You can’t really blame Plex on this one. They use the software supplied by HDHomeRun for their DVR product. A user on another topic pointed out that the Extend actually will soften the blow to the Plex server, if all of the planets are aligned. I plan on buying one because Plex and HDHomeRun will eventually get it right and it will really help those with under-powered Plex servers.
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Can you better describe what you changed in the HdHomerun viewer app to change the audio transcode? I don’t see any setting like this.
Sure. First make sure you are using the correct app. I’m referring to the Unsupported App Store HDHR Viewer 2 app, available here:
The Wiki talks about how to adjust the video and audio codecs:
In my post I said I changed the audio codec to EAC3.
I would agree with this statement but if we are to use your example Plex is advertising “works with your coffee machine buy us!” So the original poster does have a valid point.
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yes this is a totally valid point! I just purchased the extend and am having the exact same issue. For apparently no reason it is transcoding my audio and video, both of which have are supported codecs on the Apple TV. I’ve even tried changing the Apple TV to play on all the different bit rates with no avail.
Plex needs to fix this! Absolutely ridiculous that they advertise this as being fully supported only to find out after spending hundreds of dollars setting this up that actually it doesn’t work how its supposed to.
Sorry for the rant just very frustrating. If anyone has any revelations please post it up here
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It is transcoding the video most likely to match the local quality setting you have in the plex app you are watching the video in. To avoid it having to transcode set your local quality to Original on any plex apps you watch video through.
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Come on, thats one of the first things someone would toggle to troubleshoot this 
Yes, I’m the original poster. I STILL have the same problem with Plex many months later.
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Hi, plex is transcoding because the CLIENT (your apple tv in this instance) does not support the TS stream.
This is not necessarily plex’s fault that the apple tv can’t directly stream TS files.
Additionally, since plex includes transcoding, it is fully supported. Otherwise, your client likely wouldn’t work at all with these files.
Each hardware can have different capabilities (ATV/ios, firetv, android boxes, smart tvs, roku’s, etc), and each plex client has to try to play files that work with the hardware that plays the media. When the hardware and/or client can’t play a file, then where possible, the server converts it to a compatible format.
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So what devices support direct stream of TS? I’ve been looking at the HDHomeRun Extend and will be playing through a Roku 4 and Roku TV but now I’m not sure if this is going to work for me.
not sure, I don’t think many do, but the nvidia shield does for sure.
It’s not cheap, nor perfect, but other than dolby vision (which to my knowledge hasn’t been rippable), it direct plays pretty much any video and audio streams, supports 4k hdr, and dolby atmos.
it can also be used as a server, but IMO only for smaller libraries.
for maximum performance, an external SSD or internal ssd swap is typically recommended, but I am using a stock shield pro (with the built in 500g drive), and it is sufficient for my needs.
I have a separate NAS for pms and storage.
there are many threads about the extend, and if you have a lower end server, then it might be worth it. the extend can transcode to x264 (but still saves to TS), but x264 is more compatible than the OTA mpeg2 that is what comes over the ota.
keep in mind, there are basically 3 kinds of plex streaming;
-
direct play- the client understands the container (mkv/mp4/ts/etc), and the video codecs (x264/x265/mpeg2/etc), and the audio codec (ac3/aac/mp3/flac/etc)
-
direct stream- the client does not understand the container, but understands the audio/video codecs, in this case the PMS server remuxes (less work than full transcode) into a compatible container. IE mkv > mp4
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transcoding- the client doesn’t understand the codec, and PMS must convert it to something the client understands. Video transcoding takes much more cpu tha audio transcoding. x265 takes way more power (beyond all but the most expensive cpus). x264 and 4k are generally better suited to GPU hardware transcoding (takes the load off the cpu).
In any case, the EXTEND has x264 conversion build in (converts OTA mpeg2 to x264). It still comes out as TS, but the remux to mp4 or whatever is not as bad as a full transcode.
worse case you can buy both the extend and another model, and hook the both up and compare what your server and client can handle.
then take back the one you don’t like.
or, upgrade your server so it can handle transcoding better.
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I have been using the HDHomeRun Prime for years and only recently added the Extend so that I could test out this on the fly transcoding that seems like a perfect match.
First of all as far as TS streams go; the nVidia ShieldTV and Plex media Player on Windows 10 direct play these. So with transcoding turned off on the Extend (and therefore the same as the Prime) PMS is doing noting but serving the stream and the video performance is perfect with MPEG2 streams. In fact if you set the buffer size to a huge number (like 15,000) in the config file here: C:\Users,username.\AppData\Local\PlexMediaPlayer\plexmediaplayer.conf
You will find the most amazing fast forward performance you have ever seen! Because there is no transcoding my PMS, the buffer fills quickly.
But (there’s always a but), if you turn on transcoding on the Extend, this causes PMS to re code the H.264 to H.264 thereby rendering the function kinda worthless.
If you go back a few years, originally Plex coded everything directly into MKV containers which the players work perfectly with. Then they announced it was causing compatibility problems and did not come back to it. I could never figure out “What compatibility problems?”
