Suddenly can't play AC3 and DTS files on Chromecast with Google TV

[nazspub]

Server Version#: 1.40.0.7998 Windows

Suddenly I can’t play most videos and getting “an error occurred attempting to play this video please check your connection and try again.” I haven’t changed any settings for several months. In looking at my server, the CPU % is really low so that can’t be an issue. It seems to be an audio issue as I am able play TV shows with AAC audio, but no AC3 and DTS. My settings for audio are set for Optical Passthrough and AC3 5.1 and DTS checked (even though I use HDMI). Again, these are the settings I have had for the past several months with no issues. If I change the Audio setting to HDMI pass though, the AC3 5.1 and DTS files will actually play, but they stutter and I don’t get 5.1 sound, so no good anyway. With HDMI passthrough, I was able to play an EAAC 5.1 file without stuttering, but again no 5.1 sound. I don’t understand what happened as again I never changed any of my settings.

The Plex Media Server is up to date at Version 1.40.0.7998, but the problem arose before I updated. I don’t know which one as I only update every few months. I did update to the current version after I noticed the problem, but it didn’t fix it obviously.

Also for whatever it’s worth, lately I have been mostly watching a couple of TV shows that are AAC, which hasn’t been a problem as noted above. The last time I actually watched one of the AC3 or DTS files was nearly 2 months ago on 12/21/23, and there was no issue. I also watched something on 1/19/24, but it was only for about 31 seconds. Not sure what I was doing, but I didn’t notice a problem then either. I can’t remember if I ran an update sometime in January after 1/19/24 or not and not sure how I can check for that.

Lastly, in looking at the logs when trying to play these AC3 and DTS files, I did notice a lot of transcoding lines, which I am not sure why it would be transcoding. However, one line that stuck out to me was…“Failed to stream media, client probably disconnected after 1409024 bytes: 10054 - An existing connection was forcibly closed by the remote host”

Thank you for any help

[nazspub]

I was able to resolve this issue. Again, this is a Chromecast with Google TV issue, and there must have been a recent update to Google TV in which somehow the Audio settings for Google TV (not the Plex app) were changed back to No Surround Sound. So I’m guessing what was happening was that Plex saw that my Google TV didn’t support the audio format and was trying to transcode and wasn’t able handle it resulting in the errors. Once I changed the settings back to what I originally had, everything went back to normal.

So go into settings for Google TV and select Display & Sound / Advanced Sound Settings. You need to uncheck “None: Do Not Use Surround Sound” and then check “Manual: Selectively Enable or Disable Each Format…” I then check Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus, and DTS. You could also try checking instead “Automatic: Enable Only The Formats Supported…” I didn’t try that as the Manual one has been working for me all along. In Plex settings under Audio I select Optical (even though I use HDMI) and then select AC3 and DTS.

[jebrossard]

I have found if I select manual and select all supported formats I can no longer get Dolby Atmos audio from other applications (e.g. VUDU). I had better success selecting Automatic in the CCwGTV Advanced Sound settings and then in the Plex app select Optical passthrough (even though I use HDMI) and then select AC3 and DTS. With those settings my sound bar indicates it is decoding DTS, and Dolby Atmos works in other applications.