Server Version#: 1.13.9.5456
Player Version#: All players (Desktop, Web, Roku)
PMS now transcodes all and every video played by any player: web (Safari, Chrome, Firefox), mac desktop player, Roku and Chromcast. This was not the situation with older versions of the PMS. I tried every option in the server and players but still with no effect. Any idea on how to fix this?
Thank you.
Please post the Plex XML info of one or two videos which show the behaviour.
Here is one XML info for a video that is converted from H264 to H264:
9560.xml.zip (6.1 KB)
What happens if you disable all subtitles?
Does it still transcode?
For some videos, disabling subtitles stops transcoding and allows direct play. But for the video I posted its XML info above, disabling subtitles has not effect; the PMS always transcodes it with or without subtitles.
Is it possible, that your roku cannot connect to your server directly?
So that it is using a ‘remote’ connection or a ‘indirect’/relayed connection. For both of these exist bitrate limitations which could trigger the transcoding decision.
Why the transcoding occurs is spelled out in the debug log files.
Do also look at the user interface of your Roku. Does it show the word ‘indirect’ or remote near the name of your server or does it show a yellow exclamation mark somewhere?
Unfortunately I don’t know the Roku at all, so I cannot tell you exactly where to look.
On the new Roku app, is there a menu item called ‘Media Server Status’?
Here are the log files. I tested with the latest version of Plex Media Player for macOS.Plex Media Server Logs_2018-11-17_02-31-19.zip (2.2 MB)
There is a bandwidth-limit in effect.
Have you set a bandwidth limit of 2.4mbps in the preferences of your server somewhere?
(Even if it’s suposely set only for remote connections)
Nov 17, 2018 02:25:54.012 [0x7f5409be9700] WARN - Streaming Resource: Bandwidth exceeded: 2666 kbps > 2400 kbps
Nov 17, 2018 02:25:54.013 [0x7f5409be9700] DEBUG - MDE: Selected protocol http; container: mkv
Nov 17, 2018 02:25:54.013 [0x7f5409be9700] DEBUG - MDE: analyzing media item 253524
Nov 17, 2018 02:25:54.013 [0x7f5409be9700] DEBUG - MDE: Mile 22 (2018): no direct play video profile exists for http/mkv/h264
Nov 17, 2018 02:25:54.013 [0x7f5409be9700] DEBUG - MDE: Mile 22 (2018): no direct play video profile exists for http/mkv/h264/aac
Nov 17, 2018 02:25:54.013 [0x7f5409be9700] DEBUG - MDE: Mile 22 (2018): selected media 0 / 253524
Nov 17, 2018 02:25:54.013 [0x7f5409be9700] DEBUG - Streaming Resource: Required bandwidth unknown (media requires deep analysis) Changing decision parameters provided by client to fit bandwidth limit of 2400kbps
Nov 17, 2018 02:25:54.013 [0x7f5409be9700] DEBUG - Streaming Resource: Determining preferred transcode encoders through transcode only decision.
Hmm, here is the setting for the remote access:
I pumped the “Internet upload speed” to 30 Mbps (instead of 3) and now can direct play the video! This is strange because I’m playing the video within the local network (server 192.168.1.2, player 192.168.1.35) not over the Internet!
Are you running PMS inside of Docker or a similar virtualization container?
Settings - Server - Network - ‘Show Advanced’ - “LAN Networks”
put 192.168.1.0/24 in there
Oh, I had my old network range there “192.168.0.1/255.255.255.0”. I replaced it with “192.168.1.0/24”, lowered the “Internet upload speed” to 3Mbps and retested. The video plays directly now without transcoding 
Thank you
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