# Direct play not working and no previews?

**URL:** <https://wellsconsulting.discourse.group/t/direct-play-not-working-and-no-previews/21>\
**Category:** Mirage\
**Created:** [September 28, 2026, 6:47pm UTC](https://wellsconsulting.discourse.group/t/direct-play-not-working-and-no-previews/21 "2026-09-28T18:47:47Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Nimitz](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex004/user_avatar/wellsconsulting.discourse.group/nimitz/32/32_2.png) [@Nimitz](https://wellsconsulting.discourse.group/u/Nimitz)\
**Post date:** [September 28, 2026, 6:47pm UTC](https://wellsconsulting.discourse.group/t/direct-play-not-working-and-no-previews/21/1 "2026-09-28T18:47:47Z")

</div>

None of the content from my library seems to be able to be directly played, I have to change it to HLS for it to load and start. Is there a setting in Mirage or Stash I’m not understanding?

Also there are no animated scene previews it’s just a random frame from the video or the cover image. Is there a way to include those?

Thanks!

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![michael](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex004/user_avatar/wellsconsulting.discourse.group/michael/32/8_2.png) [@michael](https://wellsconsulting.discourse.group/u/michael)\
**Post date:** [September 28, 2026, 9:52pm UTC](https://wellsconsulting.discourse.group/t/direct-play-not-working-and-no-previews/21/2 "2026-09-28T21:52:21Z")

</div>

Welcome!

Mirage uses the OS video player for video playback. It has, unfortunately, some limitations on the formats it can play.

The app filters out any format that it cannot play natively so in the format drop-down you’ll only see the formats the App supports. And, as you can see, HLS is the preferred stream if the direct stream does not work.

What video format are you trying to play?

The formats (copied from the source code) that should work are:

- “h264”, “h.264”, “avc”, “avc1” // H.264
- “hevc”, “h265”, “h.265” // H.265 / HEVC
- “av1”, // AV1
- “mpeg4”, “mp4v”, // MPEG-4 Part 2
- “vp9”, // VP9
- “mpeg2video”, “mpeg2”, // MPEG-2
- “mjpeg”, // Motion JPEG
- “prores”, “prores\_ks”, // ProRes

Previews use the same video player to play video previews. Do you know what format the previews are stored on the Stash server?

If you can go to Settings \> Diagnostics \> Export Diagnostics, tap the button and tap “Send” that’ll provide me with additional information that might help narrow down some of the issues, but I’m guessing the problem is tied to video formats Mirage cannot play.

///

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Nimitz](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex004/user_avatar/wellsconsulting.discourse.group/nimitz/32/32_2.png) [@Nimitz](https://wellsconsulting.discourse.group/u/Nimitz)\
**Post date:** [September 29, 2026, 4:43pm UTC](https://wellsconsulting.discourse.group/t/direct-play-not-working-and-no-previews/21/3 "2026-09-29T16:43:36Z")

</div>

Thank you Michael! I ran all my stuff through tdarr and most of it is in .MKV containers so that may be the culprit. I may be able to just change the container type and see if that resolves it. Is there a way to force HLS instead of direct play?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![michael](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex004/user_avatar/wellsconsulting.discourse.group/michael/32/8_2.png) [@michael](https://wellsconsulting.discourse.group/u/michael)\
**Post date:** [September 29, 2026, 9:02pm UTC](https://wellsconsulting.discourse.group/t/direct-play-not-working-and-no-previews/21/4 "2026-09-29T21:02:11Z")

</div>

This is a tvOS-only bug.

An MKV stream should not be auto-selected.

I’m working on a fix now and it’ll be in a 2.2.2 release shortly.

In the meantime if you want to play around with the beta that will fix it, let me know the e-mail address to send the TestFlight invite to.

///