# Plex for Tivo update for 1080p



## jcthorne (Jan 28, 2002)

This was posted today by Plex:

Sept 25, 2.4.25
This release is only for TiVo devices.
Support TiVo Roamio OTA device.

Direct playback of MKV+H264 is supported up to 1080p and MP4+HEVC is supported up to 2160p.
Supports HTTPS communication with Plex Media Servers
We've reported issues to TiVo regarding sluggish navigation performance and troubles seeking/resuming MP4+HEVC videos.



I am not at home today to test this but will be tomorrow. Others try it? 2160p? Is this really Tivo Bolt?


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## moyekj (Jan 24, 2006)

I verified version 2.4.25 on my TiVo Roamio Pro and played a 1080p/24 movie and my TV does say its playing as 1080p/24 when I initiate playback via Plex.

Video format is mp4 container with 1080p/24 H.264 level 4.1 video and 6 channel AC3 audio and is transcoded by Plex server even though I did change to allow H.264 level 4.1 via TiVo Plex client settings. So I still don't like it that TiVo compatible formats get transcoded. The transcoding quality is pretty good but means unnecessary load on Plex server.

EDIT: I'll try remuxing the above to mkv to see if it makes any difference.

EDIT: No difference. Remuxed above to mkv container and still gets transcoded. So still not much interest in using Plex for me because of this.


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## jcthorne (Jan 28, 2002)

I cannot get it to send 1080 video. The settings in the Tivo client for video still max out at 4mbps and 720p. Plex server will transcode anything above those settings.

Where did you set up for 1080 video on the tivo plex?


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## moyekj (Jan 24, 2006)

jcthorne said:


> I cannot get it to send 1080 video. The settings in the Tivo client for video still max out at 4mbps and 720p. Plex server will transcode anything above those settings.
> 
> Where did you set up for 1080 video on the tivo plex?


 For TiVo client, what do have for Settings--Video? I have:
Allow Direct Play = enabled
Allow Direct Stream = enabled
Maximum H.264 Level = 4.1


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## jcthorne (Jan 28, 2002)

moyekj said:


> For TiVo client, what do have for Settings--Video? I have:
> Allow Direct Play = enabled
> Allow Direct Stream = enabled
> Maximum H.264 Level = 4.1


Yes, I have those set but right above those are settings for 'Local Quality, Remote Quality and Online Quality and all three max out at 4 Mbps 720p. No option for 1080i or 1080p and higher bitrates. What are you seeing for these settings?


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## moyekj (Jan 24, 2006)

jcthorne said:


> Yes, I have those set but right above those are settings for 'Local Quality, Remote Quality and Online Quality and all three max out at 4 Mbps 720p. No option for 1080i or 1080p and higher bitrates. What are you seeing for these settings?


 I'm seeing the same as you for those. My TV states it's getting 1080p/24 when I play above video, however when I look at Task Manager on Plex server I do see a transcoding running with minw=1280, minh=720, crf=18, so it would appear that it's only 1280x720 @24 fps. So perhaps what's happening is the TiVo is getting 24 fps video and upscaling to 1920x1080 (even though it's only supposed to pass through 24 fps video)? For TiVo video settings I have only 1080p/60 and 1080p/24 pass through selected as valid outputs, so most of the time my TV is receiving upscaled 1080p/60 from the Roamio Pro.


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## jcthorne (Jan 28, 2002)

Where is Task Manager in Plex server? I cannot see the transcode details but what you are describing seems to indicate it is indeed sending 720p video after transcoding with the tivo upscaling for some reason.

I submitted a question on the plex forums on how to use the new feature to get 1080 on tivo. What I suspect is that this is a new version for Bolt, not Roamio as it references 2160p which we know the Roamio hardware will never support.


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## moyekj (Jan 24, 2006)

jcthorne said:


> Where is Task Manager in Plex server? I cannot see the transcode details but what you are describing seems to indicate it is indeed sending 720p video after transcoding with the tivo upscaling for some reason.


 I'm running Plex server on Windows. So I just bring up Windows Task Manager while playing a show from Plex client and then look at the Transcoder detailed arguments under "Processes" tab ("Command Line" column in Task Manager) to see what it's doing. There probably is a Plex log file somewhere too, but easier just to look at Windows task manager. If you don't already have "Command Line" column enabled in Task Manager you should turn it on using View--Select columns...


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## jcthorne (Jan 28, 2002)

Thanks. I am seeing exactly the same as you. Appreciate the help. Will post up if anything comes back from Plex.


