I have plex running on a synology nas and for direct play is handles everything fine. We have a good broadband speed with a 6.5mb upload so I have given access to our content to a few friends and family and streaming movies at 480p is smooth. The issue we get is on the HD stuff; I know the nas is not powerful to transcode on the fly and our upload speed is too low for direct play so I decided to create a 720p 2mb version of all our HD content to match my remote access speed which is also 720p 2mb thinking the plex server would offer this up to shared users however when testing with the father-in-law any HD film he selects sends the Nas in to melt down and maxes the cpu and his playback is stop start.
So setting…
Remote access set to 720p at 2mbs
HD content optimised to match 720p at 2mbs
Stable 6Mbs up load speed
So why is the nas transcoding?
When I test playback on my mobile over 4g…aka remote access, the server is clearly suppling the optimised version as the cpu is pretty much ilde, but when a shared user accesses the movie, instead of giving them the 720p version it tries to transcode it and send that.
I don’t have the answer for what you are missing but here is a kind of solution.
You can make the optimized versions reside anywhere. Why not create an “optimized” folder (one for movies and one for TV with corresponding libraries) and store all your optimized files there (optimized by Plex), then just share those libraries to remote users.
That would basically ensure they are playing the optimized versions only.
A couple more things, how did you create the “720p 2mb version of all our HD content” files? Did you use Plex to optimize? What clients/client hardware are the remote users using?
I was trying to avoid having lots of different movie folders…trying to keep it all clean with movies, photos, box sets and music. Didn’t want lots a different movie folders showing locally!
The process:
All movies are encoded with handbrake and added to plex
I head to the movie in plex and select optimise
Custom profile, general TV, 720p 2mb
The nas then creates a transcoded copy it stores in a sub folder in the movie library on the nas.
I read it that when a remote user access content the server should provide the pretranscoded version but when testing the nas is still trying to transcode something, be it the original or the 720p…who knows!
Does seem to supply the 720p to mobile devices, just not remote users with TVs.
Maybe this is more to do with the remote devices and the settings on those.
I would think it would work just like you are expecting, though.
I don’t use optimize for the same purpose, I use it to create versions to take with me on the road.
Sorry I couldn’t be more help.
Bitrate isn’t everything. Compatible audio and video codecs are required too. Subtitles can cause it as well. It’s hard without knowing when you tried (and failed) to follow it in the logs but if you search for “MDE” (in the server log) and look for the correct time stamp you’ll see why it was transcoded.
Just looking through the logs and they makes little to no sense to me sadly - not technical enough to understand them! I think we’re attempting and failing on the 2nd July which was last Saturday.
All the movies are encoded with the following audio trackers to allow for direct play on as many possible devices without the NAS needing to do anything:
AAC Dolby Pro Logic II downmix channel for use of stereo devices (SD / HD)
AC3 5.1 Dolby Digital for use with older AMPs (SD / HD)
DTS HD for use with new amps (HD only)
I always add the subtitle tracks (English ones anyway) and the container is MKV.
The odd thing is, if watch a movie on my phone via the GSM network, therefore remote - the NAS is clearly offering up the 720p version as even over the mobile network the playback is smooth and there is no notice load increase on the NAS’s CPU meaning direct play!
I am unsure why a shared user is being treated like a device on the local network!
I understand the frustration. If you could try and replicate the issue on your fathers device (and state which type of device it is) and directly capture the logs after the failed attempt I’ll help you understand them (or ask others who I know will).
If only that simple - he’s 250 miles away and his IT skills are up to the job!
He is viewing on a Samsung smart TV; interface looks a lot like the Plex Home Theatre rather than the newer Fire TV version.
I have realised that a user can pick which version of the movie to watch, therefore if the Plex system offers up the wrong version i.e. the full HD one a shared user will know as it will be buffering constantly, so all they need to do is back out and swap to the 720p version.
Not the smoothest solution as Plex should know not to offer up the full HD, but in the interim it’s a work-round.
Maybe it’s something the Plex team can look at for their next server update?
Ah. Sorry, my bad. I jumped pass the easy explanation first. This is the way Plex is constructed (and has been), ie, it’s client-centric. The client decides everything on their end; speed, resolution, if it should demand a transcode or not etc. There are feature requests that suggests to alter this and give the server-side more control but I have no news to give surrounding this (if it is under consideration or not). I’ve seen users try and fix work-arounds such as blocking the transcoding process on the server (so as it doesn’t start) and use 3rd party software/hardware to cap the network speed usage - but I have no direct knowledge about this and can’t help further in that.
Thanks kindly. Now it makes sense why all of the clients have local, remote and online quality…I did wonder why that was!
Definitely think there needs to be some server side controls to restrict remote users melting the cpu and requesting content beyond the upload speed of hosts Internet connection. Will have to put the request in with plex.
AAC Dolby Pro Logic II downmix channel for use of stereo devices (SD / HD)