@ChuckPa I think I would be interested in an example when you have time.
thanks
W
This is the simplest way I know to set all the media in your library (MKV files) to the first audio and first video track to English. I suspect you can do a lot more in the same invocation. I left it this way for myself (old age… I’m over 25 now 
)
Enjoy 
find . -name \*.mkv \
-exec mkvpropedit {} --edit track:a1 --set language=eng --edit track:v1 --set language=eng \;I have noticed though, depending on your playback device, you can run into some issues. I use Storage Spaces with four 4TB drives and 1 256GB SSD as a “cache”…and it works well. My CPU is nothing more than an A8 and I run 8GB of ram on the server… works well.
@taseedorf said:
I have noticed though, depending on your playback device, you can run into some issues. I use Storage Spaces with four 4TB drives and 1 256GB SSD as a “cache”…and it works well. My CPU is nothing more than an A8 and I run 8GB of ram on the server… works well.
What kind of SS? Mirror or Parity?
I record ATSC which is MPEG2TS or H262. I used to transcode them for space. Now I just get more space. I use 5x4TB drives in an external esata array. And on it I have 2+ years of recorded TV (previously done with mythtv). I find that I can stream them just fine, without the need of transcoding. And yes all of those are 7-8GB/hr recordings. Considering how trashy ATSC recordings are, I would call that as about as raw as you can get.
@taseedorf said:
I have noticed though, depending on your playback device, you can run into some issues. I use Storage Spaces with four 4TB drives and 1 256GB SSD as a “cache”…and it works well. My CPU is nothing more than an A8 and I run 8GB of ram on the server… works well.
I have tried storage spaces, on board raid and an independent Raid Card, the Independant Card is the way to go, nearly 3 times faster than the other two.
IO Crest 4 Port SATA III Controller Card ($30 on amazon)
I’m all about manually optimizing my media. I’m currently sitting at about 12TB…and have exactly zero “raw” material on my server. Direct-playing material is always a better experience, in my opinion, than direct-streaming or transcoding. Between wireless STBs and mobile-device clients, slingling RAW material all around the house and remotely is not efficient in terms of bandwidth or real-time server overhead. Additionally, Raw BR rips, while great from a quality perspective, are not really that efficient from a per bitrate perspective. A really well-transcoded 720p h264 transcode is indistinguishable to most “layman’s eyes”…and will be a small fraction of the bitrate. But…that takes time. A lot of time. Want to do 1080p? More time. Need to de-noise to reduce the bitrate? More time. X265? Way, way more time. On the plus side, you can really fine-tune your workflow to ensure you can maximize direct-play to your clients. You can burn-in the forced-subs. You can include a stereo-AAC audio track. Etc, etc.
Learn to use Handbrake effectively, invest in a seriously CPU-heavy desktop machine, be patient…and reap the benefits.
IMHO, reducing bitrate is good until you get to the point where you want to watch that 2.5 Mbps video on a 55+" television. I don’t care how much you’ve ‘processed it’ and times you’ve spent with HandBrake, the bits are gone. Sure, it looks great on a tablet or a phone but not on a big screen. That’s the real question… What are you going to play that library on 99% of the time? When have you crossed the point of diminishing returns?
For me, a 35 Mbps video with 512 Kbps audio on a high-CGI film with very crisp and sharp edges is a near-theater experience. That’s what I want from my media when I play it on the 65" TV. In some cases, mostly because of seating available and lack of ‘other noise’ in the theater, my home experience is better.
Doing the math and breaking this down: 35.5 Mbps (composite) / 8 bits/byte = 4.43 MB/sec. 4.43 MB/sec * 7200 seconds (2 hr movie) = 31,950 MB == 31.9 GB. That means I can get 56 movies of that size on a mere 2TB drive. Ramping that up to what most of us have (4 or 8 x 4TB) and you have a lot of movies (862 to be precise on 8x4TB RAID), all in the H.264 exactly how I ripped it from the dual-layer disc without doing anything more than remuxing it to remove what I didn’t want.
Not all my movies are that large. Drama / comedy / mystery are obviously smaller. Somewhere in the 10-15-20 range and all look equally perfect.
Just my thoughts and how I want to use my media.
I never optimize anything, for my use I do not see the point of it, I do have a decent enough connection. I agree with @ChuckPa that media degration happens fast when you recode and reduce bit rate, I try to keep my 1080p at around 10,000 and 4k between 30 and 60,000.
With my experience when running x265/HEVC I can reduce bitrate to 6-7,000 without much degeneration for 1080p.
This said I do however see the point of optimizing for some users who have low bandwidth or less powerful CPU, so that anyone can enjoy Plex regardless of how much one is willing to spend on cpu/storage/internet connection.
I have also done some test on the other end where storage consumtion is the least of my concern.
I have found that my Plex setup struggles with are stress test films like these:
Video Resolution 4K
Duration 48:22
Bitrate 103893 kbps
Width 4096
Height 2304
Aspect Ratio 1.78
Container MKV
Video Frame Rate 24p
Video Profile high
(that gives me 90% accross all cores)
I have ordered a Chromecast Ultra, lets hope I can edit its Plex profile to direct play HEVC/x265
ps nothing like a big screw you CPU:
Video Resolution 8K
Duration 3:33
Bitrate 87455 kbps
Width 7680
Height 4320
Aspect Ratio 1.78
Container MKV
Video Frame Rate NTSC
Video Profile profile 0
(this one gives me 100%)
Formats like this is at this itme just for look what can be done, it is not pratical as you need a high throughout network and high power cpu to even attempt streaming these)
What both of these shows is what kind of quality is possible and it is amazing. Even when running though a 4k projector at 110".
tbh I did not expect plex to have 8k icon ready.
I take the RAW and hit it with FFMPEG CRF15 and VeryFast… and Its indistinguishable in my 165" Theater Room
Man, that’s serious viewing!
It truly is, and I love every minute of it. Here is a link to my media room build if you’re interested (plus, i like to show it off)
Man, I need a bigger house! 
Nice . Having everything already poured is a huge help. I can do the finishing work (2x4, sheet rock, and electrical easily enough)… getting the projector hung? That’ll take some help. All the data comm work is easy. I did the house here myself. all gigabit with multi-drop managed switches
@ChuckPa yeah, same here, but in this case, I let them do all the Construction stuff, and I did all the Networking myself, Shielded Cat 6, every room has at least 2 ports, (Offices, Living Room, Family Room have 6). The utility room has a 48 Port GIgabit Switch and a 16 Port 10 GB Switch, everything that touch Plex in my house, is connected there, but only the computers actually have 10GB Cards, just avoiding the added latency of transferring to a second switch
Hanging the projector was easy enough to do by myself.
@wesman
Man O Man!!
Great setup.
I also wish I had the space for something like that…
However, I also like to show off my setup as well… LOL
Maybe we should start a thread where we can all post pictures of our setups.
Would stimulate ideas and give us all a place to Show Off!! LOL
Just a thought…
@jjrjr1 said:
Maybe we should start a thread where we can all post pictures of our setups.
Too late! 
https://forums.plex.tv/discussion/220860/show-off-your-theater
LOL
Figures…
Thanks
Actually, there have been several more in the past, but I haven’t found them yet.
Parity for the data…although, I haven’t had any issues with it now.
