I thought I was going nuts with the stuttering all of a sudden after upgrading latest Apple TV 4K to TvOS 17 but seems it’s not just me. Only way for a fix for me was to use the old player by turning ‘Auto adjust quality to on’. Running a GB ethernet so there is no bandwidth issue causing this. Hopefully they fix this soon. The stuttering is really bad.
Same issue here.
Latest gen Apple TVs, worked perfectly on 4K content for years.
TVOS 17 introduced all kinds of stuttering, and no old audio/video player settings or updates to PMS have helped.
It’s happening also on iOS 17/iPadOS 17, not only tvOS 17. I don’t think the issue is with the operating system, if that was the case Infuse would also stutter and had issues.
It reads exactly like the problem I described in the German forum. Although I am inclined to have had the problem even before tvOS17, with one of the last tvOS16 versions. With tvOS17, however, it has certainly become worse.
When can a fix be expected and is it really due to tvOS or rather the server?
It will take at least 2 years to fix. Plex is constantly updating and breaking the apps. I had a perfect android tv setup until they broke the app. Now the Apple TV stutters and fails to play without stuttering on some videos. Emby plays everything without issues because they don’t update them every freaking week.
Still happening, at this rate Infuse might become my primary player
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Solution found!
It’s thermal throttling. 
I turned my AppleTV on its side, pointed a fan on it, and absolutely cannot get a frame to drop. I’m running a test without the fan now.
Please make sure you saw this and see if Plex can get an estimate / timeline on it Plex 4K HDR Stuttering on AppleTV is Thermal Throttling
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I think thermal throttling might be part of the issue under tvOS 17 but it’s definitely not the whole reason for the issue. I had no issues on stuttering and dropped frames until tvOS 17. It’s also possible it was introduced in a recent update to the Plex Apple TV app but since this happens silently it’s impossible to tell.
Well, iOS 17 introduced an overheating bug, which iOS 17.0.2 fixed.
So it’s very plausible that the CPU load and heating that used to work for you before tvOS 17 now is tipped over the thermal threshold alongside a bug that hasn’t yet been fixed in tvOS 17.
Doesn’t change the underlying fact that the software decoding in the app is using too much CPU.
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My understanding is that the iOS 17 issue was specific to the iPhone 15 Pro with a new 3nm SOC. Not the on iPhone 15 or older phones with older SOC’s. The latest Apple TV is an A15 which is a couple of years old. Also the issue manifests only through the Plex app not in any other streaming app or with the Plex alternative Infuse app. tvOS might be part of the issue but the Plex app itself seems to be at issue.
I think you misunderstand.
There is zero doubt the Plex app (with its homespun software decoding player) uses MUCH more CPU than the other apps you mentioned (which use the built-in hardware decoding player).
But the thing is that thermal throttling is a factor of how much heat is generated minus how much heat is shed.
Every room and AppleTV setup is different with respec to how much heat is shed.
But how much heat is generated is a combination of a bunch of other factors. The heating issue in iOS 17 absolutely wan’t restricted to the new device. It was a bug introduced in the OS (and exacerbated by some apps in particular, meaning it was likely something going on in some of the iOS framework apis that those apps were using).
See here: Apple fixes overheating problems and 0-day security flaw with iOS 17.0.3 update | Ars Technica
Apple also said that specific apps like Instagram and Uber were also causing phones to heat up and that it was working with developers on fixes. The iPhonedo YouTube channel recently demonstratedthat version 302.0 of the Instagram app running on iOS 17 could also make iPhone 14 Pro phones and even an iPad Pro run hot, confirming that the issue wasn’t unique to the new phones.
So it’s 
plausible that the same bug in tvOS 17 resulted in either higher background CPU use, or higher use by the Plex app, which would explain why WHILE THIS PROBLEM IS OLDER THAN TVOS17, it suddenly has gotten worse for many of us.
At the heart of it, it’s likely the SAME problem. Too much CPU. Just there may be a new bug in tvOS 17 that is causing higher CPU use running the same apps and same code. (Which is EXACTLY what happened with iOS 17. 
)
Before tvOS 17 the problem existed, but some files didn’t quite hit the thermal threshold where stuttering would happen. And tvOS 17 seems to have tipped more files over the edge there.
This may not be the cause, but it’s not only plausible, I’d say it’s pretty damned likely.
I see so what you are saying is tvOS 17 is exacerbating a pre-existing issue in Plex regarding high CPU use to essentially a breaking point. It’s quite possible. I wasn’t aware the Plex app on Apple TV didn’t use hardware decoding pipeline for the ‘player’. I thought that issue was addressed on the server end. Hopefully Plex can reach out to Apple directly to address this because as it stands the Plex app is practically useless on the Apple TV.
So any news about progress on this?
better using Plex 4K HDR Stuttering on AppleTV is Thermal Throttling to check on updates (of which there are currently none)
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I’m seeing this too in the last few weeks, likely since the tvOS 17 update. Higher quality 4k content is obviously stuttering (dropping frames). Lower bitrate/resolution stuff plays fine as far as I’ve noticed.
Direct play is enabled + new video/audio players in settings.
The stuttering reminds me of how it plays when i attempt to play a 4k 60p dolby demo video , which will sort of play OK for a few seconds then drop to what looks like ~15fps. I can see how this would be consistent with excessive CPU usage or thermal throttling, if it’s having to drop frames.
It’d be a shame to have to ditch plex for infuse, but it feels like Plex are now only invested in other things, and not working on the playback experience, at least on the Apple TV. Lacking 4k60p and DDP-based Atmos are annoying but not terminal, but being unable to play 4k24p smoothly is a dealbreaker.
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I created a sample from a file that has severe stuttering at any temperature.
Cross posting to this thread as well.
Hopefully all three threads related to this issue can be condensed into one at some point.
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