I can’t find anything on here about caching the start of video and audio files but wouldn’t be surprised if it has come up before. I run my various audio and video libraries from several NAS spinning drives and due to the cost of power, I have these set to spin down when not in use. I also use a local SSD and place all my latest content onto it for quick access before “archiving” it to a NAS once watched. Obviously when accessing content from the SSD access is immediate and content plays pretty much straight away whereas if someone plays it from the NAS it can take a while before the content is available to stream.
Now, in Plexamp there is the facility to cache a set amount of content - my question is could this be expanded for use in Plex itself for video and audio files using a local SSD as a partial file cache?
I expect one or two minutes of the content of each file copied to the SSD would be enough and I understand it could require a substantial size SSD depending on the amount of content but this could be managed by enabling the facility to select caching by library - the same file could be requested from the NAS at the same time and then the streams merged to play-in the NAS content seamlessly for the rest of the video/audio track. With SDD storage becoming cheaper all the time (but not cheap enough to store a decent-sized content collection on) could this be a feature Plex would provide for users?
Perhaps as it is already available in Plexamp it could be modified and added into Plex itself?
Thinking more about this it may be more difficult than I first assumed… Plexamp caches files to play next in a playlist whereas what I propose is different in that ideally Plex would cache the start of all files on a local SSD… could this be possible as a future feature? Would be interested in what other users think.
It is not sensible. You are not taking into account that playback parameters can be different, depending on which device type is used for playback, which type of audio stream and/or subtitles is selected by the user, which amount of bandwidth is available between server and client etc. pp.
If you wanted to cover all of the possible varieties, you’d be looking at a whole NAS full of video snippets to hold that cache.
Plex is not a simple file player. It can do that, but only if the player is compatible with the soruce file and there is sufficient bandwith available.
In every other situation, Plex will employ its transcoder to change the properties of the media file before it is sent to the client.
Thank you however I am not suggesting changing the way Plex streams content to clients I am proposing a way to offset the delay in the source content being presented to the Plex media server to process and stream to clients when originating from a NAS drive in standby.
There is usually one video source file that is presented to PMS for processing (transcoding etc.) if required before streaming together with some tiny subtitle files if present - the advantage of the feature I suggest is the video file would start to play sooner on the client without the added delay as the NAS where the source files are located spins up because it would begin streaming from an SSD cache - I would not expect it to change the way Plex streams content.
Transcoding is performed on the fly after the original files(s) is(are) received and is part of the streaming process therefore does not appear relevant to my suggestion.
Thank you tom80H,
I thought I couldn’t be the only one to have thought of something like this before - I will add my vote to the thread (although it was almost five years ago it was posted).
(although it was almost five years ago it was posted).