Why are M4V videos Transcoding.

Plex Players Gaming Consoles
1

Hi All

I am having an issue on my PS4 were it is transcoding m4v videos.

It only seems to do this on 1080p and 720p videos, I tried some 480p and 576p and they direct play ok.

Any ideas?

Here is an example of one that Transcodes.

_Files

/Volumes/iTunes RAID/iTunes/Movies/Get Hard/Get Hard (1080p HD).m4v

Media

Video Resolution 1080p
Duration 1:46:43
Bitrate 2203 kbps
Width 1920
Height 1080
Aspect Ratio 1.78
Container MP4
Video Frame Rate 24p
Web Optimized Yes
Has 64bit Offsets 0

Part

Duration 1:46:43
File 01 Get Hard (1080p HD).m4v
Size 1.64 GB
Container MP4
Has 64bit Offsets 0
Web Optimized Yes

Video

Codec H264
Bitrate 2110 kbps
Language English
Bit Depth 8
CABAC 1
Chroma Subsampling 4:2:0
Color Space yuv
Duration 1:46:43
Frame Rate 23.976 fps
Frame Rate Mode cfr
Has Scaling Matrix 0
Height 1080
Level 4.1
Profile high
Ref Frames 4
Scan Type progressive
Stream Identifier 1
Width 1920

Audio

Codec AAC
Channels Stereo
Bitrate 94 kbps
Language English
Audio Channel Layout stereo
Bitrate Mode VBR
Duration 1:46:43
Profile lc
Sampling Rate 48000 Hz
Stream Identifier 2

_

Here is one that Direct Plays

_Files

/Volumes/iTunes RAID/iTunes/Movies/Bad Teacher/Bad Teacher (HD).m4v

Media

Video Resolution 576p
Duration 1:37:36
Bitrate 1664 kbps
Width 854
Height 478
Aspect Ratio 1.78
Container MP4
Video Frame Rate 24p
Web Optimized No
Has 64bit Offsets 0

Part

Duration 1:37:36
File Bad Teacher (HD).m4v
Size 1.13 GB
Container MP4
Has 64bit Offsets 0
Has Chapter Text Stream 1
Web Optimized No

Video

Codec H264
Bitrate 1522 kbps
Bit Depth 8
CABAC 0
Chroma Subsampling 4:2:0
Color Space yuv
Duration 1:37:34
Frame Rate 23.976 fps
Frame Rate Mode cfr
Has Scaling Matrix 0
Height 478
Level 3.0
Profile baseline
Ref Frames 3
Scan Type progressive
Stream Identifier 2
Width 854

Audio

Codec AAC
Channels Stereo
Bitrate 132 kbps
Language English
Audio Channel Layout stereo
Bitrate Mode VBR
Duration 1:37:36
Profile lc
Sampling Rate 44100 Hz
Stream Identifier 1

_
Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

Aaron

2

Biggest thing which jumps out at me about those two media info is the Level used in the h264 encoding, it is 3.0 in one and 4.1 in the other.

If I recall correctly many clients (and PS may be in that list i’m not 100% sure) you need to be at level 4.0 or below to prevent transcoding. There may also be a relevence to the Profile. You may find searching for level and profile in other threads gives you more detail.

David

3

Thanks, That seems to make sense.

I did a few tests and all the level 3.0 work ok.

I couldn’t find a Lvl 4.0 to test.

I thing I will just get an Android TV, that should fix the issue1

Cheers

4

I found the solution for Play Station and Android TV.

Play Station: Under the Settings > Video you need to make sure the Local Quality is set to Original and that **X264 Level **is set to None or at least in my case as all of my movies are 4.1 then set to 4.1 or above.

Android TV: Under the Settings > Video you need to make sure the Local Quality is set to Original and under Advanced you set Direct Play to Forced.

I hope this helps everyone!