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Anyone using PLEX and an Apple TV 4th Gen?
- Thread starter AaronE
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Plex on an i3 dual core intel nuc to and AppleTV with storage on gigabit Ethernet Synology DS216j nas is perfect. Only time it buffers or stutters if I play a really high bit rate file. Everything else like 99% of the time is perfect.
The Plex company has released two updates for its tvOS app following the launch of Apple TV 4K. The first update (version 1.18) features support for 4K video playback on Apple TV 4K and also the support for “direct playback of FLAC music” on tvOS 11. The second update adds support for “direct play support for HEVC video codec” on tvOS 11 (both Apple TVs). That is possible because Apple has enabled native support for the formats with the release of tvOS 11.
This great update enables you to you direct play H.265 with the Plex on Apple TV 4K smoothly without transcoding. However, there are still some people reflects that the CPU load on the server while playing. It also means that the Plex Media Server is doing a transcoding process.
This great update enables you to you direct play H.265 with the Plex on Apple TV 4K smoothly without transcoding. However, there are still some people reflects that the CPU load on the server while playing. It also means that the Plex Media Server is doing a transcoding process.
Why would one need Plex for that? H.265 plays back natively on aTV 4/4K, without transcoding.
I just use a drobo connected to my PC. It can handle many simultaneous streams. Both inside and outside the home. The mac mini is too weak for my needs.
And my primary plex viewing device is the Nvidia shield though I sometimes use plex on the ATV4.
For those that don't know, the NVidia shield can also be a plex server.
And my primary plex viewing device is the Nvidia shield though I sometimes use plex on the ATV4.
For those that don't know, the NVidia shield can also be a plex server.
Yup, we run Plex on ATV, it’s the only app we use. We’re running Plex server on a MyCloud PR4100 16T NAS and it’s doing fine. Sometimes we get an issue where the movie freezes or loses sync, maybe once/week, it rebooting the ATV fixes it right up. We haven’t updated the ATV since we’ve gotten it, always afraid the newest version will break something we depend on so much.
What the story with those stating PLex and the Apple TV cannot do Dolby audio? Are you referring strictly to DTS and hte newer formats of dolby (such as TrueHD and Atmost)? I run the Apple TV 4k using my custom built Plex Server and am getting 5.1 Dolby Digital without a problem, or so my receiver is showing it's Dolby Digital at least...am I missing something? Yamaha receiver using the 'STRAIGHT' mode, which should be direct PCM from the rip to the ATV client.
PCM is not bitstreaming and will not show Dolby Digital on the receiver. PCM is when the audio is decoded before being sent to the receiver. The ATV can indeed bitstream just Dolby Digital. It cannot bitstream DTS or DD+. Those are decoded on the ATV and sent out as PCM.
Not referring to lossless audio formats as the ATV does not support those at all. If you're going to run a server and make your own rips you really should be using and enjoying the lossless audio. And then get yourself a nvidia shield so you can actually there them. Sure infuse or mrmc can decode and pass through PCM from TrueHD and DTS-HD but i'm not convinced the audio isn't being downsampled. And they still can't handle atmos or DTS:X
It does not do that either. It re-encodes using internal DD 5.1 (aka AC3) encoder.
That's so with the native tvOS. 3rd party apps can handle things differently.
I *might* be wrong here, but when ripping an mkv and ripping lossless audio...it would be up to the receiver to process the bitstream PCM. My understanding was the ATV is playing the video, passing the uncompressed PCM audio down to the receiver, which is then decoding it, in my case, to 5.1 DD.
Since I only have a 5.1 setup, my understanding is I couldn't make use of TrueHD anyway as that requires 7.x, so I'm fine with an ATV, as long as I'm getting true 5.1 dolby digital.
Looking at this Infuse app, am I to understand that the Infuse app can act as a Plex front end, connect to my Plex Media server and then in that case I could get DTS?
Since I only have a 5.1 setup, my understanding is I couldn't make use of TrueHD anyway as that requires 7.x, so I'm fine with an ATV, as long as I'm getting true 5.1 dolby digital.
Looking at this Infuse app, am I to understand that the Infuse app can act as a Plex front end, connect to my Plex Media server and then in that case I could get DTS?
The ATV does not bitstream HD audio nor does it decode it. It cannot send it to your receiver. PCM is already decoded. If your receiver got PCM it wouldn't have anything to decode.
You don't need 7.1 to make use of Dolby TrueHD. Some tracks are in 5.1 others in 7.1, both work on a 5.1 system that supports TrueHD. And of course DTS-MA HD.
Yes, infuse can connect to your plex server. Infuse for me was slow and buggy so I don't use it but it could be an option for you. Infuse will decode it and send it out as PCM. Your receiver will likely show multichannel in or PCM.
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It's a drobo connected to my PC. That's it. Once upon a time the drobo was connected to my imac but it wasn't powerful enough for my needs so I use it on my PC. The drobo holds 2x 8tb drives and 3x 4tb drives currently. In another year or two I will add another 8tb drive.
The ATV4/4K can actually bitstream DTS, it's just that Apple's native apps don't utilize it (would be useless anyway since none of Apple's content uses DTS). Infuse and MrMC can bitstream DTS though.
I run an 80TB Plex Server with over 5,000 movies. It runs on a 8x CPU Xeon E7-2850 1TB RAM + 80 Cores / 160 threads server. It has no issues streaming to my AppleTV or Infuse 5.
I run Plex server on my Synology 918+. I don't transcode so it doesn't ever struggle. Everything is either on mkv or mp4 formats in HD or even 480p (shameful I know). However, I find that it seems to be more reliable using the Roku as a client than the ATV4. Sometimes the ATV4 will endlessly load a movie and never start playing. That never seems to happen on the Roku 4. Not sure why that is, but I'd prefer to play on the ATV4 all the time. I don't do as much Plexing as streaming from HBO, Netflix, iTunes, Vudu or Amazon Prime. I just don't have as big of a media library.
Roku supports MKV. The ATV doesn't so there is some transcoding going on when playing on the ATV.
Thanks dude. That explains a lot. I hope Apple starts supporting mkv. Best format IMHO.
They won't.
MKV is just a container though. It's the audio and video file inside that matter the most.
There is a known bug with Plex transcoding to Apple devices at the moment, the developers are aware of it. Try turning off Direct Play.