Why is Plex identifying SD video as 576p?

General Discussions
141

Hey @ChuckPA – don’t abandon us. But you were forewarned B)

If you can discard the strong personal opinions, possibly work with a few of the better suggestions, modify or improve as needed, and eventually get them implemented, we’re golden.

Personally, If I had some insight to the logic as to why both a 1024X576 video and a 720X304 video are classified as 576p and a 640X480 video is considered 480p (and apparently only that resolution) I might be able to provide some viable suggestions to consider. Right now, everyone is just working on speculation and personal opinions.

142

Why don’t call everything below 720p “SD” and be done with that? :smiley:

143

@zpaolo11x

It may indeed be “SD”, which is what it is. The issue is “Legacy” material. Try playing 25 frames/sec material on something like PMP which misunderstands this and it think it’s 25 fields/sec… which it then takes and drops to 12.5 frames/sec. Instant motion sickness.

Next is the geometry map. Examining logs will show where video.height 576 > 480 and the MDE forces transcoding.

See where this starts to unravel ?

144

@zpaolo11x said:
Why don’t call everything below 720p “SD” and be done with that? :smiley:

LOL - pretty sure that will be the final result. Let’s be honest, the majority of Plex users couldn’t care less, as long as the video gets displayed properly on whatever they are watching it on. For those that like to have that “extra” information, it’s important, and there is no way in Hades the final result will please everyone. I suppose that technically, all DVD are “SD” – they were designed to play on our SD TV’s way before we even considered them as SD. That was all there was. The term “SD” was probably invented to differentiate the new and improved HD standards from the old.

Still… I kinda like the 480p and 576p categories.

145

@leelynds said:
Still… I kinda like the 480p and 576p categories.

Me too, as does @ac4lt - for filtering purposes, the least of my worries, but if you’re going to start messing with features affected by this issue, ultimately disregarding them, then that’s going to cause issues for some users.

https://forums.plex.tv/discussion/comment/1417098/#Comment_1417098

It ain’t ‘The Economy’, but things like this do ‘trickle down’ to nooks and crannies not previously considered. Bottom line - let’s fix it. I think that road lays before us, now we just have to travel down it.

Some users don’t care either way. Some users care. Some users care a lot. Some users care more than is probably healthy (guilty).

:slight_smile:

146

@ChuckPA said:
Try playing 25 frames/sec material on something like PMP which misunderstands this and it think it’s 25 fields/sec… which it then takes and drops to 12.5 frames/sec. Instant motion sickness.

Next is the geometry map. Examining logs will show where video.height 576 > 480 and the MDE forces transcoding.

See where this starts to unravel ?

But those have to be bugs in the player, not a problem with the way Plex identifies the resolution. My trusty old Roku 3 direct plays 25fps 576p videos just fine, as well as my Android phone - no transcoding or motion sickness.

:slight_smile: If Plex wasn’t identifying so damn many videos as 576p, maybe the video.height 576 > 480 problem would be reduced.

147

please forgive me if I sound harsh in any way? I don’t mean it. You’re frustrated and I get that. Frustrating me isn’t going to help and that’s what i’m feeling right now. I’m feeling all the frustration.

I asked for sample files (you know, those 20-30 MB SAMPLES) just enough to show what SHOULD be identified as what?

I’m not about to download a 500 MB file and carve it off. I’m nobody’s dog.

148

@ChuckPA said:
please forgive me if I sound harsh in any way? I don’t mean it. You’re frustrated and I get that. Frustrating me isn’t going to help and that’s what i’m feeling right now. I’m feeling all the frustration.

I asked for sample files (you know, those 20-30 MB SAMPLES) just enough to show what SHOULD be identified as what?

I’m not about to download a 500 MB file and carve it off. I’m nobody’s dog.

Is there something wrong with the files @leelynds provided?

