It's time for H.265 direct play.. the sheer size o these video files is awesome!
I would love to have Plex HT direct play my hevc files. I hate to have to leave PHT and open VLC to watch my shows 
I appreciate what people are saying about HVEC capable chips and what not, but if VLC can play HVEC encoded files on a Vanilla 2010 Mac Mini then it seems trivial to add that sort of support into PHT so that we can at least attempt to watch files of that format.
I've been using Plex for many years, and I am honest baffled why the developers have chosen to ommit the ability for PHT to play HVEC natively when others are doing so using IOS and Samsung apps etc.
I appreciate what people are saying about HVEC capable chips and what not, but if VLC can play HVEC encoded files on a Vanilla 2010 Mac Mini then it seems trivial to add that sort of support into PHT so that we can at least attempt to watch files of that format.
I've been using Plex for many years, and I am honest baffled why the developers have chosen to ommit the ability for PHT to play HVEC natively when others are doing so using IOS and Samsung apps etc.
Omit? Trivial? How come you say that?
He's saying it because if a computer or cell phone app can natively play the files then he thinks Plex should be able to on those platforms also.
Not an unreasonable assumption.
He's saying it because if a computer or cell phone app can natively play the files then he thinks Plex should be able to on those platforms also.
Not an unreasonable assumption.
"Omit" implies Plex decided to remove something that once worked right? But english is not my mother tongue so I might be wrong about that.
"Trivial" implies that he is a developer and knows that it is super easy to do this with this specific codebase. In Plex case it would mean upgrading ffmpeg, which is not something one do without a LOT of time on their hand. I do suspect that just upgrading the ffmpeg package would be quick. But the patches built-in to Kodi/Plex to handle ffmpeg are... as I have understood it... not something to be taken lightly. At all. :)
"Omit" implies Plex decided to remove something that once worked right? But english is not my mother tongue so I might be wrong about that.
"Trivial" implies that he is a developer and knows that it is super easy to do this with this specific codebase. In Plex case it would mean upgrading ffmpeg, which is not something one do without a LOT of time on their hand. I do suspect that just upgrading the ffmpeg package would be quick. But the patches built-in to Kodi/Plex to handle ffmpeg are... as I have understood it... not something to be taken lightly. At all. :)
Hey Atrus,
By 'Omit' (which i initially spelt incorrectly :wacko:), I meant that it has been left out when others are putting it in. The official definition is "Leave out or exclude (someone or something), either intentionally or forgetfully."
As for 'Trivial', perhaps that was not the right word to use as I am not a developer. I meant that it was 'trivial' in the fact that VLC has done it without any ill effect, and 'lesser' powerful devices such as smartphones and TV's are already supporting it.
I hope that clears a couple of things up :) I guess I am just disappointed that Plex aren't supporting HVEC (even in the Plex Pass versions) when it is a codec that is starting to gain some traction.
Edit: I also wanted to add that it is doubely furstrating as Plex will transcode HVEC, so I can stream it to my Apple TV in the other room, but can't watch the files natively on my nicer living room setup :(
+1
This could save my server an enormous amount of space.
I (…) but if VLC can play HVEC encoded files on a Vanilla 2010 Mac Mini then it seems (…)
Early 2009 Mac Mini Plex dedicated here!!! VLC and VLC Nightly Build play 720p HEVC files flawlessly! The image is crystal clear and far better than x264 equivalent. If my poor old mini can do that high end processors can surely do that at 1080p and even 4k.
H.265 works for me from Plex to my Samsung TV with an XML mod.
You might be able to do this for other clients also.
But keep this in mind. If you use any hardware device like a Roku, Chromecast, Fire-TV then you are going to put a hurting on your Plex Server CPU. Transcoding H.265 isn't for the faint of heart. I haven't tried to figure it out but as a gut feeling if you need a passmark score of 2000 to transcode HD H.264 you probably need 5000-7000 for H.265. <-- Anyone tried to figure out the real number?
Carlo
I load 3 streams of h265 and it maxing out an haswell i7. I try a 4th and it can still handle it most likely due to getting ahead in some of the streams but by time I add a 5th it crashes plex server. Next time plex upgrades ffmpeg we will see if it helps as x265 version 1.6 added performance tweaks for haswell cpus. Either way streams will be limited until more devices comes with h265 chips. The space savings can be significant though 5-10GB a movie at super high quality, even more with lower quality. Those add up quick, but for most people with any non i7 need to wait another year or two for optimizations or for chips in devices to direct play. For now its cheaper/easier to add hard drives.
H.265 works for me from Plex to my Samsung TV with an XML mod.
You might be able to do this for other clients also.
But keep this in mind. If you use any hardware device like a Roku, Chromecast, Fire-TV then you are going to put a hurting on your Plex Server CPU. Transcoding H.265 isn't for the faint of heart. I haven't tried to figure it out but as a gut feeling if you need a passmark score of 2000 to transcode HD H.264 you probably need 5000-7000 for H.265. <-- Anyone tried to figure out the real number?
