Transcoded H264 Media with Transcoded TrueHD 7.1 Audio Displays Improperly and Crashes PS5 App

Plex Players
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1

Server Version#: 1.43.1.10611
Player Version#: Plex for PS5 5.94.1

Having an issue playing some videos and not others that has me at a loss. Playback will be distored and purple and white. It will play for a minute then often crash out the entire Plex app. What has me at a loss is the streams being transcoded by the Plex Media Server (H.264 and AAC) which should resolve any file incompatibility issues. Not sure if the issue is with the PS5 app or the Plex Server transcoding it.

  • Media is fine, it plays appropriately in web and windows desktop players
  • It doesn’t appear to be format related because I have videos I encoded at the same time with same presets that play fine
  • Doesn’t appear to be a bitrate issue as higher bitrate files will play fine
  • Doesn’t appear to be an HDR issue as other HDR files play fine
  • EDIT: Appears to specifically be H264 encoded files with 8 channel TRUEHD audio as a H256 file does not have the issue with TRUEHD

File that won’t play right:

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Media
Duration 1:42:07
Bitrate 11340 kbps
Width 3840
Height 2076
Aspect Ratio 1.85
Video Resolution 4K
Container MKV
Video Frame Rate 24p
Video Profile high

Part
Duration 1:42:07
Size 8.12 GB
Container MKV
Video Profile high

Codec H264
Bitrate 6417 kbps
Bit Depth 8
Chroma Location topleft
Chroma Subsampling 4:2:0
Coded Height 2080
Coded Width 3840
Color Primaries bt2020
Color Range tv
Color Space bt2020nc
Color Trc smpte2084
Frame Rate 23.976 fps
Height 2076
Level 6.0
Profile high
Ref Frames 16
Scan Type progressive
Width 3840
Display Title 4K HDR10 (H.264)
Extended Display Title 4K HDR10 (H.264)

Codec TRUEHD
Channels 8
Bitrate 4876 kbps
Language English
Language Tag en
Audio Channel Layout 7.1
Bit Depth 24
Sampling Rate 48000 Hz
Title Surround 7.1
Display Title English (TRUEHD 7.1)
Extended Display Title Surround 7.1 (English TRUEHD)

Codec PGS
Bitrate 47 kbps
Language English
Language Tag en
Header Compression true
Display Title English (PGS)
Extended Display Title English (PGS)

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File that WILL play right

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Media
Duration 2:13:17
Bitrate 20409 kbps
Width 3840
Height 1600
Aspect Ratio 2.35
Video Resolution 4K
Container MKV
Video Frame Rate 24p
Audio Profile ma
Video Profile high 10

Part
Duration 2:13:17
Size 18.98 GB
Audio Profile ma
Container MKV
Video Profile high 10

Codec H264
Bitrate 15561 kbps
Bit Depth 10
Chroma Location topleft
Chroma Subsampling 4:2:0
Coded Height 1600
Coded Width 3840
Color Primaries bt2020
Color Range tv
Color Space bt2020nc
Color Trc smpte2084
Frame Rate 23.976 fps
Height 1600
Level 6.0
Profile high 10
Ref Frames 16
Scan Type progressive
Width 3840
Display Title 4K HDR10 (H.264 High 10)
Extended Display Title 4K HDR10 (H.264 High 10)

Codec DCA
Channels 8
Bitrate 4807 kbps
Language English
Language Tag en
Audio Channel Layout 7.1
Bit Depth 24
Profile ma
Sampling Rate 48000 Hz
Title Surround 7.1
Display Title English (DTS-HD MA 7.1)
Extended Display Title Surround 7.1 (English DTS-HD MA)

Codec PGS
Bitrate 42 kbps
Language English
Language Tag en
Header Compression true
Display Title English (PGS)
Extended Display Title English (PGS)

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2

I have traced it down further, it appears to be H264 media specifically with an 8 channel TrueHD audio track (which on PS5 app is transcoded). This issue does not appear on the Xbox app or desktop/web, not sure if its a PS5 app problem or the server transcoding improperly problem.

EDIT: I also realized that the H265 plays natively. I forced it to transcode and H265 still played fine.

3

Updated server to 1.43.2.10687 and still seeing issues.