@seangreensean said:
By OpenPHT you mean Plex Home Theatre and PMP you mean PlexMediaPlayer (still only via Plexpass).
precisely
As long as 2 are matching (h.264 8bit, “burn in” subtitles) all other variables will be ok for direct play?
yes, i Think so
By 8 Bit colour do you mean what appears as ‘bit depth’ in Plex info?
yes
To change a video to h.264 and 8 bit color would I do that say via Hand-break? Does that mean it will get resampled (transcoded) and lose some quality?
yes, but not as much as if Plex transcodes it on-the-fly
Why doesn’t Plex web app just have the ability to play directly any file like VLC can (if desired)?
Because it runs in a web browser. And web browsers are not multi-format home theatre applications.
That’s what the real HTPC apps are there for - like [see above]
is there a way to see how ‘much’ it is being transcoded - i.e. how much quality that is lost (that maybe for another post).!
Only you can be the judge. It depends highly on your screen (its size, mainly) and your eyesight.
Are there other formats that are the same as h.264 under another name?
The other moniker of h.264 is AVC
. It may be embedded in different ‘containers’ though.
I’ve seen h.264 in AVI, MKV, MP4 files.
But this does not mean that every AVI, MKV or MP4 file contains video in the h.264 codec
Do you think PMA and PHT could play as many file types directly as VLC.
No. But they support enough which are used for home videos and movies.
Does it help if I set all the player steaming quality options to Original (see screenshot)
Of course it helps. But the network connection between player and plex server must be fast enough to deliver the data in the original quality. Which is no problem if you have a GBit ethernet wired network. Not so much if it is just WiFi or 3G.
Does it help to set transcoder quality to automatic, higher quality or make my CPU hurt.! (see screenshot)
It does only make a slight difference quality-wise, but a big one in cpu load. Leave it on Automatic
by ‘media info XML’ do you mean like the following link? I clicked on XML in info but just this : https://86-148-119-22.f72d20ab8a5c4a89b1750464cdc41cdb.plex.direct:28095/library/metadata/106?checkFiles=1&includeExtras=1&X-Plex-Token=DUjBYPfwjGknn2G3AtZa
I can’t see the file because that would require access to your plex server.
I attached a screenshot of movie thats being transcoded (probably because it is MPEG4?
Yep. Browsers can’t play MPEG4.