I’ve got a remote iPad user who forces my Plex server to transcode for him. This causes heavy loads on the CPU in my server (and sometimes overheating). Is it possible that he invests in a device (e.g. an Apple TV) that takes care of the transcoding at his end while he still watches the content on his iPad?
I hope my query is clear (I’m Dutch). I’m very grateful for your feedback.
There is no way to do what you want. Alternatively is to generate optimized versions of your videos and tell your friend to watch these. Then the format will be compatible and shouldn’t need transcoding.
Players do not transcode. only the Plex Media Server does that. If the player/device cannot play a particular type of file, codec in the file, etc then the server will transcode it so it does play.
Some devices/players do play more types of things than others but without knowing what sort of original files you generally have it’s hard to recommend something.
I would like to build upon this question.
I have a bluray movie I purchased. I ripped to 1080p 5.1 – about 25GB of disk space. I have GB wired network at home – and works great. For the wireless devices in the house - I also handbrake (handbroke?) a 720p version. When they are connecting from a 720p device - I am EXPECTING it to pick the 720p version prior to the 1080p.
But the next question – WHEN I have 2160p version (I have a Vizio 4K and nvidia shield… so I am ready) … I am fully expecting ONLY my 4K TV/nVidia Shield equipment … and not on PS3 or XBox even if wired in.
And finally - building upon this question - I think I want to offer DVD quality (or lower 720p quality) for remote users.
Meaning - when I rip my own bluray movie - can I have multiple resolutions … from 480p to 720p to 1080p and eventually 2160p – what is the algorithm used by the server to serve up the media?
I know - I can experiment – and I have. Unfort it seems that the remote client picks up the 1080p (highest available resolution) and transcodes on the server.
I don’t have many movies - but space is cheap. When I rip the movie - I am looking to make it available to my family no matter what the device is - and not kill my limited server with transcoding.
Is it possible to have multiple copies of a movie:
My Movie (2015) - 480P.mp4
My Movie (2015) - 720P - 1.5GB.mp4
My Movie (2015) - 720P - 9.5GB.mp4
My Movie (2015) - 1080P.mp4
My Movie (2015) - 2160P.mp4 (eventually … … nor not…)
My wish / hope would be the remote client - would negotiate with the server and pick the appropriate file to load and serve up - to minimize / eliminate transcoding on the plex server (of course I have to pay the price once per format when I rip my own movie - but I can do that on my i7 workstation instead of my bottom of the line server)
That hasn’t been my experience - but I haven’t done scientific analysis on any pattern yet - just noticing the problem now and again. And thought perhaps my question would build upon this question – and offer an option to the original poster - to offer lower quality for remote users - if PMS services the files up as desired.
Just to go on another topic here, if your cpu is overheating, you need to fix that either with a new fan or even replacing thermalpaste.
One of my old servers used to overheat, but it was fixed by new thermalpaste. and yes an Apple TV should allow for more direct play than with just the stock ipad, or even if he got an Android TV device like the nvidia shield tv.
My self I mostly use a chromecast and hardly notice it on heat on cpus on the server.
Found this — and it seems to indicate that it will do what I am hoping for.
I have read it before - and was using that for 720p and 1080p version file naming format. I am just not sure it is honoring it.
I will try experimenting - but for the original poster - perhaps this is the solution for you too? – a “lower quality” version that the remote client can use w/o transcoding on your server?
Also - the remote client - should also set their “Remote Quality” (each app is different 
) … to something like 720P 1Mbs … so they pick up your “lower quality”. As my mentor keeps telling me - “lower quality” doesn’t mean anything - that normal people can tell the difference.
Also - check on your server - what is the transcoding ? Video? Audio? (video normally kills your cpu – ) For an iPad … that is normally ACC (2 channel) audio… someone feel free to correct me – I don’t do iJunk. To minimize your transcoding for the iPad - you need to offer them a video that they can direct play (I assume iJunk can direct play?) … then you are only talking about network and disk I/o for reading the content from disk.
That is the key to plex server – they are GREAT at transcoding for the client apps… but at the impact of the server device. Disk space is cheap if you have a large enough library and/or Plex Home configuration - is to offer up the version the different clients want. – that of course is what the first answer was implying. Some version of PMS came and allows for the pre-generation of episodes for the different clients. I have NOT experimented with this - and do not know the benefit of that vs the method I am using now.
Thank you very much! I hope you allow for a couple more questions.
Will the (local) CPU load differ between transcoding & serving for a remote iPad or transcoding & serving a remote chromecast device (or other device)?
Could it be an option that my friend installs PMS (on e.g. a Mac mini) and uses the files on my server to set up his Plex libraries?
This particular remote (iPad) user is already watching my (transcoded) content for as long as I know. The CPU heat issue only came up a couple of months ago. What could have triggered this?
BTW, I’m replacing the stock fan today and hope that this solves the issue.
Take care.
The load on your server depends on what is being asked of it. Direct Play is the best option – that is basically loading from disk and shoving the bytes across the network. The limit then is your Disk I/O and Network (upload) bandwidth. If you have 10K or 15K RPM hard drives or SD drives… then the Disk I/O will not be the bottleneck (probably) but if you are running 5400 RPM Green drives… eh … probably still ok - but not AS ok.
Direct Stream is the next best. I think there is more CPU (I am not the expert here) - as it has to open and find/index into the file for video / audio … but I think this is USUALLY triggered when you are asking for subtitles with a player that cannot handle the files directly…? so you are asking your server to intermix the subtitle with the video – and stream the audio.
The next best – I think – is streaming video and transcoding the audio. I have never seen this combination. Normally when I have to transcode the audio - the video is also out of whack with the player - triggering the “worse” scenario. This MIGHT happen with iJunk devices that be able to consume the video format but not the audio (ie: anything above 2 channel ACC …)
Not much better than the worse scenario is transcoding the video and direct streaming the audio. This is probably just a little less cpu than transcoding both. This means the bitrate or quality of the video is higher than the remote client (or network) can handle. ie: If you serve up a 1080P video which has a 10,000 kbps bitrate … (ie: 25GB file) … think about that - you are basically having to UPLOAD that 25GB file to your friend (and they have to DOWNLOAD it) … in 90 minutes (the length of the movie)… any hiccup in network causes stuttering.
That is why most clients for REMOTE – will be configured for “720P at 3Mbs (or 3000 kbps)” … but your file isn’t in that configuration … so you trigger video transcoding to convert the video on the fly from 1080 to 720 … and from 10,000 kbps bit rate to something must less .
So - by having another version of that same 1080P movie – either using their optimized (rightly named) version or a 720p 1000 kbps (or 1Mbps) bitrate version you create with handbrake… – the remote client SHOULD negotiate and pick the 720p smaller version and the server should have much less trouble sending it. Of course - if you don’t pre-convert the audio – you will still have audio transcoding from DTS to ACC.
As for client configuration and capabilities between casting and different Plex client apps. I will remove myself from that conversation. Casting is interesting to me as a technology - but I normally do NOT cast my movies even tho the nVidia shield has the capabilities built in. But that should be obvious with my network configuration, my library configuration and my goal of providing the best quality for the different devices I might use. I just don’t know what is the casting limitation. Is it the dongle? the TV? the server? – are you running Android Plex Client on your phone and casting that to your local TV? – if so … is the Android phone limitation calculated into the casting stream. Yuck. I just don’t know.
