I am trying to get a video file to work with Plex, but the video constantly has to pause and “re-buffer”. If i wait about 5 minutes, playback will continue for a short time and then rebuffed.
The3 original file was a Quicktime file that I that i converted using Apple Compressor to a more usable online video. I’ve tried several settings. All were converted to H.264 which I understand is what Plex likes. My original file was 1080p 83 GB, transcoded to 720p 6 GB file
I am not ruling out that my internet is not fast enough (45 mbps download, 12 mbps upload).
Are there any guidelines for prepping a file for use with Plex. I can change many settings in Compressor, but looking for advice on how to view video from my server.
If you don’t pay special attention to some DVD items - and crop/set appropriately they’ll do exactly that.
There’s no telling what you’ve got going on over there, or what’s happening in your file without a MediaInfo report - like this one:
General
Unique ID : 94550907992417277916863817798025298311 (0x4721D7ADE4D4AF21E0854F05BFE54187)
Complete name : I:\1950s\The Rose Tattoo (1955) [480p x264]\The Rose Tattoo (1955) [480p x264].mkv
Format : Matroska
Format version : Version 4
File size : 1.10 GiB
Duration : 1 h 56 min
Overall bit rate : 1 345 kb/s
Encoded date : UTC 2020-05-14 17:49:23
Writing application : Lavf58.42.100
Writing library : Lavf58.42.100
ErrorDetectionType : Per level 1
Video
ID : 1
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : High@L3
Format settings : CABAC / 4 Ref Frames
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, Reference frames : 4 frames
Codec ID : V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC
Duration : 1 h 56 min
Bit rate : 1 150 kb/s
Width : 720 pixels
Height : 480 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16:9
Frame rate mode : Variable
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Stream size : 941 MiB (84%)
Writing library : x264 core 157 r2935 545de2f
Encoding settings : cabac=1 / ref=3 / deblock=1:0:0 / analyse=0x3:0x113 / me=hex / subme=7 / psy=1 / psy_rd=1.00:0.00 / mixed_ref=1 / me_range=16 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=1 / 8x8dct=1 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / fast_pskip=1 / chroma_qp_offset=-2 / threads=12 / lookahead_threads=2 / sliced_threads=0 / nr=0 / decimate=1 / interlaced=0 / bluray_compat=0 / constrained_intra=0 / bframes=3 / b_pyramid=2 / b_adapt=1 / b_bias=0 / direct=1 / weightb=1 / open_gop=0 / weightp=2 / keyint=240 / keyint_min=24 / scenecut=40 / intra_refresh=0 / rc_lookahead=40 / rc=2pass / mbtree=1 / bitrate=1150 / ratetol=1.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=0 / qpmax=69 / qpstep=4 / cplxblur=20.0 / qblur=0.5 / ip_ratio=1.40 / aq=1:1.00
Language : English
Default : Yes
Forced : No
Color range : Limited
Color primaries : BT.601 NTSC
Transfer characteristics : BT.601
Matrix coefficients : Identity
matrix_coefficients_Original : BT.601
Audio
ID : 2
Format : AC-3
Format/Info : Audio Coding 3
Commercial name : Dolby Digital
Codec ID : A_AC3
Duration : 1 h 56 min
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 192 kb/s
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Channel layout : L R
Sampling rate : 48.0 kHz
Frame rate : 31.250 FPS (1536 SPF)
Bit depth : 16 bits
Compression mode : Lossy
Stream size : 160 MiB (14%)
Title : Stereo
Writing library : Lavc58.77.101 ac3_fixed
Language : English
Service kind : Complete Main
Default : Yes
Forced : No
Text
ID : 3
Format : UTF-8
Codec ID : S_TEXT/UTF8
Codec ID/Info : UTF-8 Plain Text
Duration : 1 h 56 min
Language : English
Default : Yes
Forced : No
Menu
00:00:00.000 : :Chapter 1
00:06:46.406 : :Chapter 2
00:11:59.719 : :Chapter 3
00:16:27.320 : :Chapter 4
00:20:52.251 : :Chapter 5
00:26:58.951 : :Chapter 6
00:35:13.445 : :Chapter 7
00:43:40.618 : :Chapter 8
00:50:41.372 : :Chapter 9
00:55:57.688 : :Chapter 10
01:00:00.588 : :Chapter 11
01:09:40.501 : :Chapter 12
01:13:53.754 : :Chapter 13
01:20:49.503 : :Chapter 14
01:27:59.265 : :Chapter 15
01:36:09.755 : :Chapter 16
01:40:49.368 : :Chapter 17
01:46:41.386 : :Chapter 18
But that recent acquisition plays/displays normally - important as I’ve been trying to get that Movie for at least 40 years. It’s quality is horrendous, but it displays properly…lol
I used these settings for Handbrake (DVD Section 2) - it was basically drag and drop:
How do I get that Media Info. I see I can get media info, but if I click on the XML button, I get a whole string of html and a message that says “This XML file does not appear to have any style information associated with it. The document tree is shown below.”
They love that stuff… no problem, but stick 'em in ‘the preformated text’ option - like I did - they’re easier to read.
You can copy and paste that XML mess (in the preformated text option), or you can install MediaInfo and, yes, there’s even a Mac Version:
It’s just one of the necessary tools you’ll need - since you’re getting into Encoding as a hobby (like the rest of us…lol)
Note:
Anytime you’re gonna blindly paste something that will absolutely blow up a post - like 30 miles of XML data, or a Mediainfo report - do it in the ‘Preformatted Text Option’ - or people like me simply won’t read it…
I seem to have fixed this problem, or maybe the latest version of the Plex app did. I found that if I go into the settings for that video and set Quality to Automatic Convert, there video plays. This on my iPhone.
