Server Version#: 1.19.1.2645
Player Version#: All devices
I’ve tried reading previous threads, but nothing seems to answer why a locally streamed file would need to be transcoded. My network is fine. My devices / computer are overkill (i7/latest iPads/iPhones). Everything is set to “direct play”.
Is it that Plex apps are not able to handle/play the incoming stream?
Why is it impossible to force direct play regardless of settings?
On a wired connection I get 100MB/s.
On wireless, only a 35GB HDR movie caused buffering via VLC iOS app on an iPad Mini 5. 90% of my media is 300MB, however so there is never buffering with other apps like VLC/Infuse.
It’s getting frustrating to force an older Synology system to transcode. This is on top of all the other issues popping up from randomly “unavailable” media, remote connection saying it’s not available (but it is), corrupted database losing years of watch history (so now I have to remember to backup that), etc.
*small note: I’m not upset with you. Just ticked off with all the issues I’ve been having lately with no simple solution. <3
I can’t predict every client that everyone is going to use so I tell everyone to direct stream.
At one point Plex was able to easily play any video via direct stream just like standalone players (VLC/Infuse). Not sure what’s happened the last few months. At least that was my experience.
There is no option to disable transcoding other than limiting the number of transcodes. But when you do that, they’ve hard coded in to not even attempt playing the video. I’m not a guru at this, but streaming from any other app other than Plex let’s you watch at full quality with no server side transcoding.
As a test, I loaded up Infuse with Plex and accessed the same files via an SMB protocol. Plex = bandwidth limit on most videos while SMB = direct play no issues even on multi-GB files.
For everything Plex does, not acting as a stand-alone player such as VLC/Infuse seems silly. You’re telling me to re-convert thousands of videos to cater to just 1 type of client (iPad). That or suck it up and let my server’s CPU fry itself into an early death.
Right, that’s why I asked if Plex wasn’t able to handle/play files in the original post.
And which preset or settings do you recommend on Handbrake? Because that’s what I use to before anything gets added to Plex. H.264 MP4 AAC is what I have it set at.
What presets on Handbrake will allow all clients to direct play?
Correct time stamp pops up after hitting play but it won’t play. Sometimes it’ll throw an Unavailable tag. Sometimes it’ll say something along the lines of “Item not able to play right now”.
I’m assuming it’s a different issue since now the server just keeps disconnecting whenever I try to play random shows (some work some cause a disconnect).
With that in mind, I’m lost on why Plex is failing but the server works without hiccup:
Plex via Infuse throws a Bandwidth error. Including on a 308MB file using the preset you shared.
Server SMB connection via Infuse works perfectly.
[log deleted]
Edit:
Yup, looks like Plex package completely crashed. Nothing has changed since I last had to completely removed Plex package + share + user. So if any mods are skimming through this…check out all of the people posting about the package crashing and local buffering.
That 2fx file doesn’t exist. I don’t know what it is.
That episode is corrupted, yes (it’s the only one that I’m aware of). But this issue is happening with multiple files, as stated in various series. It’s also happening on the one with your preset. So I’m assuming something else is wrong.
As for my network: Comcast modem->switch->server. Only settings changed on modem is the 32400 port forward.
So…not sure what could be wrong with the network.
As for encoding files, again I used your preset. I restarted the server and was able to open up that newly encoded file. It transcoded.
Another error I got, and assuming why that file still transcoded, was that my upload limit is at 2000kbps. But it’s at 99999Mbps.
But anyway, I really appreciate you taking your time helping me. I think I’m done with Plex since I can’t find any direct play capability and it’s becoming too limited in functionality + performance. And I just can’t really have the server CPU under high load. I’ll just have to load up the episodes for the family manually.
