# Plex on the Bolt



## DC_SnDvl (Dec 2, 2015)

The Plex app on the Bolt is pathetic. I have difficulty playing anything other than mpeg-2 files. It is not my server or network. I am able to watch just about any file I try on my Fire-Tv or Kindle without issue.

Does anyone find it useful? I had been using PyTivo but I find it to be clunky moving files back to the the TIVO to watch. the user interface when searching the files is poor.


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## dswallow (Dec 3, 2000)

I have no trouble on my Bolt+; generally I play stuff that's H.265/AVC or H.264 encoded, though generally also pay zero attention to what things are encoded as and have never experienced an issue.


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## DC_SnDvl (Dec 2, 2015)

dswallow said:


> I have no trouble on my Bolt+; generally I play stuff that's H.265/AVC or H.264 encoded, though generally also pay zero attention to what things are encoded as and have never experienced an issue.


What encoder and settings are you using to create your files?
Thanks


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## V7Goose (May 28, 2005)

I tried Plex right after getting my first Bolt last year; I was hoping to find another way to play the thousands of saved recordings I have without needing to switch inputs to use my old Asus O!Play.

I found Plex to be one of the most worthless, pathetic and mirthless jokes of any video hardware or software I have ever seen. It was so bad I was actually angry that I wasted my time even testing it!


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## reneg (Jun 19, 2002)

I am not having issues playing back stuff on my Bolt or my Roamio. Wired ethernet connections between PC & Tivos and lots of horsepower for transcoding in the PC.


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## dswallow (Dec 3, 2000)

DC_SnDvl said:


> What encoder and settings are you using to create your files?
> Thanks


Most of the content is just stuff downloaded via bittorrent -- typical scene releases encoded either in h.265 or h.264, generally, sometimes in an mp4 container, sometimes an mkv container. I do record some stuff directly and convert the mpeg-2 files that come from that process (HDHomeRun equipment) using PAVTube HD Converter (selecting the standard "H.265 HD Video" option) -- and I've been using the same converter to just generally move over all my saved content to h.265 (still in progress). But in several years, I've never not been able to play a video file using PLEX on my Roamio Pro and now on my Bolt+, if it's playable anywhere (i.e., not just corrupted).


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## osu1991 (Mar 6, 2015)

For several years now, I've been using Vidcoder running the handbrake engine to encode files to x264 or x265 in mp4 containers. I haven't noticed anything not playing, although I rarely use the Tivo anymore as my tv has plex built in and is faster to load and navigate Plex than the Tivo is.


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## ohboy710 (Jun 30, 2008)

I as well don't have any issues with Plex on Bolt, but I'm hard wired Ethernet and have a good Plex box for transcoding.


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## shupp872 (Jan 1, 2014)

I use Plex every day on a Bolt, Bolt+, and minis (mostly) without issues since they launched the Plex app on the TiVo. Almost all of my files are mkvs encoded with H.264. The TiVo is very limited in the container and formats of the files that it can directly play. Mpeg2 and H.264 are formats that it can direct Stream. AC3 is the only multichannel audio codec that the TiVo can handle. If the files aren't Mpg2 or H.264 in an Mp4 container with AAC (2 channel) or AC3 (multichannel) than the Plex server will need to transcode them. If they are in a different container (like MKV) then the server will remux them and direct stream the video and audio. 

In my experience, the TiVos cannot handle H.265 directly at all, that will force a transcode (and require a lot of horsepower on the server side) every time (Plex claims that the Bolts can handle H.265, but I believe the exact requirements are very strict).

Plex is very useful in that if you have a server than can handle transcoding all sorts of files, then any device will be able to play any file you have. That being said, as mentioned earlier, the TiVo is very limited. So if you don't have the server horsepower, then your only choice is to encode your files in a way that TiVo can Direct Play / Direct Stream.

There are some things that can be done (manually editing an xml file to tell Plex to transcode multichannel audio to AC3 each time (instead of aac) will help get your 5.1 sound working. 

As others have mentioned, it works best with a wired network. There are others on here as well with similar experiences and I am sure we can all provide assistance with getting plex to work (as well as possible) with the TiVos.