So if Plex would redo the integration with the Extend to change the container to MKV on the fly, then we should get the benefit of the Extend and the performance of NO transcoding on the PMS side. There is no reason to build expensive and energy hungry servers to overcome this miss on Plex’s part. The Extend should be the perfect TV source for Plex and now that you can get Internet channels (the other reason I bought it), it should set the standard (although the OTA reception is not as good as my everyday Sony TV).
What I do for programs I plan to watch later or more than once is to re code them to H.264 MKV using Video Redo or MCE Buddy (many other avaiable as well). This may I get great performance live (MPEG2 TS Direct Play) or from my library (H,264 MKV),
So I will use the Extend and turn off the transcoding for now until something progresses on this front. Let’s hope someone is listening!
that does not sound right.
something must be causing plex to chose to transcode instead of direct play (or direct stream/remux container).
I would suggest you monitor the logs while attempting to play an ‘extend’ produced stream.
I would suspect there is some kind of client or server setting that is being hit that triggers transcoding.
also, dont forget that remuxing the container (direct stream ts > mkv) is not the same as full transcoding.
Thanks for the feedback.
I will give this a try, yes I know that the a container transcode is much less processing than an encoder (MPEG2 to H.264) transcode. I can convert the containers after recordings quickly but I shouldn’t have to. Weird that MPEG2 TS streams don’t trigger the PMS transcoder but the H.264 TS streams do.
I’ll be back with my findings.
I deleted the DVR and started over because I was having guide issues. I then installed two HDHR Extends as I have two antennas that receive different OTA channels. Now it is all working great and there is no transcoding from PMS. Even watching while recording works great (both in Win 10 Plex Media Player and on the ShieldTV). Transcoding on the Extend is set to “Highest Quality”.
Just wanted to share my configuration and what I got working. Directly on the EXTEND I have it set to “none” for the transcode profile, default for the languages and all the DLNA formats selected. On Plex, I have the device setting on the EXTEND set to “Highest quality”. On my Roku I have the video quality set to original and I get a direct video stream but it is still converting the audio stream but this helped a ton. On my Fire TV I get the exact opposite after setting it the max video settings. I get a conversion on the video while the audio is a direct stream. I am still trying to play around with the Fire TV but the Roku seems to be pretty good with those settings.
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I know that I’m coming into this very late:
but it have not seen the following anywhere in the thread, so I figured a simple reminder wouldn’t hurt.
Plex is a true server, if your client demands 4k with digital dolby sound, Plex will try to provide it. (buffering ensues)
It is helpful to keep your source data as minimal as your personal taste can accept. (I’m older, I can live with DVD/VHS quality for most of the older stuff.
Then be sure to tell your client to lower it’s demands… this will enhance your streaming dramatically, lower the transcoding burden on the server, and likely eliminate any buffering problems.
I share some media with family members off the network, and they constantly complain about buffering, then I direct them through the plex client they are using, to lower demand, and the buffering stops.
(i.e. nobody needs 4k 1080p high definition picture and audio on an iphone 4. the screen is too small, but, unless you tell the plex client app to downgrade the quality of the stream, your Iphone 4 will happily wait for the 4k digital quality pictures you demand.)
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So what’s the status here? I’m still having issues with transcoding - basically, this feature is non functional for me.
My setup:
-Netgear ReadyNAS 212 with PMS 1.13.8.5395 (time for an update, I see)
-Apple TV 4 (not 4k) on tvOS 12.1.1 (latest)
-Plex App 1.37 (11125),
-HDHomerun Extend (HDTC-2US) running the latest 20180817 firmware release
Settings:
-On HDHR - “Default Transcode Profile” = “None”
-In PMS tuner device settings - “Transcoder Quality” = “Original Format”
-In Plex app - all video settings set to “maximum” with “Use Enhanced Video Player” enabled. “Allow Direct Play” is enabled
Now that Plex for iOS has been updated with the new player, we can no longer blame iOS’s player for it’s inability to handle TS streams. I echo the complaints of others - one of the main reasons for purchasing plex pass was to one day cancel my cable subscription. But, with a non-functional setup I can’t do this. The “Channels” app works flawlessley, so there is nothing wrong with my networking setup, and the Apple TV can do this. So what gives Plex!?
FWIW I picked up an Extend and installed it today. After tuning my antenna amplifier a bit I found all but one channel that I wanted. I set it up as bs2069 described and my Readynas plex shows direct play for both audio and video (no transcoding at all). I’m using the Plex preview app which mentioned fixing something like this for audio in the release notes. The only downside of this config is that my recording size will be large (full mpeg2). I may try h.264 next but really I wanted this set up to get better quality than I’m getting from hulutv for some sporting events.
thanks for the advice here.
You said…
In PMS tuner device settings - “Transcoder Quality” = “Original Format”
- The way you have this set the Extend will do no transcoding, if you want to have extend do the transcoding you need to set this to Highest Quality this will push the transcoding to the Extend and reduce the load on Plex.
Thank you for your response. I have actually tried changing the configuration of the extend to highest quality as you suggested but the result is the same. The server transcodes in all cases. I am simply trying to watch live TV, so I’m not sure why any transcoding is required at all.
