So I’m in the process of migrating my plex server to one of these units, and have been going through files to test a few things and I noticed something strange. For some reason or another whenever I call for a 4k file to be played either on my phone/computer/xbox/smartTV it proceeds to want to transcode. This is all happening while trying to play localy over my network.
When I click on settings while the movie is play it does not say Original like it does when I play 1080p files but rather it says Convert Maximum.
I went digging and have found what seems like tons of other threads on this issue, but none of them seem to come to any kind of resolution.
Is this a known issue or is there a solution that I am missing in the vast sea of threads I have found on this topic?
Any help would be greatly appreciated as Id like to be able to enjoy my 4k content without transcoding it.
Thanks for shedding some light on this for me. All of this makes perfect sense now. However with the above criteria in mind both my computer, and my iPhone XS Max should be playing native then since they both have 4k screens attached or am a missing something in the configuration?
EDIT: Forgot to mention that the iPhone will play a 4k file that is 32mbps and the plex app will say Original for the quality but not my 57mbps file.
I was able to get this to work properly on one of my xboxs though (an Xbox one X) as it has a 4k Samsung smart TV attached.
Client device must support audio + video + subtitle. If your media has a DTS or DD soundtrack use that instead of the DTS-MA or TRUEHD. Also turn off subtitles.
So would it be the audio playback source on my computer that is causing the issue? Its puzzling as the 32 mbps file that plays natively on the iPhone will not play on my computer through the web client. The audio source for said file is DTS-HD MA 5.1.
The audio source on the 57 mbps file is TRUEHD 7.1 I would assume the iPhone cannot handle that which is the issue, but wouldn’t the computer be able too?
With a 4K HDR monitor and a Display port 1.4 or HDMI 2.0b connection, subtitles off yes. The audio would still have to transcode unless you have a sound card with drivers that accepts lossless audio formats.
That would make sense. The computer monitor is connected VIA a DP 1.2 unfortunately it does not have 1.4. It does have HDMI but that is also only 2.0 not 2.0b.
So basically its just coming down to hardware compatibility issue, you learn something new every day.