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## Shastada (May 25, 2013)

I have the most trouble with my Parents TiVo bolt. I've got a bunch of different clients using my Plex server but only the Bolt constantly gives me trouble. Right now there are just some files that won't play at all. Other's will start and stop... I have it set to cap at 2mpbs 720p to try to get it to play but even at that it won't do anything. Server is more than capable of transcoding anything I throw at it and the internet speeds are not issues. Their bolt is on wifi but has a strong signal and all other streaming services are fine.


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## shupp872 (Jan 1, 2014)

A common problem I have seen is that Plex will try to convert all audio to multi channel AAC. This is typically the case when you see a file start playing, then stop after a few seconds. The TiVo cannot handle the audio. This is also sometimes seen when the file won't start playing at all.

You can try to see if this is the issue by doing one of two things:

1)uncheck "enable AC3" in the Plex app on the Tivo

or 

2)check "enable AC3" in the plex app on the TiVo, then edit the HTML TV.xml file on the Plex server (under profiles) and replace all the entries of "aac" with "ac3". Save the file, and restart the Plex server program. After that, every file that the TIVo plays will play with Ac3 5.1 dolby digital instead of aac.

The only other problem I have seen is that on some versions of the Plex app on the TiVo the bitrate of the file can be a problem. It seems that anything under around 25mpbs usually will direct play fine. anything much higher than can cause stuttering and frequent pauses. I think this is related to the internal memory availability of the TiVo. This can fixed by just choose to transcode the files to the max of 20 mbps in the TiVo app.

Just to say again, I agree that the TiVo is about the worst Plex player out there, however it can be made to work. It definitely is not ideal.


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## MighTiVo (Oct 26, 2000)

I tried the above suggestions and the only thing that works for me is disabling DirectPlay to get the Bolt to play programs that fail.


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## jcthorne (Jan 28, 2002)

In order to direct play, video needs to be 16:9 ratio video frame, h264 video and in a mp4 container. The tivo video engine cannot handle anamorphic video well at all, never has. Video display aspect ratio must be 1:1. I only mention this as you seem to be trying to play older DVD resolution videos and many if not most of those were anamorphic and caused great problems back when they were mainstream.


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## MighTiVo (Oct 26, 2000)

jcthorne said:


> In order to direct play, video needs to be 16:9 ratio video frame, h264 video and in a mp4 container. The tivo video engine cannot handle anamorphic video well at all, never has. Video display aspect ratio must be 1:1. I only mention this as you seem to be trying to play older DVD resolution videos and many if not most of those were anamorphic and caused great problems back when they were mainstream.


I understand there are limitations, but the Bolt also decodes UHD video and HEVC.

From What media formats are supported?
*Series 6 (TiVo Roamio OTA, Bolt, etc.)*
Additional Direct Play video support:

MKV container with H.264 video encoding
Additional 4K (UHD) video support:

MKV container with hvec (H.265) video encoding
Framerates up to 60fps
In my case it is generally the most recent content I have that is troublesome, not old content. It seems the profile that is used when playing from Bolt apparently doesn't correctly enumerate the Bolt's requirements.

In theory...
The plex server and plex app should be able to work all the requirements out and direct play, direct stream, or transcode based on the players capabilities.

But on the Bolt, unlike the Romeo or Premiere, the Plex Media Server apparently gets a profile for the Bolt that doesn't match its capabilities and playback errors occur as the PlexMediaServer sends video the Bolt can not handle.
Thus in order to have a player that works reliably on the Bolt, I found I had to disable DirectStream in the Plex app on the Bolt.


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## MighTiVo (Oct 26, 2000)

Working with the 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).

Be advised of the following:_

_HEVC UHD HDR will be enabled for DP/DS operation_
_Effective video bitrate up to approximately 30 Mbps. Your mileage will vary based on bitrate + bit depth_
_Be cautious the Mini Vox 4K does not catch fire while playing







(joking here but it will be very hard on the device)_


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## Miles267 (Feb 20, 2017)

Glad to find this thread. Despite TiVo Bolt+ 4K UHD support, have never been able to direct play any content in 4K via Plex on Bolt+ regardless of their published media requirements. Plex client profile for TiVo forces anything > 1080p resolution to transcode down to 1080p. Hope they do address this in future.

