Playback Error This server is not powerful enough to convert video

Plex Media Server
1

Server Version#: QNAP NAS TS431-P Operating System Version 1.18.9.2571
Player Version#: Version 4.30.1 (but also will not play on Apple TV, iPad, iPhone, etc.)Plex Media Server Logs_2020-03-29_11-13-12.zip (8.3 MB)

  • This used to work on Apple devices it no longer does
  • Running QNAP NAS Plex Server
  • I have Lifetime Plex Pass
  • Used to be able to stream to any device but now cannot stream to Apple TV, Amazon Fire Cube, iPhone, iPad or Web player on Mac OS Catalina 10.15.3
  • Plex DOES stream successfully on Windows Surface using MS Explorer, Roku and Samsung Smart TV

Error I get is, “Playback Error This server is not powerful enough to convert video”

Thank You!

2

What NAS do you have? Also what is the media format? Were you usually direct play before and now transcoding?

3

I am using QNAP NAS and everything is encoded H.264.

I got an error on Roku stating that server did not have necessary power and I switched to direct play and it began working just fine.

I am hoping to find a solution that will allow me to playback on my Windows, Roku and Samsung devices as well as on my iOS, OSX and Amazon Firecube devices.

Thank you.

4

What model QNAP?

5

QNAP Model is TS-431P

6

I have this NAS, if you read the NAS compatibility list that is available on this site this NAS is known to not have the power to transcode.

Your choices are to use the NAS for storage and use another device to be the server (I’ve done this with an intel NUC) or convert all your media to a format that will direct play.

7

That is very helpful. Can you tell me what formats do not need to be transcoded?

8

That depend on what you are trying to play it on, Plex will try to transcode to a format the player can play, in your case the server is unable to do that so you get the error.

Does anything play? If so that format clearly works.

If you have no content that will play, check documentation for your player device, it should list video compatibility

9

The media plays on Roku, Samsung and Windows but Roku required me to set direct play before anything played.

It appears that the Apple devices that used to work no longer work.

10

Is there a format I can use that will work with iOS devices and Apple TV?

11

can’t help with Apple, don’t have one.

12

FYI…

Works with Chrome on Windows, just not Chrome on Mac.

Here is how Plex reports one of the current video streams (compression, direct play, etc.)

Video
480p (H.264 Constrained Baseline)
Direct Play
Audio
English (AAC 5.1)
Direct Play

13

H.264 is a video compression codec. MP4 and MKV are containers, AC 5.1 and AAC are audio compression codecs.

With that now being said typically the highest compatibility with devices would be:
MP.4 using H.264 and AC5.1 (I know people sometimes say AAC but in my research AC5.1 is more compatible both forward and backwards AND has been the least problematic).

If you are not using that combo play with the listed codecs/containers, research your devices and see which support directly what is listed above. Encode accordingly then ensure everything is set up to direct play.

Schtevo_66 Already answered what I was working on getting to and that was if your server could transcode which why now know it has difficulties in that area, this leaves you with the options above or find another server to run PLEX which can transcode and use your NAS model as storage only.

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