Will Plex transcode dts?

[Kbooth1973]

I'm sure this has been asked a lot, but I couldn't find anything concrete. My samsung tv won't play dts (yeah, I know), but all my uhd files are dts audio. Rather than re-coding all of them, would plex (or video station) be able to transcode on the fly so they would play on the samsung (through sonos soundbar)?

 

[rolandrat]

I dont have a samsung anymore, but have had various ones over the years from 22" to 55" UHD and never had any problems playing anything via the Plex app. (Actually only problems I had were the ones with only 2.4Ghz wifi, they struggled a bit in that congested frequency). I found Videostation a bit more fussy.

 

[Rusty]

would plex (or video station) be able to transcode on the fly

Yes

 

[fredbert]

I've a few Blu-ray converted direct to MKV. They have a variety of audio tracks: TrueHD, DTS-HD MA, as well as normal DD and DTS, and LPCM. These tracks have 2 and 5.1 channels versions of each type.

Out of interest I dumped them in a separate Plex library and streamed to Plex app on my Apple TVs: ATV HD is optically connected to a stereo amp (extracted from HDMI switch), and ATV 4K is HDMI to Denon AVR. Not had any problem playing any of the different audio tracks from these MKV files regardless if the amp is two channel or surround. The streamed media were 35-50Mbps.

I think the client app determines how the audio track is handled; it uses the info gained from the connected playback device (TV or AVR).

It may be that the TV may not be able to pass-through DTS to a connected audio device (I'm assuming this would be optical out from the TV) if it has instructed Plex it only supports stereo, or other formats. If I connect the Apple TV direct to the old Panasonic TV then the audio must be stereo in and it will pass out stereo from it's optical: it won't accept surround signals in even I just want it routed out of the optical to a capable amp.

 

[Telos]

Although a good question for the Plex forum, as you see, yes, DTS transcoding is standard fare. It almost has to be as Apple TVs (and most inexpensive flat screens) are not DTS capable.

 

[DaClown]

Unless your TV is (very) new enough for E-ARC, the TV will only pass through normal DD5.1audio at best, even for apps like Netflix that support Atmos. TV OS's don't usually license high end audio codecs either or else you'd pay way more for that TV. You really don't get much more than standard optical capabilities.

You need a proper media box and just use the TV as the display.

In my setup, I use Plex Server to organize my library. On my Sony Android TV, the Plex player was a complete disaster, so I switched to using Apple TV's. Plex Player sadly fares even less well on my Apple TV (HD or 4K). The player chokes on high bitrate 4K and HEVC content. It just renders poorly in general. One day the player might mature enough for everyday usage.

So to get around this, I use Infuse Pro on the Apple TV. It has Plex integration, so it can read my Plex library and display it on my screen in a gorgeous interface. It plays absolutely anything I can throw at it, is fully HDR capable and able to play all audio formats including Atmos/DTS-HD Master Audio/TrueHD etc. It's not 100% free, but, you get what you pay for.

The top feature for me is that Infuse plays literally everything natively. It does not transcode anything, ever.

 

[chenks]

Unless your TV is (very) new enough for E-ARC,

and sometimes not even then!
the latest LG OLEG tvs out this year have dropped DTS support completley. to even with eARC you still wouldn't get DTS.

On my Sony Android TV, the Plex player was a complete disaster, so I switched to using Apple TV's.

it was the TV that was the problem there, i had the same issue with my Sony android TV. the TV uses a crappy mediatek CPU which struggles to run the OS never mind anything else.

the plex android tv client works fine is you use it on a decent playback device - in this case the nvidia sheild pro is the device most people choose. it'll direct play anything you can throw at it.

 

[fredbert]

I've noticed that my Apple TV 4K will send DTS-HD MA, TrueHD, etc to my Denon AVR as multi-channel audio which is reported by the Denon as Multi Channel PCM. Seems there is support without transcoding.

I have the 4th gen too, HD, but not connected to an AVR so can't say what it does with these codecs.

You need a proper media box and just use the TV as the display.

I've had this type of setup for years and much prefer the TV to be just a screen. With AVR's that also act as an HDMI switch I don't have to worry about how many HDMI inputs the TV has and what broadcast tuners or smart features are included. Sound is much improved too

 

[DaClown]

I've noticed that my Apple TV 4K will send DTS-HD MA, TrueHD, etc to my Denon AVR as multi-channel audio which is reported by the Denon as Multi Channel PCM. Seems there is support without transcoding.

I have the 4th gen too, HD, but not connected to an AVR so can't say what it does with these codecs.

I've had this type of setup for years and much prefer the TV to be just a screen. With AVR's that also act as an HDMI switch I don't have to worry about how many HDMI inputs the TV has and what broadcast tuners or smart features are included. Sound is much improved too

Yes, that it sends it as Lossless PCM is sadly a limitation of the current tvOS. Previous versions had audio "passthrough", now you can select only "Auto, Atmos Available", which is only available to the big player apps like Netflix etc. But the receiver does what it does with that PCM, and all the channels hit the proper speakers. Sounds amazing.