Just in case there isn’t here are his again and since my Handbrake is twiddling it’s thumbs right now here’s one of mine. I eyeballed it - hope it’s the right size. 720x480. Display width 854. 16:9

149

I am getting those two files. Thank you. I will not call anyone out but suffice it to say I got the ‘Have at it’ which didn’t sit with me in the slightest.

Now, with the air clear… let’s beat this thing into the past as well.

150

Examining the first sample file, I find:

Input #0, mov,mp4,m4a,3gp,3g2,mj2, from 'Stargate SG-1 - S01E03 - The Enemy Within.mp4':
  Metadata:
    major_brand     : mp42
    minor_version   : 512
    compatible_brands: isomiso2avc1mp41
    creation_time   : 2017-04-24T18:10:49.000000Z
    encoder         : HandBrake 0.10.5 2016021100
  Duration: 00:02:00.00, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 2727 kb/s
    Chapter #0:0: start 0.000000, end 119.953000
    Metadata:
      title           : Chapter 1
    Stream #0:0(und): Video: h264 (High) (avc1 / 0x31637661), yuv420p(tv, smpte170m/smpte170m/bt709), 720x480 [SAR 427:360 DAR 427:240], 2399 kb/s, 24.45 fps, 59.94 tbr, 90k tbn, 180k tbc (default)
    Metadata:
      creation_time   : 2017-04-24T18:10:49.000000Z
      handler_name    : VideoHandler
    Stream #0:1(eng): Audio: aac (LC) (mp4a / 0x6134706D), 48000 Hz, stereo, fltp, 320 kb/s (default)
    Metadata:
      creation_time   : 2017-04-24T18:10:49.000000Z
      handler_name    : Stereo
    Stream #0:2(eng): Data: bin_data (text / 0x74786574), 0 kb/s
    Metadata:
      creation_time   : 2017-04-24T18:10:49.000000Z
      handler_name    : SubtitleHandler
At least one output file must be specified
[chuck@lizum Season 1.104]$

I see this in Plex Web “Get Info”.

mtrj93nw9pm0.png748×539 42.4 KB

With this as the XML


<MediaContainer size="1" allowSync="1" identifier="com.plexapp.plugins.library" librarySectionID="6" librarySectionTitle="Test TV" librarySectionUUID="913b11d7-d50e-4a9d-adee-908d522ff2d5" mediaTagPrefix="/system/bundle/media/flags/" mediaTagVersion="1492683844">
<Video ratingKey="46629" key="/library/metadata/46629" parentRatingKey="46628" grandparentRatingKey="46627" guid="com.plexapp.agents.thetvdb://72449/1/3?lang=en" librarySectionID="6" librarySectionKey="/library/sections/6" type="episode" title="The Enemy Within" titleSort="Enemy Within" grandparentKey="/library/metadata/46627" parentKey="/library/metadata/46628" grandparentTitle="Stargate SG-1" parentTitle="Season 1" contentRating="TV-PG" summary="Major Kawalsky is possessed by a Goa'uld, and the SGC must find a way to remove it without killing him." index="3" parentIndex="1" rating="7.4" year="1997" thumb="/library/metadata/46629/thumb/1493058573" art="/library/metadata/46627/art/1493058574" parentThumb="/library/metadata/46628/thumb/1493058573" grandparentThumb="/library/metadata/46627/thumb/1493058574" grandparentArt="/library/metadata/46627/art/1493058574" grandparentTheme="/library/metadata/46627/theme/1493058574" duration="120000" originallyAvailableAt="1997-08-01" addedAt="1493058533" updatedAt="1493058573">
<Media videoResolution="576" id="61569" duration="120000" bitrate="2728" width="720" height="480" aspectRatio="1.78" audioChannels="2" audioCodec="aac" videoCodec="h264" container="mp4" videoFrameRate="24p" optimizedForStreaming="1" audioProfile="lc" has64bitOffsets="0" videoProfile="high">
<Part accessible="1" exists="1" id="61588" key="/library/parts/61588/1493057494/file.mp4" duration="120000" file="/syno/test/tv/Stargate SG-1/Season 1/Stargate SG-1 - S01E03 - The Enemy Within.mp4" size="40915134" audioProfile="lc" container="mp4" has64bitOffsets="0" optimizedForStreaming="1" videoProfile="high">
<Stream id="104026" streamType="1" default="1" codec="h264" index="0" bitrate="2399" anamorphic="1" bitDepth="8" chromaSubsampling="4:2:0" colorRange="tv" colorSpace="smpte170m" frameRate="24.453" hasScalingMatrix="0" height="480" level="41" pixelAspectRatio="427:360" profile="high" refFrames="4" streamIdentifier="1" width="720"/>
<Stream id="104027" streamType="2" selected="1" default="1" codec="aac" index="1" channels="2" bitrate="328" language="English" languageCode="eng" profile="lc" samplingRate="48000" streamIdentifier="2"/>
</Part>
</Media>
<Director id="30133" filter="director=30133" tag="Dennis Berry"/>
<Writer id="14058" filter="writer=14058" tag="Brad Wright"/>
<Extras size="0"></Extras>
</Video>
</MediaContainer>

