XO not powerful enough to play mkv with high bitrate?

Plex Players Gaming Consoles
1

Hi,

I have a Synology DS415+ NAS running Plex Server and I know that the ds415+ is not meant to play 4k videos but I don’t understand why I’m not able to smoothly play a 1080p mkv with 35mbits of bitrate. If I play this same mkv on my (old) laptop with VLC (directly from the shared folder on my NAS), it plays smoothly (even if the CPU is high).

If I run the same mkv from the XBOX One Plex client, it’s really not smooth and after some time the client says that the server is not powerful enough to transcode this video.

My question is why does Plex Server need to transcode??? Should it not just “forward” the mkv to the plex client? I mean if there’s some transcode happening it means something is not supported by the client right?

Here are the information about the MKV I’m trying to play:
`Video
ID : 1
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : High@L4.1
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames : 4 frames
Codec ID : V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC
Duration : 54mn 15s
Bit rate mode : Variable
Maximum bit rate : 35.0 Mbps
Width : 1 920 pixels
Height : 1 080 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16:9
Frame rate mode : Constant
Frame rate : 23.976 fps
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Default : Yes
Forced : No

Audio #1
ID : 3
Format : DTS
Format/Info : Digital Theater Systems
Format profile : MA / Core
Mode : 16
Format settings, Endianness : Big
Codec ID : A_DTS
Duration : 54mn 15s
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : Unknown / 1 509 Kbps
Channel(s) : 6 channels
Channel positions : Front: L C R, Side: L R, LFE
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Bit depth : 24 bits
Compression mode : Lossless / Lossy
Title : English
Language : English
Default : No
Forced : No`

If anyone can enlighten me why this mkv is not playing smoothly, I would be very grateful :-).

And if something is not supported by the Plex client, will it be supported in a near future?

Thanks for your help!
PlaTyPuS

2

there will be some transcoding because of the audio but your NAS should be able to transcode that fine. The server log at beginning of playback should say why it decided to transcode video. ( what do you have quality set to? )

3

Hi BigWheel,

Thanks for your reply. I checked the logs and here they are… but I still don’t understand why it need to be transcoded.

The only thing I see in the log is “no remuxable profile found, so video stream will be transcoded”, but I don’t understand it… what is a remuxable profile?

Thanks for your help!

