Thanks for the education, guys. This was really helpful. As a side note I was using CouchPotato and Sonarr for a lot of my downloads and in those platforms there was always naming conventions to use. So, I’m a little familiar already with what you both have recommended. Now it all makes sense. Thanks again for all the help.
I have one more item to bounce off you all if you don’t mind. And it has to do with the same file that we have been discussing. When I try to play the .mp4 I now get a message that states “Your connection to the server is not fast enough to stream this video. Check your network or try a lower quality.”. Not sure why that is. This is a 720P show and I’m able to use PlayOn to play the video on my Roku without issue. What I did was change the quality of the video under settings to not show original quality and to convert the file to what works. After that it works fine. I’m just wondering why I’m getting that message to begin with.
@rwx said:
What I did was change the quality of the video under settings to not show original quality
Not sure what you did here.
Within Plex there is no way to change the quality of a file, except ‘Optimizing’
and to convert the file to what works. After that it works fine. I’m just wondering why I’m getting that message to begin with.
Without knowing the parameters of the file it is impossible to tell.
Post the Plex XML info of the original file
and tell us more about your server setup.
Particularly if you are using WiFi for the server and/or clients or other “inferior” networking technology like PowerLAN etc.
When the option comes up to click Play there are two other options next to it. I clicked onto the Gear and that’s where I was able to tweak the video quality setting from original to auto adjust. I’m using the Plex app on my ATV4K.
My “server” set up (PC) is hooked up to my router via ethernet. Windows 10. I have an external drive hooked up to my PC that contains all my video files. It’s about as basic as it gets.
If the client can directly play a video… always use original quality! If the player requires transcoding you and your server doesn’t have the power you can try to reduce the quality/bit rate this way.
Basically the quality settings are primarily aiming at any kind of remote / mobile playback when you’re dealing with actual bandwidth constraints (my 2ct)
@rwx said:
When the option comes up to click Play there are two other options next to it. I clicked onto the Gear and that’s where I was able to tweak the video quality setting from original to auto adjust. I’m using the Plex app on my ATV4K.
Yes, by doing this you have instructed your Plex server to transcode the file and thus reduce its bitrate.
Apparently the file had a big “spike” in the bitrate, which was too much for the data connection between your ATV and the server. The ATV is wireless, right?
By activating transcoding, you are preventing these spikes (but unfortunately, transcoding leads always to a degradation in quality and produces significant load on the server.)
My “server” set up (PC) is hooked up to my router via ethernet. Windows 10. I have an external drive hooked up to my PC that contains all my video files. It’s about as basic as it gets.
That should be OK then.
Some good information, gentlemen. Thank you.
Otto, yes my ATV is wireless. I definitely don’t want any degradation in video quality imagery. I’m somewhat of a video snob when it comes to those type of things.
It’s hard to pin this down with respect to any sort of spike in bitrate. Reason being is that this particular file works fine if I use my Roku and the PlayOn app. But, use the ATV and Plex and I get an error.
