Would be nice to have a feature to get rid of unwanted streams from the video, without touching the original video stream.
TVs often have a limit on the number of streams they can handle, and the content I have usually contains plenty of subtitle streams I’ll never need, but they hurt the playback, and even make it impossible sometimes.
Having a Remux option or a section in the Optimize popup that’d let me remove unwanted streams, preserving the video quality, would be a very appreciated feature.
Why not simply use an existing app like MKVToolNix for that? There’s similar ones for other containers if you don’t want to remux the files to a matroska container.
The only real reason is the convenience. In my case, the server is running on a NAS (QNAP), and the content is uploaded from many sources, so doing that within Plex would be the most convenient place. And the fastest, too, because I don’t have to download/upload the content.
UPD. This could be an extension to the existing Optimize feature as well. Basically letting to choose the quality, including the option to keep the original, and choose which audio/subtitle streams to keep. I believe letting people doing so will resolve plenty of playback issues reported on this forum.
In that case don’t forget to vote for your suggestion.
Though, given Plex keep emphasizing they’re not manipulating the original media you’re adding to your server, I’m not sure there’s much of a chance this will happen.
Plex supports having multiple source files for the same movie/episode. So, storing the “optimized” version as a copy and just letting me select which version to play might be an option. Same when deleting the content, Plex already gives an option to delete, and if more than one version of a movie exists, it asks which one to delete. So a user can optimize and then choose which version to keep. Such an option would significantly lower the barrier, letting less experienced people maintain the server and reducing the hassle, providing a reliable workaround to those struggling with unsupported media, too many streams, too slow network, etc.
Some Plex Smart TV apps have a setting to disable Direct Play (LG, Samsung, maybe others, not Android TV). This forces Plex Media Server to Direct Stream (aka remux) the content before streaming to the client. Plex will send only the selected audio/video/subtitle tracks to the client.
However, direct streaming can have unintended consequences. With some TVs (LG, maybe others), enabling subtitles when direct streaming forces a video transcode. The transcode is necessary to keep subtitles & audio in sync and due to a streaming protocol limitation (many threads in the lg-webos section about this).
As @tom80H mentions, you are much better served by curating the media before adding it to your libraries.
If using the “aar suite” of tools, I believe Tdaar can remove embedded subtitle and audio tracks. It can be used when initially acquiring media or with existing media files.
If manually ripping discs, use MakeMKV & MKVToolNix to remove any undesired audio/subtitle tracks before adding the media to the server.
The thing is, your suggested steps, even in this simple form, are already complex, require third-party tools, and add plenty of hassle. Users need to download the content to local computers, then reupload it to Plex. This makes owning a home Plex server a full-time job. I am not saying it is impossible to accomplish with more tools, but suggesting an improvement to the Plex server that will make it work for most users.
Regarding Direct Streams, I wish they worked as intended, then I would have never created this request But they don’t, and often bring other issues. Just a few days ago, the movie simply stopped playing once I enabled subtitles (buffering every few seconds), the video was streamed, audio was transcoded. Only this single case highlights multiple issues:
My TV supports EAC3, but Plex decided to transcode.
Transcoding audio causes the video to be streamed.
Streamed video made it fail once I enabled subtitles.
The video file has 27 subtitles and 11 audio streams, but I literally only need one of each kind. I don’t know why Plex decided to transcode, might be because of the number of streams or because of whether the stream was primary or not. I’ve heard different rumors. But once I enabled force direct play, the TV easily handled EAC3, video, and subtitles.
From my experience using Plex over the last 5 or 6 years, most of these problems could be narrowed down to:
The number of streams.
The data format.
If I could just open Plex, and without even reaching out to my NAS, which I don’t always have access to remotely, and remux/transcode as I wish, creating alternative versions, choosing the audios/subtitles I want to keep, perhaps choosing a different video quality or keeping the original, and remux/transcode – that would be a killer feature.
But they don’t, and often bring other issues. Just a few days ago, the movie simply stopped playing once I enabled subtitles (buffering every few seconds), the video was streamed, audio was transcoded. Only this single case highlights multiple issues: