Infuse 2 is coming this fall.
What is Infuse and why are you mentioning it?
Think VLC for the iPad.
It's an app that implements its own player so it can handle pretty much everything.
I notice that the trans-coding of files unnecessarily is very prevalent with the DNLA part of Plex handing off to the PS3. I have Tveristy running along side Plex and it hands off the files extremely quickly and with no stuttering, if the file doesn't need to be trans-coded. (I have made all my media PS3 friendly, so I don't know why Plex trans-codes it, even with direct play on??
I notice that the trans-coding of files unnecessarily is very prevalent with the DNLA part of Plex handing off to the PS3. I have Tveristy running along side Plex and it hands off the files extremely quickly and with no stuttering, if the file doesn't need to be trans-coded. (I have made all my media PS3 friendly, so I don't know why Plex trans-codes it, even with direct play on??
Likely the DLNA profile is not fully flushed out with all the options that PS3 supports
+1
I have DS213, and iphone 5S. With DS Video-app and VLC, I can stream anything over cellular network, with subtitles. With Plex, I can only play certain mp4.
Plexsync is great, Plex is grrreat, but lose the pride and allow hand-off to VLC player on iOS. It's obviously possible.
Infuse isn't even close to what Plex is in terms of capabilities. Infuse is iOS only, doesn't transcode and will never be what plex is in terms of platform support. Infuse currently custom tweaks a video player for each iOS device... Completely impractical to do on a large number of devices. Source here: http://forum.firecore.com/topic/10381?page=1#comment-62302
Infuse is great if all you do is use Apple devices but what happens when you want to buy an android, use a raspberry pi, or use absolutely anything non apple? You are totally screwed and have to run both systems side by side. With plex, you can run damn near anything as a server backend and even if in the future your device isn't explicitly supported as long as it is powerful enough you, or someone in the community, could compile Plex Home Theater to run on it or use xbmc and plexbmc. See Rasplex for a great example of this.
On top of all of that... My phone doesn't exactly have a data plan that can support streaming of a 10GB 1080p file. Plex on the other hand can crunch that down to a 480p file that uses a trickle of data by comparison. Not to mention I wouldn't want a 10GB file on my phones memory. But yet I would want that file to be that big for playing on my TV.
Plex covers the entire spectrum of devices I (and my family) use, Infuse only covers a fraction.
The discussion went sideways, in my opinion. Ignore the Infuse stuff and really consider what the OP is asking. If I have an 80MB video file in MP4 container, fully supported by iOS natively then why would I want to transcode this?
I think it's important for direct play checks to be more exhaustive before jumping to transcode as the way to go. Not only does it save time, but it saves on CPU cycles/power draw. It saves on HDD writes for the temporary transcode files, etc.
It would be very much appreciated if better direct play support was enabled for the iOS Plex app!
The discussion went sideways, in my opinion. Ignore the Infuse stuff and really consider what the OP is asking. If I have an 80MB video file in MP4 container, fully supported by iOS natively then why would I want to transcode this? There is nothing I could possible gain.
I think it's important for direct play checks to be more exhaustive before jumping to transcode as the way to go. Not only does it save time, but it saves on CPU cycles/power draw. It saves on HDD writes for the temporary transcode files, etc.
It would be very much appreciated if better direct play support was enabled for the iOS Plex app!
1) iOS supports different standards streaming versus playing from the device, just because it plays on the device does not mean it can't stream to it.
2) Plex iOS also acts as a server for streaming to other clients, as iOS devices cannot transcode this means the file needs to be a generic as possible for this to work. Generally not a big deal given iOS is the most format restrictive device.
If you believe your files are 100% iOS compatible (which means much more than them being mp4 files) ensure they are also optimized for streaming
Well, I will disclaimer by saying I don't know much about media formats however I know I can drag the videos directly to Videos in iTunes and they work without issues.
Also, the transcoding flies so obviously I am exaggerating the transcode time however I was simply stating it would be comforting to know all attempts are exhausted to direct play a file before transcoding.
Thank you!
The transcoder is built to be as lazy as it can be. Without specific of your files. The guess will be it is transcoding because it needs to.Well, I will disclaimer by saying I don't know much about media formats however I know I can drag the videos directly to Videos in iTunes and they work without issues.
Also, the transcoding flies so obviously I am exaggerating the transcode time however I was simply stating it would be comforting to know all attempts are exhausted to direct play a file before transcoding.
Thank you!
I guess it has to be transcoded else you will end up with a 10gb file in your 16gb device if you have a 10gb movie.
The discussion went sideways, in my opinion. Ignore the Infuse stuff and really consider what the OP is asking. If I have an 80MB video file in MP4 container, fully supported by iOS natively then why would I want to transcode this?
I think it's important for direct play checks to be more exhaustive before jumping to transcode as the way to go. Not only does it save time, but it saves on CPU cycles/power draw. It saves on HDD writes for the temporary transcode files, etc.
It would be very much appreciated if better direct play support was enabled for the iOS Plex app!
