I have two Samsung TVs, a newer model that can directy play pretty much everything 4k Dolby Vision with DTS. However the older model (from 2019-2020) while 4k, can't direct play most with DTS, TrueHD, DV and some HDR.

I've see up a container with Tdarr and its corresponding node. Created a library pointing to a movie folder (just for testing) and set up this transcode plugin.

When I scan the library the file gets checked but it says conditions are met. Whats conditions? Isn't this supposed to force transcoding? Then I tried another plugin with the same results. I've got to say this is all very new to me and I'm not familiar with tdarr and its plugins.

?why not run something like jellyfin or plex and play it in a single app? dlna?

8 hours ago, bmartino1 said:

?why not run something like jellyfin or plex and play it in a single app? dlna?

I am using Jellyfin, but that has nothing to do with the client capability to direct play right? The goal is to avoid Jellyfin transcoding or remuxing while streaming to that specific client, that's why I went with the tdarr route. But like I said, I'm not very familiar with this and maybe I'm missing something in my setup.

if you want direct play you need to convert the original file media to the tv codec and capabilities.

or use something like tdar to do transcode and make a similar playable file. Usually transcode and decode in this sense will not function the way you think or want as it's just moving the processing power need to play but there still buffer and network latency Issus. This is why jellyfin will work with its own play app as its trans codes to what the play need to play.

Not enough info... what tdarr settings are you running?

as you are running jellyfin which does the transcoding and remux to the players file type. Otherwise, you now have to find the Sony's playable file type. and its codecs for sound audio etc...

I have done similar dlna with PlayStation servers and ps3 and other TV networks.... But From the OG post and info so far. And my understanding of tdarr.

I don't think tdarr is what your looking for. as direct play is limited by the chip and the capabilities of the TV itself, its the client player...

Thus something like any video convertor or handbreak (unraid docker exisits...)to convert the media to the tvs playable file container format is what's need to include the older tech to use the video format...
https://www.sony.com/electronics/support/articles/S1F0798

So my question is what's the Original source content and its file format, and what files don't play on the older sony tv?
as you will need to fix the files to be in the correct codec and file format for direct play.

so what is tdarr:

Tdarr is a free, open-source application for automating the transcoding and management of large media libraries by processing files based on predefined rules. It utilizes FFmpeg or HandBrake for transcoding, can use either a CPU or a GPU for processing, and supports a distributed architecture with multiple "Tdarr Nodes" to scale its processing power. Users can configure Tdarr through plugins to automatically convert videos to more efficient codecs like H.265, which frees up disk space, and can also perform health checks on files for corruption

Examples...
A common use for Tdarr is to simply convert video files from h264 to h265 (hevc), saving 40%-50% in size. The application is in the form of a click-to-run web-app, comprised of the following 2 components: Tdarr_Server - Central process which all Nodes connect with...

SO! per the support articulate it appears that your older TV doesn't support h.264 or h.265 and thus needs to be converted to a file type that the codec playing on the TV understands.

SO your fighting dlna and the TVs limitations of its own codec player. As I've done similar work with content and The TVs should use similar ps3 technology and while this doesn't exist on linux/unraid that I know of... atm I would recommend you file format correct the source content for the TVs limitations.

or use a dlna server that will transcode for you as that not what tdar does nor fix in your use case...
https://www.ps3mediaserver.org/

Edited September 17, 2025Sep 17 by bmartino1
spelling data and links

Without more info of your tdarr settings, or client tv paly data and how your access the content...

Essential tdarr is your dlna sever and you need a tdarr client to connect to it to use it... which the TV doesn't use...

direct play is still failing as it can't connect nor understands the file type of encoding to play the file.