DLNA - Transcoding doesn't work

Plex Media Server NAS & Devices
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Server Version#: Version 1.14.1.5488
Player Version#: DLNA Client Toshiba LCD TV L-7363

Hi, i’m currently trying to get a NAS running that should act, among other tasks, as DLNA server for a DTV. Content was migrated from a Synology NAS. OS of new system was first FreeNAS, now OpenMediaVault (current 4.x).

My problem: my primary DLNA client (aforementioned Toshiba TV) is very pick about content types. I’ve got it running first with Emby as DLNA server and a custom transcoding profile (after lots of trial and error about transcoding settings). Now i try to get it work with Plex, since Plex seems to offer a better Web GUI and metadata management.

I’ve managed to provide a user dlna profile, and plex logs tell that dlna server uses that profile on requests from my TV dlna client:

Jan 27, 2019 22:30:12.581 [0x7f8f8dbff700] INFO - Plex DLNA Server v1.14.1.5488-cc260c476 - ubuntu PC x86_64 - build: linux-ubuntu-x86_64 - GMT 01:00
Jan 27, 2019 22:30:12.582 [0x7f8f8dbff700] INFO - Linux version: 4.19.0-0.bpo.1-amd64 (#1 SMP Debian 4.19.12-1~bpo9+1 (2018-12-30)), language: de-DE
Jan 27, 2019 22:30:12.582 [0x7f8f8dbff700] INFO - Processor Intel(R) Pentium(R) CPU J4205 @ 1.50GHz
Jan 27, 2019 22:30:12.584 [0x7f8f958067c0] DEBUG - Unique device name = xyz
Jan 27, 2019 22:30:12.584 [0x7f8f958067c0] DEBUG - DLNA server port: 32469
Jan 27, 2019 22:30:12.584 [0x7f8f958067c0] DEBUG - PMS: http://127.0.0.1:32400/
Jan 27, 2019 22:30:12.584 [0x7f8f958067c0] DEBUG - MyPlex: https://plex.tv/
Jan 27, 2019 22:30:12.910 [0x7f8f958067c0] DEBUG - Reading system DLNA client profiles
Jan 27, 2019 22:30:12.951 [0x7f8f958067c0] DEBUG - Reading user client profile "Toshiba"
Jan 27, 2019 22:30:12.952 [0x7f8f958067c0] DEBUG - Read 23 DLNA client profiles
Jan 27, 2019 22:30:12.967 [0x7f8f958067c0] DEBUG - DLNA device discovery enabled every 60 seconds
Jan 27, 2019 22:30:12.985 [0x7f8f958067c0] DEBUG - Initialization complete
Jan 27, 2019 22:30:37.059 [0x7f8f813fe700] DEBUG - OnGetProtocolInfo from 192.168.0.161
Jan 27, 2019 22:30:37.060 [0x7f8f813fe700] DEBUG - Mapped client to profile Toshiba using header User-Agent: AwoX/1.1 UPnP/1.0 DLNADOC/1.50

BUT - TV still complains about unknown video format. My dlna client profile looks as follows:

<Client name="Toshiba">
  <Identification>
    <Header name="User-Agent" substring="AwoX"/>
  </Identification>
  <TranscodeTargets>
    <VideoProfile protocol="http" container="mp4" codec="avc" audioCodec="aac" context="streaming"/>
    <MusicProfile container="mp3" codec="mp3"/>
    <PhotoProfile container="jpeg"/>
  </TranscodeTargets>
  <DirectPlayProfiles>
    <!-- <VideoProfile container="mp4" codec="avc" audioCodec="aac" /> -->
  </DirectPlayProfiles>
  <CodecProfiles>
    <VideoCodec name="mp4">
      <Limitations>
        <UpperBound name="video.width" value="1920"/>
        <UpperBound name="video.height" value="1080"/>
      </Limitations>
    </VideoCodec>
  </CodecProfiles>
  <DlnaMediaProfiles>
    <DlnaVideoProfile container="mp4" codec="avc" audioCodec="aac" mimeType="video/vnd.dlna.mpeg-tts"/>
  </DlnaMediaProfiles>
</Client>

The dlna log tells the following for each video file when the TV asks for a video list:

Jan 27, 2019 22:33:46.554 [0x7f3c28bfe700] DEBUG - MDE: analyzing media item 542
Jan 27, 2019 22:33:46.554 [0x7f3c28bfe700] DEBUG - MDE: xyz: no direct play video profile exists for http/mp4/h264
Jan 27, 2019 22:33:46.554 [0x7f3c28bfe700] DEBUG - MDE: xyz: no direct play video profile exists for http/mp4/h264/aac
Jan 27, 2019 22:33:46.554 [0x7f3c28bfe700] DEBUG - MDE: xyz: no remuxable profile found, so video stream will be transcoded
Jan 27, 2019 22:33:46.554 [0x7f3c28bfe700] DEBUG - MDE: Cannot direct stream video stream due to profile or setting limitations
Jan 27, 2019 22:33:46.554 [0x7f3c28bfe700] DEBUG - Scaled up video bitrate to 4807Kbps based on 1.500000x fudge factor.
Jan 27, 2019 22:33:46.554 [0x7f3c28bfe700] DEBUG - MDE: xyz: selected media 0 / 542
Jan 27, 2019 22:33:46.558 [0x7f3c28bfe700] DEBUG - Scaled up video bitrate to 2239Kbps based on 1.500000x fudge factor.

The strange thing is that there’s nothing in the logs about a transcode process if the tv requests a video file. It seems that Plex acknowledges that it should transcode the content for the dlna client, but it doesn’t. Is there a way to debug the transcoding process itself?

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I don’t know if anyone cares about this issue :expressionless: - anyway, i’ve solved it by choosing a different DLNA server that offers transcoding for my old Toshiba TV. I’m sure Plex is a great tool for people able and willing to use the different apps. But - to be honest - it seems that there are better solutions regarding DLNA streaming. Byebye Plex… :disappointed_relieved:

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