For as long as I can remember Plex native clients default to the 2mbps in the browser. This is, in my opinion, very low for one and two with the addition of the “disable transcoding” option in plex server throws in an issue where it will simply fail. I think that the plex app should handle a situation like this. For example, I have a 1080p 8mpbs content, and say the client requests the default 2mbps 720p version. If I have transcoding disabled, the clients should prompt the user that the server cannot transcode this and offer to play back in the native format (in my case its almost always a direct stream/play over a transcode)
Users do not understand that they need to up this and it causes a lot of totally unnecessary transcoding which wastes energy and produces heat.
What I do see around the forum is a large number of users whose files are only 1.5 -> 2 Mbps. (I have my opinion about such low bitrate material but will keep to myself)
Reasons they have the defaults as they are:
Most of the users only need 2 Mbps by default
Nobody’s asked for a higher default
There is no way of knowing your upload speed without testing it .
True but users may also not understand the implications of upping the quality settings. Not all users have an unlimited data plan and 1 movie could easily blow past any limits they have and result in either a huge usage bill or getting throttled.
It really would be best to educate users to using Plex.
That makes sense for iOS devices, but makes less sense for tvOS and other home devices that do not rely on a cellular data connection. We have the cellular data option already, so I think we should up the remote streaming option and enable the cellular one where it makes sense and limit it to 2mbps.
Not to mention upload speeds from the server. Until recently, 700kbps was the upload I had available. We do periodically review things like the default settings for quality, so it may not always be how it is today.
We can’t always assume the end user knows what that will do. Some of my family members certainly wouldn’t. Having a lower default quality (even though it results in transcoding) that allows user to watch without buffering is a better experience than it just buffering or not playing if they select too high a quality
We’d love to improve how this works, but we don’t have anything to share at the moment. None of those ideas mentioned are without flaws, and I like the speed test idea myself (speaking for me, not Plex here), but that’s not something super quick to do.
With the addition of the “Disable transcoding” that is currently with Plex Pass members, turning this on doesn’t work well with these settings. Perhaps, until the better solution is created, we prompt the user to play back and what the server can without transcoding? Could just throw up a “Unable to play back at your selected quality, would you like to play back at 1080p (8mps)”? Or something like that. That way they’d be aware of the higher usage and consent to it
Yeah I agree- I think auto makes the most sense. Most services do automatically handle this, with the option for the client to override if need be. Is there an argument against that? I definitely get leaving “cellular” alone but wifi connections should be auto IMO.
