).
For the artifacts it seems to be affecting multiple platforms which means it is affecting multiple h264 decoders. It doesn’t affect all of them, IE I don’t see the artifacts on my Android devices, but I do on the Xbox One. There have also been reports recently of it happening on iOS devices (I don’t have one so I can’t test it out). Which is why it’s getting tricky finding the exact cause because it isn’t just one device having the issue with these rips it’s multiple.
One other thing I thought of you could try is disabling direct streaming from the App settings. This will force the video to transcode whenever the audio transcodes, but shouldn’t change anything if the file direct plays. For my bluray rips I always take the DTS tracks so it should force a video transcode and looking at a few of your media info’s above it looks like you do as well. But because of the 720p problem I would check your server log when trying it to make sure it isn’t transcoding down to low quality format or that could be just as bad as the artifact problem. If you need help looking at the logs to determine it for sure, I have no problem helping. (The reason I am suggesting looking at the logs instead of the settings is so that the video doesn’t get set/stuck to one of the lower quality selections until you guys can get the 720p problem fixed)
way cool. thanks for the info. I will find the time. Please let me know if you think of something you would like me to test. As I mentioned - I believe that the issue is actually presenting itself in a different form on the ATV4. You might not have this device, but maybe that puts us on a more direct path?
Do these blu-rays with with low reference frame counts play alright in the blu-ray player on the Xbox One? I noticed it on TinTin, but my copy is in storage as I ripped it a few years ago.
I think it happened on Interstellar as well, if no one knows the answer I’ll pop that one in as it’s still in the house.
I can’t check until this weekend, so if you could check, that would be cool. I almost always rip first and then watch in plex. But I can pop in Hotel Transylvania and see.
I never checked this. Did you? @“Dr Tone”. Has there been any movement on this @jmckee? I just queued up the new Lego justice league and it immediately started to be unwatchable. Seeing how this did not use to be an issue, it seems that it has to do with Plex.
Sorry, unfortunately I just moved internationally so my Xbox One is currently in long term shipping. This means that I am unable to continue troubleshooting the app specifically (or sadly use it for our TV until our household goods catch back up to us).
However, with that being said there hasn’t been any update for the Plex App on the Xbox One so if something is making things worse it isn’t a result of the app itself. That would typically narrow it down to one of two areas the server or the console.
I am going to try pinging someone else to see if they can help you out as without my console I have no way to try and reproduce/troubleshoot.
