Hi ChuckPa,
Ok, I created a copy of my Plex server. Upgraded it to 1.25. (only difference is that this one doesn’t have a GPU transcoder)
I tried all the .264 and HEVC files up to 100mbit. They all play perfectly in original quality on Chrome. (If a little long to start on the larger ones)
I then tried one of my offending videos, again, stopped at 1minute 29seconds exactly.
Anything else I can do to help track this issue down?
Cheers!
Thanks very much for the update Chuck, do you still need us to run the test files files mentioned above? Or do you have enough info for now.
I’ll get the discs and rip them.
I do not yet know the legality of taking a clip out of those videos and sharing here.
I need to research that.
If I can then we’ll have some very serious test files.
8K master → 4K UHD output.
The discs I ordered seem to be one of the renowned standards for video testing.
sounds good. While I’m here. Is there a recommended handbrake encoding settings for maximum compatibility with Plex? For example, how will you encode from these test discs?
Handbrake?
If you want maximum compatibility - NEVER re-encode the files.
Re-encoding them breaks the professionally mastered encoding.
Take the disc, rip it keeping only those tracks you need, play file.
You have a NAS, right? 
Here’s the perfect example of why you wouldn’t want to re-encode.
[chuck@lizum]$ mediainfo Gemini\ Man\ \(2019\).mkv
General
Unique ID : 274548308703095254382247488325988530962 (0xCE8C14B5496812556FADDD85BD923B12)
Complete name : Gemini Man (2019).mkv
Format : Matroska
Format version : Version 2
File size : 73.0 GiB
Duration : 1 h 57 min
Overall bit rate mode : Variable
Overall bit rate : 89.2 Mb/s
Movie name : Gemini Man (2019)
Encoded date : UTC 2021-08-02 18:41:16
Writing application : MakeMKV v1.16.4 linux(x64-release)
Writing library : libmakemkv v1.16.4 (1.3.10/1.5.2) x86_64-linux-gnu
Video
ID : 1
ID in the original source medium : 4113 (0x1011)
Format : HEVC
Format/Info : High Efficiency Video Coding
Format profile : Main 10@L5.1@High
HDR format : SMPTE ST 2086, HDR10 compatible
Codec ID : V_MPEGH/ISO/HEVC
Duration : 1 h 57 min
Bit rate : 83.7 Mb/s
Width : 3 840 pixels
Height : 2 160 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16:9
Frame rate mode : Constant
Frame rate : 59.940 (60000/1001) FPS
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0 (Type 2)
Bit depth : 10 bits
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.168
Stream size : 68.4 GiB (94%)
Language : English
Default : No
Forced : No
Color range : Limited
Color primaries : BT.2020
Transfer characteristics : PQ
Matrix coefficients : BT.2020 non-constant
Mastering display color primaries : Display P3
Mastering display luminance : min: 0.0010 cd/m2, max: 1000 cd/m2
Maximum Content Light Level : 5180 cd/m2
Maximum Frame-Average Light Level : 1577 cd/m2
Original source medium : Blu-ray
Audio #1
ID : 2
ID in the original source medium : 4352 (0x1100)
Format : MLP FBA 16-ch
Format/Info : Meridian Lossless Packing FBA with 16-channel presentation
Commercial name : Dolby TrueHD with Dolby Atmos
Codec ID : A_TRUEHD
Duration : 1 h 57 min
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 4 204 kb/s
Maximum bit rate : 7 944 kb/s
Channel(s) : 8 channels
Channel layout : L R C LFE Ls Rs Lb Rb
Sampling rate : 48.0 kHz
Frame rate : 1 200.000 FPS (40 SPF)
Bit depth : 24 bits
Compression mode : Lossless
Stream size : 3.44 GiB (5%)
Title : Surround 7.1
Language : English
Default : Yes
Forced : No
Original source medium : Blu-ray
Number of dynamic objects : 11
Bed channel count : 1 channel
Bed channel configuration : LFE
This file is a DirectPlay.
The TrueHD audio is passed to my Onkyo and decoded there.
The video is passed directly through to my LG C1 OLED.
It’s like watching directly off the disc
You know what, I’ve never considered doing it that way. I used to run plex off the FreeNAS, it worked, but was very underpowered and only had 6TB of space. So never considered not encoding them.
However, now I have a lot more space and the plex server is on a ESXI server (was being chucked out from work) and have 8CPU, 16GB and a Geforce 1050Ti assigned to it. How feasible is it to use uncompressed rips for family to steam? Will that setup cope?
Rule #1 - Home viewing gets priority.
Rule #2 - Family / those not contributing your costs get what you can give them – which still isn’t going to be too bad.