Otherwise I just use the XPlay Plex knockoff app for the LG webOS to directplay 2160p HEVC files directly. Sad that an unofficial Plex client is needed to directplay 4K content easily and TiVo Plex client itself cannot. 


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## jcthorne (Jan 28, 2002)

I can verify the current version Plex app on the just released Mini Vox 4k can play 4k HEVC 8 bit video with 6 channel ac3 audio in a streamable mp4 container. The few files I tried were all less than 15 Mbps which is similar to what netflix sends.

HDR (10bit) video does not work yet but they are working on it.

But its great to be able to use HEVC and 4k video. I plan to try a few HEVC encoded 1080p videos to verify they also work and will report back.


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## Miles267 (Feb 20, 2017)

Great news. This means the Bolt+ should do the same without issue. What are you using to create 8 bit 4K HEVC MP4 files? Only files I’ve seen floating around in the “wild” are 10 bit 4K HEVC in MKV containers and Plex tried to transcode them down to 1080p, causing stuttering on the Plex Media Server.


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## jcthorne (Jan 28, 2002)

Miles267 said:


> Great news. This means the Bolt+ should do the same without issue. What are you using to create 8 bit 4K HEVC MP4 files? Only files I've seen floating around in the "wild" are 10 bit 4K HEVC in MKV containers and Plex tried to transcode them down to 1080p, causing stuttering on the Plex Media Server.
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


I use MeGUI for all my video file manipulations except tagging. Use Metadata Generator for that as it also looks up programIds for Tivo and build the metadata txt files for transfers to tivo.


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## dswallow (Dec 3, 2000)

I haven't explored it in great detail (yet), but I have been experiencing issues trying to do anything on the Bolt+ (with Hydra, if that matters), playing video that doesn't start at the beginning, or fast forward/rewinding. On my Roamio, the video transcodes; the same video DirectPlay's on the Bolt+, but doesn't survive FF/REW operations, and can't start playing from a position stored from a prior viewing.


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## MighTiVo (Oct 26, 2000)

Update from the Plex Forums
_
HEVC 8 bit (Non HDR) enabled for Direct Play and Direct Stream. Unfortunately due to TiVo bug but Direct Stream of HEVC no longer works. Working with TiVo on it.
HEVC Direct Play of HEVC AAC, AC3, or EAC3 enabled.
HEVC with other audio codecs will be transcoded to H264
January update will enable DirectPlay HEVC 10 bit (HDR)
Cautions & Caveats:

HEVC HDR playing high complexity / sudden abrupt changes does suffer a bit at the upper bit rates due to the device limitations. Your mileage will vary.
English form: They support 10bit HEVC but are sensitive to the bitrate
_


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## dswallow (Dec 3, 2000)

I wish whoever keeps choosing slightly underpowered CPUs/GPUs for TiVo Mini and DVR devices would get themselves fired.


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## MighTiVo (Oct 26, 2000)

dswallow said:


> I wish whoever keeps choosing slightly underpowered CPUs/GPUs for TiVo Mini and DVR devices would get themselves fired.


Are there any comparisons of CPU/GPU/Ram for TiVo devices vs Amazon TV, Roku, Apple TV, etc.


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

MighTiVo said:


> Update from the Plex Forums
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Good. Maybe now my Bolts and Mini Vox can reliably play my UHD files through PLEX.

They work great with my low resolution 720P and 1080i TV recordings in PLEX but I have a bunch of high bitrate UHD files. The Roku Streaming Stick + and Roku Ultra play them without issue but the Bolt and Mini Vox choke on them.


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## Miles267 (Feb 20, 2017)

Agree. To date my Bolt+ has never been able to play anything via Plex. Regardless of MKV or MP4, HEVC, etc. Had completely given up. 


