Server Version#: 1.15.3.858
Player Version#: web 3.83.1
I recently got an NVIDIA GPU so that I could do hardware accelerated transcoding.
When I play something on the android app the transcoding works and shows (hw) in the dashboard.
The problem I am having is only present in the plex web app.
If I start a video at original quality and change it to something that needs transcoding. The dashboard shows video and audio as direct play and the web player just buffers forever.
If change the quality setting in the web app so that the video starts needing to be transcoded everything works fine. If I change it to original and back the same problem happens.
Have anyone seen this before and know how to fix it?
I also leverage an NVIDIA card for transcoding needs. From using the web version, you may have to manually select the quality setting for video content.
After clicking on the settings icon on the player, you should click “Show all” under the Quality label when the content starts playing so that you can pick the proper quality and bitrate for your connection.
Example:
If the original content displays " Play Original Quality 9.5Mbps at 1080p HD", selecting “Convert to 1080p HD (Medium), 12Mbps” will NOT transcode.
Why?
Because the bitrate you’ve selected to convert to is higher than the bitrate of the original content. The original content fits the selected bitrate.
The server will only transcode if the bitrate a client requests is lower than the bitrate of the original content.
Continuing above, any quality setting below 9.5Mbps would force the server to transcode the original content, and then should delegate the work to the GPU.
Good explanation, but unfortunately not the problem.
All my testing is done with 10mbps at 1080p transcoded to 2mbps at 720p.
The wiered thing is that the when the file is played at original quality. It is not direct played it is direct streamed and the audio is transcoded.
Direct play only shows up when I change from original quality to 2mbps and only on plex web.
Remember transcoding is a last resort effort if the client cannot either Direct Play or Direct Stream. If the client can support Direct Play or Direct Stream, plex server will do that.
Your web client was able to Direct Stream the video and then plex server only needed to transcode the audio. This is good performance - transcoding audio is much less taxing on system resources.
I fail to see your problem if your GPU properly receives and performs transcoding from plex.
The problem is that when a video is played in the plex web app, and the quality is changed from something that does not need transcoding to something that needs transcoding.
The player just buffers forever and the dashboard says direct play audio and video at 2mpbs. Even though the file is 10mpbs at 1080p
