I found this old thread that’s been closed: LG plex app - audio transcode + subtitle causes video transcode, there was an answer there that said that a video transcode will be forced if audio is transcoding and subtitles are selected, but then there’s another reply that mentions that for the Android app an update was released to direct play subtitles when possible regardless of transcode for audio/video.
Is this change in the pipeline for smart TV apps like webOS, or is there a limitation that prevents that on these apps? In the meantime I’m just making sure that whatever files I want to play on my TV match the supported formats here: https://support.plex.tv/articles/203810286-what-media-formats-are-supported/ but it would be nice to not worry about subtitles.
There is a limitation in the HLS streaming protocol used between Plex Media Server and the Plex LG webOS app. When direct streaming the media, such as when audio is transcoding, Plex Media Server has to burn in subtitles. If it did not, they would lose sync with the video and audio streams.
Unfortunately, there seems to be no way around the problem right now.
@FordGuy61 And an alternative player (as implemented in Emby’s LG app) is not provided/possible? If the Emby devs can do that, it should be easy for the great Plex team.
I agree with @Schmitzke . I have tested both Emby and Jellyfin clients for LG TV and they both can direct stream SRT subtitles without transcoding video when audio is transcoded.
This is a huge disadvantage of Plex IMO and I find it strange that it hasn’t been resolved for so long while the main competitors offer this functionality. There’s definitely a lot of users worldwide that use subtitles and when the file has DTS audio, which is not supported by newer (2020+) LG TVs, then the Plex client for WebOS forces a video transcode.
I really believe that the developers can fix this as Plex software is better in any other functionality compared to the competition. This means that if the competition can do it (Emby, Jellyfin), Plex developers can do it, too. Fix it please, or kindly provide a comprehensive answer explaining why this is not feasible for Plex, when it is for other similar software.
