Server Version#: 1.13.5.291
Player Version#: 3.69.1
I’m sending files from a QNAP 253Be NAS to a Samsung UA43NU7100 TV. If I send a movie with the default language and no subtitles, Plex doesn’t transcode. If select one of the non-default audio tracks, it still doesn’t transcode, but as soon as I select on of the subtitle tracks, it starts to decode. What triggers this? Is there any way to avoid it?
PGS subtitles cannot be sent “side car” (as a separate video track) because they themselves are images.
They must be burned into the base image.
This requires the transcoder.
Not all apps can play PGS subs natively. Our Smart TV app can’t. https://support.plex.tv/articles/203810286-what-media-formats-are-supported/
So it sounds as though there is no way to send high-bit rate streams with PGS without transcoding. Is that right? I’d like to use Plex, but that would be a show-stopper for me. While googling this, I came across a few apps that claim to be able to do just that, although I haven’t tested any of them yet.
We make player apps for many devices. They use varying technologies based on the device they are on and generally use the devices OS built in player. Our Apple TV app is not the same as our Roku app for example.
Our Android TV app on Nvidia Shield, or our Plex Media Player app for HTPCs for example can play PGS subs without transcoding.
If I attach one of these files directly to the TV via USB connection, it can display the PGS. So the TV’s buillt-in player has the capability. I’m sure the TV is not transcoding.
When you plug it in, you’re using their app.
Not all manufacturers expose that API to app makers like Plex.
Apple is a prime example
If this is their API, it seems pretty comprehensive to to me. This would seem a good place to start.
Yes it seems comprehensive and also very definitive.
Type = 'TEXT' not Type='IMAGE'
PGS are images, not text.
So is it the case that, definitively, it is not possible for Plex to use the in-built Samsung player to display PGS, even though it the player is capable of it?
If that is the case, then it seems that Plex is never going to be able to play PGS without transcoding. Is that right?
I do not know. I am the server guy. You tagged for QNAP, which I support.
Who would know? Where should I post and what should I tag to get a definitive answer?
You are in the correct area. I will remove the QNAP tag . The Samsung tag will take precedence.
OK. Thanks.
Anyone from the Samsung team able to answer this, guys?
Same problem here with the subtitles with my Samsung2018 Q9FN using latest beta release of Plex for Samsung
I’d appreciate an answer to this. It’s a straightforward question about your product.
PGS subs needs to be transcoded. There’s a great support article explaining why it needs to be transcoded. Maybe Samsung’s own player supports PGS subtitles when plugged in directly, but it doesn’t mean it supports every case, such that it won’t cause things like incorrect sizing, positioning, cutoffs, etc.
It’s also possible that Samsung has fixed their SDK recently and has better support for PGS now, but we won’t know for sure unless we experiment more with it. Either way, I’ll log an internal issue to see if it’s something that’s now available to us.
OK. Thanks for your help.
I’ve been looking more at the Shield. This Plex support article states:
Note : In cases where content requires that subtitles be burned in (common for PGS or VOBSUB subtitles and sometimes required for other subtitle formats in some Plex apps), it is not possible to use hardware encoding. That means that the transcoding must be done by the CPU, which may be slower.
Which would appear contradict what you said above. It says not only do they commonly need transcoding, but that the encoding cannot be done within the hardware.
What is the current state of play with the Shield? Can it play PGS without transcoding, and if so how does it do it?
