Why can’t we turn off the server transcoding and hand over all the transcoding work to the client like emby server?
This is Plex’s biggest failure.
Does the client transcode in that case? If a client can decode (read a file), then it’s not transcoding (re-encoding into another format).
I assume then you mean simply direct-play (Plex’s term for a no-transcode play). Depending on the device, some client/device combos can play anything under the sun, and never need the file transcoded by the server. If you encounter transcoding and you feel it shouldn’t, let’s investigate.
- It could be transcoding because of throughput issues (streaming a 4K video over a 8 Mbps upload, for example).
- It could be transcoding because the format is not capable of playing it (x265 is not fully supported by older devices).
- It could be transcoding because your device WANTS it (iPhones might ask for the video file to fit their screen, rather than taking the original file and downscaling it)
I believe you missed it.
Please see: Settings - Server - Transcoder - SHOW ADVANCED
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Disabling video transcoding is what everyone wanted.
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If video transcoding is required then it will refuse to transcode, as commanded.
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If you have MKV files and the player can’t accept that as DirectPlay (like Apple devices) then the playback would completely fail without REMUX (performed by transcoder at about 5-10% CPU
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If the player cant handle the audio (many TVs have very limited codecs), would you rather the entire playback fail ?
Is this a failure or the server performing the bare minimum to ensure you can play the requested file ?
If the server said “NO WAY” to any operation then the burden would be entirely on the server owner fo fully curate all media files and ensure they are preprocessed for the least-capable player (MP4, Stereo, no-subtitles)
@ChuckPa
Thank you! This is really helpful. Transcoding has indeed been reduced a lot.
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