Nvidia shield 2019 model
Plex server version: 1.21.0.3711
Xbox Series X
I am trying to play any content with the Plex app for Xbox series x. I was able to connect to my server and play media but every single thing I play is transcoded and has green artifacts which makes the video unwatchable.
I have tried mpeg-2, 1080p, 4k. Everything is transcoded. This is on a local network, the Nvidia shield is in the next room. The Xbox series x is the only device this happens on. I have an old original Xbox one with Plex that does not have this problem, so this appears to be something to do with the series x.
Hi there. It’s possible your Xbox is unable to make a local connection and is behaving as a remote client. You can check this by playing a video and checking the server dashboard in the Web Desktop app to see if it’s showing as local or remote.
I checked and it is playing local. It shows the video direct streaming but the audio is being transcoded from dts-hd ma 5.1 to aac. It does this for every 1080p mkv I throw at it.
That’s fine I have no problem with it transcoding the audio, my main problem though is that everything it transcoded gives me green artifacts and the video plays with constant freezes and artifacts. This never happened on my Xbox one, only the Xbox series x that I just got.
For my server I am using the Nvidia shield pro 2019 model on a wired gigabit local network. It doesn’t give me the green artifacts on my phone, pc, or tv Plex app.
That’s weird, the image above shows only the audio transcoding, so the video should be unchanged.
Direct stream is only remuxing into a different container.
Probably not going to get much response during the holidays, but without client and server logs (see support article), ain’t anything anyone can do but guess.
Here is a copy of the log
Just looking at the log quickly I see this reference about the file and the audio being transcoded:
Dec 25, 2020 08:47:54.051 [15084] DEBUG - [Transcode] MDE: Blades of Glory (2007): Direct Play is disabled
Dec 25, 2020 08:47:54.051 [15084] DEBUG - [Transcode] MDE: Blades of Glory (2007): media must be transcoded in order to use the dash protocol
Dec 25, 2020 08:47:54.051 [15084] DEBUG - [Transcode] MDE: Blades of Glory (2007): no direct play video profile exists for http/mkv/h264/dca
Dec 25, 2020 08:47:54.052 [15084] DEBUG - [Transcode] MDE: Blades of Glory (2007): Audio Direct Streaming is disabled, so video’s audio stream will be transcoded
Dec 25, 2020 08:47:54.052 [15084] DEBUG - [Transcode] MDE: Cannot direct stream audio stream due to profile or setting limitations
Could it be that I need a specific profile for the new xbox series x to place on my shield?
I understand a little better. As mentioned, the audio stream transcode is expected behaviour. The video stream artifacting and freezing is not. Logs are not going to help here, if possible could you create a sample file that reproduces the issue and send it our way?
I don’t think sending a sample will help at all. There seems to be a major issue with Plex for the Xbox series x. Every single 1080p remux I try to play transcoded the audio and gives me the green horizontal artifacts and freezes.
When trying to play standard 480p or 4k content I get the error “ an unexpected playback problem occurred”. This never happened on my Xbox one. This issue also does not occur on my nvidia shield connected directly to my 4K tv, does not happen when watching via my phone or any other device, only the series x.
If you’re using the preview app on the original Xbox One then it’s the same app running on the original Xbox One and the Xbox One Series X, with the only major difference in behaviour being that the original Xbox One has a bitrate limit of 10Mbps for HEVC video streams (since it doesn’t have a hardware decoder). Can you confirm if you’re running the preview app on the original Xbox One that you’re comparing against? That would be a good data point to compare against.
In that case a sample would be the way forward. As far as I know this is the only (or one of few) reports of this issue, so I would be inclined to lean towards something about the media that the decoder on the Xbox doesn’t like.
I am still having this issue. 4K content and 480p content won’t play at all. 1080 plays but with the horizontal green artifacts and freezing. This is an issue with every single media file I play with Plex on the series x. It’s not an encoding error or authoring error. There is some issue between the series x and shield that doesn’t happen with all of my other devices.
I am having issues but slightly different. Xbox X is connected via ethernet cable, i can play movies up to about 25gb no problem but once i go higher in gb i get constant buffering and distorted PQ. I can play the same movie via wifi to a bedroom tv and plays no problems. Hence why im thinking its something on the Xbox X side causing this.
I recently found in the Xbox app I can see exactly the error that is generating for my issue.
Cannot direct play with protocol: http, codec: dca. Not found in profile. Cannot direct stream with protocol: dash, codec: dca. Not found in profile. App cannot direct play this item. Direct play is disabled.
This same error shows up for every single file I try to play. Is this a profile issue?
I’m seeing this exact same behavior on every type of file I try to play on Xbox Series X and have been for months… Can anyone confirm that the Xbox Plex client is properly playing anything without transcoding? Note: in my case I’m using a Synology NAS as a server and other clients such as Apple TV do not transcode at all on the same files. These same files used to work without transcoding on Series X. I’m seeing the same exact error as the post above (cannot direct stream/play DCA, or mpeg2video sometimes). I’d expect possibly audio transcoding, but not video…
I can confirm that this issue does not happen on my Amazon fire stick 4K. That thing can play anything from my library without any issue, it’s only on my Xbox series x console that I experience this issue.
Any update on when the Xbox app will be updated to fix this?