May 12, 2016 00:17:47 [0xef335b40] DEBUG - Added new media part with ID=11201 [/volume1/TV Series/GOT/Game Of Thrones S01 Bluray Remux 1080p Multi DTS HDMA-MAN OF STYLE/Plex Versions/Original Quality/Game of Thrones/S01E01.mp4] May 12, 2016 00:17:47 [0xef335b40] DEBUG - Updating part with ID=11201 [/volume1/TV Series/GOT/Game Of Thrones S01 Bluray Remux 1080p Multi DTS HDMA-MAN OF STYLE/Plex Versions/Original Quality/Game of Thrones/S01E01.mp4] May 12, 2016 00:17:47 [0xef335b40] DEBUG - Updating metadata item (save) (Winter Is Coming) with ID 3802 May 12, 2016 00:17:47 [0xef335b40] DEBUG - Unable to find similar audio stream for part 11201 May 12, 2016 00:17:47 [0xef335b40] DEBUG - Unable to find similar subtitle stream for part 11201 May 12, 2016 00:17:47 [0xef335b40] DEBUG - Versions: ingested media item 11200 and media part 11201 with hash 1c8028d13bc16a252ca716b3667876a78452dc6f for metadata item 3802, total size 8335166668 May 12, 2016 00:17:47 [0xef335b40] DEBUG - Versions: processed item 3802 for generator 26: success/good May 12, 2016 00:17:47 [0xe9111b40] DEBUG - Media Analyzer: Performing on-the-fly analysis on 1 item. May 12, 2016 00:17:47 [0xef335b40] DEBUG - BPQ: generator 26 changed state: pending -> complete May 12, 2016 00:17:47 [0xe9111b40] DEBUG - Job running: '/volume1/@appstore/Plex Media Server/Plex Media Scanner' '--analyze' '--log-file-suffix' ' Analysis' '--item' '3802' May 12, 2016 00:17:47 [0xef335b40] DEBUG - Versions: generator 26: complete/good with 1/1/0/1/8335166668 item(s) May 12, 2016 00:17:48 [0xef335b40] DEBUG - BPQ: [Idle] -> [Processing] May 12, 2016 00:17:48 [0xef335b40] DEBUG - BPQ: generating queue items from 5 generator(s) May 12, 2016 00:17:48 [0xef335b40] DEBUG - BPQ: generated 4 item(s) for queue May 12, 2016 00:17:48 [0xef335b40] DEBUG - PlayQueue: 0 generated IDs compressed down to a 2 byte blob. May 12, 2016 00:17:48 [0xef335b40] DEBUG - PlayQueue: 0 generated IDs compressed down to a 2 byte blob. May 12, 2016 00:17:48 [0xef335b40] DEBUG - PlayQueue: Added 1 items in 0.0 sec. May 12, 2016 00:17:48 [0xef335b40] DEBUG - PlayQueue: Added 3 items in 0.0 sec. May 12, 2016 00:17:48 [0xef335b40] DEBUG - PlayQueue: total generated: -1, before cursor: 0, after cursor: 3 May 12, 2016 00:17:48 [0xef335b40] DEBUG - PlayQueue: decompressed 0 IDs from blob. May 12, 2016 00:17:48 [0xef335b40] DEBUG - PlayQueue: decompressed 0 IDs from blob. May 12, 2016 00:17:48 [0xef335b40] DEBUG - PlayQueue: Inserting 0 new items, starting at 0.000000. May 12, 2016 00:17:48 [0xef335b40] DEBUG - BPQ: processing 4 item(s) in queue May 12, 2016 00:17:48 [0xef335b40] DEBUG - We're going to try to auto-select an audio stream for account 1. May 12, 2016 00:17:48 [0xef335b40] DEBUG - Selecting best audio stream for part ID 8192 (autoselect: 0 language: en) May 12, 2016 00:17:48 [0xef335b40] DEBUG - Audio Stream: 18887, Subtitle Stream: -1 May 12, 2016 00:17:48 [0xef335b40] DEBUG - MDE: analyzing media item 8191 May 12, 2016 00:17:48 [0xef335b40] DEBUG - MDE: E02 - The Kingsroad: no direct play video profile exists for http/mkv/h264 May 12, 2016 00:17:48 [0xef335b40] DEBUG - MDE: E02 - The Kingsroad: no direct play video profile exists for http/mkv/h264/dca May 12, 2016 00:17:48 [0xef335b40] DEBUG - MDE: E02 - The Kingsroad: non-selected embedded subtitle stream 18885 cannot be direct-played May 12, 2016 00:17:48 [0xef335b40] DEBUG - MDE: E02 - The Kingsroad: non-selected embedded subtitle stream 18889 cannot be direct-played May 12, 2016 00:17:48 [0xef335b40] DEBUG - MDE: E02 - The Kingsroad: non-selected embedded subtitle stream 18890 cannot be direct-played May 12, 2016 00:17:48 [0xef335b40] DEBUG - MDE: E02 - The Kingsroad: no direct play video profile exists for http/mkv/h264/dca May 12, 2016 00:17:48 [0xef335b40] DEBUG - MDE: E02 - The Kingsroad: non-selected embedded subtitle stream 18885 cannot be direct-played May 12, 2016 00:17:48 [0xef335b40] DEBUG - MDE: E02 - The Kingsroad: non-selected embedded subtitle stream 18889 cannot be direct-played May 12, 2016 00:17:48 [0xef335b40] DEBUG - MDE: E02 - The Kingsroad: non-selected embedded subtitle stream 18890 cannot be direct-played May 12, 2016 00:17:48 [0xef335b40] DEBUG - The Kingsroad - video.level limitation applies: 41 > 40 May 12, 2016 00:17:48 [0xef335b40] DEBUG - The Kingsroad - video.level limitation applies: 41 > 40 May 12, 2016 00:17:48 [0xef335b40] DEBUG - The Kingsroad - video.level limitation applies: 41 > 40 May 12, 2016 00:17:48 [0xef335b40] DEBUG - MDE: E02 - The Kingsroad: no remuxable profile found, so video stream will be transcoded May 12, 2016 00:17:48 [0xef335b40] DEBUG - The Kingsroad - video.level limitation applies: 41 > 40 May 12, 2016 00:17:48 [0xef335b40] DEBUG - MDE: computed resolution bounding box of 1920x1080. May 12, 2016 00:17:48 [0xef335b40] DEBUG - Scaled up video bitrate to 44701Kbps based on 1.500000x fudge factor. May 12, 2016 00:17:48 [0xef335b40] DEBUG - MDE: E02 - The Kingsroad: selected media 0 / 8191 May 12, 2016 00:17:48 [0xef335b40] DEBUG - Versions: version file path is /volume1/TV Series/GOT/Game Of Thrones S01 Bluray Remux 1080p Multi DTS HDMA-MAN OF STYLE/Plex Versions/Original Quality/Game of Thrones/S01E02.mp4 May 12, 2016 00:17:48 [0xef335b40] DEBUG - TranscodeJobManager: [Running] processJob (transcode) bc9ffa08-4572-4d0c-a81a-8f65fb32a602 May 12, 2016 00:17:48 [0xef335b40] DEBUG - BPQ: scheduled transcode for version metadata item 3803 May 12, 2016 00:17:48 [0xead11b40] DEBUG - TranscodeJobManager: processing job bc9ffa08-4572-4d0c-a81a-8f65fb32a602 May 12, 2016 00:17:48 [0xead11b40] DEBUG - TranscodeJobManager: initiating transcode of metadata item 3803 May 12, 2016 00:17:48 [0xead11b40] DEBUG - Cleaning directory for session bc9ffa08-4572-4d0c-a81a-8f65fb32a602 () May 12, 2016 00:17:48 [0xead11b40] DEBUG - Starting a transcode session bc9ffa08-4572-4d0c-a81a-8f65fb32a602 at offset -1.0 (state=2) May 12, 2016 00:17:48 [0xead11b40] DEBUG - [Universal] Using local file path instead of URL: /volume1/TV Series/GOT/Game Of Thrones S01 Bluray Remux 1080p Multi DTS HDMA-MAN OF STYLE/Game Of Thrones S01E02 Bluray Remux 1080p Multi DTS HDMA-MAN OF STYLE.mkv May 12, 2016 00:17:48 [0xead11b40] DEBUG - TranscodeJobManager: [Running] onTranscodeSessionStarted: