I read an older article talking about why the C2750 will skip on some 1080p movies and not others. It has to do with VC-1 being single threaded. Microsoft's VC-1 transcoding is done as multi-thread and many other transcoder also do VC-1 multi-thread. Plex, however, only single threads VC-1. Has providing VC-1 multi-thread support been put on the "things to do" list by chance?
This would most likely be an issue with ffmpeg which is what the transcoder is based on.
This would most likely be an issue with ffmpeg which is what the transcoder is based on.
Indeed, the folks over at ffmpeg would be the ones to ask about this. I'm guessing they had their reasons, but unfortunately Plex is stuck with how they have done it since it's baked pretty deep into the transcoder.
Not only is plex tied into ffmpeg, but also Kodi, so it's all of us :)
Ugh, that bites. Has anyone provided a work around at all? I'm guessing only option would be to lower the transcoder mbps ? Or possibly up'ing the read ahead might help?
The only thing I have found was to throw more power at it (it's why I went with the i7-2600k when I did my last upgrade). My i3 nuc direct plays mine just fine, but anything else would stutter on my old i3 mac mini running PMS. And by more power I mean more power per thread, not more cores.
Transcode in handbrake with RF: 16 and afterwards mux the original subtitle and audio tracks in. Done.
Transcode in handbrake with RF: 16 and afterwards mux the original subtitle and audio tracks in. Done.
Why? You can just let HB do all of this for you. 16 is probably way to low. 18 is just about undistinguished from blu ray and most use 20. Default is 23.
Why? You can just let HB do all of this for you. 16 is probably way to low. 18 is just about undistinguished from blu ray and most use 20. Default is 23.
default is 20
18 is for DVD in archive quality
16 is for people who otherwise would store uncompressed BluRay rips. It will retain the visual quality of the source VC-1 rip even on a giant screen.
As for remuxing the original audio and subtitles:
There are plenty of bugs in handbrake which make sure that the result does not contain what the source did. Missing language tags, missing 'forced' indicators on subtitles, changed subtitle format (SRT to ASS), omitted track titles and more.
If you rip several languages and get all the subtitles for these languages, you spend alot of time to configure all the options in handbrake to include them. Only to find afterwards, that handbrake messed them up in one or other way. And instead of waiting for handbrake to take another turn that runs for hours, I just let it make the video stream.
Then I mux the transcoded video with audio and subtitles from the original file. That way everything will be unchanged except the video stream.
Can you provide me a link to optimum handbrake settings for transcoding MakeMKV files? I've followed other guides, but I've only got it working a few times where the rips are good. Most of the time something is set wrong and even VLC player won't play the rips.
default is 20
18 is for DVD in archive quality
16 is for people who otherwise would store uncompressed BluRay rips. It will retain the visual quality of the source VC-1 rip even on a giant screen.
As for remuxing the original audio and subtitles:
There are plenty of bugs in handbrake which make sure that the result does not contain what the source did. Missing language tags, missing 'forced' indicators on subtitles, changed subtitle format (SRT to ASS), omitted track titles and more.
If you rip several languages and get all the subtitles for these languages, you spend alot of time to configure all the options in handbrake to include them. Only to find afterwards, that handbrake messed them up in one or other way. And instead of waiting for handbrake to take another turn that runs for hours, I just let it make the video stream.
Then I mux the transcoded video with audio and subtitles from the original file. That way everything will be unchanged except the video stream.
Yes your right. I'm thinking h.264 in general and 23 is the default. HB uses 20 for both the normal and high profile.
I would beg to differ about using 16 or 18 however. 20 is very good for itself. Remember each "notch" on the scale is logarithmic. DVD vs Blu Ray makes no difference to HB or any other encoder so it makes no sense to use different values if it's a DVD vs a Blu Ray. If it's a quick action type movie then sure use 18 but for most comedies, dramas and other non action films a value of 20 is normally perfect.
