For some reason PMS is transcoding my stuff. I have disabled video stream transcoding. I think the Mac Mini from 2011 cannot handle the load, but before I splash out on new hardware I want to understand why the transcoding occurs. I have Direct Play and Direct Stream enabled, video stream transcoding disabled - so in theory only Audio should be transcoded.PostcardKillings.xml.zip (10.9 KB)
Your file is encode with x264 witch is highly supported by players. The problem probably is your audio.
DTS will transcode in most players and if you enable subtitles, video will also be transcoded so Plex can keep everything in sync.
But only debug logs to tell what’s happening for sure. Also make sure your players have remote and local stream quality set to maximum or original.
From what I can see, the audio stream is being transcoded for compatibility with your PS5, you also have subtitles selected which I believe forces the server to transcode the video also. Try turning off the subtitles or selecting a different audio stream. and you may be able to watch your stuff without having to make massive changes right away. Your Mac mini just doesn’t quite have the gusto to pull of that transcode as it is equipped with a second-gen i7-2620M. That particular chip is old enough that it won’t be capable of hardware transcoding and it definitely doesn’t have the booty to perform those transcodes in software. I think either it’s time to invest in better clients that won’t force a transcode like the Nvidia Shield Pro (not the tube, the tube is garbage), invest in better hardware for the server that can actually perform the transcodes you are asking of it, or re-rip your videos and audio into formats that won’t require transcoding by your already existing clients.
Playstation are notorious for being terrible players, and I agree that re-encode would be the way to go, or get a different file with 264+AAC, but I disagree about the hardware. I think he’s machine can be an excellent server. I have an old Lenovo with i5, and its QuickSync never disappointed.
His machine features a processor that is over a decade old, is a mobile variant, and falls below the threshold of what the Plex community knows works well for QuickSync transcoding. (Most of the community will tell you if you are below 6th gen the experience will not be great, and 2nd gen Sandy Bridge is known to be particularly rough.) I should have said it isn’t capable of hardware transcoding well, as it technically can but the experience is going to be pretty crummy. Whatever you may think doesn’t change that it is old and not capable of performing the transcodes that are being asked of it evidenced by the fact of the CPU spiking and rendering the machine basically useless. That does not make for an objectively “excellent” server. If transcoding was never asked of it, it would probably be a decent server for a while still, but as that is usually not a realistic scenario it is very likely that upgrading the server will leave OP with a much better experience overall. I would argue that sacrificing the quality of your audio to make up for weak server hardware when it is reasonable to expect 10+ year old hardware to need upgrading is not a good solution. A $300 Asustor AS5202T or Qnap TS-251D (I’m partial to Qnap personally) would absolutely crush what he is asking of his server. Alternatively, if he needed something like the Mac Mini he could buy a newer NUC in the $500ish range and get a WAY more powerful machine, or a generation old Mac Mini and again have a WAY more powerful machine. All of those scenarios lead to a better experience than trying to limp along old hardware like that.
Thanks for all the feedback, what a nice community.
This Mac Mini has been around for 10 years. It was never a beast at transcoding. The Mac Mini is small, headless thing in the closet and you dont need to reboot every now and then. It just stay on unless there is an power outage. I’m surprised it hangs playback, I understand it needs buffering but it just stops dead.
I like the idea of retranscoding the material instead of doing it on the fly, maybe a suggestion from PMS that might improve playback.
I would like to get my settings right, before I upgrade my hardware. I do use subtitles since we watch with low to medium volume and we are not native english speakers. If i can turn up the volume then we can live without subtitles.
The audio transcoding is weird, don’t see for the love of god why it would hit 100-200% CPU load. In my case it was DTS-MA 5.1, istn’t that supported?? There was another audio stream, why bot try to serve that from PMS and avoid the transcoding?
I have a Gen4 AppleTV that can act as client. That usually works, but scrubbing forward and back is always a pain and sometime you have to restart the video.
I have an iMac 27 mid 2015, dont remember specs, I will fire up PMS there and see if it gets better? Myabe Mac is not a good choice? Maybe Ubuntu and PMS is better? I can do Windows too,
You have to select the audio track yourself unless it’s set as preferable in the video container.
It’s transcoding because the codec isn’t supported by your player, that’s why @Blkbyrd suggested you to get a better client, so your server won’t need to transcode.
In my opinion the easiest way to solve your problem is to get files that are supported by your player. Get files encoded with H264+AAC and you won’t have problems anymore.
