Solving playback issues

[Aknight2015]

According to this log, AC3 is no longer supported.

7/28/2023 23:04:49.418 [23505515:Aknight2015:67ab97f4-9030-5de4-b300-a5df8a647867] INFO (PlaybackMgr) Attempting to choose the optimal version for playback from 1 choices
7/28/2023 23:04:49.421 [23505515:Aknight2015:67ab97f4-9030-5de4-b300-a5df8a647867] INFO (PlaybackMgr) Choice 1
reason: Forced Direct Play
directPlay reasons: Forced Direct Play
transcode reasons: Selected audio stream is incompatible. Unsupported audio codec: ac3.
isServerDecision: false
file: /shares/Plex_Folder_2/Shared TV/SpongeBob SquarePants/Season 4/SpongeBob SquarePants S04E24 Bummer Vacation.mkv
general: accessible: true, container: mkv, mediaId: 39286, partIndex: 0, protocol: http, type: episode
playback: canAudioDS: false, canVideoDS: true, directPlay: true, directStream: true, forceDirectPlay: true, preferredTranscodeFormat: hls
audio: bitrate: 192, channels: 2, codec: ac3, decision: invalid, id: 380623, languageCode: eng, samplingRate: 48000
video: bitDepth: 8, bitrate: 1391, closedCaptions: false, codec: h264, colorTrc: bt709, decision: invalid, frameRate: 29.97, height: 478, id: 380622, isHDR: false, refFrames: 1, width: 718
subtitle: none
selectedSubtitle: decision: playerRenders, description: Off, id: none, language: zxx, trackName: mkv/off
7/28/2023 23:04:49.422 [23505515:Aknight2015:67ab97f4-9030-5de4-b300-a5df8a647867] INFO (PlaybackMgr) MDE: CalculateMaxRefFrames: resolution=718x478 level=13 refFrames: media=1 calculated=1 max=8
7/28/2023 23:04:49.422 [23505515:Aknight2015:67ab97f4-9030-5de4-b300-a5df8a647867] DEBUG (PlaybackMgr) MDE: mbs {roAssociativeArray}
height: 30
maxdpb: 2376
width: 45

[atc98092]

I don't know where you got that log. Was it from Plex? Anyway, I tried playing the same DVD rip with both Plex and Roku Media Player. In both cases the playback was direct, with nothing transcoded by either server. My AVR showed Dolby Digital/AC3 output on the screen. I confirmed on my Plex server that AC3 was being sent, and same from my DLNA server. So AC3 is absolutely still supported. 

[Aknight2015]

Plex player receives it's codec support from the OS. That's what I was told. The log is from Plex.

[atc98092]

Yeah, I thought that looked like a Plex log. But as I said, I have no problem playing AC3 either through Plex or from my DLNA server using Roku Media Player. The log wasn't accurate about AC3 support, but I have no idea why. 

[Aknight2015]

It's about forcing direct play. If I allow direct play, but put it on auto instead of forced, there's no audio issue. The server I'm on does not allow transcoding. By putting it on auto, it transcodes the audio into PCM.

[renojim]

@Aknight2015, if you're using any of the "Volume modes" (Leveling, Night) the device will report that it doesn't support AC3.

[Aknight2015]

I disabled all of that on my TV. Still doesn't work.

Update: Fixed.

Turned off all audio features on my TV, then:
Settings -> Audio:

Preferred Streaming Format: DTS

Digital Output Format: Custom -> Dolby Digital Plus, and DTS (ON)

THEN, I had to go back to Audio mode and select Auto (DD+)

THEN Go back into Plex

Audio -> Allow DTS-HD

Now all it does is refuse to play my selected audio streams in movies.