bc9ffa08-4572-4d0c-a81a-8f65fb32a602 May 12, 2016 00:17:48 [0xead11b40] DEBUG - Job running: XDG_CACHE_HOME='/volume1/Plex/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Cache/' XDG_DATA_HOME='/volume1/@appstore/Plex Media Server/Resources/' '/volume1/@appstore/Plex Media Server/Resources/Plex New Transcoder' '-i' '/volume1/TV Series/GOT/Game Of Thrones S01 Bluray Remux 1080p Multi DTS HDMA-MAN OF STYLE/Game Of Thrones S01E02 Bluray Remux 1080p Multi DTS HDMA-MAN OF STYLE.mkv' '-filter_complex' '[0:1]scale=w=min(1920\,iw):h=min(1080\,ih):force_original_aspect_ratio=decrease[0]' '-map' '[0]' '-codec:0' 'libx264' '-crf:0' '18' '-pix_fmt:0' 'yuv420p' '-maxrate:0' '44701k' '-bufsize:0' '31250k' '-r:0' '23.975999999999999' '-preset:0' 'medium' '-level:0' '4.0' '-x264opts:0' 'cabac=0:8x8dct=1:bframes=0:subme=0:me_range=4:rc_lookahead=10:me=dia:no_chroma_me:8x8dct=0:partitions=none' '-map' '0:2' '-metadata:s:1' 'language=fre' '-codec:1' 'aac' '-strict:1' 'experimental' '-cutoff:1' '15000' '-ar:1' '48000' '-channel_layout:1' '5.1' '-b:1' '768k' '-map' '0:3' '-metadata:s:2' 'language=eng' '-codec:2' 'aac' '-strict:2' 'experimental' '-cutoff:2' '15000' '-ar:2' '48000' '-channel_layout:2' '5.1' '-b:2' '768k' '-f' 'mp4' '-map_metadata' '-1' '-map_chapters' '-1' '-movflags' '+faststart' '/volume1/TV Series/GOT/Game Of Thrones S01 Bluray Remux 1080p Multi DTS HDMA-MAN OF STYLE/Plex Versions/Original Quality/Game of Thrones/.inProgress/S01E02.mp4.27' '-map' '0:0' '-metadata:s:0' 'language=fre' '-codec:0' 'copy' '-f' 'srt' '/volume1/TV Series/GOT/Game Of Thrones S01 Bluray Remux 1080p Multi DTS HDMA-MAN OF STYLE/Plex Versions/Original Quality/Game of Thrones/.inProgress/S01E02.mp4.27.18885.sidecar' '-y' '-nostats' '-loglevel' 'quiet' '-loglevel_plex' 'error' '-progressurl' 'http://127.0.0.1:32400/video/:/transcode/session/bc9ffa08-4572-4d0c-a81a-8f65fb32a602/progress' May 12, 2016 00:17:48 [0xead11b40] DEBUG - Started session successfully: bc9ffa08-4572-4d0c-a81a-8f65fb32a602 May 12, 2016 00:17:48 [0xef335b40] DEBUG - We're going to try to auto-select an audio stream for account 1. May 12, 2016 00:17:48 [0xef335b40] DEBUG - Selecting best audio stream for part ID 8193 (autoselect: 0 language: en) May 12, 2016 00:17:48 [0xef335b40] DEBUG - Audio Stream: 18892, Subtitle Stream: -1 May 12, 2016 00:17:48 [0xef335b40] DEBUG - MDE: analyzing media item 8192 May 12, 2016 00:17:48 [0xef335b40] DEBUG - MDE: E03 - Lord Snow: no direct play video profile exists for http/mkv/h264 May 12, 2016 00:17:48 [0xef335b40] DEBUG - MDE: E03 - Lord Snow: no direct play video profile exists for http/mkv/h264/dca May 12, 2016 00:17:48 [0xef335b40] DEBUG - MDE: E03 - Lord Snow: non-selected embedded subtitle stream 18894 cannot be direct-played May 12, 2016 00:17:48 [0xef335b40] DEBUG - MDE: E03 - Lord Snow: non-selected embedded subtitle stream 18895 cannot be direct-played May 12, 2016 00:17:48 [0xef335b40] DEBUG - MDE: E03 - Lord Snow: non-selected embedded subtitle stream 18896 cannot be direct-played May 12, 2016 00:17:48 [0xef335b40] DEBUG - MDE: E03 - Lord Snow: no direct play video profile