PLEX HTPC - 1080P Transcode Missing

[Kung-Foo-Kamel]

Server Version#: 1.32.8.7639
Player Version#: 1.54.0.4072

I have an issue with Plex HTPC app, both the standard install and the Windows Store version, have tested on multiple Windows 10 Machines, all have the same result.

I cant select 1080p transcoding, its 4K or 720p, I will also state, none of my TV’s or monitors are 4k, I have maybe 2 videos that are actually 4K, everything is 1080P.

If I run the web app, or the Windows Plex Media Player or any of the Plex addonds for Kodi, they will all allow me to select multiple different 1080P transcode steams.

Below is a screen shot of the the issue, and this is the same even if I try to change to a transcode stream while a particular video is playing.

When I try to play one of the 4K files I actually have, playback is not great, so switching to 1080P transcode is desirable, but there is no option for it.

This isnt a server related issue, as it can transcode perfectly fine to an Apple TV when I force it too, my server is an i9-9900K with a Quadro P620 GPU, so hardware is more than adiquate, the 3 machines I have been testing Plex HTPC have the following spec:

Intel I5-6500T
8GB Ram
Windows 10 Pro
Gigabit Lan

AMD R7 5700
32GB Ram
RX 6900 XT
Windows 10 Pro
2.5 Gigabit Lan

AMD R7 5800X
32GB Ram
RTX 2080
Windows 10 Pro
Gigabit Lan

I have also manually entered my lan server IP address and port number, have also tried always use insecure connection.

Also, maximum remote quality settings show exactly the same as the local quality settings, 4k or 720p

I have seen this issue mention once in these forums, and multiple times on Reddit, all have been closed with no actual fix mentioned.

Adding some additional screen shots:

[pshanew]

It’s not very intuitive, but what you’re really selecting from that list is the bitrate, not necessarily the resolution. If you’re connected to a non-4K display and you select the 8Mbps 4K option it will play at 8 Mbps at the maximum supported resolution of the display (1080P, for example).

Here’s an example where I selected 8 Mbps 4K on a client which doesn’t support 4K:

Note that it’s transcoding to 1080P.

[Kung-Foo-Kamel]

If you take a look at the additional screen shots I just posted, I cant select anything but 720p from the video thats playing, its direct stream 4K or its transcode to 720p

I will force it in the settings to 4K 8 and see what it does.

[Kung-Foo-Kamel]

No, doesnt works.

4K file plays direct, if I disable direct play, it will transcode to 4K or 720P, also I selected 4K 8mb forced for both local and remote, and I get a 4K to 4K transcode or a 4K to 720P transcode.

No 1080P in sight anywhere??

[pshanew]

Something strange is going on. Try setting the local quality in settings back to original (you’re on a LAN, so that’s the relevant one). After doing so, start playback of your 4K file again and then see what options you have in your playback settings. It’s possible that it’s limiting your options since the source file’s bitrate is so low to begin with (My test file is 19 Mbps, yours is 6 Mbps).

[Kung-Foo-Kamel]

Already tried this, have jumped through settings back and forth, on multiple machines, same behaviour, and all of my H265 bit rates are low as I a year ago I went and crunched them down from H264, was taking up to much space.

The issue is, I only have one 4K device, my projector, all other devices in my house are 1080p, and most struggle to playback 4K content and need those files transcoded to 1080p

I agree on the something strange, I have 4 Apple TV’s all work as expected, I can select any type of transcode stream I like, all web players and media players, Kodi addons, heck even the crap app in one of the Samsung TV’s will transcode to 1080P just not the Plex HTPC app

I will install it on a Linux box and see what happens there.

[pshanew]

Sorry, I should have looked more closely at your additional screenshots after my initial post. Based on those and what I see here on some low-bitrate files I have, it seems that Plex HTPC will only show bitrates lower than that of the source file in its video quality selection for the file. I suppose that makes sense on some level, except that it’s not consistent across clients.

Anyway, sorry for the distraction. Good luck!

[Kung-Foo-Kamel]

Its a silly way of handeling the video file, its obvious the app is flawed, I just tried on debian, and its identical, whats annoying, is its trying to play the 4K file on 1080p machines, and they are stuttering, and need to be transcoded to 1080P.

No other client has this behaviour, I get many choices of 1080P, regardless of the bit rate of the original file.

Im trying so hard to drop Apple, but these brick walls are making it so hard, none of the Kodi addons support the Plex PVR feature, so Im forced to use the Plex HTPC app, all members of the house use the Plex APP on ATV for everything including Live TV, adding to this, those 4K files that stutter under direct play in Plex HTPC, play perfectly fine in Kodi on the very same hardware, and they will also passthrough ATMOS audio, Plex will not.

[Kung-Foo-Kamel]

The way this app works is just plain stupid:

Connection1IP=192.168.0.136
AllowInsecureConnections=always
PreferInsecureConnections=always
QualitySuggestions=0
RemoteQuality=b2000
ShowConsoleOverlay=0
aa7dfc2ff1fd2700-RecentSearches=["UNHING"]
747704d71117e2beeca6c16ec5bedaa553080275_PlaybackQuality=b2000
LocalQuality=b2000
MaximumRemoteQuality=b2000
AllowDirectPlay=0
AllowDirectStream=0
Resolution=FHD
AutoSignIn=1

Manually changing the config will force it to 720p, it bases the resolution on the bit rate, end of story, anything under 8mbit is says is 720p, above is 1080p, it also looks at the orginal bitrate, if its under 8mb, and you select transcode, it will only allow 720p, or the same resolution of the orginal file, doesnt matter if its 4k or 1080p it will just use the orginal files resolution, even if the display and hardware cant support it.

This way of handling the video rates and resolutions is just silly, my files are H265, and will clearly be half, to a quarter of the bitrate of H264, the app is just assuming that a 2 to 6mbit file in H265 is low quality, this is some dumb design decisions, I should be able to make my own decision on what resolution vs bitrate to use, basically this app does not support transcoding into a bit rate above the orginal files rate, this is silly by design and really needs to change, this just falls back to a thread I ran years ago about Plex not properly supporting H265 and being stuck in the dark ages with H264.

This is the sort of forced feature I get from Apple, I think I will be looking at another solution and moving away from Plex, as it has gotton bloated and not really suitable for the direction I want to head in.