When syncing multiple episodes of a show, Plex seems to convert all of the episodes, then download them, then convert the next show, etc. There is no technical reason why this can’t be broken into parallel processes so that each episode starts downloading as soon as it’s finished converting while the next episode is converting. I’m often dealing with either a slow server or bandwidth constraints when traveling, so this could potentially halve the time it takes to have a show available to watch.
This has been implemented as part of the new Downloads feature. With sync about to be discontinued and downloads taking their place, I’m considering this suggestion implemented.
From https://www.plex.tv/blog/going-off-grid-just-got-great/
- Progressive conversion and simultaneous downloading. Downloads begin even while the source media is being transcoded; no more waiting for the entire transcode to finish before the download can begin.
2021 clean-up: implemented