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## siratfus (Oct 3, 2008)

jcthorne said:


> Thanks. I am seeing exactly the same as you. Appreciate the help. Will post up if anything comes back from Plex.


Their community is not too helpful. The people who know stuff over there seems stingy with giving out info. I get more Plex answers here.


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## jcthorne (Jan 28, 2002)

siratfus said:


> Their community is not too helpful. The people who know stuff over there seems stingy with giving out info. I get more Plex answers here.


So true but hope springs eternal....


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## jcthorne (Jan 28, 2002)

Just following up on this subject with the new Tivo Bolt.

Plex on the Bolt supports full bitrate 1080p H.264 level 4.1 video, DD 5.1 audio in an mp4 container. Streamed to the Bolt without transcoding.

And the menus are MUCH snappier.


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## pritch55 (Oct 8, 2005)

What is the max Mbps for 1080p on the Bolt?

Thanks,
-Brandon


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## jcthorne (Jan 28, 2002)

Plex does not show an upper limit. The setting is 'original' but you are limited to the Mbps numbers allowed by a level 4.1 h.264 stream.

Now that I think about it, we really don't know if 4.1 is an upper limit for Bolt, it was for Roamio. Bolt may go higher.

We need to do some testing to find the new upper limits. So far Plex has been able to direct stream anything I could push to the Roamio via pytivo.


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## sirfergy (May 18, 2002)

I also got transcoding with Plex on my Mini and Roamio. I guess it doesn't really support 1080p yet?


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## jcthorne (Jan 28, 2002)

On mini and Roamio the upper limit is 720p and 4Mbps. If the stream is higher res or higher bitrate, it will transcode. Only Bolt supports the higher resolutions due to memory restrictions in the Opera browser.


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## portishead (Apr 22, 2008)

jcthorne said:


> Plex does not show an upper limit. The setting is 'original' but you are limited to the Mbps numbers allowed by a level 4.1 h.264 stream.
> 
> Now that I think about it, we really don't know if 4.1 is an upper limit for Bolt, it was for Roamio. Bolt may go higher.
> 
> We need to do some testing to find the new upper limits. So far Plex has been able to direct stream anything I could push to the Roamio via pytivo.


I tried streaming a couple films on my Bolt. Some transcoded some didn't. I want to figure out the requirements for direct play. It does work very well though but not a fan of transcoding.


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## jcthorne (Jan 28, 2002)

If you will post the mediainfo for a file that transcoded, I can try and point out the problem. It could be plex settings or the elements in the file.


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## portishead (Apr 22, 2008)

jcthorne said:


> If you will post the mediainfo for a file that transcoded, I can try and point out the problem. It could be plex settings or the elements in the file.


I realized you can login into the Plex server, and it will tell you right there what is transcoding. It seems almost every file will direct play, or direct stream which is fine since no loss in quality. AC3 will direct play, but DTS will transcode. Not really a big deal to me, I am satisfied with that. I'll look into some of the files that will not play, or that Plex is transcoding.

Also I set the Plex settings on the Bolt to L5.1, and was able to direct play L5.1 files. I played several files up to 20 Mbps no problem.


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## SlickVik (Nov 30, 2011)

Plex does not seem to direct play HEVC at the moment - I even tried this particular 4K HEVC file in a MP4 container - it direct streams the audio portion but transcodes video to H264 which stutters. According to the Plex release notes it should be able to direct stream this:

mega.nz/#!5FNDybgY!u0IARmwnTJXGeSVoTEECrPPkjnsrtEfAelvptQVGLHY


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## jcthorne (Jan 28, 2002)

SlickVik said:


> Plex does not seem to direct play HEVC at the moment - I even tried this particular 4K HEVC file in a MP4 container - it direct streams the audio portion but transcodes video to H264 which stutters. According to the Plex release notes it should be able to direct stream this:
> 
> mega.nz/#!5FNDybgY!u0IARmwnTJXGeSVoTEECrPPkjnsrtEfAelvptQVGLHY


The Bolt will not stream 4K HEVC from Amazon or Netfilx either at the moment. Something is not working on the Bolt end for 4k. Cannot push the files with pytivo either. At the moment, Bolt is not 4k capable.


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## SlickVik (Nov 30, 2011)

jcthorne said:


> The Bolt will not stream 4K HEVC from Amazon or Netfilx either at the moment. Something is not working on the Bolt end for 4k. Cannot push the files with pytivo either. At the moment, Bolt is not 4k capable.


4K Netflix works just fine for me though - Narcos, Lawrence of Arabia, etc.


