4k Stuttering

Plex Players Desktop Players
1

Server Version#: 1.16.5.1554
Player Version#: 3.108.2

Hi! I’m a long time plex user whose been updating hardware for 4k. I now have all 4k displays in my home and am collecting 4k content on my Plex server. Seemingly no matter what I do Plex insists on transcoding any MKV file that is UHD before playback. This appears to be the case both for the web player and TV App. This translates into buffering pauses and playback that is generally a little choppy. When this happens, GPU, CPU, and RAM are all under 50%. My system is as below:

AMD Threadripper with 16 cores
40GB RAM
AMD Radeon 570 graphics card
Windows 10

This machine runs the Plex server and files are stored on a mapped network drive on Synology NAS. I can open the exact same file in VLC player and it plays back flawlessly. When I try to watch it via Plex, I get buffering and choppy playback. I’m beyond frustrated. I’ve tried every suggestion I can find and have not resolved the issue. It seems to me that if the display adapter and display itself can render the video in its original form, Plex should default to no transcoding, but I can’t seem to make it do that.

Logic would seem to dictate that transcoding leads to resource contention, which ultimately impacts performance, but I have plenty of RAM, CPU, etc available when these issues are occurring. Likewise network statistics show plenty of bandwidth and the NAS CPU and RAM are also just fine. If the NAS were the issue, VLC should have a problem too. I’m attaching some logs. It would be great to get some feedback on something new I can try.
Plex Media Server Logs_2019-09-12_11-59-02.zip (2.9 MB)

2

I didn’t look at your log, but most 4K content is HEVC. Plex Web does not support HEVC so these will always be transcoded. Try the new Plex for Windows client. That does support 4k hevc.

For the TV, unless you have a recent Samsung or LG TV running the newer Plex apps, these also don’t support hevc or 4k.

3

Difference is night and day. The Player is much better. THANK YOU!

4

vlc is entirely different than plex.

please carefully read the entire thread @ Plex, 4k, transcoding, and you - aka the rules of 4k - a FAQ

5

He didn’t mention, but he could be using modern streaming devices at these TV’s. I have two 4K TV’s, but both have Rokus connected to them that play 4K. (one is a RokuTV and the other is an Ultra)

In that case I wouldn’t think he should expect to see transcoding.

6

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