Hi all,
Plex is running on crappy PC with Windows 10, LAN to router, router wireless to Roku.
Trying to watch a 1080p (H.264) MKV file, with AC3 5.1 audio.
With my setup, the audio requires transcoding, however the video should direct play.
Plex is refusing to just do the audio, opting instead to transcode both and resulting in buffering. Any ideas how to force JUST audio transcode, leaving the video to direct play?
Cheers,
Timmeh.
Firstly, make sure that in your settings on the Roku Plex app that the local streaming quality is set to original.
If that doesn’t solve your issue, can you post some more details on a video that has this issue? You can use the web interface and hit get info on the video. Might be easier to post what you get by hitting view XML.
Hi Noah,
Video settings are set to play at original (4.5 mbps). I’ve set Direct Stream to ‘Auto’. If I select ‘force’, it plays the video direct fine, but cannot handle the audio directly so does not play audio.
I’ve tried playing around with the audio settings in the main Roku menu (leaving Direct Play set to ‘Auto’, but I haven’t managed to get it to work yet… Any help on which audio settings I need may be the answer I need…
Video file XML below:
<MediaContainer size="1" allowSync="1" identifier="com.plexapp.plugins.library" librarySectionID="3" librarySectionTitle="TV Shows" librarySectionUUID="debcf8d4-31cc-4b59-8bf6-5d9372c8d6c6" mediaTagPrefix="/system/bundle/media/flags/" mediaTagVersion="1557891228">
<Video ratingKey="31405" key="/library/metadata/31405" parentRatingKey="31400" grandparentRatingKey="31399" guid="com.plexapp.agents.thetvdb://333072/1/1?lang=en" librarySectionTitle="TV Shows" librarySectionID="3" librarySectionKey="/library/sections/3" type="episode" title="Chapter One: Make Your Mark" grandparentKey="/library/metadata/31399" parentKey="/library/metadata/31400" grandparentTitle="Barry" parentTitle="Season 1" contentRating="TV-MA" summary="Barry is a disillusioned hitman from the Midwest. His handler, Fuches, sends him to LA to execute a hit for the Chechen mob, led by Goran Pazar and his right-hand man, NoHo Hank. Barry’s target: an aspiring actor who is having an affair with Pazar’s wife. Barry follows his “mark” into an acting class taught by beloved teacher/guru Gene Cousineau, and is instantly drawn to the group of students, especially Sally. Barry wants to start a new life in the class, but the criminal world won’t let him walk away so easily." index="1" parentIndex="1" rating="8.3" viewOffset="227000" lastViewedAt="1560444059" year="2018" thumb="/library/metadata/31405/thumb/1560381443" art="/library/metadata/31399/art/1560381445" parentThumb="/library/metadata/31400/thumb/1560381445" grandparentThumb="/library/metadata/31399/thumb/1560381445" grandparentArt="/library/metadata/31399/art/1560381445" grandparentTheme="/library/metadata/31399/theme/1560381445" duration="1857985" originallyAvailableAt="2018-03-25" addedAt="1560379698" updatedAt="1560381443">
<Media id="36321" duration="1857985" bitrate="4145" width="1920" height="1080" aspectRatio="1.78" audioChannels="6" audioCodec="ac3" videoCodec="h264" videoResolution="1080" container="mp4" videoFrameRate="24p" optimizedForStreaming="0" has64bitOffsets="0" videoProfile="high">
<Part accessible="1" exists="1" id="36471" key="/library/parts/36471/1560379555/file.mp4" duration="1857985" file="W:\More TV Shows\Barry\Barry Season 1 Mp4 1080p\Barry S01E01.mp4" size="964010658" container="mp4" deepAnalysisVersion="3" has64bitOffsets="0" optimizedForStreaming="0" requiredBandwidths="12244,7152,7152,7152,7152,7152,7152,7152" videoProfile="high">
<Stream id="49897" streamType="1" default="1" codec="h264" index="0" bitrate="3761" bitDepth="8" chromaLocation="left" chromaSubsampling="4:2:0" frameRate="23.976" hasScalingMatrix="0" height="1080" level="50" profile="high" refFrames="5" requiredBandwidths="11859,6986,6986,6986,6986,6986,6986,6986" streamIdentifier="1" width="1920" displayTitle="1080p (H.264)"/>
<Stream id="49898" streamType="2" selected="1" default="1" codec="ac3" index="1" channels="6" bitrate="384" language="English" languageCode="eng" audioChannelLayout="5.1(side)" requiredBandwidths="384,384,384,384,384,384,384,384" samplingRate="48000" streamIdentifier="2" displayTitle="English (AC3 5.1)"/>