The thing is... Unless there is a bug in the iOS capability sync profile... It already checks it and determines that it is not compatible. We may need someone from Plex to confirm the compatibility profile but Plex as a whole already performs that check. The OP is instead talking about using an external player to be able to play any media format (whether or not it is natively supported). Hence him constantly bringing up infuse.
What Pinky is saying is right, the OP isn’t interested in playing these files IN Plex. He wants Plex to pass the file off.
But this is a restriction due to iOS. When sharing between apps, the file is copied. Each app access a unique version of the file. You would need double the file space, one for the file in Plex, one for the file in another player. So it is technically possible, but not really usable.
Plex shouldn’t touch a file that is fully playable on the iPad. But the iPad is a heck of a lot more restrictive than just having a file be in an MP4 container.
As an update, I was completely wrong. Plex is direct streaming the video and only transcoding the audio! Amazing!
Thanks guys and sorry for the confusion!
I REALLY hope Plex uses the VLC or Infuse engine for Plex on iOS devices. It is soooo annoying that anything higher than 20mbps or MKV Etc. gets transcoded when the iPad can play pretty much anything. In fact the iPad can play just about anything you can throw at it with infuse or VLC with no transcoding at all.
It is doubly annoying because the transcoder Plex uses is pretty crappy. The universal transcoder is HORRIBLE. Banding and artifacts all over. The older transcoder is better, but won’t do subtitles!!! I recently became a lifetime Plex member. But honestly if the transcoder doesn’t improve in quality, or ability to direct stream with no transcoding more files doesn’t come, I will have to rethink my media solution and center it around Infuse instead. 
If I want to send 40mbps files to my iPad, and my wifi can handle it, I should be allowed to. You can to the Apple TV with no problem, and the iPad is WAY more powerful than that. All my media files are Blu ray quality. My goal is for Plex to play them at that quality so I don’t have to use VLC or Infuse anymore.
Definitely +1 for this feature!
Plex shouldn't touch a file that is fully playable on the iPad. But the iPad is a heck of a lot more restrictive than just having a file be in an MP4 container.
That is not true. The APPLE video engine is what is restrictive. Not the iPad. The iPad has the power to play directly ripped Bluray files. In other words, anything you can throw at it. That is the whole point to this thread. Plex uses the Apple video engine which limits what can be natively played. But VLC or Infuse on the iPad will play anything you throw at them with no transcoding at all. So therefore it would be highly beneficial to everyone if Plex used the VLC or Infuse video engine as the default player for Plex videos. Or Plex should write their own video engine like VLC and Infuse (and others on the iPad, too many to mention) have done. Thus bypassing the Apple video engine, and doing away with transcoding altogether on iOS devices. Shoot. Infuse and VLC even support any type of subtitle you throw at them as well! Plex can't even do that WITH transcoding.
That is not true. The APPLE video engine is what is restrictive. Not the iPad. The iPad has the power to play directly ripped Bluray files. In other words, anything you can throw at it. That is the whole point to this thread. Plex uses the Apple video engine which limits what can be natively played. But VLC or Infuse on the iPad will play anything you throw at them with no transcoding at all. So therefore it would be highly beneficial to everyone if Plex used the VLC or Infuse video engine as the default player for Plex videos. Or Plex should write their own video engine like VLC and Infuse (and others on the iPad, too many to mention) have done. Thus bypassing the Apple video engine, and doing away with transcoding altogether on iOS devices. Shoot. Infuse and VLC even support any type of subtitle you throw at them as well! Plex can't even do that WITH transcoding.
We need this feature more than anything else!! Pretty Please!
That is not true. The APPLE video engine is what is restrictive. Not the iPad. The iPad has the power to play directly ripped Bluray files. In other words, anything you can throw at it. That is the whole point to this thread. Plex uses the Apple video engine which limits what can be natively played. But VLC or Infuse on the iPad will play anything you throw at them with no transcoding at all. So therefore it would be highly beneficial to everyone if Plex used the VLC or Infuse video engine as the default player for Plex videos.
Please read up on iOS sandboxing and you'll see this is nowhere near as easy as you think it is. (essentially impossible)
Yes, Plex could write their own decode engine, but understand the development time for such things is measured in years.
3rd party support would be one of the best additions...
i think Plex has finally lost the race on iOS...
iOS Media Player "Infuse" upgraded with New Design, Network Streaming, and more
"add support for multi-format AirPlay streaming as well as the new network streaming feature"
"Stream videos from a Mac, PC or network storage drive"
Please read up on iOS sandboxing and you'll see this is nowhere near as easy as you think it is. (essentially impossible)
Yes, Plex could write their own decode engine, but understand the development time for such things is measured in years.
so infuse is making the impossible possible? :)
I use Infuse on iOS with trakt scrobbling - and then scrobble the watch-status back from trakt to plex. Infuse has all the covers and informations from trakt, which works pretty much the same as with Plex. Except of the play-pause-status, there is almost no difference.
Instead of asking Plex to integrate more formats, i think we have better chances to get what we want, if we ask Infuse to integrate PMS support ;)
i've created a thread about this request: http://forum.firecore.com/topic/11744
