@KarlDag said:
If that’s the case, you should really just pretranscode your video files, either using handbrake, Plex Optimizer, or @cayars script… no transcoding required after that. Or don’t share your library. Or use Plex Cloud when it’s out of beta. No need for the rudeness.
That’s the thing - 99% of my media would direct play if it wasn’t for Plex forcing the transcode. The only device where I see transcoding as necessity is a web browser (in this case - at least lately - most of the time it’s either my upload speed or audio codec. That I can understand.). Other than that - I tested some “problematic” media samples using other players (in case of Android, I used MX Player) and the device had no issues with neither the codec nor the container. The same files were persistently being forced to be transcoded when playing via Plex. And no, it’s not the settings - everything was maxed out and Plex still insisted on transcoding the video.
@jondhoughton said:
I’ll resign after this comment, because this obviously isn’t going to go anywhere, but:
- You’ve been given an option for disabling transcodes. It might not be fully documented, but I’m pretty sure its an unusual request. A few of the main benefits of Plex is watching your media in many formats, on any device, from anywhere, on any (well most) connections. I don’t see how thats possible without transcoding.
- No doubt, your hardware must be sized appropriately to what you are trying to do with it. I don’t think anyone would argue with the fact that underpowered hardware will cause you problems if you try to do multiple 1080p streams to devices that can’t handle the native format of the file. I bought one of those WD Passport drives with Plex on it - and I’ve got to put some effort into getting the media into a format that works well (well Optimized versions within Plex makes it pretty easy), but its a battery powered hard drive that can serve as a mobile plex server while my son and I take a train ride across the country. Its incredible for what it is, even though it takes a little effort!
ad 1. Please see above.
ad 2. Like I said above - most of the time I find that refusing to direct play is Plex’s fault. Other players on the same hardware are not so stubborn.
@jondhoughton said:
Regardless, this is an awesome community and an awesome product. There is a forum to make requests for features, and if I’m way of base and there are many people out there who want this functionality I’m sure it will be added eventually, but you’ll get further with your request using a little tact.
I’m sorry If I come off as blunt. I’m just honest and I call things how I see them. Feature requests are being constantly ignored - I’ve mentioned that in my comments regarding FLAC files. Yes, Plex is a great piece of software but the company comes of Apple’ish sometimes (in that - they think they know better what people want). There are so many feature requests with hundreds of votes and threads going on for 3+ years - and guess what? Completely ignored by Plex Inc.
@elan said:
It’s not, because it’s the first time I’ve heard this request 
I swear to you - ability to disable/block transcoding altogether was my first thought when I started reading about Plex. It was obvious to me, without even installing the software. There’s no way that no one at Plex Inc even thought about this. I can’t believe it.
But there are so much more that should’ve been done differently from the start and it’s not. Maybe that’s just how you guys work.
Anyway, I’d love to read about those “hidden settings” and experiment with them, under my responsibility of course.
I have a strange feeling that most of my issues would’ve been resolved . . .
@elan said:
Happy to hear specific examples of this, in the right thread.
I’ve described above how it usually goes. I get that some devices might not play something. But I refuse to take this kind of arguments when I see that other players on this hardware play the same files just fine.
