How can I tell whether a video is being transcoded?

General Discussions
1

Hi,

I think I see transcoding in Plex Media Server.log even for mp4/AAC videos, but I’m not sure - perhaps I’m not interpreting the log correctly. What is the easy way to know?

Since I have such a weak server CPU, I can readily tell it’s transcoding if I’m doing something unusual - like restricting a client to anything less than Original quality - because I’ll get stuttering and an error message right away. My question is more about whether transcoding of some minimal type could be happening in the normal scenarios.

Mainly I’m trying to find the best container which can handle multiple audio streams (for commentary track for example) and subtitles. I was surprised to find that mp4 with H264 can handle those just fine, and the audio tracks and subtitles are available for selection on Roku 2/3 and the Web app. Thought only mkv could do that, but then mkv had to be transcoded. Either way, my little CPU isn’t complaining but I’d like a better idea what’s happening on the server.

Thanks,
Mark M

2

Activity - Now Playing
https://support.plex.tv/hc/en-us/articles/200871837

if you click on the little (i) icon it’ll tell you exactly whether it is being direct played, direct streamed or transcoded.
If you seek in the log for line starting with MDE: it’ll tell you why it is doing, what it is doing

3

Very nice, thank you!