QNAP Hardware transcoding fro PLEX

Plex Media Server NAS & Devices
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@ChuckPA ok I tried disabling the trunk and only connecting a single port on the QNAP and it still happens, so that’s not it. I then tried connecting the ATV via WiFi (AC Router) with full strength and seeing the same problem.

I can play at full quality in my web browser from my laptop over WiFi just feet away from the ATV.

What else can I do to help figure this out? This is driving me nuts! I am seeing the exact same thing on my ATV 4K.

Is there a way to make the web client transcode to AC3? Or a way to transcode to a file and try playing that? Because I feel like there is a bug in the video stream that is being generated when only the audio is being transcoded to the ATV.

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The Web client can’t always be made to transcode to AC-3 because browsers don’t (AFAIK) support AC-3. You can select the AC-3 track but if the browser doesn’t support it, PMS will transcode the audio.
Let’s back up a second and let me ask about on full-bitrate blu ray mkv rips. What is the encoding and bitrate of these videos?
The example you gave me is not what I’ve seen as a full-bitrate rip. It’s bitrate="29008" and H.264. When I refer to full bluray rips, the bit rates are typically well above 30 Mbps. Regardless, we’ve verified the processor isn’t struggling in any way.

I pulled up a 5.1 + AC-3 video, selected AC-3 and PMS transcoded to AAC as expected with Chrome without issue.
Playing the same AC-3 selection to the ATV was ‘Direct Stream’ + ‘Direct Stream’ which is expected for any MKV file.

I’m going to ask the very stupid question: "Are you 100% certain your MTU values are all at their default value of 1500 and Jumbo Packets are not enabled? If so, it could easily manifest this way.

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@ChuckPA said:

Let’s back up a second and let me ask about on full-bitrate blu ray mkv rips. What is the encoding and bitrate of these videos?
The example you gave me is not what I’ve seen as a full-bitrate rip. It’s bitrate="29008" and H.264. When I refer to full bluray rips, the bit rates are typically well above 30 Mbps. Regardless, we’ve verified the processor isn’t struggling in any way.

These are blu rays that I ripped with MakeMKV. Since MakeMKV doesn’t transcode the video and just direct rips it from the blu ray and puts it in an MKV, I would assume they are all H.264 and varying bitrates. It looks like most of the movies are in the 20-30 Mbps range.

I just checked one of the files and it is H.264 and audio track I am playing is DTS-HD MA.

Video: MPEG4 Video (H264) 1920x1080 23.976fps [V: English [eng] (h264 high L4.1, yuv420p, 1920x1080)]
Audio: DTS 48000Hz 6ch 6912kbps [A: Surround 5.1 [eng] (dts-hd ma, 48000 Hz, 5.1, s24) [default]]
Audio: Dolby AC3 48000Hz stereo 224kbps [A: Stereo [eng] (ac3, 48000 Hz, stereo, 224 kb/s)]
Audio: Dolby AC3 48000Hz stereo 224kbps [A: Stereo [eng] (ac3, 48000 Hz, stereo, 224 kb/s)]
Audio: Dolby AC3 48000Hz stereo 224kbps [A: Stereo [eng] (ac3, 48000 Hz, stereo, 224 kb/s)]

I pulled up a 5.1 + AC-3 video, selected AC-3 and PMS transcoded to AAC as expected with Chrome without issue.
Playing the same AC-3 selection to the ATV was ‘Direct Stream’ + ‘Direct Stream’ which is expected for any MKV file.

I don’t think I’d expect an issue in that example. You’d need to select the DTS-HD audio and make it transcode to AC3 to get a similar result as with my ATV.

I’m going to ask the very stupid question: "Are you 100% certain your MTU values are all at their default value of 1500 and Jumbo Packets are not enabled? If so, it could easily manifest this way.

I haven’t modified any MTUs on the router, or any client devices. It looks like they’re all 1500.

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@syplex said:

I pulled up a 5.1 + AC-3 video, selected AC-3 and PMS transcoded to AAC as expected with Chrome without issue.
Playing the same AC-3 selection to the ATV was ‘Direct Stream’ + ‘Direct Stream’ which is expected for any MKV file.

I don’t think I’d expect an issue in that example. You’d need to select the DTS-HD audio and make it transcode to AC3 to get a similar result as with my ATV.

Which player / browser allows that. I am unable to do it in FireFox or Chrome.

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@ChuckPA said:

@syplex said:

I pulled up a 5.1 + AC-3 video, selected AC-3 and PMS transcoded to AAC as expected with Chrome without issue.
Playing the same AC-3 selection to the ATV was ‘Direct Stream’ + ‘Direct Stream’ which is expected for any MKV file.

I don’t think I’d expect an issue in that example. You’d need to select the DTS-HD audio and make it transcode to AC3 to get a similar result as with my ATV.

Which player / browser allows that. I am unable to do it in FireFox or Chrome.

