Allow sync without transcoding

Plex Players Mobile Devices
101

Super +1. Also the sync option should be renamed since it’s misleading. I thought original was… Original, untouched. Perhaps a quality option called “virgin”?

102

Is there a planned date to fix this issue or not? Because my pass i going to be renewed soon and without fixing this issue I will not renew. VLC, DS-Video and many other Apps work, so I’m going to switch then.

1 Like
103

@Ypsus said:
Is there a planned date to fix this issue or not? Because my pass i going to be renewed soon and without fixing this issue I will not renew. VLC, DS-Video and many other Apps work, so I’m going to switch then.

Yes, but I’m afraid it could be the same as in the film “Blade Runner…”

104

To be sure, this is a silly feature request to be around so long. I just started using HEVC to encode my files, because it’s awesome on every level, and when streamed to my Android phone/tablet, it uses Direct Play just fine. But as we just learned in this thread, all HEVC files will be transcoded prior to syncing to those same devices. This is silly, wasteful, and counterintuitive.

However, lets not go around claiming that Mobile Sync is “useless”. I have sync entries for the most recent five unwatched movies, as well as the oldest unwatched 20 TV episodes, and Mobile Sync handles these perfectly. I come home in the evening and by the next morning, stuff I’ve watched is gone and new still is on the device. It’s not perfect in a couple ways (this transcode issue being one of them), but it’s a far cry from “useless”.

That being said… lets get around ASAP to Mobile Sync using the device to decide whether or not to transcode, shall we? Just like streaming? Thanks!

1 Like
105

My server is DREADFUL, as I’m cheap and it gets the job done. Luckily, everything it’s streaming to is fantastically powerful, which is why I exclusively use direct play.

My server is converting videos at a rate of 0.3x-0.8x that don’t even need to be transcoded! It’s ridiculous. Hopefully this feature will get implemented sometime in 2023, then you can finally get round to adding the “shuffle X TV show” voice command to the Alexa skill that people have been requesting for over a year.

1 Like
106

Nuts, I was hoping this would have been fixed by now. It’s been ages. Still have to keep VLC around, only for it’s ability to quickly sync content “over the wire” with my laptop (MBP, GigE, USB3 <-> lightning iPad Pro 512GB). Plex is basically useless on my mobile when traveling.

Really don’t understand why it can’t be as simple as a “sync option”: choose one of the underlying original files to just copy “as is”. Neither the server or client have to decide anything. I choose files on which device. Shiva H. Vishnu, dudes. 2018.

1 Like
107

It’s irritating that useless features such as virtual reality are being added to Plex yet essential functionality such as this goes ignored for years.

3 Likes
108

+1

I can’t believe we still have to ask for this 4 years later. I want to sync my music without having to transcode it.

1 Like
109

Wow… still haven’t fix this yet I am starting to regret a little for buying a lifetime pass… :’( :’(

1 Like
110

Ok can a Plex Employee share with us why it is not feasable ? You can be technical, I think the community doesn’t mind.

Technically, someone can create an android app that does exactly what we many of us want.
Let’s call the app PlexDirectSync !
Features:

Plex app could this directly instead of relying on 3rd-party app.

This is just an idea. I’m sure if Plex has managed to do harder feature such as DVR, they can for sure do this.

111

Mobile Sync was designed to work within Plex, not 3rd party players. The same with streaming. The ability to use a 3rd party player when streaming is a holdover from the early days of the Android app. I don’t know if this feature will always be available. It’s not in the iOS app nor in the Android TV version of the app.

With that in mind, PMS does not know the codecs supported by the target device, so to ensure a synced file would play within the Plex app, the file needs to be in a format that is compatible to all Android devices (mp4/h264/AAC). With recent updates to the app, we can now support a lot more codecs, but the sync feature hasn’t been updated to take advantage. This will require updates to the Android app, PMS, and our plex.tv backend.

We hope to update Sync in the future. Hopefully the near future.

112

@“MovieFan.Plex” said:

With that in mind, PMS does not know the codecs supported by the target device, so to ensure a synced file would play within the Plex app, the file needs to be in a format that is compatible to all Android devices (mp4/h264/AAC).

But obviously the app does eventually know what will DirectPlay and what won’t … so the issue is really making that information available earlier, somehow? I’m sure a lot of people here would be happy with hacking a config file per device to manually specify it, if necessary.

Personally I gave up and got a WD My Passport Wireless Pro, works fine. But obviously that means WDC got my $$$, not Plex…

S.

113

I can’t believe this has been a request for so long. I’m not even interested in third-party app reading the files, I’d be fine with the Plex player. But the fact that a simple 2.5GB 1080p mkv/acc file needs a 25 minutes conversion (even though I didn’t ask any) from my Xeon Windows Server to be read on a Galaxy Tab S3 is beyond me (bold = these things can handle much heavier files than that). This should only take the time of a download.

I got a LifeTime Plex Pass thinking it would be the end of MPT nightmarish transfers but in total honesty, I think I got robbed on this. This is a very poor execution of such a simple feature. And the fact that this topic was opened years ago shows that the Plex team has no intention of fixing it. Mobile synchronisation is probably the n°1 reason people are getting Plex Pass and I actually can’t believe this is not a better known issue.

Count on me to discourage every person that I bump into online that is considering a Plex Pass. It’s not much but at least, they will be warned.

1 Like
114

@“MovieFan.Plex” said:
With that in mind, PMS does not know the codecs supported by the target device, so to ensure a synced file would play within the Plex app, the file needs to be in a format that is compatible to all Android devices (mp4/h264/AAC). With recent updates to the app, we can now support a lot more codecs, but the sync feature hasn’t been updated to take advantage. This will require updates to the Android app, PMS, and our plex.tv backend.

Thank you for the answer ! It confirms what I was thinking.

For anyone who wants a TLDR for the sync feature on android:
Syncing a media with Plex implies converting it to the most generic format an Android device can play which is mp4+h264+AAC.

115

@punanitv said:
Technically, someone can create an android app that does exactly what we many of us want.
Let’s call the app PlexDirectSync !
Features:

Plex app could this directly instead of relying on 3rd-party app.

This is just an idea. I’m sure if Plex has managed to do harder feature such as DVR, they can for sure do this.

I found this app called **Yatse **that does exactly what I described : sync without conversion and reads the video using an external app (vlc or mx player)…

I’ll use this app until Plex app improves the sync feature :slight_smile:

116

It looks like emby is also able to sync without conversion if not needed. I’ll try it as well.

In the meantime, I already informed (on reddit and other boards) of this issue a few people who were on the verge to get a Plex Pass for the sync feature. I hope that it will change their mind.

Every person I can prevent to get a Plex Pass will make me feel better about subscribing to a lifetime one.

117

O ■■■■, i bought plex pass almost only for this feature, and fails miserably :’(

1 Like
118

They stopped coding and giving a ■■■■ a long time ago.

119

At this point I just manually drag and drop movies.

120

+1 sync without transcoding !

1 Like