Apple TV alternatives:
Infuse, MrMC, Kodi, they all have Plex integration.
I use Kodi on my Apple TV, I just re-sign it every 7 days,.
If you disable transcoder, then anyone who tries to play something that originally would be transcoded would just get an error: client cannot play file.
Is that what youāre asking for?
yes, that is what totally disabling the transcoder means.
if the client cannot direct play, then that user is SOL
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If youāre on windows, canāt you just delete / rename the executable to disable the transcoder?
donāt know. maybe. not currently using a windows plex server.
that said, I thought that plex downloaded the transcoder on demand if not already installed.
anyway, while I support this request, it is not something I would use unless I could disable only 4k transcoding.
Iāve been playing around with Plex (and Emby) as a nice replacement for my MediaPortal + Synology setup Iām currently running. MediaPortal does the TV recording/playback and uses a plugin to play movies from my NAS. But, this required a windows server and a HTPC for each TV (there are current 4).
Over the last 4-5 months Iāve replaced my HTPC in my cinema room with an NVidia Shield TV, which has been great. Iāve been using Kodi/SPMC to play my movies.
I figured Iād try out Plex with the DVR functionality, to make use of the HDHomeRun Iām also trying out. I really like the UI it gives me, and the fact that everything is in one app, which is what Iād need to replace the MediaPortal experience for other family members.
But, the fact that I canāt configure a client to never ask for transcoding is a deal breaker for me. The nvidia shield tv doesnāt need transcoding, ever. Iāve noticed the odd bit during movie viewing using Plex where itāll drop a few frames. Iām guessing this is because itās transcoding.
Iāll be cancelling the Plex Pass I signed up for based on this thread and the ānever gonna happenā statement.
I appreciate Iām a niche within a niche. But, I thought it worth adding to the conversation.
Iāll be trying out some plugin in Kodi to get the TV integration Iām after.
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Not true. The Shield is very capable, but it doesnāt support everything. There is a setting that will allow you to turn on the information overlay. This will provide information on the screen during playback to explain why something is transcoding.
okay okay, my nvidia shield tv doesnāt need transcoding, ever!
I have a synology DS1817+ which can (just about) handle 1 1080p transcoding, and not much else. Iāve been using a HTPC until recently, when I switched to a shield tv, both of which were accessing SMB file shares directly and playing my media files that way, no server software was involved.
So, all my files are playable in their raw form.
As an aside, I have other issues with Plex that are preventing me from adopting it. Namely, the inability for local users to schedule TV recordings in the live tv plugin. Although I could get around that by using my main user everywhere, but that opens up other potential issues.
I like plex for the meta data etc, but the transcoding options is what holds me back from purchasingā¦ Now if you could have even more transcoding options including disabling it, I would payā¦ Iām fine with users getting an error if they try to trancode, even if their hw canāt direct play, I donāt want them to hog my cpuā¦
I have moved to plex for kodiconnect(pkc), and renamed the transcoder. Exe on my server, and LOVE IT!
Still not paying until more options for transcoding is nativily done.
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I donāt think āDisable Plex Transcoder Totallyā is actually what the user is requesting.
My understanding is they want the option in PMS to disable transcoding for clients that have Direct Stream/Direct Play capability (bandwith permitting)
But isnāt this currently the case. Plex will always try to direct play first but will transcode if it can not.
Also, to the advanced users/devās. Does plex know to transcode if bandwidth is limited? I mean, can plex even make that determination and therefor start transcoding?
I donāt think thatās correct, as new Plex clients (Apple TV for example) and newly created Plex accounts do not default internet streaming to maximum quality, they default to 2Mbit 720p IIRC. This results in the server transcoding the video even if the client is capable of direct play/stream.
I think the user is requesting that the server can override the client-requested quality if their bandwith allows and if their device supports direct play/stream.
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Yes and this can be a good thing or a very bad thing. In this case when you want the clients to direct play and they could have but are limited by this setting it makes the server transcode.
Iāve long thought this type of thing should be server configurable since it DIRECTLY affects the server. The lack of control can be a killer.
There is no reason why the clients couldnāt be set to AUTO and then IF the admin wanted to force lower quality on the clients he could put a bandwidth limit on the account when REMOTE. This would require much less configuration on the client side. This is the way a competitor does it and it works very well. Of course that other software also allows you to turn off transcoding for a user as well to force them to use direct play. Best of both worlds.
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Well thatās just silly. Why would plex do that.
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That is only the default setting for a new login. Since we donāt know what type of connection a user may have, we set a medium level for the bitrate in case a user has a metered or slow connection. You can change this setting to maximum at any time.
That defeats the point of a client side requested bitrate.
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The problem MovieFan.Plex for a lot of admins is that all the new defaults cause the server to have to transcode when the file could have been direct played.
Anyone who optimized files off line or used the Optimize feature to create low bitrate 1080p versions of files now canāt use them. Instead we now have to do support of all new clients right off the bat to get a user to configure the client correctly for our system so it wonāt transcode. This just creates yet more headaches for admins.
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I think itās less about defeating the point and more about providing users with options for control over their server.
Burning subtitles defeats the point of client side subtitle options too.
AFAIK, clients have always defaulted to something other than maximum/original.
I get what you are cayars are saying, but you also need to look at it from the user stand point. What if a user installs the mobile app and decides to start playing a 4k video you have. If the client was set to maximum/original, they could go through 20-30GB of data without knowing and end up with a huge bill. Or they use up their data, then the connection gets throttled to some good awful 2G speed and they get buffering for the rest of the movie, and again they wouldnāt know why.
This was something I liked about the competition. The clients default to āAutoā and will use original if they have the bandwidth to use it on non-mobile devices. On Mobile they will treat WIFI like a normal bandwidth while on cell network in restricted āautoā mode.
From a server admin standpoint if someone has switched the resolution/bitrate down and is causing un-needed transcoding on the server I can go in and flip a switch to deny them access to the transcoder (like this thread is about). Then the user has no choice but to play back in original mode or not play it back. On the other hand if the admin has limited upload bandwidth and GPU and DOES WANT the transcoder to compress things down before sending then you just set a MAX BITRATE per user on the server. Then the āautoā on the client will use the best bitrate it can while the server limits what it can do.
For me the admin it makes things very simple and I donāt have to do support every time a user installs a new client or changes something as I can more or less control what they can and canāt do.
But I do agree that mobile devices that can do either WIFI or cell network need to function at least two ways.
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How about people who are on metered ISPs, not just cellular. Not every country has unlimited usage for home internet.
