I realize that. I only have h.265 files to avoid problems with compatibility…
That’s still not a guarantee everything will direct play. Different devices support different thing, including different audio / video codecs. Not only that, when you add subs to the mix, you get a whole different ball game, where a file that used to be direct played now is getting transcoded because of non supported subs.
Audio is not a problem. Transcoding for that is still supported when you turn videotranscoding off.
Subs are neither. My users are using srt or none at all.
The sinner is the client, that every now and then reverts to default settings, which are incompatible with the «turn video transcoding off» setting in the server.
While I love this server option, it would be a lot more userfriendly if the client itself defaulted to direct play / max quality when it detected the server wont allow transcoding, rather than try transcoding anyways, just to fail and tell the user «this server is a potato»
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That is your usage scenario. In my scenario I have a few family members that rely on subs for understanding the movie. And I can’t constantly be telling them not to select PGS subs instead of SRT. Plex doesn’t even have a setting to pick SRT instead of PGS (as an example) so we end up with the transcoding issue. SRT should at least be given preference and be placed at the top of the list.
As for the audio, you should also be aware that sometimes when audio gets transcoded video will stop being a direct play and change to transcode for whatever reason.
More server-side controls are desperately needed. I realize that ‘auto-adjust quality’ feature might solve this issue for many. But the way it should work in theory is that each Plex client/app should have global settings; but whenever it connects to a particular server, it should pull a settings profile from the particular server they are connected to, which is used as the default settings for all content streamed from said server and only said server. This is only overridden if a user manually adjusts the global and/or said server settings themselves. With the exception of the current server-side restrictions in place.
And before anyone tries to argue this is too complicated…the way it is now is 1,000,000x worse. With having to nag/walkthrough every user to change their settings on every device they use, god forbid the settings get reset which happens in browsers all the time, or they sign in on a new device months/years later etc. I as a server owner, I know what my hardware and internet connection can handle better than my users. Hell I have a better understanding of my own users hardware and networks than most of them do. And this is the case for 99% of people who run plex servers. Anyone experiencing problems with my server-side defaults will be the exception to the rule and I will gladly deal with that because the way it is now, I not only have do this with every user on my server, but with every device they have. It’s madness.
And I’m not even arguing for more granular control like other are, where they not only want what I mentioned above but want to it be applied on a user by user or a device by device basis (the latter some already do with having to clumsily edit quality profiles in the text files of the plex install). Let’s just start with the basics here. But if the Plex server/client ecosystem was set up as I mentioned above from from a tech side, it would build the foundation to allow for that type of control in the future, or even something more elegant like different server-side quality settings device ‘types’ like mobile devices, Smart TVs etc. I’m not a developer but I am a network/server professional, not just a hobbyist. So I know this type of server/client control is possible and the potential it has for Plex.
Some unnamed competitors already have these features and once they reach a level of polish that Plex has, it’s going to be a tough sell for me to stay on the platform. Especially combined with the Plex Movies, Tidal and News bloat that I won’t elaborate on here. Please, Plex team. You guys have created an incredibly capable product considering what it does and how it all works. You already addressed part of this issue when you added server-side settings to limit max # of transcodes, upload speed, and bitrate/quality. Just take it a step further!
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That’s absolutely an issue but could be resolved if plex server/client ecosystem was setup to work the following way. Each app/client device would have their own global defaults, but when a they connect to a particular server they pull a default settings profile from said server, which is used only when content is played from said server. This can be overridden if the user manually changes their global or server defaults. And before anyone argues this is too confusing. No, anytime a user has to go into the settings to adjust quality/bandwidth settings, it’s already confusing and right now server admins not only have to go through this with every user, but with every device they have, god forbid the settings get reset to default which happens in browsers all the time…
I would even be happy with the default being “decide automatically” with a more robust set of information being used to determine the setting; at least then, a majority of devices would revert to direct play, only transcoding if absolutely necessary due to bandwidth restrictions or file type-compatibility issues. Hell, doesn’t an “automatic” setting seem way better for the default than 720p 4mbps? That might have been a good default 5 years ago, but not now.
one manager in plex was fixated on 720p for some reason a decade ago and it became an internal plex joke now that no one talks about otherwise their job is in jeopardy. The manager is still there and this won’t be fixed until this manager resigns.