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## lessd (Jan 23, 2005)

Miles267 said:


> Agree. To date my Bolt+ has never been able to play anything via Plex. Regardless of MKV or MP4, HEVC, etc. Had completely given up.
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


I have a Netgear router with built in Plex, works great with TiVo and I use MP4 movie recordings. (You do have to sign into Plex once per TiVo/Mini)


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## Miles267 (Feb 20, 2017)

Nice! Is your Netgear router able to Directplay 4K MP4 videos back without any transcoding? Currently the latest TiVo Bolt and Mini Vox units cannot. Yet. 


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## jcthorne (Jan 28, 2002)

Miles267 said:


> Nice! Is your Netgear router able to Directplay 4K MP4 videos back without any transcoding? Currently the latest TiVo Bolt and Mini Vox units cannot. Yet.
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


YES, they can and have been able to do so for some time. DId you read the requirements in the posting above? They have not changed and unfortunately still cannot play 10bit HDR recordings but Plex can indeed stream 4k video to Bolt and Plex. The files MUST be in direct playable format as stated.


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## Weewahz (Dec 30, 2017)

shupp872 said:


> A common problem I have seen is that Plex will try to convert all audio to multi channel AAC. This is typically the case when you see a file start playing, then stop after a few seconds. The TiVo cannot handle the audio. This is also sometimes seen when the file won't start playing at all.
> 
> You can try to see if this is the issue by doing one of two things:
> 
> ...


I just upgraded my Bolt to Hydra after getting a Mini Vox and then started to have Plex buffer every minute when playing certain high bitrate Blu-Rays (my test is Sing which is 35 Mbps). Everything is hard wired, so I was dumbfounded as to how bandwidth could be an issue. Even my Roku can do a 35Mbps Blu-Ray over wireless without buffering. Setting the local quality to 20 Mbps fixed the issue, but I shouldn't have to do that...Hope they update the app soon.


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## kpfleming (Dec 23, 2003)

Long time listener, first time caller... wait, not a radio show.

I've been a Tivo user forever (since Series 1 days), and this past weekend upgraded from a Roamio Plus to a Bolt VOX. The immediate need for the upgrade was that I recently started using Plex, and I've been filling the Plex server with Blu-Ray content, but the Roamio was only able to handle 4Mbps 720p output in the Plex app. The Bolt seems to be handling the 20+Mbps 1080p content just fine, I don't have any 4K content at this point. I'm using MakeMKV to rip Blu-Ray discs but not postprocessing the files at all, so they are full bitrate rips.

The only issue I have at this point is that for some reason I cannot get any surround audio tracks to play back via this configuration. I have verified in Plex that the MKVs contain both DTS HD-Master and DD 5.1 audio tracks, and in the Plex player I can see both tracks and switch between them, but my surround-capable soundbar does not go into surround mode. It does for cable content, premium cable content, and HBO GO content, all delivered from the Bolt, but I still have a few other variables to eliminate (for example, the surround tracks might be in a format too advanced for the soundbar to decode).

Anyone else had any trouble getting surround audio played back via Plex on a Bolt?


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## jcthorne (Jan 28, 2002)

kpfleming said:


> Long time listener, first time caller... wait, not a radio show.
> 
> I've been a Tivo user forever (since Series 1 days), and this past weekend upgraded from a Roamio Plus to a Bolt VOX. The immediate need for the upgrade was that I recently started using Plex, and I've been filling the Plex server with Blu-Ray content, but the Roamio was only able to handle 4Mbps 720p output in the Plex app. The Bolt seems to be handling the 20+Mbps 1080p content just fine, I don't have any 4K content at this point. I'm using MakeMKV to rip Blu-Ray discs but not postprocessing the files at all, so they are full bitrate rips.
> 
> ...


If you want dolby surround sound (AC3) audio when playing from Plex, your recordings will have to be direct playable. This means they must be streamable mp4 files with an h.264 video and AC3 audio track ONLY. Plex has never done a very good job of remuxing (direct stream in plex speak) content for the Tivo, if it has to convert anything, you get 2 channel AAC audio which is sort of a lowest common denominator for streaming boxes in general.