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## portishead (Apr 22, 2008)

SlickVik said:


> 4K Netflix works just fine for me though - Narcos, Lawrence of Arabia, etc.


How much 4K content does Netflix have?


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## jamesteixeira (Nov 22, 2014)

Has anyone tried Hockeystreams 0.9? I can finally get Plex on the Tivo to play. 

On the Roamio, I can now play on-demand with Direct Play enabled, but on the Mini I had to disable Direct Play to show on-demand games. 

For live games, I had to disable Direct Streams to play on Roamio, but live games will not play on the Mini with Direct Stream enabled or disabled. 

Hockeystreams uses different formats for live versus on-demand. I think on-demand is MP4 but don't know what the live format is. 

Why do the Roamio and Mini behave differently?


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## Miles267 (Feb 20, 2017)

portishead said:


> I realized you can login into the Plex server, and it will tell you right there what is transcoding. It seems almost every file will direct play, or direct stream which is fine since no loss in quality. AC3 will direct play, but DTS will transcode. Not really a big deal to me, I am satisfied with that. I'll look into some of the files that will not play, or that Plex is transcoding.
> 
> Also I set the Plex settings on the Bolt to L5.1, and was able to direct play L5.1 files. I played several files up to 20 Mbps no problem.


Am trying to adjust my TiVo Bolt+ H264 limit to direct play 3840x1920 4K Level 5.1 video at 18.7 Mbps via ethernet. It was previously 4.1 (Recommended) by default. When you change this H264 limit setting, is it necessary to restart the Tivo Plex client app?


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## jcthorne (Jan 28, 2002)

Just an update to say the Plex for the Tivo Mini VOX has been released and I can verify it supports up to 1080p with 6 channel ac3 audio. Discussions on plex forum show they are still working on HEVC and UHD support for both Bolt and Mini VOX


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## Miles267 (Feb 20, 2017)

Cool. Since the Bolt VOX is basically the Bolt+ with unnecessary voice features, I assume these UHD and HEVC capabilities will be available for Bolt+ also. Have been tempted to pick up a Mini VOX just to use on a 4K TV.


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## jcthorne (Jan 28, 2002)

Miles267 said:


> Cool. Since the Bolt VOX is basically the Bolt+ with unnecessary voice features, I assume these UHD and HEVC capabilities will be available for Bolt+ also. Have been tempted to pick up a Mini VOX just to use on a 4K TV.


Yes, the feature set for Bolt, Bolt+ and Mini Vox 4k are all the same for Plex. At least so far.


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## Miles267 (Feb 20, 2017)

The hardware of the Bolt VOX and Bolt+ is basically the same aside from the Bluetooth and voice remote if I recall correctly. Which would make sense since you can add the VOX capabilities to an existing Bolt/Bolt+. However the Mini VOX hardware is clearly upgraded.


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## Nak (Aug 18, 2010)

jcthorne said:


> Just an update to say the Plex for the Tivo Mini VOX has been released and I can verify it supports up to 1080p with 6 channel ac3 audio. Discussions on plex forum show they are still working on HEVC and UHD support for both Bolt and Mini VOX


I'm curious, does your "->|" button work in Plex music? It does on my Bolts, but not on my Mini VOX. I can't find any way to skip forward a song with the remote, short of hitting a button to clear the screen saver, navigating to the skip button on the UI, selecting the skip button on the UI. Is it just mine, or is the released app just broken?


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## jcthorne (Jan 28, 2002)

Nak said:


> I'm curious, does your "->|" button work in Plex music? It does on my Bolts, but not on my Mini VOX. I can't find any way to skip forward a song with the remote, short of hitting a button to clear the screen saver, navigating to the skip button on the UI, selecting the skip button on the UI. Is it just mine, or is the released app just broken?


I have not used music on plex in some time and have not tried it at all on the new mini Vox but now that you ask, I will try and remember to do so and check the skip button functionality as well. I have the library loaded, just not my normal listening venue.


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## Nak (Aug 18, 2010)

jcthorne said:


> I have not used music on plex in some time and have not tried it at all on the new mini Vox but now that you ask, I will try and remember to do so and check the skip button functionality as well. I have the library loaded, just not my normal listening venue.


Did you ever check this?


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## jcthorne (Jan 28, 2002)

-> button in plex seems to do nothing. FF button skips forward but not to next song.


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## Nak (Aug 18, 2010)

Thanks for checking. Hopefully the Plex guys fix that. I have a bug report on a post over there about this with no reply.


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