Just updated to PMS V. 1.5.0
Now Many Media Files that one played fine are now Stuttering.
This is not to be confused with buffering.
The scenes just stutter when any movement occurs in the image like someone walking across the room.
I have verified with PMS now viewing that the media IS direct playing, unless that screen is inaccurate.
Typically this will usually be a media issue. Goofy frame rates not usually associated with the codec. Wildly fluctuating bitrates, capped bitrates (believe it or not), possible some audio tracks.
So it could be a media issue. John tell me the name of the file and I’ll check it out on your server and see if I notice anything questionable about it and I’ll try and play it to see if I get problems.
Any particular client you notice this with?
Carlo
PS for anyone reading this John and I are friends so we can access each other’s Plex systems. 
I had suspected it could be a media problem.
But it is only happening on Plex Web in Edge.
S01E01 of the Patty Duke Show is where I first saw this behavior.
If you see something wrong with the file that would be helpful.
Thanks
if it’s edge only, my guess is it could be related to video drivers, as Edge uses hardware acceleration differently than “non-native” browsers, if I recall. What GPU is it, and are the drivers current?
It’s a Nvidia Video board. Not sure what GPU Chip is used.
Drivers are current.
Media
Video Resolution 480p
Duration 25:41
Bitrate 2142 kbps
Width 640
Height 480
Aspect Ratio 1.33
Container MP4
Video Frame Rate NTSC
Web Optimized Yes
Has 64bit Offsets 1
Video Profile main
Part
Duration 25:41
File The Patty Duke Show - S01E01 - The French Teacher.mp4
Size 393.51 MB
Container MP4
Has 64bit Offsets 1
Has Thumbnail 1
Web Optimized Yes
Video Profile main
Codec H264
Bitrate 2006 kbps
Bit Depth 8
Chroma Subsampling 4:2:0
Color Range tv
Color Space smpte170m
Frame Rate 29.97 fps
Height 480
Level 3.0
Profile main
Ref Frames 1
Scan Type interlaced
Stream Identifier 1
Width 640
Codec AC3
Channels Stereo
Bitrate 128 kbps
Language English
Audio Channel Layout stereo
Sampling Rate 48000 Hz
Stream Identifier 2
I highlighted what I think could be giving EDGE a hard time. If I had to guess I’d say the ref frames of only 1 is causing the problem.
@cayars
Thanks.
Never had this type problem before PMS 1.4.2 as you know.
You’re not alone. Affecting all people even if they don’t know it.
Just wondering
Is 1.5.1 an attempt to fix it?
I had noticed the AC3 and other codecs had been changed.
It was suggested by someone when I first reported this issue that audio codecs could be the issue (I think I saw this mentioned… LOL)
Just installed 1.5.1 and the problem does not seem as bad.
Just slight stuttering now…
(Using the same file you looked at for me.)
@jjrjr1 - It is not included in 1.5.1.
@cayars said:
If I had to guess I’d say the ref frames of only 1 is causing the problem.
I wouldn’t expect the ref frames of 1 to be a problem. My guess would be
Scan Type interlaced
What refresh rate are you using on your monitor?
@“MovieFan.Plex”
This issue did not start until version 1.4.2 as you know.
In version 1.5.0 the problem was worse.
It is slightly better in version 1.5.1
That is all I know.
None of my other equipment has changed.
Incidentally, on Android there is NO stuttering on 1.5.1 on Roku only slight and edge only slight now.
I wonder if your issue is related to http://forums.plex.tv/discussion/comment/1404485/#Comment_1404485.
It was slowing down streaming in some cases, so only some clients were affected.
@MovieFan.Plex said:
@cayars said:
If I had to guess I’d say the ref frames of only 1 is causing the problem.I wouldn’t expect the ref frames of 1 to be a problem. My guess would be
Scan Type interlaced
What refresh rate are you using on your monitor?
I wouldn’t “expect” interlaced to cause stuttering (maybe blocky) playing but I highlighted because it’s one of the few goofy things about this video. Maybe also the color space.
John could you cut a 5 minute sample from the file and try reprocessing it through my scripts to see if the problem goes away? Or cut it and post it on your system and I’ll grab it and process it a couple of ways so we can figure out what causes the stuttering. 5 minutes of file should be good and make processing/testing easy.
Carlo
Personally I think all these type issues are related.
@cayars
Carlo, as funny as it sounds I have no tool to cut videos… LOL Never had a reason to.
If I use movie maker (The only editing tool I have) it will reprocess it when written.
Maybe you could just start an FTP download and stop the DL when you have enough of the file??
I know you think some of those encoding settings are strange but they are probably exactly how the DVD is encoded as the tool I use just makes a straight rip for the most part.
@jjrjr1 said:
Personally I think all these type issues are related.
Related in that several bug popped up with 1.4.2, but they are all separate issues.
@cayars
Carlo, as funny as it sounds I have no tool to cut videos… LOL Never had a reason to.
If I use movie maker (The only editing tool I have) it will reprocess it when written.
You can use Plex to do it.
https://support.plex.tv/hc/en-us/articles/201035968-Generating-Sample-Files-from-Media
Maybe you could just start an FTP download and stop the DL when you have enough of the file??
That won’t work.
Go to http://fixounet.free.fr/avidemux/download.html and download the 64bit version or 32 bit (if that’s all you can run) of AVIdemux. Load up the file, on the left panel select the proper output format such as MP4 MUXER.
Use the slider to select a 5 minute or close sample of file (you will figure it out) and save to a “test.mp4” file.
EASY way to do it. PS. This is the program I use to manually remove commercials as well as beginning and ending of recorded video. Super fast once you get used to it and I NEVER have any audio sync issues.
@“MovieFan.Plex”
Thanks for the info.
I will do that using the plex transcoder. IE ffmpeg.
@cayars
Thanks. I can always use a good tool around… LOL
I will be able to do it in a bit…
@MovieFan.Plex actually if it’s a web optimized MP4 (atom at the beginning) it could be done via FTP but that’s nasty and you never know if you introduce any other issues so BAD as you say for testing.
The link you posted using Plex Transcoder with the -T 300 option would be perfect as well as using ffmpeg directly.
@jjrjr1 if you hit a snag, just let me/us know and I’ll pull down the whole file and cut it myself. I’ll then create a few different versions of the file and put them in an FTP directory you can d/l from my public server (I’ll PM you info). You can then test locally to see if any of the files is an improvement. Then we’ll know what might causing you grief.
That is the beauty and downfall of Plex. It can support so many different formats and doesn’t require you to jump through hoops to convert your media to a specific format before loading into a library. Of course when you do hit a snag there is a lot more things to possibly check!
PS MAKE SURE to test the sample 5 minute file to make sure it has the problem.