7/30/2023 06:52:40.573 [23505515:Aknight2015:67ab97f4-9030-5de4-b300-a5df8a647867] INFO (Navigation) Navigated to screen MovieDetailsScreen, activateKind new
7/30/2023 06:52:40.602 [23505515:Aknight2015:67ab97f4-9030-5de4-b300-a5df8a647867] INFO (MovieDetailsScreen) Consuming existing global locale info.
7/30/2023 06:52:40.606 [23505515:Aknight2015:67ab97f4-9030-5de4-b300-a5df8a647867] DEBUG (MovieDetailsScreen) Reported metrics: client:view
7/30/2023 06:52:40.642 [23505515:Aknight2015:67ab97f4-9030-5de4-b300-a5df8a647867] INFO (GeneralTask) Requesting GET https://discover.provider.plex.tv/library/metadata/5d77688807c4a5001e67956e/userState?X-Plex-Language=en-US
7/30/2023 06:52:40.653 [23505515:Aknight2015:67ab97f4-9030-5de4-b300-a5df8a647867] INFO (GeneralTask) Requesting GET https://82-65-130-242.ac62041f4c254c6db53929cd34e3300f.plex.direct:17239/library/metadata/564633?asyncAugmentMetadata=1&includeExtras=1&includeReviews=1
7/30/2023 06:52:40.665 [23505515:Aknight2015:67ab97f4-9030-5de4-b300-a5df8a647867] INFO (GeneralTask) Requesting GET https://82-65-130-242.ac62041f4c254c6db53929cd34e3300f.plex.direct:17239/hubs/metadata/564633/related?count=25&includeMeta=1&includeExternalMetadata=1&includeAugmentations=1
7/30/2023 06:52:40.675 [23505515:Aknight2015:67ab97f4-9030-5de4-b300-a5df8a647867] INFO (GeneralTask) Requesting GET https://82-65-130-242.ac62041f4c254c6db53929cd34e3300f.plex.direct:17239/hubs/continueWatching/items?X-Plex-Container-Start=0&X-Plex-Container-Size=3
7/30/2023 06:52:40.683 [23505515:Aknight2015:67ab97f4-9030-5de4-b300-a5df8a647867] INFO (GeneralTask) Requesting GET https://82-65-130-242.ac62041f4c254c6db53929cd34e3300f.plex.direct:17239/library/metadata/564633?checkFiles=1
7/30/2023 06:52:40.789 [23505515:Aknight2015:67ab97f4-9030-5de4-b300-a5df8a647867] INFO (GeneralTask) Got response 200 GET https://discover.provider.plex.tv/library/metadata/5d77688807c4a5001e67956e/userState?X-Plex-Language=en-US - 180ms (UserStateTransform) (json) (application/json; charset=utf-8)
7/30/2023 06:52:40.789 [23505515:Aknight2015:67ab97f4-9030-5de4-b300-a5df8a647867] INFO (GeneralTask) Transformed (UserStateTransform) GET https://discover.provider.plex.tv/library/metadata/5d77688807c4a5001e67956e/userState?X-Plex-Language=en-US - 0ms
7/30/2023 06:52:41.308 [23505515:Aknight2015:67ab97f4-9030-5de4-b300-a5df8a647867] INFO (GeneralTask) Got response 200 GET https://82-65-130-242.ac62041f4c254c6db53929cd34e3300f.plex.direct:17239/library/metadata/564633?asyncAugmentMetadata=1&includeExtras=1&includeReviews=1 - 659ms (MovieDetailsTransform) (json) (application/json)
7/30/2023 06:52:41.736 [23505515:Aknight2015:67ab97f4-9030-5de4-b300-a5df8a647867] INFO (GeneralTask) Transformed (MovieDetailsTransform) GET https://82-65-130-242.ac62041f4c254c6db53929cd34e3300f.plex.direct:17239/library/metadata/564633?asyncAugmentMetadata=1&includeExtras=1&includeReviews=1 - 426ms
7/30/2023 06:52:41.746 [23505515:Aknight2015:67ab97f4-9030-5de4-b300-a5df8a647867] WARN (MovieDetailsScreen) MDE: cannot select stream by language! ignoring since we can select the audio stream by index in player.
7/30/2023 06:52:41.747 [23505515:Aknight2015:67ab97f4-9030-5de4-b300-a5df8a647867] INFO (MovieDetailsScreen) MDE: CalculateMaxRefFrames: resolution=3840x1600 level=150 refFrames: media=1 calculated=-1 max=8
7/30/2023 06:52:41.747 [23505515:Aknight2015:67ab97f4-9030-5de4-b300-a5df8a647867] DEBUG (MovieDetailsScreen) MDE: mbs {roAssociativeArray}
 height: 100
 maxdpb: 0
 width: 240