Server Version#: 1.21.0.3711
Player Version#: 4.48.1
Hello everyone,
Please forgive me if this section of the forum is not the one I should have posted in.
Feel free to redirect me.
I am facing a strange issue when playing my only 4K THD7.1 film.
Let’s call this film “TheMovie”.
Understand that all my other movies (1080 up to DTS-HD MA 6.1) play perfectly on all my Plex clients, listed below.
I have PMS installed on a Shield.
My films are on a hard drive plugged on the Shield.
Here is my experience with “TheMovie” :
played on the Shield Plex client : plays perfectly
played on my iPhone Plex client : plays perfectly. The video seems not transcoded (3840x2160 @ 8,9 Mbps) but audio seems transcoded into FLAC.
played on Plex-web through Chrome : takes ages to load and stutters every 2 seconds
played on FireTV Plex client : won’t play at all, tries to load but display an error message “An error occured while trying to play this video. Check you connection and retry” (this a translation of the message I get, from French).
All the devices are on the same LAN, wifi for the last 3, ethernet for the Shield.
Would you have any idea to help?
Thank you very much.
Other than Safari on recent Macs, no web browser supports HEVC video, so Plex must transcode the video. Transcoding 4K video is very processor intensive. If your Plex server cannot transcode 4K HEVC in real time, the video will buffer.
If you are on a PC or Mac, consider using Plex for Mac/Windows instead of a browser. It direct plays HEVC video and most audio formats. It also tonemaps HDR to SDR so your HDR videos look good on SDR displays.
Which FireTV device? There are many, and not all support 4K or 4K HDR video (device specifications).
If yours does not, then Plex must transcode the video. If your system cannot handle the load you may see an error message (instead of the buffering, like when using Chrome).
Also, no FireTV device supports TrueHD audio. It will always be transcoded to another format. Blu-ray discs with TrueHD audio also include a Dolby Digital (AC-3) version of the soundtrack. If available, try choosing that audio track instead.
You were perfectly right regarding Chrome, I installed Plex for Windows and the movie is fine, regarding fluidity. The problem is that the picture is colored as shown below:
When I used Plex web through Chrome, unwatchable because of stuttering but the picture was normal. Also if I play the mkv file directly on my computer, it is fine. So I don’t think it is related to the graphic card. Any idea once again ?
Again you were right regarding my FireTV. It is not à 4K model but a 3rd gen. I changed the Plex parameters so that is adapts the movie and now I don’t have any error message anymore. It behaves like Plex web through Chrome : takes ages to load and stutters. I does transcode correctly, both video and audio. I understand my server cannot handle the transcoding load fast enough. I thought Shield (2017) could do that, I guess I was wrong.
My PC has a 1080p SDR display (an old Vizio LED TV). When I play 4K HDR media via Plex for Windows, it direct plays and the color is correct.
Check the transcoder settings for your Plex server (Settings → Transcoder).
Disable HDR tonemapping if enabled. It is not fully baked yet.
If not already enabled, check the boxes to enable hardware acceleration and hardware accelerated encoding. That will help with transcoding video when using Chrome, the FireTV, etc.
Play a 4K HDR movie in Plex for Windows. Monitor playback in the Plex Dashboard using Plex Web (or use the Plex Dash mobile app). Make sure the video is direct playing.