exists for http/mkv/h264/dca May 12, 2016 00:17:48 [0xef335b40] DEBUG - MDE: E03 - Lord Snow: non-selected embedded subtitle stream 18894 cannot be direct-played May 12, 2016 00:17:48 [0xef335b40] DEBUG - MDE: E03 - Lord Snow: non-selected embedded subtitle stream 18895 cannot be direct-played May 12, 2016 00:17:48 [0xef335b40] DEBUG - MDE: E03 - Lord Snow: non-selected embedded subtitle stream 18896 cannot be direct-played May 12, 2016 00:17:48 [0xef335b40] DEBUG - Lord Snow - video.level limitation applies: 41 > 40 May 12, 2016 00:17:48 [0xef335b40] DEBUG - Lord Snow - video.level limitation applies: 41 > 40 May 12, 2016 00:17:48 [0xef335b40] DEBUG - Lord Snow - video.level limitation applies: 41 > 40 May 12, 2016 00:17:48 [0xef335b40] DEBUG - MDE: E03 - Lord Snow: no remuxable profile found, so video stream will be transcoded May 12, 2016 00:17:48 [0xef335b40] DEBUG - Lord Snow - video.level limitation applies: 41 > 40 May 12, 2016 00:17:48 [0xef335b40] DEBUG - MDE: computed resolution bounding box of 1920x1080. May 12, 2016 00:17:48 [0xef335b40] DEBUG - Scaled up video bitrate to 33663Kbps based on 1.500000x fudge factor. May 12, 2016 00:17:48 [0xef335b40] DEBUG - MDE: E03 - Lord Snow: selected media 0 / 8192 May 12, 2016 00:17:48 [0xef335b40] DEBUG - Versions: version file path is /volume1/TV Series/GOT/Game Of Thrones S01 Bluray Remux 1080p Multi DTS HDMA-MAN OF STYLE/Plex Versions/Original Quality/Game of Thrones/S01E03.mp4 May 12, 2016 00:17:48 [0xef335b40] DEBUG - We're going to try to auto-select an audio stream for account 1. May 12, 2016 00:17:48 [0xef335b40] DEBUG - Selecting best audio stream for part ID 8194 (autoselect: 0 language: en) May 12, 2016 00:17:48 [0xef335b40] DEBUG - Audio Stream: 18898, Subtitle Stream: -1 May 12, 2016 00:17:48 [0xef335b40] DEBUG - MDE: analyzing media item 8193 May 12, 2016 00:17:48 [0xef335b40] DEBUG - MDE: E04 - Cripples, Bastards, and Broken Things: no direct play video profile exists for http/mkv/h264 May 12, 2016 00:17:48 [0xef335b40] DEBUG - MDE: E04 - Cripples, Bastards, and Broken Things: no direct play video profile exists for http/mkv/h264/dca May 12, 2016 00:17:48 [0xef335b40] DEBUG - MDE: E04 - Cripples, Bastards, and Broken Things: non-selected embedded subtitle stream 18900 cannot be direct-played May 12, 2016 00:17:48 [0xef335b40] DEBUG - MDE: E04 - Cripples, Bastards, and Broken Things: non-selected embedded subtitle stream 18901 cannot be direct-played May 12, 2016 00:17:48 [0xef335b40] DEBUG - MDE: E04 - Cripples, Bastards, and Broken Things: no direct play video profile exists for http/mkv/h264/dca May 12, 2016 00:17:48 [0xef335b40] DEBUG - MDE: E04 - Cripples, Bastards, and Broken Things: non-selected embedded subtitle stream 18900 cannot be direct-played May 12, 2016 00:17:48 [0xef335b40] DEBUG - MDE: E04 - Cripples, Bastards, and Broken Things: non-selected embedded subtitle stream 18901 cannot be direct-played May 12, 2016 00:17:48 [0xef335b40] DEBUG - Cripples, Bastards, and Broken Things - video.level limitation applies: 41 > 40 May 12, 2016 00:17:48 [0xef335b40] DEBUG - Cripples, Bastards, and Broken Things - video.level limitation applies: 41 > 40 May 12, 2016 00:17:48 [0xef335b40] DEBUG - Cripples, Bastards, and Broken Things - video.level limitation applies: 41 > 40 May 12, 2016 00:17:48 [0xef335b40] DEBUG - MDE: E04 - Cripples, Bastards, and Broken Things: no remuxable profile found, so video stream will be transcoded May 12, 2016 00:17:48 [0xef335b40] DEBUG - Cripples, Bastards, and Broken Things - video.level limitation applies: 41 > 40 May 12, 2016 00:17:48 [0xef335b40] DEBUG - MDE: computed resolution bounding box of 1920x1080. May 12, 2016 00:17:48 [0xef335b40] DEBUG - Scaled up video bitrate to 33438Kbps based on 1.500000x fudge factor. May 12, 2016 00:17:48 [0xef335b40] DEBUG - MDE: E04 - Cripples, Bastards, and Broken Things: selected media 0 / 8193 May 12, 2016 00:17:48 [0xef335b40] DEBUG - Versions: version file path is /volume1/TV Series/GOT/Game Of Thrones S01 Bluray Remux 1080p Multi DTS HDMA-MAN OF STYLE/Plex Versions/Original Quality/Game of Thrones/S01E04.mp4 May 12, 2016 00:17:48 [0xef335b40] DEBUG - We're going to try to auto-select an audio stream for account 1. May 12, 2016 00:17:48 [0xef335b40] DEBUG - Selecting best audio stream for part ID 8195 (autoselect: 0 language: en) May 12, 2016 00:17:48 [0xef335b40] DEBUG - Audio Stream: 18903, Subtitle Stream: -1 May 12, 2016 00:17:48 [0xef335b40] DEBUG - MDE: analyzing media item 8194 May 12, 2016 00:17:48 [0xef335b40] DEBUG - MDE: E05 - The Wolf and the Lion: no direct play video profile exists for http/mkv/h264 May 12, 2016 00:17:48 [0xef335b40] DEBUG - MDE: E05 - The Wolf and the Lion: no direct play video profile exists for http/mkv/h264/dca May 12, 2016 00:17:48 [0xef335b40] DEBUG - MDE: E05 - The Wolf and the Lion: non-selected embedded subtitle stream 18905 cannot be direct-played May 12, 2016 00:17:48 [0xef335b40] DEBUG - MDE: E05 - The Wolf and the Lion: non-selected embedded subtitle stream 18906 cannot be direct-played May 12, 2016 00:17:48 [0xef335b40] DEBUG - MDE: E05 - The Wolf and the Lion: no direct play video profile exists for http/mkv/h264/dca May 12, 2016 00:17:48 [0xef335b40] DEBUG - MDE: E05 - The Wolf and the Lion: non-selected embedded subtitle stream 18905 cannot be direct-played May 12, 2016 00:17:48 [0xef335b40] DEBUG - MDE: E05 - The Wolf and the Lion: non-selected embedded subtitle stream 18906 cannot be direct-played May 12, 2016 00:17:48 [0xef335b40] DEBUG - The Wolf and the Lion - video.level limitation applies: 41 > 40 May 12, 2016 00:17:48 [0xef335b40] DEBUG - The Wolf and the Lion - video.level limitation applies: 41 > 40 May 12, 2016 00:17:48 [0xef335b40] DEBUG - The Wolf and the Lion - video.level limitation applies: 41 > 40 May 12, 2016 00:17:48 [0xef335b40] DEBUG - MDE: E05 - The Wolf and the Lion: no remuxable profile found, so video stream will be transcoded May 12, 2016 00:17:48 [0xef335b40] DEBUG - The Wolf and the Lion - video.level limitation applies: 41 > 40 May 12, 2016 00:17:48 [0xef335b40] DEBUG - MDE: computed resolution bounding box of 1920x1080. May 12, 2016 00:17:48 [0xef335b40] DEBUG - Scaled up video bitrate to 33565Kbps based on 1.500000x fudge factor.