I have a NUC8-i7-HVK (i7-8809G CPU w/ 64GB RAM , 1TB NVMe SSD) with ESXi 7.0b. (also have a QNAP i7-7700 machine which does great for both NAS and Plex. It’s now my backup and QA system )
ESXi hosts Ubuntu server 20.04.3, passing the UHD 630 to Ubuntu server
Ubuntu server hosts Plex.
All the media is on the NAS, mounted NFS (My NAS is also Linux)
I run out of upload bandwidth LONG before I run out of CPU/memory.
I can, and frequently do, stream 2x 20 Mbps streams.
The server doesn’t flinch HW transcoding that down to 1080p 20 Mbps.
Gemini Man still comes as 59.94 FPS, 1080p, 20 Mbps, and tone mapped.
By retaining the frame rate, it’s still darn good.
I use “maybe” 10-15% of the CPU for all the transcoding & tone mapping & running PMS of each instance.
Anything local is DirectPlay. (this is where a good player helps because it offloads the server).
Which CPU is in that machine?
Ok, took your advice. Ripped a new blu-ray I got with no compression. 32mbit/s. My Android TV I had to switch to Wifi (it stuttered playing over the 100mbit ethernet connection) and it played flawlessly. I’ve even had a family member watch it while transcoding to 8mbit and it played flawlessly for them too. So this may be the way to go for me, HDD space permitting that is.
The CPU is a Intel Xeon CPU E5-2650L v2 and has a Geforce 1050 Ti to help with transcoding.
However, I’d still like to be able to be able to resolve the initial issue in this thread as it may take a long time to rerip all my old blurays.
@ChuckPa apologies, only now did I get dragged into this thread as it was linked elsewhere (unsure if it’s the same issue as my original thread here - Plex video stops consistently on browser, not on app - #9 by sykogee) but the content I’m playing is not especially high quality. It’s a 720p video, fairly standard containers, and used to work well in the previous web version - and works well in the desktop player.
Duration 22:31
Size 175.00 MB
Audio Profile lc
Container MKV
Video Profile high
Codec H264
Bitrate 1086 kbps
Bit Depth 8
Chroma Location left
Chroma Subsampling 4:2:0
Coded Height 720
Coded Width 1280
Color Primaries bt709
Color Range tv
Color Space bt709
Color Trc bt709
Frame Rate 23.974 fps
Height 720
Level 5.0
Profile high
Ref Frames 16
Scan Type progressive
Width 1280
Display Title 720p (H.264)
Extended Display Title 720p (H.264)
Codec AAC
Channels 2
Bitrate 96 kbps
Audio Channel Layout stereo
Profile lc
Sampling Rate 48000 Hz
Display Title Unknown (AAC Stereo)
Extended Display Title Unknown (AAC Stereo)
Codec SRT
Display Title Unknown (SRT)
Extended Display Title Unknown (SRT)
Duration 22:31
Size 175.00 MB
Audio Profile lc
Container MKV
Video Profile high
Codec H264
Bitrate 987 kbps
Bit Depth 8
Chroma Location left
Chroma Subsampling 4:2:0
Coded Height 720
Coded Width 1280
Color Primaries bt709
Color Range tv
Color Space bt709
Color Trc bt709
Frame Rate 23.974 fps
Height 720
Level 5.0
Profile high
Ref Frames 16
Scan Type progressive
Width 1280
Display Title 720p (H.264)
Extended Display Title 720p (H.264)
Codec AAC
Channels 2
Bitrate 96 kbps
Audio Channel Layout stereo
Profile lc
Sampling Rate 48000 Hz
Display Title Unknown (AAC Stereo)
Extended Display Title Unknown (AAC Stereo)
Codec SRT
Display Title Unknown (SRT)
Extended Display Title Unknown (SRT)
I’m happy to help dig into this.
Update to 1.25.3.5385 has not fixed this for me.
I also have this issue and downgrading to 1.24.x fixed it as well
Another update and this is still broken. How is this not on the agenda?
Got these symptoms on Apple TV gen 3 using PlexConnect as well as on Safari and Edge browsers on different computers. Playback stops after random playback periods, typically 10 to 30 seconds for 1080p video.
Hi. Just got here. I have the same Problem but on Android it is playing fine…
Problem persists with 1.25.3.5409
Not sure how helpful this is, but here’s my benchmark.
Not the greatest computer on the planet but far from the worst. The failure to buffer issue doesn’t happen on my Samsung TV, which surely has far worse capabilities than my computer.
Glad I finally found this. Ruined movie night the other day trying to Watch Together with my partner. Everything randomly stops buffering after a minute, even when doing direct play on the same machine Plex Media Server is running. Messed with every setting I could think of in PMS and on my router and the only thing that seemed to work was downgrading to 1.24.x.
If any of you have “Use alternate streaming protocol for video playback” checked under Plex Web - Debug then turn it off because it doesn’t work correctly.
