Transcoding disabled subtitles?

General Discussions
1

If I disable subtitles (set it to none), will Plex still transcode the file?
Video is encoded in H264 with AAC audio and has ASS subtitles embedded. Trying to play it in the browser the error message says the server is not powerful enough to play the file. I figured if i disabled subtitles it would play it but I still the same error message.

Is this a bug or is this working as intended?

2

please copy & paste the content of the Plex XML info of this video in here.

3

Here is the xml for the file

4

Let me try that again

<MediaContainer size="1" allowSync="1" identifier="com.plexapp.plugins.library" librarySectionID="3" librarySectionTitle="Anime" librarySectionUUID="3dc2a9b3-5c61-4cbd-84c3-7e96832d15cf" mediaTagPrefix="/system/bundle/media/flags/" mediaTagVersion="1525434068">
<Video ratingKey="3751" key="/library/metadata/3751" parentRatingKey="3685" grandparentRatingKey="2554" guid="com.plexapp.agents.thetvdb://295068/5/77?lang=en" librarySectionTitle="Anime" librarySectionID="3" librarySectionKey="/library/sections/3" type="episode" title="Episode 77" grandparentKey="/library/metadata/2554" parentKey="/library/metadata/3685" grandparentTitle="Dragon Ball Super" parentTitle="Season 5" contentRating="TV-14" summary="" index="77" parentIndex="5" viewOffset="63583" lastViewedAt="1527722255" thumb="/library/metadata/3751/thumb/1527440909" art="/library/metadata/2554/art/1527441097" parentThumb="/library/metadata/3685/thumb/1527441097" grandparentThumb="/library/metadata/2554/thumb/1527441097" grandparentArt="/library/metadata/2554/art/1527441097" grandparentTheme="/library/metadata/2554/theme/1527441097" duration="1402690" addedAt="1527402970" updatedAt="1527440909">
<Media videoResolution="720" id="7445" duration="1402690" bitrate="1024" width="1280" height="720" aspectRatio="1.78" audioChannels="2" audioCodec="aac" videoCodec="hevc" container="mkv" videoFrameRate="24p" audioProfile="lc" videoProfile="rext">
<Part accessible="1" exists="1" id="7519" key="/library/parts/7519/1527399364/file.mkv" duration="1402690" file="/share/CACHEDEV1_DATA/Multimedia/Anime/Dragon Ball Super 77 -121 (1280x720 HEVC2 AAC)/Dragon Ball Super - s05e77 (1280x720 HEVC2 AAC).mkv" size="179603780" audioProfile="lc" container="mkv" deepAnalysisVersion="2" requiredBandwidths="2371,2371,2371,2371,2371,2371,2371,2371" videoProfile="rext">
<Stream id="17133" streamType="1" default="1" codec="hevc" index="0" bitrate="1024" bitDepth="12" chromaSubsampling="4:2:0" colorRange="tv" frameRate="23.976" height="720" level="93" profile="rext" refFrames="1" requiredBandwidths="2249,2249,2249,2249,2249,2249,2249,2249" width="1280"/>
<Stream id="17134" streamType="2" selected="1" default="1" codec="aac" index="1" channels="2" bitrate="128" language="日本語" languageCode="jpn" audioChannelLayout="stereo" profile="lc" requiredBandwidths="128,128,128,128,128,128,128,128" samplingRate="44100"/>
<Stream id="17135" streamType="3" default="1" codec="ass" index="2" bitrate="0" language="English" languageCode="eng" requiredBandwidths="1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1"/>
</Part>
</Media>
<Extras size="0"></Extras>
</Video>
</MediaContainer>
5

The reason for the transcoding is the video codec. (HEVC)
There is currently no web browser which can play it natively. That’s why Plex server needs to transcode it to AVC.

Download and install Plex Media Player (free download above)
it can play much more file formats and codecs natively than a web browser.

6

I have the same issue when I try to play it from my TV which has H265 support
Samsung MU6300

7

@frass2000 said:
I have the same issue when I try to play it from my TV which has H265 support
Samsung MU6300

Your file has 12 bit color resolution.
The Smart TV app of Plex currently doesn’t support HDR or color bit-depth above 8bit.
https://support.plex.tv/articles/203810286-what-media-formats-are-supported/

8

@OttoKerner said:

@frass2000 said:
I have the same issue when I try to play it from my TV which has H265 support
Samsung MU6300

Your file has 12 bit color resolution.
The Smart TV app of Plex currently doesn’t support HDR or color bit-depth above 8bit.
https://support.plex.tv/articles/203810286-what-media-formats-are-supported/

facepalm.jpg
makes sense now, thanks

9

hold up, if the tv it self supports 12 bit color depth shouldnt plex allow direct play/ stream for the file?

10

@frass2000 said:
hold up, if the tv it self supports 12 bit color depth shouldnt plex allow direct play/ stream for the file?

Sorry for being blunt now:
Only in an ideal world. Where the developers have access to testing specimen of every tv model from every major brand.
And where they have an unlimited amount of time to activate all the features of the hardware and where those features actually all are working according to specification.

But seriously:
There will be more advanced features made available for certain brands or models.
(The list of ‘Specific Model Differences’ in the above linked compatibility document has already grown and will continue to grow more over time.)
The question is only ‘when’. Unfortunately I cannot tell you that.

11

I don’t mind the blunt approach, I was just thinking about the way plex works with direct play and direct stream and thought it would work the same way.
Will just have to wait until more features get added