Please note that I am NOT saying this is the way it should be, its not. Plex seems to have very little interest in fixing issues specific to various tivo models. You have to store your video in very specific format to direct play on the Tivo, then it all works. Plex is not perfect, but for Tivo its about all we have at the moment. One side benefit I did find is that converting all my video content to this direct playable format for tivo also plays well on all my other devices. PC and Android/Fire based.


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## kpfleming (Dec 23, 2003)

Thanks, I started experimenting with that yesterday. I've got other issues in my media network interfering with delivery of AC3 (or anything higher) to my soundbar, so I'll get those resolved first.

It is rather disappointing that the Plex app for Tivo (and the Tivo itself) are so constrained in supporting surround audio formats. I may end up getting a Roku or Fire TV to use as a Plex client instead of the Tivo, since they support pretty much every surround format. The Bolt was a nice upgrade over the Roamio even if it doesn't end up solving my Plex problems


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## jcthorne (Jan 28, 2002)

kpfleming said:


> Thanks, I started experimenting with that yesterday. I've got other issues in my media network interfering with delivery of AC3 (or anything higher) to my soundbar, so I'll get those resolved first.
> 
> It is rather disappointing that the Plex app for Tivo (and the Tivo itself) are so constrained in supporting surround audio formats. I may end up getting a Roku or Fire TV to use as a Plex client instead of the Tivo, since they support pretty much every surround format. The Bolt was a nice upgrade over the Roamio even if it doesn't end up solving my Plex problems


At the moment, the android / Fire TV plex app does not deliver 5.1 sound at all, even if its direct streamable as the pass though function was borked. The android boxes do not natively support any surround formats, only as pass through. So those clients are actually worse off than Tivo at the moment and have been for months. Plex is an equal opportunity bug launcher......

Some folks have found better functionality using Kodi with the Plex plug in but I have not tried that. I use Tivo for the vast majority of my Plex usage and a Fire TV box at our vacation home that does not have 5.1 sound anyway, just a stereo sound bar.


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## kpfleming (Dec 23, 2003)

Ugh. Well, that's not ideal, but at least it's improvable if the Plex team decides to improve it. I sincerely hope it's not a Tivo software limitation constraining output to only AC3 (or lower).

Is anyone aware of a 'known good' MP4 file with AC3 audio that I could download to test with, in order to eliminate the variables introduced by me producing files? Right now I still have 3 (or maybe 4) parts of the equation that are unverified, and each one that I can test on its own is helpful. Learning that my LG TV is unable to pass through AC3 (or anything better) was an eye-opener; now I'm using an HDMI audio extractor to pull off the audio stream before it goes to the TV, and I might switch to an HDMI-equipped soundbar (for that and other reasons).


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## Ansel Goldgar (Oct 9, 2017)

I can't get live tv to work on my Bolt. Is there a trick to this or does the TIVO Plex app not support live tv. I can watch shows recorded by the PLEX dvr and thing that I can access in the channels.


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

Ansel Goldgar said:


> I can't get live tv to work on my Bolt. Is there a trick to this or does the TIVO Plex app not support live tv. I can watch shows recorded by the PLEX dvr and thing that I can access in the channels.


You would do so called Live TV directly from the Bolt with the TiVo app. Although it's not technically live since it's being recorded and written to Bolt Hard drive first. Then read off the hard drive, transcoded and sent over the internet to your device.

But even doing that I will still be ahead of live TV from Comcast in my area. Since channels in their cable system around here is behind OTA and FiOS by 20 to 30 seconds.

I can be at my parents or brothers house, using the TiVo app watching from FiOS, and I will still be ahead of what is being output from a non DVR STB on Comcast.


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## jcthorne (Jan 28, 2002)

Ansel Goldgar said:


> I can't get live tv to work on my Bolt. Is there a trick to this or does the TIVO Plex app not support live tv. I can watch shows recorded by the PLEX dvr and thing that I can access in the channels.


Are you trying to use the Plex DVR functions via the client ap on the Tivo? Your question is really unclear what you are trying to do. If you are on the tivo, just hit the live button and watch live tv directly on the Tivo, not via the plex ap. The plex server has no access to the Tivo tuners so what ever you are using for a Plex server would need a tv tuner set up with Plex.