Oh I have no idea how to do it, I was hoping you knew how to do it lol.

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It is my understanding, unless it’s a Windows platform, with a Microsoft browser, and an audio system plugged in, it can’t be done. Chrome & FF on Linux only do MP3 & AAC.

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@ChuckPA ok I’m not sure I can make that happen. Maybe you can try playing a similar video with DTS-HD MA on an ATV?

Also, is it possible to make PLEX transcode to a file as if it were sending to an ATV so the output can be analyzed? I’m thinking either the transcoded output is somehow corrupt in general, or the ATV doesn’t like it. Or is there a way to debug this further?

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Since this is very long thread, the reason I’m posting in this thread is based on the last few pages. I recently bought a TS-451+ NAS and installed PMS on it. I activated hardware accelerated streaming and tried to stream a full Blu-ray MKV rip to my ATV 4. I can see hardware transcoding is being used. The video is stuttering and the “The server is not strong enough to convert this video fast enough” message appears, even though the CPU of the NAS is only around 30% en RAM is around 40%.

Some extra information:

Average bitrate MKV file: is 30 Mbs
Network: Wired Gigabit all the way
I did not installed the Codec Pack

Any ideas?

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@Warner1980 said:
Since this is very long thread, the reason I’m posting in this thread is based on the last few pages. I recently bought a TS-451+ NAS and installed PMS on it. I activated hardware accelerated streaming and tried to stream a full Blu-ray MKV rip to my ATV 4. I can see hardware transcoding is being used. The video is stuttering and the “The server is not strong enough to convert this video fast enough” message appears, even though the CPU of the NAS is only around 30% en RAM is around 40%.

Some extra information:

Average bitrate MKV file: is 30 Mbs
Network: Wired Gigabit all the way
I did not installed the Codec Pack

Any ideas?

You might be better served creating a fresh thread, recreating the issue, gathering the log files (Settings - Server - Help - Download Logs), and describing the situation again in that new thread with the media info / XML and logs attached.

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@syplex said:
@ChuckPA ok I’m not sure I can make that happen. Maybe you can try playing a similar video with DTS-HD MA on an ATV?

Also, is it possible to make PLEX transcode to a file as if it were sending to an ATV so the output can be analyzed? I’m thinking either the transcoded output is somehow corrupt in general, or the ATV doesn’t like it. Or is there a way to debug this further?

If you look at the log files, you will see the full transcoder invocation command line. It will output to a file (remember, it has FFMPEG roots). Change the output audio codec and you have your test case :slight_smile:

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@Warner1980 said:
Since this is very long thread, the reason I’m posting in this thread is based on the last few pages. I recently bought a TS-451+ NAS and installed PMS on it. I activated hardware accelerated streaming and tried to stream a full Blu-ray MKV rip to my ATV 4. I can see hardware transcoding is being used. The video is stuttering and the “The server is not strong enough to convert this video fast enough” message appears, even though the CPU of the NAS is only around 30% en RAM is around 40%.

Some extra information:

Average bitrate MKV file: is 30 Mbs
Network: Wired Gigabit all the way
I did not installed the Codec Pack

Any ideas?

This looks like the exact same issue as I’m having. I occasionally see the “server is not strong enough” message show up. Sometimes happens when seeking to a new time. I’m guessing this is related to what I’m seeing.

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@ChuckPA Looks like there are new Intel drivers out there. However from what I can tell not much about support for other hardware? https://01.org/linuxgraphics/downloads/2017q4-intel-graphics-stack-recipe

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@AlexDua Thanks, we have noticed. But not yet what we need.

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wondering if plex hardware trans-coding works with qnap nas with a GPU installed on PCI slot?
I’m considering get one of those models

found answers in previous post, sorry

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@MwC_Trexx has verified third party GPU cards, passed through to guest VM, specifically a Windows guest, can use the GPU.
At some point in the near future (don’t have an ETA yet) PMS will be able to do the same.

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This any better? Just released.

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That is a great graphics stack for a workstation but does doesn’t solve the headless server needs (which is how the QNAP must be able to function). Use of a QNAP HDMI port must be optional. The stack shown requires an active GUI / graphics head for the X server to function. Without it, the stack collapses.

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Wow , One would think they would have had that fixed by now as they did with PC’s and Windows 10. Did they say when they will fix it ? Or is there an O/S roadblock?

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Sorry if this is a dumb question, but does Hardware transcoding work using plex (and a plex pass), because it doesnt work (For media using DTS) in the build in streaming services like video station.

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@Remy99c said:
Sorry if this is a dumb question, but does Hardware transcoding work using plex (and a plex pass), because it doesnt work (For media using DTS) in the build in streaming services like video station.

Forgot to add: My NAS system is a QNAP 253A with the latest firmware and PMS (as of 03/05/2018). My endgoal here is to get media with DTS to transcode with hardware transcoding (preferably using plex).

Thanks in advance.