I subscribed to a PLEX PASS and installed PLEX on my XBOX ONE yesterday. When playing TV episode files (< 1.5GB in size), there are no issues. However, when playing MKV movie files (>5GB), there is a constant lag/stutter every 20 to 30 seconds, lasting a few seconds, going back to normal and then repeating. I messed with every single setting on the PLEX server possible, restarting the server (my QNAP NAS) after every setting change -- even tried moving the transcode files to stop it from transcoding. After realizing that nothing appeared to resolve the issue, I decided to try PLEX on 2 different devices:
1- Apple TV 3: Worked without any lag/issue whatsoever on the same file that stutters on the XBOX ONE
2- Desktop PC: Tried Plex 'web', again without any lag/issue whatsoever on the exact same file that stutters on the XBOX ONE
My XBOX ONE, like my Apple TV 3, is connected via Wifi but the XBOX is located in a more 'central' location to the router and is showing 100% signal strength in the network settings.
Is there an issue with the XBOX ONE PLEX app, causing files to play slowly/with issue? Has anyone else seen this issue on their system?
Quick update: Been reading through the forums, and decided to go to "Activity" to see the differences in the way the content is playing on the XBOX vs. the Apple TV vs. my PC (web browser). Here are the differences:
XBOX-ONE: Status: Transcoding, Video: Transcode (h264), Audio: Direct Stream
APPLE TV 3: Status: Transcoding (throttled), Video: Direct Stream, Audio: Transcode (aac)
PC (WEB BROWSER): Status: Transcoding, Video: Direct Stream, Audio: Transcode (aac)
Why would the XBOX-ONE have to transcode the MKV file for VIDEO, whereas the other two devices don't and play them using "Direct Stream"?
The Xbox One doesn't need to transcode the video portion of an mkv, in fact it'll play mkv's natively, but only with specific audio formats.
It's DTS that's causing the issue, and that does need to be transcoded into dolby, and for some reason it's causing stuttering (not related to cpu load or network load) during playback of many films.
I've even tested this extensively to the point where I have quite a few films with dolby and dts soundtracks, and switching from dts to dolby removes the issue entirely.
Quick update: Been reading through the forums, and decided to go to "Activity" to see the differences in the way the content is playing on the XBOX vs. the Apple TV vs. my PC (web browser). Here are the differences:
XBOX-ONE: Status: Transcoding, Video: Transcode (h264), Audio: Direct Stream
APPLE TV 3: Status: Transcoding (throttled), Video: Direct Stream, Audio: Transcode (aac)
PC (WEB BROWSER): Status: Transcoding, Video: Direct Stream, Audio: Transcode (aac)
Why would the XBOX-ONE have to transcode the MKV file for VIDEO, whereas the other two devices don't and play them using "Direct Stream"?
Your Qnap nas is trancoding the video when you play the above movie on your xbox. Transcoding video is CPU intensive, and I'm guessing your Qnap is having difficulty keeping up. This translates to playback freezing/pausing every so often.
