I got this problem for about 3-4 month’s now, I often stream to a Chromecast(1), Plex app on Sony Android TV or Chrome PC browser. After a while playing (about 20 min) it starts stuttering and i get messages my computer is to slow for transcoding. When i pause for about a minute i plays smooth for a few minutes, then the stuttering starts again.
It seems my Mac Mini is to slow to play transcoded video’s. Is my hardware really that bad or is there something else wrong? (Mac Mini 2012 i7 2,3 Ghz, 16GB Ram)
When i look at te Media Server Log i can see the transcode speed starts at 7x, but after a while it goes down to 0.6.
- In the OSX activity monitoring app i see the CPU usage at idle is about 3% (97% inactive). When Plex starts transcoding i stil have 20-50% inactive CPU left.
- When i start video’s everything works fine, the problem only occurs after a while +/- 20min. When Plex is transcoding for a while the inactive CPU goes down to 2%. The proces ‘plex new transcoder’ is 300-500%. The proces ‘kernel_task’ is also gone up from about 3% to 200-300%, the rest seems normal.
- When i play directly in Plex Media Player, i don’t have problems at all.
- The problem occurs with multiple files, so i don’t think the problem is the file itself.
- It happens with files on internal and external hard drives.
- I’m using PMS 0.916.3.1840-cece46d
- This CPU got a 7371 passmark score, so it should be able to transcode about 3 1080p stream at the same time…
Can i fix this or do i need to replace my Mac Mini?
Is Time Machine or another resource-intensive task running / preparing to run during this time?
Since you’ve had the problem for 3-4 months, Can you create a scenario, after a fresh start, with the log files all empty/fresh, and playing the movie demonstrates the observed behavior?
If you can re-create it in isolation, it will make resolving this more definitive. When you do, Please post your Plex Media Server log files (including the .1.log, .2.log, etc if present).
Is it possible that the mini gets to hot? You can test this with iStat Menus or somethink like that.
Your hardware is normaly strong enough to handle single file.
I haven an Mini 2012 i5 and its possible to stream 2-5 files simultan.
First of all, thanks for your help guys.
@ChuckPa said:
Is Time Machine or another resource-intensive task running / preparing to run during this time?
Since you’ve had the problem for 3-4 months, Can you create a scenario, after a fresh start, with the log files all empty/fresh, and playing the movie demonstrates the observed behavior?
If you can re-create it in isolation, it will make resolving this more definitive. When you do, Please post your Plex Media Server log files (including the .1.log, .2.log, etc if present).
There no resource-intensive task running during this time, if not transcoding 97-98% CPU idle.
I’ve deleted the logs and rebooted, started transcoding another random 1080p movie. I’ve added the new log files in this post.
@kolossboss said:
Is it possible that the mini gets to hot? You can test this with iStat Menus or somethink like that.
Your hardware is normaly strong enough to handle single file.
I haven an Mini 2012 i5 and its possible to stream 2-5 files simultan.
The CPU temp goes up to 101 degrees while transcoding, 81 degrees idle (iStat Menus)
I have reviewed your logfiles. At no point does Plex get above 1.0 (real-time) meaning the transcoder is struggling from the very beginning.
Would you past the Plex XML for the file you captured in the log files you posted here?
Yes, you’re totally right. I saw in the log file i sent you the Mac mini is only transcoding at around speed=0.6.
I’ve added the xml file (47.xml) among with 2 other .xml files from video’s i played with the same problems.
The CPU temp goes up to 101 degrees while transcoding, 81 degrees idle (iStat Menus)
I hope its fahrenheit and not Celsius^^
@kolossboss said:
The CPU temp goes up to 101 degrees while transcoding, 81 degrees idle (iStat Menus)
I hope its fahrenheit and not Celsius^^
According to iStat Menus ‘CPU die’ is 101 Celsius degrees while transcoding. When i stop it goes down fast to 81 degrees. And afther a while to 60 degrees completely idle.
Those temperatures are indeed degrees Celsius.
60C when idle is normal, 80C is ‘working’ and also ok. Forced throttling begins a 100C as above 105C will start burning the processor.
Refer to: http://ark.intel.com/products/64900/Intel-Core-i7-3615QM-Processor-6M-Cache-up-to-3_30-GHz
Value of importance is Tjunction
Apple support forums suggest (from what I see) dirty cooling fan blades reducing air flow because the CPU and GPU share the heat sync.
Thanks, gladfully the CPU temp. seems fine. I really can’t explain the transcoding problem.
Is there something weird in the xml files?
It seems like a hardware issue.
I have another Mac Mini, exact the same model. I’ve swapped the hard drives and played the same files again. Now the transcode speed is around 3-4x, also the CPU load much lower.
Seems like it’s a CPU issue. Too bad i don’t have warranty on a 2012 mac mini anymore… 
Here is a youtube on how to replace the fan, but is very applicable to making sure it’s clean (they love to collect dust on the edge of the blades and not move air effectively).
Its not that hard to repair the CPU Cooling Fan. I did this for a friend with nearly the same issue. Now the CPU is much cooler and no problems anymore.