Carlo
I load 3 streams of h265 and it maxing out an haswell i7. I try a 4th and it can still handle it most likely due to getting ahead in some of the streams but by time I add a 5th it crashes plex server. Next time plex upgrades ffmpeg we will see if it helps as x265 version 1.6 added performance tweaks for haswell cpus. Either way streams will be limited until more devices comes with h265 chips. The space savings can be significant though 5-10GB a movie at super high quality, even more with lower quality. Those add up quick, but for most people with any non i7 need to wait another year or two for optimizations or for chips in devices to direct play. For now its cheaper/easier to add hard drives.
This is what is frustrating me the most, someone like yourself is able to load 3 H265 streams and watch them how you see fit on your devices but as it stands right now, I can't watch a H265 movie directly on the MacMini which has the plex server (PHT) installed on it. I have to exit Plex (which completely goes against the point of having a central media center), and load the very same file in VLC. I just can't understand why the dev's feel that this isn't important for people :unsure:
This is what is frustrating me the most, someone like yourself is able to load 3 H265 streams and watch them how you see fit on your devices but as it stands right now, I can't watch a H265 movie direct on the MacMini which has the plex server installed on it. I have to exit Plex (which completely goes against the point of having a central media center), and load the very same file in VLC to get the picture to display. I just can't understand why the dev's feel that this isn't important for people :unsure:
For what it's worth on the transcoding side, my 2011 MacMini seems to be able to transcode 1080p H265 to the Apple TV in the bedroom without any issue. Which is pretty cool if i wanted to watch 1080p Movies on a 32" screen as opposed to a 55" with a surround sound system :angry:
Because of prioritization. I think H265 support is not especially low on the prio sheet to be honest, but the list of things to be changed or added to Plex clients and server I suspect is somewhere between 500 and a 1,000. And every single one of the users believe that their pet peeve is the one that should be solved first. Without an exception.
New formats, when they have become stable and there exists a good enough use case for it will likely make it climb quick on the list. It did become high enough for the PHT team to add a transcode solution for it. That tells me that it is climbing the prio list.
And every single one of the users believe that their pet peeve is the one that should be solved first. Without an exception.
When you talked to all other users you forgot about me. Here's your exception.
When you talked to all other users you forgot about me. Here's your exception.
Yeah, I knew I frakked up as soon as I wrote that. But still didn't change my wording :(
Let me amend that: A surprisingly big click of users believe that their pet peeve must be solved first. Human nature I guess, but still surprises me. I really shouldn't be surprised as I am very close myself to find it weird that some things that are missing have not been solved yet (the subtitle solution for example). But as I have roamed the forum for so long I have most of you at an disadvantage. I have seen the vast amount of threads detailing all kinds of things where the comment almost always goes something like this: "I am completely baffled that this is not the highest prio". So I know for sure that many many have a feeling that the thing they find the most troubling must be troubling for everyone else.
Hehe, I knew I had to catch you before you corrected that. ;)
You may call it my pet peeve, but I believe a lot of people would surely appreciate if Plex team posted a list of the priorities for features/bugs. For many sensible users the baffling part is not that certain request isn't a top priority, but not knowing when certain things are going to be looked at/into, addressed/resolved/implemented. Publicly readable bug tracker which I've been lobbying for would be one way to solve this.
I do not get why you cannot accomplish this on your setup. As of right now plex will decode a h265 file, put it to h264 to devices (TRANSCODE). Yes it will use a lot of cpu, but if you are just doing it for one mac mini I would think that would work. Is it cause the server (mac mini) is also the machine you are watching the video on and so the server is transcoding it (high cpu) and the playback is suffering cause no more cpu leftover?
This is what is frustrating me the most, someone like yourself is able to load 3 H265 streams and watch them how you see fit on your devices but as it stands right now, I can't watch a H265 movie directly on the MacMini which has the plex server (PHT) installed on it. I have to exit Plex (which completely goes against the point of having a central media center), and load the very same file in VLC. I just can't understand why the dev's feel that this isn't important for people :unsure:
a lot of CPU? helluva lot of CPU. tried some HEVC content last night....
https://forums.plex.tv/topic/160645-users-with-hevc-content-and-can-play-it/
I do not get why you cannot accomplish this on your setup. As of right now plex will decode a h265 file, put it to h264 to devices (TRANSCODE). Yes it will use a lot of cpu, but if you are just doing it for one mac mini I would think that would work. Is it cause the server (mac mini) is also the machine you are watching the video on and so the server is transcoding it (high cpu) and the playback is suffering cause no more cpu leftover?
Hey,
I should have been a lot more clearer on my posts instead of just moaning :) But the basic answer to to your post is yes, the playback suffers when playing on the machine which is transcoding.
If I open and play the file in VLC it is crisp and plays flawlessly, when I play the file in PHT (with the transcoding) the file becomes somewhat 'fuzzy' and i can't use the skip forward/backwards function correctly. If transcoding to the Apple TV then the file seems fine, it's just transcoding + playing on the Mini at the same time seems to push it over it's limits.
One could say that I should have a more powerful machine which is fair enough I guess, but like i say it plays absolutely fine directly with VLC and functions extremely well for everything else i need it to do.
