Server Version#: 1.21.4.4079 (running on Ubuntu v18.04)
Player Version#: 1.28.0.1681 (running on Windows 10)
I’d like to understand why some of my movies suffer from horrible buffering and some do not.
For example:
Movie 1 - plays fine
Local (8 Mbps)
Video: 720p (H.264) - direct play
Audio: DTS 5.1 - direct play
Movie 2 - horrible buffering, unwatchable
Local (4 Mbps)
Video: 720p (H.264) - direct play
Audio: Unknown (AAC Stereo) - direct play
The only real difference I see is the audio. Is that to be expected? Can I “fix” this somehow or is the solution to just make sure I do not chose media with that audio?
<MediaContainer size="1" allowSync="1" identifier="com.plexapp.plugins.library" librarySectionID="1" librarySectionTitle="Movies" librarySectionUUID="522dbc68-c3a1-445a-b1ec-690b08132215" mediaTagPrefix="/system/bundle/media/flags/" mediaTagVersion="1614092584">
<Video ratingKey="43594" key="/library/metadata/43594" guid="plex://movie/5d7768282e80df001ebdcebb" studio="Paramount" type="movie" title="Top Gun" librarySectionTitle="Movies" librarySectionID="1" librarySectionKey="/library/sections/1" contentRating="PG" summary="A heart-pounding combination of action, music and incredible aerial photography helped make Top Gun the blockbuster hit. of 1986. Top Gun takes a look at the danger and excitement that awaits every pilot at the Navy's prestigious fighter weapons school. Tom Cruise is superb as Lt. Pete "Maverick" Mitchell, a daring young flyer who's out to become the best. And Kelly McGillis sizzles as the civilian instructor who teaches Maverick a few things you can't learn in a classroom." rating="5.4" audienceRating="8.3" viewOffset="177000" lastViewedAt="1614705169" year="1986" tagline="Up there with the best of the best." thumb="/library/metadata/43594/thumb/1613475945" art="/library/metadata/43594/art/1613475945" duration="6575610" originallyAvailableAt="1986-05-16" addedAt="1613475943" updatedAt="1613475945" audienceRatingImage="rottentomatoes://image.rating.upright" primaryExtraKey="/library/metadata/43597" ratingImage="rottentomatoes://image.rating.rotten">
<Media id="50557" duration="6575610" bitrate="1349" width="1280" height="544" aspectRatio="2.35" audioChannels="2" audioCodec="aac" videoCodec="h264" videoResolution="720" container="mp4" videoFrameRate="24p" optimizedForStreaming="1" audioProfile="lc" has64bitOffsets="0" videoProfile="high">
<Part accessible="1" exists="1" id="50557" key="/library/parts/50557/1378004634/file.mp4" duration="6575610" file="/media/plex/movies/Top.Gun.1986.BluRay.720p.H264-20-40/Top.Gun.1986.BluRay.720p.H264.mp4" size="1112193867" audioProfile="lc" container="mp4" deepAnalysisVersion="4" has64bitOffsets="0" optimizedForStreaming="1" requiredBandwidths="4037,2981,1805,1394,1360,1360,1360,1360" videoProfile="high">
<Stream id="35189" streamType="1" default="1" codec="h264" index="1" bitrate="1285" bitDepth="8" chromaLocation="left" chromaSubsampling="4:2:0" codedHeight="544" codedWidth="1280" frameRate="23.976" hasScalingMatrix="0" height="544" level="41" profile="high" refFrames="5" requiredBandwidths="3970,2916,1741,1329,1295,1295,1295,1295" streamIdentifier="2" width="1280" displayTitle="720p (H.264)" extendedDisplayTitle="720p (H.264)"> </Stream>
<Stream id="35188" streamType="2" selected="1" default="1" codec="aac" index="0" channels="2" bitrate="64" profile="lc" requiredBandwidths="65,65,65,65,65,65,65,65" samplingRate="48000" streamIdentifier="1" displayTitle="Unknown (AAC Stereo)" extendedDisplayTitle="Unknown (AAC Stereo)"> </Stream>
</Part>
</Media>
This most likely means that the mp4 file was produced without “interleaving”. Some faulty software and scripts out there did (and might still do) this.
P.S. while you’re at it, you can add proper language info to the audio track. So it appears in Plex as “English”, instead of “Unknown”.