I really think you would have the best results investing in something to better suit your needs in a server. If you need subtitles and having lossless audio for whatever reason then you are going to always be transcoding, and the hardware you have available to do that is pretty underpowered for that. My suggestion is to seriously consider a modern NAS as it gives you a unit to run headless with tons of available storage and much more transcoding power. I personally use a Qnap TS-453D and love it. It is excellent for transcoding at it’s 4 3.5" bays gives you plenty of opportunity for tons of storage. I’m happy to help you pick something out if you need help.
Home Cinema is a hobby and have spend tens of thousands on my hifi euqipment so I would like to get the best audio out of it even from Plex if possible. I have a Oppo UDP-203, maybe I can use that for playback as DLNA client?
So I can put the QNAP in the closet and run PMS, transcode and use subtitles with my clients? It will be replacing a Pegasus R6 Thunderbolt raid 5 with 6x2gb Sata HDD’s and total space or 10Gb and almost full. The QNAP is $500 in my location and a new Mac Mini M1 is around $1000. The QNAP needs disks too so another $500 is not unreasonable.
Which client is has good range of supported audio and video vodecs AppleTV, Samsung, Oppo 203 or PS5?
Should I buy a better client? NVidia Shield Pro was mentioned together with QNAP? Can these be diskless or just one small SSD and act like client. A Raid NAS with traditional disk is way to loud to have in my watching area.
Yes, any NAS you select for the most part is meant to be run headless. I think it would be a good idea to come up with a budget for this upgrade and we can try to think of a way to meet those budget requirements and get everything upgraded. Because if your budget permits I would suggest going with the TS-453D and populating it with Toshiba Enterprise 16TB drives. It leaves you with about 45TB of available storage once formatted and set up for RAID5. Unfortunately, it is a pretty expensive path at around $1700 to $1800 but well worth it for a never think about it again server. You can lessen the impact by starting with 2 16TB drives in RAID1 and Qnap has a great tool to expand that to RAID5 and add drives as you need to grow the RAID.
One thing for sure though is if you care about your content being delivered at its absolute best with 0 compromises in codec compatibility then you need an Nvidia Shield. I also have a fairly high-end viewing experience (85" Sony X900H, Sony STR-DN1080, JBL Studio 520C, 570’s, and 530’s, with a JBL SUB550), and the only way to properly experience that through locally streamed media is with the Shield.
If you want 4K transcoding then I would really suggesting either building something or shelling out the money for a prebuilt server of some kind. 4K to 4K is not possible as Plex has not yet added the ability to transcode HEVC to HEVC. You can though transcode 4K to 1080p and is going to be 99% of what transcoded 4K ends up as anyway. 4K transcoding is notoriously difficult and takes a good bit of horsepower to do. You can get some NAS devices that are capable of it by adding in a small GPU, but transcoding 4K is still very much a pain in the butt. That article is a good read. Let me know if you have any questions about it and I am more then happy to answer them and continue to help you down this path.
I’ve been reading some more and I agree I should try to stay away from Transcoding. Apparently that happens when your audio is transcoded and you have subtitles enabled (I guess due to lipsync issue in the past). So if I can Direct Play both Audio and Video and only use SRT subtitles then I should not have PMS transcoding.
On my way to pick up a Nvidia Shield Pro to test that teory.
OK!! The Shield solved one part of the problem and no more transcoding. The scrubbing forward and reverse is so much better than anything Plex I have ever experiences on my setup. I’ve been missing out. Even the audio quality has taken a hike up and that’s just with AC3 5.1 - nothing fancy. Thanks Blkbyrd, I would not have gone this route without your suggestions.
For the PMS side I’m still on the fence about QNAP, I think I would go TS-653, not a huge price difference from TS-453 and run it RAID 6. I have Pegasus R6 6x2TB that’s capable of doing around 800Mb/sec read and write, but it’s very much tied to Mac due to driver/utility support. For the CPU load is 6-11% (out of 200%=2 cores).
Awesome! I am happy to hear that! For the server if you can tell me all the parameters you are after I may be able to think of something to suit exactly that. You could though just stick with your Mac Mini and upgrade the storage if you have no intent of transcoding ever. I suggested the NAS because you could get a ton more storage and sort the immediate issue you were having, but it might not meet all of what you want in a long term server.
I got my MBP M1 Max today and that prompted a router upgrade from the ■■■■■■Netgear ORBI that never really worked to an AX11000 which has a 2.5Gbit port. And I’m getting some 2.5Gbit Pluggable dongles and 2.5Gbit 12 port router so getting ready for QNAP TS653
I’m so happy, thanks!