I realize my response is haphazard but your question is really vague as to what you are trying to do.


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## rsday75 (Oct 8, 2015)

kpfleming said:


> Long time listener, first time caller... wait, not a radio show.
> 
> I've been a Tivo user forever (since Series 1 days), and this past weekend upgraded from a Roamio Plus to a Bolt VOX. The immediate need for the upgrade was that I recently started using Plex, and I've been filling the Plex server with Blu-Ray content, but the Roamio was only able to handle 4Mbps 720p output in the Plex app. The Bolt seems to be handling the 20+Mbps 1080p content just fine, I don't have any 4K content at this point. I'm using MakeMKV to rip Blu-Ray discs but not postprocessing the files at all, so they are full bitrate rips.
> 
> ...


So, some thoughts/the way I understand things.
Tivo did not pay the licensing fee to do DTS. It will only do AC3/Dolby Digital.
Any DTS will need to be remuxed into AC3. Direct Play/Stream will get you PCM audio.

Now, that said, there is an issue in Plex and a file will need to be edited on your Plex server to force the Tivo unit to do AC3. Once the file is edited, restart your Plex server for the changes to take affect.

Before editing the file, all my DTS content was PCMed to my receiver as either stereo or 5.1 channel PCM which was terrible. Now I at least get AC3 5.1 Dolby....but, it has to be transcoded......Sigh.

File to edit and such are detailed here:
Plex Tivo (Roamio) Audio Transcode DTS to Stereo Instead of AC3
https://forums.plex.tv/discussion/2...-audio-transcode-dts-to-stereo-instead-of-ac3
Hope some of this helps.


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## kpfleming (Dec 23, 2003)

rsday75 said:


> So, some thoughts/the way I understand things.
> Tivo did not pay the licensing fee to do DTS. It will only do AC3/Dolby Digital.
> Any DTS will need to be remuxed into AC3. Direct Play/Stream will get you PCM audio.
> 
> ...


Fabulous! That was it, now my MKVs with DTS-MA play with AC3 5.1 output, so I don't have to transcode them. I still need to decide whether I find this acceptable or whether I should get a new Plex client which can handle DTS and Dolby TrueHD, but that's for another day. Thanks again.


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## jcthorne (Jan 28, 2002)

Updated Plex Client for Tivo:

January 23 2018 • 3.13.9

NEW:


TiVo: Direct play 10bit HEVC. Works best with lower quality 4K content.
TiVo: Remove the ability to Direct Stream videos using HEVC video codec. We've filed a bug report with TiVo.
webOS: Identify webOS displays and capabilities using platform library.
webOS: New Settings > Audio > Dolby TrueHD setting enables direct play of TrueHD audio on supported displays.
webOS: Improved 4K video playback for H.264, HEVC, and VP9 video codecs within any file which supports these video codecs.
webOS: Direct play MKV files with H.264, HEVC, VC1, VP9, MPEG4 video and AAC, MP3, VORBIS, DTS, or AC3 audio. Only available on webOS >= 3.0.
webOS: Direct play AVI files with MPEG4 (xvid/divx) and MJPEG video and AAC, MP3, PCM, DTS, or AC3 audio.
webOS: Direct play MP4 files with H.264 and HEVC video and AAC, MP3, DTS, or AC3 audio.
webOS: Direct play M2TS and TS files with H.264, HEVC, or MPEG2VIDEO video and AAC, MP2, MP3, DTS, or AC3 audio.
webOS: Direct play MOV files with H.264 or MPEG4 video and AAC, DTS, or AC3 audio.
webOS: Direct play WMV files with VC1, or WMV3 video and WMAV2, WMAPRO, DTS, or AC3 audio.
FIXED:


All: Pressing stop before media is ready will correctly teardown the media components.
All: The music player no longer respects the allow direct play and allow direct stream video player setting.
All: Logging to media servers is able to be disabled after being enabled.
webOS: Enable Dolby Digital (AC3) audio stream support on all displays.
webOS: Improve seeking and resuming for video playback. This benefits 4K direct stream the most.


