Roku Stick+ buffer transcode?

Plex Players Streaming Devices
,
1

Server Version#:1.20.5.3600
Player Version#: 9.4.0 build 4190-50

Hi, All of a sudden one of my favourite series started to buffer. I checked and Plex was transcoding the stream (I got hw acceleration enabled). I checked other 2 episodes that I watched yesterday and the day before and they are now buffering too whereas they weren’t. By the time I’m writing this post the buffer has gone away but I still would like to know why is Roku transcoding the movies?

This is the output from the logs

Dec 22, 2020 21:29:59.220 [0x7fb4a4775700] DEBUG - [Transcode] Codecs: Testing with profile 'High'
Dec 22, 2020 21:29:59.220 [0x7fb4a4775700] DEBUG - [Transcode] Scaled up video bitrate to 15043Kbps based on 1.500000x fudge factor.
Dec 22, 2020 21:29:59.220 [0x7fb4a4775700] DEBUG - [Transcode] Clipped max bitrate to 9216Kbps based on client-requested limit
Dec 22, 2020 21:29:59.221 [0x7fb4a4775700] DEBUG - [Transcode] MDE: Selected protocol hls; container: mpegts
Dec 22, 2020 21:29:59.221 [0x7fb4a4775700] DEBUG - [Transcode] MDE: analyzing media item 3586
Dec 22, 2020 21:29:59.221 [0x7fb4a4775700] DEBUG - [Transcode] MDE: E2 - Accounts Payable: Direct Play is disabled
Dec 22, 2020 21:29:59.221 [0x7fb4a4775700] DEBUG - [Transcode] MDE: E2 - Accounts Payable: media must be transcoded in order to use the hls protocol
Dec 22, 2020 21:29:59.221 [0x7fb4a4775700] DEBUG - [Transcode] MDE: E2 - Accounts Payable: selected audio stream is not the first audio stream and direct play stream selection is not enabled
Dec 22, 2020 21:29:59.221 [0x7fb4a4775700] DEBUG - [Transcode] MDE: E2 - Accounts Payable: no direct play video profile exists for http/mkv/h264/ac3
Dec 22, 2020 21:29:59.221 [0x7fb4a4775700] DEBUG - [Transcode] MDE: E2 - Accounts Payable: no direct play video profile exists for http/mkv/h264/ac3
Dec 22, 2020 21:29:59.221 [0x7fb4a4775700] DEBUG - [Transcode] MDE: E2 - Accounts Payable: Direct Streaming is disabled, so video stream will be transcoded
Dec 22, 2020 21:29:59.221 [0x7fb4a4775700] DEBUG - [Transcode] MDE: E2 - Accounts Payable: no remuxable profile found, so video stream will be transcoded
Dec 22, 2020 21:29:59.221 [0x7fb4a4775700] DEBUG - [Transcode] MDE: Cannot direct stream video stream due to profile or setting limitations
Dec 22, 2020 21:29:59.221 [0x7fb4a4775700] DEBUG - [Transcode] Codecs: testing h264 (decoder) with hwdevice vaapi
Dec 22, 2020 21:29:59.221 [0x7fb4a4775700] DEBUG - [Transcode] Codecs: hardware transcoding: testing API vaapi
  1. I dont have Direct Play disabled it’s enabled for sure why is it saying Direct Play disabled?
  2. Can it be that the Roku cannot handle the format of the movie because of high bitrate or something and that’s why it transcodes?

Thanks! r

2

Check the Roku for a bandwidth limit.

But that may not be the root cause.

Additional details needed. Please attach the entire log file.

3

Wow I didn’t know that Roku has a hidden menu where you can limit the bandwidth but it seems yes. Others are saying that the hidden settings are no longer working. Anyways, I just followed it and set the maximum which is 12Mbps it was 7,5Mbps before.

https://www.howtogeek.com/289289/how-to-limit-bandwidth-usage-on-your-roku/

Also, I have attached the log files. It starts at 21:29:59… Thanks for your helpPlex Media Server_forum.txt|attachment (1.1 MB)

In case the attachment doesn’t show…
https://filebin.net/f6fh1n5u0y8bdvay

4

I was thinking about the Plex settings on the Roku. I didn’t know about the menu you found.

The episode is still transcoding and still exceeding a bandwidth limit:

Dec 22, 2020 21:29:59.215 [0x7fb4a4775700] DEBUG - [Transcode] Streaming Resource: Calculated bandwidth of 15236kbps exceeds bandwidth limit. Changing decision parameters provided by client to fit bandwidth limit of 12000kbps

I’m going to have to defer to someone with Roku specific knowledge.

Only suggestion I have is to check the Plex settings on the Roku, to make sure there are no bandwidth limits. Make sure the local playback limits (if available) are set to Original / Maximum.

5

It’s my understanding that that setting was never intended to be used by users, that it never did quite what people wanted, and it doesn’t do anything at all any more.

6

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