<Stream id="49899" streamType="3" default="1" codec="mov_text" index="2" bitrate="0" language="English" languageCode="eng" requiredBandwidths="1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1" streamIdentifier="3" displayTitle="English (MOV_TEXT)"/>
<Stream id="49900" streamType="3" codec="mov_text" index="3" bitrate="0" language="English" languageCode="eng" requiredBandwidths="1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1" streamIdentifier="4" displayTitle="English (MOV_TEXT)"/>
</Part>
</Media>
<Director id="44538" filter="director=44538" tag="Bill Hader"/>
<Writer id="15759" filter="writer=15759" tag="Alec Berg"/>
<Writer id="44566" filter="writer=44566" tag="Bill Hader"/>
<Extras size="0"> </Extras>
</Video>
</MediaContainer>
go to Plex > settings > console > filter > type “mde” without the quotes
play the video on the roku
examine the log entries with the MDE lines, this should explain why plex is transcoding.
Go back to the Plex settings on Roku and change H264 level from default (I think it’s 4.1) to 5. Then try to play it.
Hmmm… 4.1 is the original, and no options to go higher…
There were a few MDE errors:
MDE: Cannot direct stream audio stream due to profile or setting limitations
MDE: com.plexapp.agents: Audio Direct Streaming is disabled, so video's audio stream will be transcoded
MDE: com.plexapp.agents: selected media 0 / 36342
Streaming Resource: Reached Decision id=31405 codes=(MDE=1000,Direct play OK.) media=(id=36321 part=(id=36471 decision=direct play protocol=hls streams=(Video=(id=49897 decision= width=0 height=0) Audio=(id=49898 decision= channels=0 rate=0))))
I played around with audio settings and right now it’s managing to direct play both audio and video, but buffers every 30 seconds…
Coming up with this error (highlighted in yellow in console):
Time
Date...
Level
Warning
Thread
2752
Message
[CompanionPlayer] We already have a handler, overwriting.
is this the only video with problem?
is subtitles turned on for this video ? (try turn them off)
can also try roku plex setting > subtitles burn > image only (or something like that can’t remember exactly)
are you sure the video is being transcoded and not direct streamed ?
please post a small screenshot with the video playing of the plex > status page.
plex > settings > status
I’ve just tested another video which previously worked, and it’s struggling to transcode the audio on that too. Time for a new computer I guess. 
audio by itself should be fairly easy to transcode, and if it worked before then should still work (assuming no other changes or problems)
I agree, it’s never had this trouble in the past. Should be a fairly straight forward job.
I’ve installed a couple of other server-based programmes on my machine recently (Calibre for books and Tautulli for Plex) and this may be the issue as the PC really is very sh*te. It’s long overdue an upgrade…
Hah, restarted the Roku and it’s working fine 
.
Ridiculous.
Cheers for your help guys.
Ha. Go figure!
So, I did notice on the one video you posted the information for, the H264 level was 5.0 and usually I know the Roku is set for 4.1, but I’m pretty sure you should be able to adjust that, and it also should be able to play higher than 4.1. I guess if you have issues in the future, maybe check that again.
Anyway, glad it’s working now!
Nice one Noah. Is that in the Roku UI or Plex server? I can’t see it in the Roku UI anywhere as an option.
It’ll be in the actual Plex app on Roku. It sounds like you found it earlier, but it wasn’t letting you change it. I’m at work now, so I’m not able to get in there and see what it does for me. I’ll try to update this later tonight when I’m home.
Nice one, cheers dude. I can see the quality setting, but not an HEVC profile level setting…assuming that’s what you mean.
I found another thread about it…
https://forums.plex.tv/t/solved-h264-maximum-level-solution/189370/10
Hmm. It’s possible that they changed things around in the new app. It should say something like “Maximum H.264 Level.” It should be under video settings when you get there.