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## Miles267 (Feb 20, 2017)

Appreciate the update. Can’t wait to try this later today, particularly the 10bit playback. 


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

Yes. I'll need to try it out tonight. And see if it can finally play some of the UHD videos I have that my Roku has no problems with.


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## Miles267 (Feb 20, 2017)

How do we get this updated on Bolt?


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## jcthorne (Jan 28, 2002)

Miles267 said:


> How do we get this updated on Bolt?
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Reboot your Tivo and then load Plex, it should automatically download and run the latest version. Check the version number once you open it and compare to the number above.


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## Miles267 (Feb 20, 2017)

Thanks! Confirmed my Bolt was already on 3.13.9 then attempted to play a HEVC 10 bit “playready” 4K file via gigabit Ethernet and it still stuttered. Oh well. Had hoped this would no longer be the case. Seems PMS must still be transcoding these files. Perhaps there’s a PMS update forthcoming for compatibility with 3.13.9? Last PMS update was in Dec 2017.


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

I just tried out the new version. It still can't play my low bitrate, 50Mb/s UHD, 10 bit files without buffering.

And of course my 100Mb/s + UHD files are impossible. But my Roku Streaming Stick + has no issues playing them.

The TiVo does work great with my 1080P and lower Plex content.

And I see it is passing the Spears and Munsil 10 bit Quantization Artifact test. Or at least mostly passing it. The 10 bit box isn't quite as smooth as from some of my other decives. But it doesn't look anything like from a device that fails the test. In those the 8bit and 10 bit box look the same.

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## jcthorne (Jan 28, 2002)

What container and codecs are your UHD files you are trying? The requirements for direct play are very specific.


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## Miles267 (Feb 20, 2017)

Agreed. My experience was the same. Buffering everything 3-5 seconds on playback. Also, I need to check to see whether it’s even Direct Playing them or still transcoding. Truly a disappointment. Though am still hoping the next version of PMS may include support from the server side. Will see.


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## jcthorne (Jan 28, 2002)

I finally got to check out the new HDR function in Plex last night. Like the others, it stutters and skips every few seconds. I was able to verify it was direct playing at full resolution and ac3 audio. I was also trying with a recording at 15Mbps which is pretty low for 4k just trying to get it to work. This is on a hardwired network from the server to the Tivo. No reason for the bitrate to have any problems with the network. Its the plex implementation.

So for now, 4kHDR does not yet work on plex for whatever reason.


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## Andoe (Nov 5, 2017)

There is still frequent buffering in 3.9.10 with certain (presumably higher bit-rate) 1080p movie content, unless local quality is set to 20 Mb in the app. I am also getting tired of having to edit the HTML TV app.xml after every Plex server update, in order to get AC3. This file should not need to get overwritten every time, and ideally we should be able to control the audio quality from the app.


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## timbracken (Sep 16, 2016)

Hulu and Plex are unusable on the tivo. It’s a shame. I use Roku or Apple TV for them both. I really like the Plex app on Apple TV.


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## Miles267 (Feb 20, 2017)

Really is a shame, because I have no interest in Apple TV. Would get a nVidia Shield for 4K HDR but am trying to it down on the number of hardware devices.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## timbracken (Sep 16, 2016)

I am really happy with the Apple TV. Most of my watching now is on that device instead of the tivo. I would be really happy if we get a tivo app for Apple TV to watch my recordings...would give me less reason to switch inputs. The TV app on Apple TV is slick to keep track of and stream your favorite shows...really really smart (now if it could natively support Netflix it would be even better).


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## enigma9o7 (Nov 28, 2015)

shupp872 said:


> There are some things that can be done (manually editing an xml file to tell Plex to transcode multichannel audio to AC3 each time (instead of aac) will help get your 5.1 sound working.


What file do I edit to get AAC to transcode to AC3? I edited 'HTML TV App.xml' (in /usr/lib/plexmediaserver/Resources/Profiles) to get DTS to AC3 working, but still only getting 2 channel PCM from 5.1/6.1/7.1 AAC...


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