I am setting up a new home theater in the coming months, going with a 75 inch 4K HDR TV and was planning to get a Xbox One S as the media player considering it’s support for 4K, HDR, 4K Blu-ray, and Atmos/DTS:X. But I am curious, will my 4K HDR Blu-Ray rips playback in HDR through Plex if direct play is enabled? I know 4K, Atmos/DTS:X is supported, but wondering specifically about HDR. Haven’t been able to find concrete answers on the forums here or Reddit so figured I would ask.
P.S. If original quality is selected, does 4K HDR content, in theory, play identically in quality to the original Blu-ray? Ie bitrate and the like.
@Planedrop said:
I know 4K, Atmos/DTS:X is supported,
On the current version of the app Atmos/DTS:X is not supported. The only possibility currently for Atmos is (e)AC3 with the Atmos positional track, but that combination is extremely rare to see, and most likely will not be on any 4K rip.
but wondering specifically about HDR. Haven’t been able to find concrete answers on the forums here or Reddit so figured I would ask.
This one is a very tricky one to answer. The Xbox One (on my TV) says that HDR is supported. But when playing any HDR 4K content I never see a notification showing that the TV is switching modes or that the current playback is HDR. Speaking previously with the developers about this, the Xbox should be seeing the HDR stream and automatically handling the switch to HDR mode during playback. (This is something that would need to be done on the system level as the app is not allowed to switch system settings such as video mode or audio settings). So while yes it should work, I have no objective way to say Yes it is working, or no it is not. (I tried comparing streams through the netflix app and Amazon video app as well and even though they said they were HDR never saw a notification on the TV, so I can’t be 100% sure it’s not switching either.)
If original quality is selected, does 4K HDR content, in theory, play identically in quality to the original Blu-ray? Ie bitrate and the like.
In theory, yes, but only if the file is direct playing. The current major limitation the Xbox One (s) for video is the H264 decoder having issue with some 4K content. This causes a chain effect with other limitations. The main ones that would affect this are:
Subtitles - Currently all require being burned in.
Unsupported Audio - Any DTS, HD Audio, Full Atmos track, etc that cannot be decoded by the Xbox One will cause a transcode. (The current app cannot access the pass-through function so everything must be decoded by the Xbox One).
HEVC - While great for saving space, HEVC cannot be sent to the Xbox One for any file that is not direct playing. (So if any of the above happen then the video will need to be converted to h264)
4K H264 - This is the major downer currently. Because the Xbox One decoder has issues with 4K playback in a h264 stream, any time a 4k video needs any type of conversion it also has to be transcoded down to 1080p H264.
Now some of these issues could be addressed in the Fall update, and others can be fixed when the app updates. But I typically recommend planning around the current state instead of what could happen later on.
On the current version of the app Atmos/DTS:X is not supported. The only possibility currently for Atmos is (e)AC3 with the Atmos positional track, but that combination is extremely rare to see, and most likely will not be on any 4K rip.
So does it maybe make more sense to use a Shield TV instead? Or something else? I mean, maybe I am better off just using the 4K Blurays directly on the Xbox One S, since I’ll be buying the discs anyway. Just nice to have a copy on the server for when I’m out and about.
This one is a very tricky one to answer. The Xbox One (on my TV) says that HDR is supported. But when playing any HDR 4K content I never see a notification showing that the TV is switching modes or that the current playback is HDR. Speaking previously with the developers about this, the Xbox should be seeing the HDR stream and automatically handling the switch to HDR mode during playback. (This is something that would need to be done on the system level as the app is not allowed to switch system settings such as video mode or audio settings). So while yes it should work, I have no objective way to say Yes it is working, or no it is not. (I tried comparing streams through the netflix app and Amazon video app as well and even though they said they were HDR never saw a notification on the TV, so I can’t be 100% sure it’s not switching either.)
Alright great information to know. No wonder finding a concrete answer was tough. Sounds like it’s at least possible though, good to know!
In theory, yes, but only if the file is direct playing. The current major limitation the Xbox One (s) for video is the H264 decoder having issue with some 4K content. This causes a chain effect with other limitations. The main ones that would affect this are:
Subtitles - Currently all require being burned in.