This won’t be changed no matter how much you cry about. Everyone tells me plex has horrible quality compared to Netflix and any other streaming service because of this defaulted issue.
Like someone mentioned, at least improve the “auto” method. If the app detects a change in the network (and it’s a “new” network) then it runs another test to get the best settings.
Give it a snazzy screen saying “network change detected, would you like to optmise your plex experience?” and let algorithms do the magic. Most people can handle maximum/original quality, but plex decides that nah, 720p be good!!
I just have to set to original quality not everytime i open plex, but everytime i open a movie/tv
It so fun using Plex. This doesnt make me want to kill myself at all
This whole thing is so bizarre. Read every darn post here, and in the numerous other threads on this subject.
There is literally nothing I can add lol. Dozens of folks here and elsewhere have made compelling arguments. And as an app developer myself, none of the reasons for this setting I’ve seen put forth really make much sense in my opinion.
So I will keep it short. Having low default quality settings, without a global server side option, creates headaches for me as a server admin. My non-tech saavy users think Plex is crap, because it downgrades my videos to low quality despite an abundance of hardware power and network bandwidth. You think all the free content added to Plex is going to entice them to get a plex pass, when they can’t even get their own movies to display in the quality they expect?
Like the users here and elsewhere - I’d like to see a global server side option that clients will default to. If a user has problems - manually turning quality DOWN is logical and most users will get it. But the reverse (having an abundance of resources and needing to request the app uses them on every client) is bizarre.
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This might not be exactly what everyone is looking for but this script I created will at least default all clients connected to your server to play at auto quality settings
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I tried checking this out but there are literally no details and I’m hesitant to install something that has literally two lines of explanation. How can it possibly tell a remote device across the country what setting to use? How could it possibly connect to a user’s Roku or Samsung TV and change a locally-set app setting? I need more information, and I don’t have time to parse through all the code.
If anybody has any experience with this and can leave any notes, I suppose that would be helpful.
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Just updated the readme file. I forgot to go back and update that. Basically what this does is sets a hidden flag that whenever a client connects to your server they will be given an Auto Quality stream that way if they never updated their settings they will be getting higher quality video than the default 720p obviously as long as your upload speed can deliver it. Let me know if you have any other questions.
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That will make all streams transcodes?
Auto does not support direct play, IIRC?
No Auto will transcode this is not really a fix for people that need direct play but rather an increased quality for their clients. (debunked?) I will say though with this flag set to true I was getting direct play when bandwidth was available.
I just got confirmation from someone on Reddit I am working with for testing and they said all the clients they tested so far are also seeing direct play regardless of the set quality with this flag set. So I have a feeling it should do direct play and Auto if there is not enough bandwidth.
Edit: Got confirmation from a second user Direct play does work with this flag on along with Auto if there is limited bandwidth. So this script should default to Max if bandwidth is available otherwise to Auto.
My experience with the forceAutoAdjustQuality setting, years ago, was that it was inconsistent.
Other notes here:
GitHub - zmike808/BookOfBlackMagic: A compilation of misc. scripts I use for my Plex setup.
I remember that it allowed some clients to adjust up to a higher quality/bandwidth than was configured client-side, but it still started playback by transcoding at the client’s configured rate. It didn’t help anything decide to Direct Play/Stream.
I had the impression that it was equivalent to setting Auto adjust quality on clients that support it.
I suspected that by enabling it, I wouldn’t be able to force a lower quality setting when I did want to, such as when on mobile.
I’m curious if it’s working differently for others today. I never saw it help with Direct Play/Stream. It seemed janky before, and I assumed that’s why it wasn’t documented.
Edit: It also disabled the Enhanced Video Player on some clients (ATV) which hurt subtitle support.
Not sure if this was mentioned but maybe these quality settings could be integrated into the Plex account settings page under “Audio & Subtitle Settings” so if it is setup there it would apply to any Plex client or server that users has access to.
I just got some more feedback from users testing and multiple users are reporting that they get both Auto and direct playback with my script.
