4K movies not working?

Are 4k movies not starting on your server? Spinning circle? Or "Transcoder exited due to an error?"

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4k movies and their limitations

At Elysium, streaming 4k requires a 100% compatible 4k device, and plex app - Transcoding of 4k is not allowed as this requires a lot of server resources, due to this, 4k is only meant to be "Direct played" to prevent resource starvation on the servers.

 

In order for you to direct play 4k, your device must meet basic requirements;

• The device must support HEVC(Video codec)
• The device must support the chosen audio codec(AC3, DTS, TrueHD or similar)
  • In most cases, a movie or tv show will have multiple audio tracks. If your device doesnt support one track or the other, it will transcode, try changing the audio track to something your device supports
• The internet connection of your device, should exceed 150mbps
• The device must be configured for max quality streaming within the plex app
• If you use subtitles, the device must natively support the subtitle format

Whether 4k will work for you, and the amount of "work" you must put in, in order to make 4k work on your device, will vary depending on your setup, the staff at Elysium therefore CANNOT assist with questions such as "How do i direct play 4k movies"

Using 4k on plex requires some knowledge of both plex, the 4k media and your device - We expect that you, the customer, know or figure our how to use 4k on your setup yourself

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If you transcode 4k, you will experience the following symptoms

1. Your stream will crash, with the message "The transcoder has exited due to an error"
2. Your stream will never start, and spin endlessly trying to load

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How to debug why your device is transcoding

1. Go to https://app.plex.tv/desktop > settings > console > filter > type “mde” without the quotes
2. Play the video on the device in question
3. Examine the log entries with the MDE: lines, this should explain why plex is transcoding.