2018 Mac Mini Having Issues Transcoding (Lots of Buffering)

Plex Media Server Desktops & Laptops
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Server Version#: 1.14.0.5468
Player Version#: iOS 5.7.1

I got a souped up new Mac Mini last week with a 6-core i7 and 32GB of RAM. Thus far we’ve been pretty disappointed by the results. We seem to be having a lot more issues with buffering than we had with the 2011 Mac Mini Server.

plex-logs.txt (327.4 KB)
^^ Here is a log from a recent attempt to stream a movie remotely from iOS. The key errors I’m seeing include:

  • ClientProfileExtra: video transcode target already exists for streaming hls
  • MDE: unable to find a working transcode profile for video stream
  • MDE: no compatible media decisions are available

Any advice? We are starting to regret our decision to upgrade to this new Mac Mini but I’m hopeful that there has to be a logical solution to the problem.

EDIT: I’m also seeing this error, which is not likely related:

Nov 25, 2018 16:04:26.383 [0x700005230000] ERROR - [FFMPEG] - Try -allow_sw 1. The hardware encoder may be busy, or not supported.

I thought the T2 in the new Mac Mini was supposed to support hardware decoding? For now I’m going to turn hardware acceleration OFF.

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Hi, try the latest not beta version. I’m running a 2018 Mac mini, i5 with only 8GB and Plex Version 1.13.9.5456 … no buffering issues so far. Yesterday I tried the beta version, the CPU usage shot through the roof … so I reverted.

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I’m mostly always on beta and haven’t seen this issue, very happy with the new mini.

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I’m running into the same issue/same machine. Its not so much buffering I’m seeing as it simply stops randomly. Did reverting help you?

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I believe Marco Arment, developer of macOS podcast player Overcast notes in his review of the 2018 Mini that ffmpeg needs some values modified to enable the T2 hardware decoder.
https://marco.org/2018/11/06/mac-mini-2018-review
" But if an app supports the T2’s hardware HEVC encoder,[3] it can go much faster."
The [3] links to " ffmpeg can do it by specifying -c:v hevc_videotoolbox instead of -c:v x265 . I also needed -vtag hvc1 for the output MP4s with either codec to be playable on macOS.

Compressor uses the T2’s HEVC acceleration when encoding 8-bit HEVC, but not 10-bit."

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