4

@bPlaTyPuS
I hear ya…I have the same issue and don’t understand it either. I thought mkv was supported on xbox one, but every time I play an mkv (ripped from blu ray or DVD), Plex wants to transcode. Especially when I’ve got a 480p mkv, why is it transcoding? Luckily my server can handle it, but it still doesn’t make sense to me.

5

@mbarylski said:
@bPlaTyPuS
I hear ya…I have the same issue and don’t understand it either. I thought mkv was supported on xbox one, but every time I play an mkv (ripped from blu ray or DVD), Plex wants to transcode. Especially when I’ve got a 480p mkv, why is it transcoding? Luckily my server can handle it, but it still doesn’t make sense to me.

MKV is just a container. it’s only one aspect of file. the types of video/audio/subtitle streams that are inside that MKV are what matters more in many cases. the resolution is only one aspect of a video stream

It’s like humans can drink from a bottle, but if you put rocks in that bottle does not mean humans can all of a sudden digest rocks even though they may fit in our mouth. ( a ridiculous analogy I know, but hopefully makes sense )

@bPlaTyPuS

From what I can tell is it transcoding because the h264 profile level is greater than 4.0 in your files
May 12, 2016 00:17:48 [0xef335b40] DEBUG - The Wolf and the Lion - video.level limitation applies: 41 > 40

Format profile : High@L4.1

I was not personally aware that was a limit on Xbox One so I will ask about that. Do you think you can provide the full server log from trying one file rather than just partial. I do not see the actual request from the XBox One in there ( are you casting from another app like you phone by any chance? )

a remux is only converting the file type. such as converting an MKV into a MP4 but leaving the video and audio streams alone. Most devices have more support for MP4s than MKVs. it is not remuxable because in this case the video stream would need to get transcoded anyway.

anyway if you can provide a complete server log from playing back only one file it would be appreciated

6

@mbarylski said:
@bPlaTyPuS
I hear ya…I have the same issue and don’t understand it either. I thought mkv was supported on xbox one, but every time I play an mkv (ripped from blu ray or DVD), Plex wants to transcode. Especially when I’ve got a 480p mkv, why is it transcoding? Luckily my server can handle it, but it still doesn’t make sense to me.

It says in the logs. In bPlatypus’s case it is because a video level limitation is set for the video. Because a video remux would copy the video stream and there is a limitation on the video stream set it can’t be copied and needs to be transcoded. Because none of the initial transcode calls are listed we can’t say for sure why that limitation is actually being set. My guess would be using an Android client for casting to the Xbox One that is passing it’s 4.0 video limit for the transcode call.

@mbarylski For your case we would need to see the logs with the call for the transcoder to know for sure. MKV’s are supported but you might have a video codec that is not, subtitles enabled, quality limit set, or some other factor that could be causing it.

7

Thanks for all your information. I found why it needs to be transcoded… because of the subtitles! If I play the video without subtitle, it plays smoothly…

Do you know if PGS subtitles will be soon supported for direct play? Apparently the XBOX One now supports subtitles: https://xbox.uservoice.com/forums/251646-apps/suggestions/6345301-support-subtitles-in-xbox-one-media-player

If I convert the PGS to SRT, would I be able to play it alongside with the video? (just by copy-paste the subtitle in the same directory than the mkv?) → edit: this is working! check my next comment but playback is not smooth… :frowning:

Information on the subtitle:
Text #1 ID : 4 Format : PGS Muxing mode : zlib Codec ID : S_HDMV/PGS Codec ID/Info : The same subtitle format used on BDs/HD-DVDs Title : English Language : English Default : No Forced : No

8

I just tried to put an SRT in the same folder and it’s working but the playback is not smooth. It’s better than with PGS (at least I think) but still not smooth.

9

@BigWheel and @jmckee
Thanks for the info! I’ll have to turn on the logs then to find out what’s really going on. Appreciate the info.

10

@bPlaTyPuS said:
I just tried to put an SRT in the same folder and it’s working but the playback is not smooth. It’s better than with PGS (at least I think) but still not smooth.

All subtitle formats currently force a video transcode for the Xbox One. Short answer is: We don’t know if PGS subtitles will be supported for native playback anytime soon.

The link only says that the player supports it, but doesn’t actually say what formats are supported. We also don’t know if the additional decoders for subtitles has been released to non microsoft apps. (IE when mkv support was added it wasn’t released for Plex developers till a month or so later) With that being said, the next version of the app has already been submitted and is waiting for certification from Microsoft. So at the very earliest it will be a version after the next release because at a minimum the app will have to start requesting the subtitles themselves instead of a transcode with burned in subs. And will most likely be with text subtitles first (Unless Microsoft has added the support for video ones as well)

11

@jmckee thanks for the answer. Do you know if it’s the same story with PS4? (at least I don’t think the PS4 supports PGS because the playback was also very jerky, at least with PGS subtitles… I will try with SRT)