# Plex error when playing from Bolt



## zabolots (May 24, 2007)

When I try to play a video on my Bolt from my Plex Media Server, it eventually times out and I see the following error logged by plex:

ERROR - Unable to find client profile for device; platform=TiVo, platformVersion=20.7, device=Bolt (Series 6), model=TCD849

Any ideas?


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## MighTiVo (Oct 26, 2000)

Same problem here, Plex was just about useless on the Bolt, so many files I can not play, having trouble finding a common thread.

Other TiVo platforms Romio, Premiere, as well as my LG SmartTV, AppleTV, FireTV stick, essentially everything I have tested plays any content from my dedicated Xeon processor, based Ubuntu 16.04 Plex Media Server other than the TiVo Bolt.

I assume all the other platforms were being transcoded and as far as I can tell I was able to solve all the playback failures by disabling DirectPlay in the TiVo Plex app for the Bolt. 

Is this something for TiVo developers to fix or Plex developers? I am sure the Bolt is a highly capable video processor and seems it should have a wide range of compatibility, including quite a bit of direct play capabilities reducing the load on my server transcoding and improving the quality of playback.


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## Gene Olson (Jan 11, 2017)

I have two TiVo Bolts, and neither will work with my Plex Server. My Plex Server works great with a Tivo Premier, a Tivo Roamio, two Rokus, a bunch of PC browsers, and my Android tablets and phones. Only the Bolt is broken.

It seems to be better on H.264 videos than H.265 videos. The Bolt will usually (but not always) play from the beginning. It cannot resume a partially played video, and it freezes after a movement forward or reverse.


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## zabolots (May 24, 2007)

FYI, a workaround is to go into the Settings of the Plex app on the Bolt and disable Direct Play & Direct Stream. This forces Plex Media Server to trans-code all videos, which is obviously not ideal but it allows me to play them without issue.


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## Gene Olson (Jan 11, 2017)

Thank you. The video quality is somewhat reduced compared to other devices, but it works, and that is a great improvement.

My server has an i7-7700k. Do you have any recommended settings to improve the video quality?


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## MighTiVo (Oct 26, 2000)

zabolots said:


> FYI, a workaround is to go into the Settings of the Plex app on the Bolt and disable Direct Play & Direct Stream. This forces Plex Media Server to trans-code all videos, which is obviously not ideal but it allows me to play them without issue.


I only had to Disable DirectStream and the guys at Plex have acknowledged they understand how to correct that issue, no time frame though.


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## jcthorne (Jan 28, 2002)

If you store your videos on your server in direct playable format, they will play at full resolution on the Bolt without transcoding or even remuxing.

Plex SHOULD do all of that on the fly but it just does not for Tivo. Never has and likely never will.

The flip side is that files that play correctly on Tivo seem to work on most other devices as well.


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## MighTiVo (Oct 26, 2000)

jcthorne said:


> If you store your videos on your server in direct playable format, they will play at full resolution on the Bolt without transcoding or even remuxing.
> 
> Plex SHOULD do all of that on the fly but it just does not for Tivo. Never has and likely never will.
> 
> The flip side is that files that play correctly on Tivo seem to work on most other devices as well.


Plex on the Bolt

Working with they guys at Plex they were able to identify some opportunities for improvement:
_
...we were able to quantify what we need to address this for the Tivo.

...change how HEVC HDR is handled on the Tivo (Bolt, Bolt+, and Mini Vox 4K)._


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## mikeparksne (Aug 18, 2017)

MighTiVo said:


> I only had to Disable DirectStream and the guys at Plex have acknowledged they understand how to correct that issue, no time frame though.


I know this is an older post, but I was having difficulty with a small number of videos playing back on my Tivo via Plex. Oddly enough, the Minis have no issue playing the videos I was having problems with on the Bolt. However, when I unchecked the Direct and Direct Stream, the problem videos now work. 
SO, does this reduce the quality of ALL my movies in Plex? Are we to understand that the Bolt will now force transcode all videos? I want HQ everything as I assume most of us on here do as well. The mini's are noticeably reduced quality on everything already... 
Thanks for the feedback!


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