I haven't experienced the problems you have with HB. Are you running a nightly build? They usually have a lot more fixes in it then the release version.
Have you tried using ffmpeg instead of HB? Might make things easier for you with all that you presently do.
I would beg to differ about using 16 or 18 however. 20 is very good for itself. Remember each "notch" on the scale is logarithmic.
This is not the point. The OP is obviously someone who stores uncompressed BluRay rips. This is about easing "transcodability" (is that even a word?) for plex, not about finding the best balance between video quality and file size. For someone who normally stores full rips, the 16 is the right choice for maintaining maximum video quality without the file size getting bigger than the original. ;)
I haven't experienced the problems you have with HB. Are you running a nightly build? They usually have a lot more fixes in it then the release version.
I'm using almost always nightly builds. My problems are mostly connected with mkvs. These are usually already highly customized with tracks in the right order, track titles put in and 'forced' tags on the right subtitle tracks. It pisses me off a great amount when all that is suddenly thrown away by handbrake. Not long ago, HB would even strip chapter titles.
And then there is the thing with HD audio that is still not right. Sometimes handbrake only leaves the core 'audio', sometimes it marks the audio tracks wrong so the player software doesn't recognize it as a HD track anymore.
Have you tried using ffmpeg instead of HB? Might make things easier for you with all that you presently do.
I like my GUIs. I don't fancy learning yet another set of command line params.
OttoKerner,
Hope I didn't offend you. Not my intention at all.
I have HB remove the subtitle from my rips so I'm not experiencing the problems you are. I don't want to come across that you are doing any thing wrong. There are so MANY combinations of use that NO ONE can test or know anything about every combination of use or what bugs exist when using these combination!!!!
You sound like someone who knows there way around the media files. Would you be interested in testing a set of scripts I'm working on? I'm trying to come up with a "universal" encoder/transcaoder/remuser that will do what is needed to get your files in shape for Plex. Defaults are mp4, adds an AAC track for universal audio, etc?
I too like the GUIs and use a combination of HB and Xmedia to either transcode or remux but I'm getting tired of it so I've been working on a script to handle much of it. The basic idea is to configure the app by way of an INI file It will determine if it needs to transcode or remux a file, pull the subtitles from the file making an SRT or download the files (depending on settings and languages selected), etc.
Anyway, if interested, shoot me a PM.
Carlo
Hope I didn't offend you. Not my intention at all.
No offense taken.
I don't want to come across that you are doing any thing wrong. There are so MANY combinations of use that NO ONE can test or know anything about every combination of use or what bugs exist when using these combination!!!!
Exactly. There is no 'magic bullet' for every situation. My recommendation was tailored to the OP.
btw. I use RF 20 myself ;)
Would you be interested in testing a set of scripts I'm working on? I'm trying to come up with a "universal" encoder/transcaoder/remuser that will do what is needed to get your files in shape for Plex.
Thanks for the offer, but I lack the time and the testing material. And I don't wanna do it on an 'industrial scale' :D
I've noticed on my server (Windows 7 Pro 32-bit, 4GB RAM, Intel Core2 Quad Q9550 @ 2.83GHz) that VC-1 blu-ray rips seem to play fine for about 30 minutes, and then start stuttering on my Sony NSZ-GS7 Google TV box (video is being transcoded, audio already converted to AC3 via MakeMKV). A simple stop and resume of the playback gets things back on track (presumably because it stops and restarts the transcoder), but stuttering will again occur after another 30 minutes. I'll have to turn on debugging and capture some logs to substantiate this, though.
So anyone have a HandBrakeCLI string with the best settings for blu-ray rips? I'm fine with using RF: 20, but my biggest complaint is the 'Normal' and 'High Profile' settings both change from 1080p to 1920x800 for resolution. When I've tried to monkey with these settings in the past, I ended up making files that were unplayable. So a HandBrakeCLI string would be much appreciated.