As I compare ffmpeg output and the XML, this reports as 720 x 480.

Edit: I see the XML has 576.

151

I take it that 576 is after Plex found it and is misreporting it.

I encoded it myself from an NTSC DVD. I’m certain it was 720x480 then and is the same now as it resides in my library.

152

Yes, This is after I took your file, extracted it and placed it in the test directory and let PMS scan it.

I don’t think there is a more simple way than that.

153

That seems a reasonable way to have a look at it as Plex sees it and shows the issue quite effectively.

@leelynds ’ files cover even more territory and should also come in handy.

154

My goal is to provide an A-B-C Steps To Reproduce and then give it to Engineering.
With the efforts they’ve been overwhelmed with for the past few months now behind them, getting traction on this and fixing it shouldn’t be a problem. They all seem to be ‘breathing again’. :slight_smile:

Before I submit this, need I examine the other samples or will I find the exact same results?

Are there any other cases, where Media Resolution is misreported?

155

Well, there is the ‘long standing’ 720p reporting of a 1920x688 (The Hateful Eight), but that dude is W-I-D-E and definitely Vertically Challenged (it never even makes it to 720p territory), but it is encoded as per the copy I got and is pretty close, at least to it’s original Motion Picture Release on 70MM stock. Personally I could overlook that one and those like it, but if you want to have a crack at it I’ll throw a sample of that one in. It’s really unclear what, if anything, could be done about those, but what do I know?

DVDs should be easier to deal with and that 576p thing just started happening with version previous to this one:
Version 1.5.5.3634 - Current

156

Before I do this, I would like to rule out one additional possibility.

I used your, as provided, MP4. MP4’s are infamous for carrying incorrect metadata which can include a “Media Resolution” tag.

Flipping the MP4 → MKV reveals an interesting piece of info.

Did you set this deliberately?

157

Set what? I’m not seeing it.

158

Look at Width and Height. 854 x 480 ??

You said 720x480 , which is how it’s encoded but look at what got picked up from the tags.

159

Yea, that’s Handbrake’s Custom Anamorphic Width setting.
For NTSC, 16:9 DVDs display at 854x480, so when setting up the Width Dimension to set a proper flag Handbrake wants to let everybody (the players) know how wide it should be. It’s proper and correct and the way it’s always been done.

For NTSC, 4:3 DVDs carry a Width setting of 640 and result in a displayed 640x480 resolution, but are still stored at 720x480 in a proper DVD encode. 4:3 content can be used without an anamorphic flag and be simply encoded at 640x480 and Plex properly reports those - and apparently ONLY those.

But, yes, that is set on purpose and is the proper way. Myself and most everyone else has been doing it this - for ever - so it’s not something new to Plex or anything.

Edit: Unless Plex starting looking in places it doesn’t need to be looking when reporting the DVD resolution.

160

Fair enough. I’m not a video guru and want to be certain I didn’t miss anything obvious before dropping the :error: on them.