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Okay so here is the short version of my issue. No matter where i use plex i end up getting a converted video that has lower quality. Now this is good in some cases but not when all devices are in the same house as the server. So here’s the kicker. Even when i play directly from the server and view on the server this still happens. There is no option for playing the files as is. Now i’m a bit of a quality perfectionist, so i want to be able to get the same quality and bitrate on all my devices as the original file. However i can not find a way to make plex do this. No matter what i do i get quality loss that is more than just noticable. If i watch a movie on my 4k tv playing a file that is as compatible as possible i barely get 70% of the bitrate that is in the original file. Same on tablet, phone, desktop and directly on the server. So i have a big issue here. Everything i play is converted to lower quality and using quite a lot of resources. I have checked that everything is the correct file type working with codecs avilable on all devices. Still after adding everything and making a great system for storage of files that are perfect for plex i still get this issue. And i have been trying for many months to go through all the posts i can on this site and many others. I have tried all the settings possible but still end up having issues with quality. And as an added bonus there is several episodes in series where i could not find higher quality than 1080/720 won’t even play. But playing a movie in 4k is not a problem. Same file type with the same everything as all other files. This is really starting to make me lose faith in plex and is going to force me to start looking for other alternatives if a fix is not implemented. I have to admit that the potential of plex is a lot higher than it is showing. Plex seems to be more and more outdated or just stuck in the past for some reason. I have found similar issues going back almost 10 years that still has not been fixed even after huge demand for it. Please do something about it or atleast make a guide/tutorial for fixes to this or similar issues to this. It is a problem i should not have. I might as well spend my money on all other streaming services and get better quality and user friendly functions. All help is appreciated and a fix for this would be better.
Are you using any VPNs or DNS-based filters (pi-hole etc)?
activate debug logging on the server
shut down the server
wait a few seconds
start the server
play a video on an affected clients for ~1 minute
wait a few seconds
fetch server logs and drag them into the message composer of this forum
No i do not use VPN or DNS based filters internally. I did some fooling around and tried a few file types so not sure if the log helps at the moment. But i did notice somthing i find very disturbing considering that plex is supposed to be a streaming service. How in the popes toilet can the transcoding use 90 % of a I9 9900k 16 core cpu at 5ghz? Also how is it possible that out of the file types i try all of them need some sort of transcoding? Even if it is just the sound it is still transcoding. How does plex have so few codecs that work properly that VLC media player seems to be a better alternative to stream inside a home? What is the thought process behind a streaming service for mostly home use. I think i am going to start looking over my options again considering 90% cpu usage on a 855mb file. And yes i still get quality loss either way unless i use another software to play it in. Hope the logs are usefull as they just annoyed me. Plex Media Server Logs_2021-08-16_16-31-05.zip (5.3 MB)
Not surprising, if the source file is e.g. HEVC encoded, and maybe even has HDR data in it. If you then also activate image-based subtitles your server CPU has a lot of work on its plate.
Unless you use a Plex client which can stomach the file unchanged.
The Plex web client isn’t one of these.
Apparently the other apps arent up to it either. So i can either spend a lot of time converting my files to whatever gives the best quality and still get quality loss while watching on my tv, tablet or pc. And why is there no direct play even straight from the server? There must be a solution for this issue with streaming on a local network.
I looked at your logs and only found attempts to stream on the Web Player (Firefox). Like OttoKerner said, the Web Player has a very limited set of video/audio it can direct play without transcoding. What other Apps are you using? You would need to post the logs after playing something on those apps for us to help you.
Also, you can greatly reduce the CPU usage for transcodes if you enable HW Transcoding. This is a Plex Pass feature only though, so if you haven’t purchased a Pass, then you are stuck with SW Transcoding.
As i mentioned i did some fooling around. I forgot that the log probably got wiped after a power loss in the area. Thats on me. I did play video on all devices prior to this. I only use the plex apps for android and smart tv. And as it happens i can actually monitor my computers resource use as long as my phone is connected to the same network. Still have same issues and they are not going away it seems.
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