it would be IMMENSELY helpful if you guys could add a “NO TRANSCODING” allowed feature.
Probably better said as “DIRECT PLAY ONLY”
I have to constantly tell people I have shared with to change their settings so that they direct play… Like…ALL THE TIME!!!
I know their client hardware can do direct play. But for some stupid reason, 99% of the time, they are transcoding to 480p or 720p.
It is absolutely infuriating that you don’t already have this option.
I would rather my friends suffer with not being able to watch something because they’re using stupid old hardware of they’re on their phone on a road trip. Than have to call or text them every other day to tell them change their settings so they are watching in original quality.
What version of Plex Media Server are you using?
On what version of Windows?
Plex will not transcode video for any user if that box is checked. Plex will still transcode audio if necessary. Plex will still remux / direct stream the media if necessary.
If a user attempts to play a video that must be transcoded, they will receive a “Server is not powerful enough to convert the video” error message (very vague, but that’s what it says).
If this is not working on your server, then there is a bug in Plex Media Server or your system is not working correctly.
I really just want the engineering/development team to see/hear my request.
This is something that has been discussed at length on the Plex groups on facebook. I am not the only one that has this issue.
Now either this can be handled with a server side setting.
Or maybe more intelligently. On the client side. Doing some better detection for speed/latency and local hardware capabilities. Even just defaulting to play at original quality be default would be great. Another idea, set server side profiles or minimum requirements for clients to play content. If you don’t have the hardware or the bandwidth, you can’t play.
I had friends using a Roku, which is horrible for x265 support. They would transcode everything , usually to 480p. I made them get an nvidia shield and they still had the same problem. Again, infuriating that there’s no intelligence built in for quality settings.
They don’t live far from me, I have gigabit fiber, they have 300Mbps comcast. Even with them as the only connected device. It defaults to 480p
I had to go to their house and show them how to make things permanent. That was an hour drive to and from.
I also have family in Hawai’i. They’re not tech savvy and I can’t exactly pop over and change settings for them.
You mean beside sparing the CPU/GPU for other tasks, preventing a system/server’s fans from ramping up to 100%, and saving a bunch of power, better quality, less buffering and less issues overall if the server can’t actually handle the transcoding?
Or the reduced loading time, less times the player crashes and I have to reboot etc etc… There’s plenty of reasons. Which also count for the ‘Default All Clients to Max Internet Streaming’ here above me.
I find that when I’m remote it takes less time to start a movie with transcoding than without, as it it may sit there for 10 minutes trying to buffer before failing. But I never see my CPU peg with Hardware transcoding, and That is with 8 simultaneous transcodes.
While I agree that the plex clients should default to max for remote and local, that doesn’t mean that my upload or the remote’s download is capable of streaming the content.
And when I want to watch a game when i’m out and about I want to watch the game. So I have spent some good money making sure that my server can live transcode whatever it is I want to watch
If your content is 1080p and you have at least a 1080p monitor it will not transcode, as it doesn’t have to.
Unless that 720p 2mbps setting is ticked, then it will.
You can set a maximum transcode resolution server-side, you can set a max bandwidth level and adjust some other minor things as normal.
Not having the network bandwidth to play the video in original quality is a personal issue, and can be solved by that server if they wish. That doesn’t mean I have to live with a 2mbps transcode on a gigabit up- and download link, right?
Other way around too, if the client can’t stream it in original quality, they can… Simply use the quality settings within the video player and fix it themselves too! You can change quality in youtube, netflix, and basically every other video player and streamer in the world. So why would plex users be incapable of doing this?
90% of plex servers has no use for a 720p 2mbps setting being enforced, for that 90% it is an annoyance that requires constant explaining for the almost nonexistent reasons to have that as a default.
Really, I invite any plex dev/employee on a debate as to why that setting is worth it as it stands. I know they will read, laugh and continue on making features no one really asked for.
I’m not quite sure why you are arguing with me. I agree have the remote quality set to 720 on the clients is point less at this point.
But I will say this though, Not having the upload bandwidth is not always something that the server owner can remedy. Gigabit upload is not available in 90% of the US. Heck I’d be surprised if 90% of the use can get above 10mbps upload
but we are getting away from the OPs original request. Which has already been noted that the feature he wishes to have implemented already exists. And he should do as @anon18523487 requested, reproduce the error and submit the server logs
