Add me to the list of people who want defaults set to max/original. I can limit stream bandwidth server side.
The proxy hack is a start, but I want users and myself to be able to lower quality settings if somewhere with slow internet.
Just change the default remote quality to max Plex. It’s simple. Get it done!
Obviously Plex is refusing to outright support this request at this point. It’s a bit ridiculous IMO.
I really wish this existed.
An alternative option is to make a ‘How to change your video resolution’ video that is 720p 2mbps and save it, named correctly alongside every movie, so when the user tries to play a movie it just plays them the ‘how to’ video until they go in and change their client setting
Come on Plex staff, just make a default to stream original quality. One little checkbox, no muss no fuss. Only allow transcode if everything else fails. … 2 YEARS LATER…
lmao its been 2 years now, come on man
It’s not his fault. You miss understood him. He meant light-year:
Obligatory “lightyear is a unit of distance” 
It is getting ridiculous though. For instance, switching users in the app resets those settings.
I’d file a separate issue, but it would just get ignored and closed automatically ¯_(ツ)_/¯
And parsecs are a unit of time? fake news
I’ve never been able to reproduce the config loss issue. But it sure does happen when I’m not trying to make it happen.
I guess this issue wont be taken seriously unless it hits 1k votes?? only then will something be done… one can only hope
1001 I think you meant to say
And to think, these “totally valid” concerns around the current default were once referred to as “low-hanging fruit.” 
YES!!! There’s an argument to be made about the policy of having the defaults set low, but these two issues are unarguably bugs. In both cases the result is never desirable. Matching the default setting across all platforms has to be easy for Plex, and would give the option of using multiple sources to avoid transcoding. It’s a combination of policies that handcuffs us.
Is a video transcoded on-the-fly from 16mbps to 4mbps going to look much better than a more slowly transcoded 2mbps copy that was already in the library? Seems like an eternal bug.
Making it so all client platforms have the same default setting would be the least I would think they could offer.
Flash back to when nobody could find the ‘Remote Streaming Limit’ setting:
Complaining some more 3 years ago:
still waiting 2 years later
I’ve got 5 streams going atm that are being transcoded and costing needless resources. I know these users and they of course don’t need to be transcoding, they have gigabit connections, with no cap on download limits, but let me stop everything I’m doing again and interrupt their evening to nag them since Plex lost that configuration we previously set again. I can’t imagine the total, combined wasted resources across all Plex servers and the wasted time of everyone teaching others repeatedly about some ridiculous Plex default setting that they have to change on every single new device and to watch like a hawk all the time since it just periodically gets wiped or ignored from existing devices somehow. Every time I notice it, it’s just so tedious to get it resolved. It’s absurd that for years now, we get to be continually reminded of this issue and spend precious time.
I hate that I come back to this thread literally years later and there still isn’t any reasonable sign of progress on this. This is such a shame.
I can just imagine they’re trying to come up with some complicated, over-engineered “solution” to this. Some things are just simple, and they’re WAY over thinking things on this clearly.
@elan At what point do you guys think it’s time for Plan B? 
someone is really not thinking straight. download speed is never the issue but rather the upload speed. thus server can decide what is the default speed should be. 720p is a joke.
Agreed, please let us set our expected remote client download speed on the server side. Then clients which use our services can target maximum and fall down lower if needed.
There must be a compromise. On the first run of any client there could be a dialog asking, even if the default stays the same. I posted this idea in 2019:
How about this idea? When a server owner kills a stream from Plex Web “server dashboard,” just add a radio-switch option to that dialog.
When you select the second option, you now get a dialog where you select the speed you would like them to set and a box for an optional message. User would then get the following message:
““charliemurphy” stopped your playback and asked that you adjust your Plex settings. You may be causing unneeded server congestion. 20Mbps remote quality was requested.”
Now the client would be taken directly to the remote quality setting with one click. Instead of just “OK” as it is now, they would have a second selection of, “Go to setting.”
That’s not necessarily true. I have friends who stream from the STB via Wi-Fi. Some don’t have great Wi-Fi setups - others just needed to switch the WAN download speed in Plex.
So while this is true, it’s not absolute.
