iOS client: 8.45
Android TV: Whatever Nvidia Shield’s latest is
Chrome: 4.152.0
Plex For Windows: 1.110.0.351-4e48eb83
Server, Ubuntu Docker: 1.43.0.10231
Two issues here. The simpler of the two first:
I have been noticing EAC3 audio tracks have to be transcoded on my Nvidia Shield. This might be due to using a sound bar, which is being passed through the TV first. That’s… sort of fine normally, but transcodes cause an odd bug where after some time, rewinding seems to cause a fast forward. This feels like a situation where Plex seems to think I am further along in the file than I really am, which causes this “rewind” to skip forward. This issue gets worse the longer I play a file, which seems to indicate that the time that Plex thinks a file is at runs at a tiny increment faster than it actually plays at. It’s possible my media is running SLOWER than normal while the Plex advances the time normally, but it’s not perceptible by itself.
Is this on the radar to be fixed? (the time change when transcoding audio and streaming the video)
Secondly and relatedly, I sometimes have issues playing EAC3 video on my iOS device. I understand a transcode is likely to happen on this device, but some of my files when attempting to watch DUE to the transcode. I believe I narrowed it down to it being the EAC3 audio track of the file. The server console error that pops up is this:
[Req#10219b/Transcode/A1F02965-E639-4FA4-9D33-79A5A0ADC94D/440c8f54-f6a5-45db-af56-f9c192582d46] [mp4 @ 0x7f7ee2462ac0] Cannot write moov atom before EAC3 packets parsed.
It errors out in the console twice in a row, waits 15 seconds, errors again, etc etc. After some time, the iOS app simply fails and stops trying. This is a huge issue, as Plex is supposed to transcode media that is unplayable, and if it fails to transcode a file, then it fails its one job.
Does anyone know why EAC3 tracks fail to transcode to iOS, but direct plays just fine on Chrome and Plex-for-Windows?
I can only comment for the android side. I also have an nVidia shield. I have no problem playing EAC3 audio direct play.
Altered Carbon meta data info.
Direct play on my shield.
Couple of things to note for my setup that might help you. In the plex app settings in the nvidia Sheild, I have audio set to passthrough. I also have “USB Surround Mode” enabled. From my understanding, that option has the Nvidia shield just pass through your audio.
In my setup I have Nvidia sheild TV –> Denon Receiver –> TV. In your case it could be your TV that might not support EAC3. It depends on how old your TV is. However, if your TV is fairly new and was designed for streaming, then your TV is good to go and the next thing that would not support EAC3 would be your soundbar.
With that being said, maybe take a look at your transcoder settings in plex and maybe (if you are daring) adjust the transcoder default buffer. 60 seconds is usually pretty good and works for most and is the default. I have mine set at in absurd number, but I have the space and the processing power to do so.
I hope this helps in some way.
What wasn’t mentioned about my EAC3 files was that they had ASS subs, and I dimly recall something about those subs and some EAC3 sometimes causing a transcode ofthe audio. Mostly, the post was a complaint about how when transcoding, skipping forward or back in the file can lead to inconsistent results due to a seemingly incorrect progress timer/bar, which gets worse the longer you watch without tracking.
As for the iOS app issue, I believe it was due to my insistence on staying on an older iOS version. I happened to catch my Plex app shortly before it was “improved” with the new experience, which many people were complaining about for quite some time months ago. Once I updated the app, these EAC3 files played fine on my phone.
Copy that on the first part. I unfortunately don’t have any ASS subs to test and see if I can replicate the results.
As for the second part, that is why I suggested playing around with your transcode settings if you wish to do so. Specifically with the transcoder default buffer. I have mine set to 10 minutes (600 seconds). This way I can scrub back and forth on my timeline without triggering any sync issues or buffering issues. I found that a minute is not that much as when people rewind, it rewinds about 30 seconds. Most people don’t just do 30 seconds; they go for a few minutes at a time. If you have that set to 10 minutes, you might not have any sync issues anymore.
Cheers and thanks for the clarification on the EAC3 with ASS subs.
Rewind default step is 10 seconds. However, rewind for me on any device (especially shield) always has to restart the transcode. I think that the clients throw away old buffers in memory, so you cannot rewind without re-requesting data from the server. And since a transcode only goes forward from any spot, the server starts transcoding from a spot 10 seconds earlier, and sends that data, and the client can then play it. This can repeat any number of times if you want to rewind a few times.
