So I’ve done some searching and the results are all over the place with regards to the interaction between a HDHR Extend and Plex.
No matter what I have my settings configured for, I get buffering for Live TV and high CPU utilization for the Plex Transcoder process pretty much making the stream unwatchable.
I’ve tried setting the Extend to “heavy” and Plex to “original” and Extend to “none” and Plex to “highest quality” and neither results in what I would expect to be the intended outcome…which is allowing the Extend to do all the transcoding for Plex and relieve it of the need to do so.
I specifically purchased the Extend and the Plex Pass for these reasons…anyone have any words or wisdom to help me understand what I may be doing wrong or does the Extend just not transcode Live TV for Plex?
Same here, my CPU is showing ~280% usage from the Plex transcoder. Constant stuttering and disappearing audio. 
Have you looked at @ultramookie blog post: https://ultramookie.com/2016/2016-12-20-making-hdhr-work-my-way.html.
Have you tried any of the other settings on the Extend to get Live TV to not transcode. I would think that if your client device, which you did not mention what client you are using, can direct play whatever stream the Extend is sending to Plex then there would be no transcode happening. For example, if your client can handle the 1920x1080 60fps the Heavy setting sends to Plex then I am not sure why there would need to be any transcode process occurring unless the stream possibly is still interlaced and your client can’t handle the interlacing. Have you tried the Mobile or Internet720 setting on the Extend?
I don’t have an Extend in my available devices so can’t do any testing personally. But have done some testing with Live TV and have not seen heavy transcoding happening on my server. Just tested Live TV on 2 different HD channels using my HDHR Connets with a Fire TV Stick and the Plex Transcoder processes never went above 2% combined.
I’d be willing to bet this has nothing to do with your extend or plex. They are probably working correctly. Its probably your client that is the issue. What are you streaming to. I would set display overlay on the play settings of the client. That way u you can see why its forcing the server to transcode. If you’re only going to be using that client you might end up lowering the transcode quality in settings for extend to match your client requirement. It ends up a lower saved quality but is a close match to your client device.
Streaming to a Chromecast. It has very similar behavior in Plex web and Android phone. I don’t doubt it could be a settings issue but i don’t know what setting it cold be. This is happening when trying to watch live and recorded content. I have changed these settings from the playback screen to no avail.
What leads me to believe it is a Plex issue (or at least Plex settings) is the HD HomeRun app works flawlessly. I have not paid for the DVR features in it but the live TV has almost zero delay to start up and no playback issues at all. “Plex transcoder” is also constantly running even after I stop streaming (no recordings on schedule). Its showing 20-35% CPU usage in Activity Monitor?
update… I am now halfway through the same recording on my Roku Plex app/channel and its flawless? This Roku is a few years old too.
Well. Duplicate the issue then save your logs and attach them here to your post. Try to be detailed about what server setup/environment and what client is in use. That way someone here can review your logs and possibly remedy your problem.
