The Version 1.18.4.2164 that showed today to download still has the scambled subtitles issue on a QNAP TS-453be.
i was waiting for an official release as i didnt want to use a beta update but it looks like this still isnt resolved in todays update. this is getting ridiculous now. i only bought lifetime a few months back for hw transcoding and a month later its broken with an update. this should have been fixed a long time ago.
2 Likes
I couldnāt agree more. As a paying customer this is way too ridiculous.
2 Likes
You think that is bad? There has been a soft subtitle issue on Android clients for over a year when direct played. So if I try to burn in subs on my Synology NAS Iām screwed or if I try direct play them on an Android client Iām screwed. They donāt appear to have people with good experience in subtitles on staff.
I have already made my moan about Plex, yes I too only signed up to lifetime plex pass 6 months before Plex broke transcoding - see my post Plex - Unreliable for my usage getting really fed up now, more things seem to get broken, than they are fixing! all was fine until ā¦ā¦Plex makes changes after I became a lifetime member! Service is ridiculous!
Iāve basically come to terms that this wont get fixed until the new year. Hope itās sooner.
Same here, running 1.18.0.1944 which to me is the last āgoodā working version. I agree that this transcoding shizzle has been going on for quite some time now. At the moment myself and some friends & family using my Plex have no complaints, but Iām also eagerly awaiting a new version with actual fixes and no regression in other areas.
1 Like
Quick question.
I have older update pkgs for my QNAP still saved on my hard drive. Can these simply be reinstalled even if I currently have it updated to the most current update from Dec 17, or is their extra fiddling that needs to be done?
Well with synology I just uninstall the new one and install the working version without issue. I just have to install to the same volume as the old one was.
Another update for Plex Server PlexMediaServer-1.18.4.2171-ac2afe5f8-x86_64 and still not fixed
okay found at least a minor fix: i used Ubuntu 16.04LTS, which had an old VA-API subsystem. It worked well with the iHD driver, but broke on subtitles, while the older i965 driver from plex 1.17+ was complete garbage (very bad transcoding quality). 1.16 or lower was fine.
i recompiled the whole va-api subsystem from scratch to try a newer iHD version (which requires vaapi 1.4 or newer) - even the latest 19.4.pre2 iHD driver results in the broken transcoding.
But now the i965 driver is working as it should. No more ultra low transcoding quality.
Ubuntu 19.10 includes vaapi 1.4.
So temporary fix for people with the transcoding problem and a full linux OS: upgrade the OS, install libva 2.4.0 / vaapi 1.4 and delete the iHD driver.
Have the same issue as all others , using a Qnap 253-b and have it only in android players like Firestick , on Apple TV 4K is ok.
uptade for this new beta 1.18.4.2171 and the problems stills.
If I do not use hardware acceleration, my QNAP runs at 100% and the image keep buffering , so canāt uncheck it.
waiting for the fix
I have Plex (version 1.18.4.2171-ac2afe5f8-x86_64) installed on a Synology DS418play and use the Windows Plex Client ( Version 1.4.1.940-574c2fa7).
I donāt use transcoding at all (at least I donāt think so) but for some reason and for some epsiodes when selecting ass subtitle I get the problem of this:
also the video get stuck all over.
But when I play the same video with the same subtitle on Apple TV with either the official Plex App or a 3rd party App like Infuse, the video has no such problems.
So for me it seems that either the server is trying to transcode the file for the windows client which is dumb cause the windows client should direct play anything you can throw at it or itās a problem of the client playing the file with problems.
This is why I was confused as well - I wouldnāt expect the Windows client to require transcoding, but, if it does - Iām fine with it. Just wished it worked correctly and reliably.
Some Plex clients have issues with ASS subtitles. Plex has to burn in the subtitles to honor the size/position/etc settings of the subtitles (burning subtitles requires a video transcode). That may be what you are experiencing.
Check the Dashboard during playback. It will show you if the video or audio is transcoding. Click the gold, rectangular icon on the right to expand the view if necessary. 
Plex Web ā Activity ā Dashboard.
Yeah the video is transcoding on the windows client 
There is an alternative fix here in this preview build if you wish to test.
(linked thread: Corrupted video output stream with hardware transcoding - #37 by chrisallen)
Still doesnāt work. Same indications pixelated video PlexMediaServer-1.18.3.2175-4593fabed-x86_64
Please show your results (screenshot) and logs.
