Server Version#: 1.24.4.5081
Player Version#: 4.68.0
I tried watching a show through Plex after disabling transcoding for the 1st time on this server to allow the file to be “direct played” or “direct streamed”.
It worked for a few minutes and streamed just fine and the CPU didn’t spike like it would when transcoding. I paused the show to go do something else for a few minutes. When I came back I unpaused it and I immediately got the "This server is not powerful enough to convert video”.
The server is pretty low-powered but I feel like it should be able to handle direct play or direct stream as when I tried it on a previous occasion, it actually worked to transcode the same show, only at a very low bitrate so it seemed to me like it should handle direct play.
Should I be getting this error, and apart from re-enabling transcoding for video streams, how can I deal with it?
I am having similar issues… Basic tiny videos give this error but big and superquality decodes works just fine. I guess some new sertificate is causing issues with browsers or something. My server has juice enough to transcode multiple 4k videos without issues but … something has changed. This issue occurs with directplay or transcodes or anything i do Mysteriousness…
From log i saw CERT: incomplete TLS handshake from 192.168.1.3:64080: sslv3 alert certificate expired with OpenPHT
Some files will give this error if you disable video transcoding and there’s a part of the video that is not compatable with the Plex client you are using. Get a device that supports more video formats out of the box… or turn video transcoding back on.
OR you can send the file through a program called Handbrake and then try to play it again and see if the error goes away.
hah not really sure what happened but now i am able to watch all videos and also they work fine on openPHT after i upgraded cacert.pem file XD IT is so mysteroius
the only way to find out why something needs to transcode is either turn the setting back on and see what the reason is given when it transcodes in playback info of whatever app you are using or look at the logs when playback starts to see the request.
auto quality adjust may be enabled in client which start trying transcode because it cannot switch back and forth
I made some progress with understanding what is causing the error.
When I enable subtitles on the video file, it now is saying “an unexpected error occurred”.
I’m using a LG TV for playback which I should have mentioned. The video works fine now (without transcoding as the server I’m using is similar to a Pi so it’s not really fast). The problem is when I try to enable subs as I mentioned.
I’ve figured out why subs caused crashing, it’s because it was defaulting to burning subs. When you switch it to “Only images” it works fine. Plex has a bunch of odd defaults it seems.
Okay, now I have another problem. The Plex server is serving videos to my LG TV normally and it works fine.
But now I just noticed it won’t serve videos to my Plex Web (in Microsoft Edge). It’s giving me the same annoying error about the server not being powerful enough. Transcoding on the server is still disabled (in other words, I have specifically told it to not transcode), so what option in Plex Web is trying to force transcoding?
Is there a way to return Plex Web to default options?
Also, the reason I am trying this specific file on Plex Web is because the subtitles were in a format (PGS) that doesn’t work with my LG TV. I don’t know if this format causes a problem with Plex Web but it doesn’t tell me anything like that.
Burning subs requires video transcoding and if you have it turned off then you won’t be burning subs.
In the Plex web app go to ‘PLEX WEB - Player’ and from there you can control your subtitles. Make sure settings sync is turned on under ‘PLEX WEB - General’.
I think one of these video files I’m playing just isn’t compatible with Plex Web which is weird because the LG TV handled both fine. I tried both of these in Plex Web with subs turned off just to make sure the subs weren’t the problem. The one that is working in Plex Web now with subs turned off was also working on the LG TV with subs turned on so I don’t get why it won’t work with subs on in Plex Web. Maybe Plex Web is just not that good.
The one that is being difficult on both the TV and Web was originally encoded at 1918x1080p which is non-standard and I don’t know if that’s why its crashing but it could be.
Edit:
Yeah from what I can tell, the file that is refusing to work in Plex Web has weird subtitles that are causing it to not work (the PGS subtitle, and it won’t allow me to turn them off in Web like it does with the other file with ASS subs). Just to clarify some videos + subs are working just fine on the LG TV in Plex, it’s just when I play those same files in Plex Web that there’s an issue with it somehow. Attaching latest logs for anyone interested in figuring out what’s wrong with this setup. Plex Media Server Databases_2021-11-01_20-09-41.zip (59.3 KB) Plex Media Server Logs_2021-11-01_20-09-39.zip (255.5 KB)
If you can switch to .srt subtitles it will probably work without transcoding. Plex web plays just fine for me with SRT OpenSubtitles. You can search and select them right in the details page for each piece of media.
The problem is, that one troublesome file doesn’t even let me choose different subtitles in the details page. I think they’re embedded/burned-in by the original encoder. I could go looking for alternate subs but I think it will be tough as this is a very niche show. Anyway I’ve learnt a lot today.
My problem is the anime I watch tend to be encoded in a very non-standard way.
Actually PGS subs are very common for content that was ripped directly from a Blu-ray disc. Plex has a built in subtitle search system, you might try looking for SRT alternatives.
Mysteriousness…