Unsupported Audio - Any DTS, HD Audio, Full Atmos track, etc that cannot be decoded by the Xbox One will cause a transcode. (The current app cannot access the pass-through function so everything must be decoded by the Xbox One).
HEVC - While great for saving space, HEVC cannot be sent to the Xbox One for any file that is not direct playing. (So if any of the above happen then the video will need to be converted to h264)
4K H264 - This is the major downer currently. Because the Xbox One decoder has issues with 4K playback in a h264 stream, any time a 4k video needs any type of conversion it also has to be transcoded down to 1080p H264.
Sounding more and more like the One S might not be the way to go for Plex then. So I guess my real question is, should I get some other device that maybe supports Plex “better”? Or just use a One S as a 4K Bluray player? I don’t have either device yet so I am trying to decide for sure what the best option is. Either way I will have rips on the server for when I am away from home.
To put it bluntly, the xbox one plex client is the worst client out of all right now. I would rather use Plex on a terrible apple tv 2 than the xbox right now. It’s rubbish and it should be good. We’ve been promised an update got over a year and nothing has happened.
The AACS 2.0 encryption on UHD Blu-Ray discs has not been cracked so it’s not possible to rip a 1:1 copy like you can with a regular Blu-Ray. If absolute picture quality is your goal then playing the original discs might be your best bet. Otherwise, you’ll need video capture software to obtain a playable file you can add to your Plex library, and this will be a downgrade in video quality.
@danjames92 said:
To put it bluntly, the xbox one plex client is the worst client out of all right now. I would rather use Plex on a terrible apple tv 2 than the xbox right now. It’s rubbish and it should be good. We’ve been promised an update got over a year and nothing has happened.
The windows 10 UWP is worse.
No, wait, the PlayStation app is even worse. Downright effin terrible. It’s not “bad at 4k h264”, it doesn’t do it, even on the PS4 pro.
@danjames92 said:
To put it bluntly, the xbox one plex client is the worst client out of all right now. I would rather use Plex on a terrible apple tv 2 than the xbox right now. It’s rubbish and it should be good. We’ve been promised an update got over a year and nothing has happened.
Ah I see good to know, thanks much!
@OmegaRed1723 said:
The AACS 2.0 encryption on UHD Blu-Ray discs has not been cracked so it’s not possible to rip a 1:1 copy like you can with a regular Blu-Ray. If absolute picture quality is your goal then playing the original discs might be your best bet. Otherwise, you’ll need video capture software to obtain a playable file you can add to your Plex library, and this will be a downgrade in video quality.
Actually, as of a week ish ago this is not true. A new tool called DeUHD is out and works for it, it’s spendy though.
@Planedrop said:
Actually, as of a week ish ago this is not true. A new tool called DeUHD is out and works for it, it’s spendy though.
DeUHD doesn’t work the same way as other programs you are familiar for with DVD or normal BluRay discs. It only works for certain titles which would seem to indicate that AACS hasn’t been cracked but they have the keys for those discs which allows the software through a bit of trickery to extract the content.
The software takes a LONG, LONG time to run as well to extract the content which you’ll then have to post process to get it into Plex. Right now due to limited discs and high cost of the software it’s not worth it for most people.
@danjames92 said:
To put it bluntly, the xbox one plex client is the worst client out of all right now. I would rather use Plex on a terrible apple tv 2 than the xbox right now. It’s rubbish and it should be good. We’ve been promised an update got over a year and nothing has happened.
Ah I see good to know, thanks much!
@OmegaRed1723 said:
The AACS 2.0 encryption on UHD Blu-Ray discs has not been cracked so it’s not possible to rip a 1:1 copy like you can with a regular Blu-Ray. If absolute picture quality is your goal then playing the original discs might be your best bet. Otherwise, you’ll need video capture software to obtain a playable file you can add to your Plex library, and this will be a downgrade in video quality.
Actually, as of a week ish ago this is not true. A new tool called DeUHD is out and works for it, it’s spendy though.
I’m aware – I already ordered the software and have an LG UHD Blu-Ray drive on backorder. B)
