Server Version#: 1.25.4.5426
Player Version#: Most recent
Using MakeMKV and Handbrake, I converted all my Blu-ray movies to 1080p m4v (H264 codec) files within an MP4 container. The audio is AAC. I did this to optimize playback within the Apple ecosystem. This works well when playing movies using the PLEX server on my Synology DS1019+ NAS via our Apple TV, iphones and iPads (even remotely). I just purchased a WD My Passport Wireless Pro so we can take all of our movies on the road even when we don’t have an internet connection.
Now to my question… Recognizing the weak processor on the WD My Passport Wireless Pro, I adjusted the settings on my computer and iPad to prevent any transcoding of movies when playing from this device. However, on most of the movies it states the server isn’t powerful enough to play. However, I can easily play these m4v files on my computer and iPad via the WD MyCloud app. This leads me to believe that the PLEX server is still trying to transcode on the WD My Passport Wireless Pro. How can I get my PLEX server to NOT transcode anything and just play the files natively? I checked “Disable video stream transcoding” however it notes that audio can still be transcoded. Is there a way to stop audio transcoding? I could optimize my movies, but that would take a lot of time. I already spent a great deal of time converting my movies to a format that I thought would work well in all scenarios. I feel there has to be a way to do this since my movies play well on my devices when not using PLEX. Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks for the reply. I’m new to posting on this forum so I appreciate the guidance. I restarted the Plex server and player. I have attached the logs. I am still unable to play most movies thru Plex on my Apple MacBook Pro that play well from a file without transcoding on my Apple MacBook Pro (running MacOS 12.1) and iPhone and iPad running iOS 15.2.1. I can play the movie using the MyCloud app on my iPhone and iPad. When trying to play on Plex I receive the message “This server is not powerful enough to convert video.” Any suggestions would be very helpful. Let me know if other logs are needed.
Basically, your chosen server device cannot video transcode, which means a few things.
The video format of the media you are playing, and the capabilities of the client you are playing it on need to be 100% compatible with each other.
Your bandwidth between the server and the client needs to be fast enough for the full bit rate of the media. Your client settings also need to be set high enough so that it doesn’t try and change the stream in any way.
I have read the WD My Passport Wireless Pro documentation. I believe the issue is transcoding thru Plex. Using my iPad or iPhone I can play my movie files using the WD My Cloud app thru the wifi created by the WD My Passport without any issues. This tells me it is not a bandwidth issue or problem with my devices not being able to play the movie files. The WD My Passport is capable of streaming HD video to 8 separate devices so it has plenty of bandwidth. My main question is how do I get Plex to NOT transcode anything so there is little stress on the WD My Passport CPU? I essentially want a “Direct Play” option that can’t be overridden by the Plex server. This would work since I know the movies play just fine when not using Plex and instead direct playing the movies on the WD My Passport drive thru the My Cloud app files. I could optimize all my movies thru Plex on my NAS, but this would take a lot of time and seems unnecessary when Plex should have an option for True “Direct Play.”
How do I ask the Plex development team to offer this option?
