Vizio Plex 4k hdr stream issue. 2nd Gen FireTV Cube question

Plex Players Smart TVs
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Hi,

I got a new Vizio P659-G1 smart tv with plex built in. It’s the first smart tv plex I’ve used, always using fireTVs or rokus before. Question: I have having buffering issues with the plex app on the smart tv with 4k content. I know if could be hundred different reason why this is happening, but I wanted to know if anyone out there had this issue with plex app on Vizio smart tv and fixed it? Also, the TV has an Octacore chipset…but I’m wonder about new Amazon Firetv Cube (which supposedly will have hexacore chipset) will be able to handle 4k hdr content with plex. None of my other firetvs could handle 4k hdr content correctly (but I do miss the UI of the firetv, vizios is bad) Anyone have an opinion if 2nd gen cube will be better/same/worse than the Vizio player? Thanks.

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The Vizio app cannot handle 4K so your PMS is transcoding it to 1080p. Depending on your server, the cpu may not be powerful enough to handle transcoding 4K content.

My 4K Fire TV stick handles 4K fine so the new cube shouldn’t be an issue.

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this is a 4k tv, so unless there is some problem with the tv and/or the plex app, it should be able to play 4k.

it won’t however, play HD audio.
It may also not like certain types of subtitles.

so try 2 things;

  • make sure the audio stream is dolby digital/dts 5.1 or stereo
  • make sure subtitles are disabled

please also read the entire thread @ Plex, 4k, transcoding, and you - aka the rules of 4k - a FAQ - General / General Discussions - Plex Forum

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Yes. The old TV apps were made before 4k was common and they didn’t include a player that can handle 4k. Only the newest versions of the app for Samsung and LG can play 4k.

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hmm ouch, thats a bummer for a lot of people. I must have missed that, I don’t recall hearing about that before.

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Actually, let me take that back. I just checked and the Vizio app is actually an exception (along with a few Tivo devices) and should be able to handle 4K. But only some, so it could be a codec issue. See https://support.plex.tv/articles/203810286-what-media-formats-are-supported/.

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Thanks for the answers and help. Actually, this newest Vizio 4k tv does pretty well on uhd content even wtih atmos 7.1 audio; although it seems to only work well if direct playing…and hence the buffering issue. Since the Vizio Plex app doesn’t have any settings to change…anyone know how to up the buffering size so I can just pause it at first to buffer some…so then it will work for the whole movie. Thanks.

Btw, I am thinking of getting the newer firetv cube when it comes out…just hopefully it can handle uhd atmos 7.1 well.

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no fire tv devices pass through hd audio, and I would not expect the cube to either.

amazon doesn’t want anyone to watch bluray rips with hd audio, they want you to stream through their video service and other supported streaming services.

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So, even though they state this for the 2nd gen cube: “with support for HDR, HDR 10, HDR10+, HLG, Dolby Vision with Dolby Atmos” it doesn’t mean the plex client will support? I guess I need to get a firetv4k stick to test out. Much cheap to test. thanks.

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the atmos they refer to is streaming atmos.

eac3+ atmos (aka dolby digital + atmos)

bluray/4k remuxes have TRUEHD + atmos.

the only device (other than perhaps a full HTPC) that supports HD audio from 4k blruays is nvidia shield.

please read entire thread @ Plex, 4k, transcoding, and you

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I see. Thank you for help. Guess I need to look for a shield streamer :slight_smile:

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FYI: Well, after doing a bunch of atmos tests with my Vizio plex app. Seems it CAN ONLY do eac3+atmos as TeknoJunky mentioned. Here’s the two files I confirmed with: https://www.dolby.com/us/en/guide/dolby-atmos-trailers.html

So, It can do DD+ just not the atmos part on all other formats. Here I thought I was getting atmos when it was just DD+ (which to my untrained ears sounds pretty good)…but then I played the true atmos files above…and was “oh”. :slight_smile: Thanks TeknoJunky for pointing this out to a newbie. Wish Shield wasn’t the only streamer out there that handled atmos.

Btw, I played a couple of atmos test videos on Youtube…until I read it only can handle stereo. Can anyone confirm this? I thought it at least did 5.1? Thanks.

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