Server Version#: Version 1.18.0.1913 running on Windows 10 box
Player Version#: Roku 3 player
All of a sudden in the last few days, I am unable to play x265 media to my Roku clients.
I had an entire season of a show that was x265 1080p encoded (MKV with embedded subtitles - I always have subtitles on). I had watched the first 14 episodes with no issues over the previous few weeks and then noticed when I went to play E15 a few days ago that it would stutter and then not play properly. I rebooted the server, and rebooted my router, but that did not fix. Then tonight I went to play another new episode of a series encoded x265 720p and that wouldn’t play either? I have played the entire season of that as well before this.
I can’t recall exactly when I updated Plex last and if it coincided with this problem, but nothing else has changed - no Windows updates, hardware, or client changes.
Could the latest version of Plex server have broken this?
If it helps - here is the info on the files that are no longer playing properly…
OK - it looks like the HEVC transcoding is maxing out my CPU now.
While I had never checked the CPU load before, I had never seen stuttering due to CPU overload before?
I know my CPU is not top end - i5-8400 2.8 GHz, but should it not transcode a 720p HEVC stream without overloading?
If not, any suggestions for an economical LGA1151 upgrade?
The video card is a GT 1030 with 2 GB.
I turned on hardware acceleration and it reduced the CPU use, but the video doesn’t look as good.
Indeed, Coffee Lake cpu’s do support H.265 in hardware.
Which type of subtitles are in these files?
Compare the earlier and the current episodes.
Do you have hardware transcoding activated at all?
Thanks, @OttoKerner, the entire 25 episode season was encoded the same way, there are embedded SRT subtitles in the MKV files. I did not have hardware transcoding turned on before, I do now, but the video quality is poorer?
Even if I tried to go back and play a previous video that had played OK previously, it would stutter and be unwatchable.
Here is media info from VLC:
If you have Roku’s Audio Enhancements activated (Leveling/Night Listening) - that will cause a full blown Plex Transcoding session - and if you want a lot of unhappiness with HEVC - let Plex transcode it for ya…
Note: those ‘features’ are not intended for use in Plex. They ONLY work for AAC-LC 2.0 and are designed to be used with Roku Channel Apps - to calm down (somewhat) Blasting Commercial Syndrome. In Plex - disable them.
You had same symptoms? Without hardware acceleration turned on?
I honestly don’t know if I should have hardware acceleration turned on, the video looked better before I turned it on. Is there a way to “tune it up”?
I may leave it until that comes out of beta, just in case.
Usable now, just not quite as nice…
Edit: I just installed that build earlier today, it is out of beta now. Did not fix the issue.
I don’t have hardware acceleration enabled on my servers. One of my users noticed a problem with HEVC encoded TV episodes when I upgraded one of my servers to 1.18.0.1846 beta (I was excited about the new music library). Subsequent upgrades to .1892, .1906, and .1913 exhibited the same skipping and eventual transcoder failure. That’s when I came to the forums and found your post. I was about to fall back to the last public release when I saw and installed .1944. HEVC transcoding has been fine since.
So I have hardware acceleration on now, the CPU usage is way down, and these HEVC streams are HORRIBLE!
They look like YouTube videos on a 28 kbps dial-up modem connection
There must be some setting I have screwed up or something. Regular x264 MP4s are fine.
Well, proclaiming success with v1.18.0.1944 was premature. Though playback quality was good, experienced transcoder crashes that left orphaned transcode processes and premature playback termination. I’ve reverted back to v1.17.0.1841 which was the last stable release for me.
