Server Version#: 1.18.2.2058
Player Version#: Most Recent
Hi, I’m trying to view a Bluray MKV that is encoded in VC-1 and getting a lot of stuttering and buffering…to the point that it’s not watchable. The client is a FireTV Cube.
At first, I thought since all the processing is done on the server side that my server was not powerful enough. But this was surprising since it’s a Threadripper 1950X running Windows Server 2016.
So, I tested running the Plex Client on a Windows 10 PC and the video plays perfectly. Therefore, I’m concluding it’s the FireTV Cube client that’s the problem.
Are there any optimizations or settings I need to do to watch VC-1 content on a FireTV Cube? H.264 content plays fine.
I’m fairly certain that the Cube is not capable enough to play VC-1 encoded content. So Plex is trying to transcode it on the fly (into a compatible format) and it sounds like your PC isn’t powerful for that.
It works to play it on your computer with Plex because that format is compatible on PCs.
Thank you. Is the transcoding done in my server or by the FireTV cube? My server is a threadripper 16 core machine so I imagine that is fast enough (if the transcoding is done on the server). Thank you!
It’s done at the server. If you go to the the Plex dashboard on the Plex server via the web during playback on the FireTV you should see some good info.
I’m not up on all the inns and outs of transcoding but it may not be a multi threaded process; hardware (GPU) requires a supported model and a Plex Pass.
VC-1 is, unfortunately, a SINGLE CORE operation - pretty much turning those 16 Cores into a boat anchor.
The solution, as much as it pains me to say it, is a full blown recode to .264 with your weapon of choice - mine is Handbrake (and it’s gonna take a while). Plex can optimize a .264 version most likely (and eventually).
I prefer, if there are any mistakes to be made in the encoding process, to make those myself.
