I don’t know why this isn’t default for all the clients, it is just a pain in the ass to get users to change this setting on all their clients to prevent unneeded video transcoding. I think most people agree with me but I would like to hear the opinions of others.
What do you think about this setting?
Should it remain as it is today having the default set to 2 Mbit/s, or should the default be “Maximum”?
“Most” of the people still don’t have upload speeds > ~ 20mbps.
If you store high-quality encodes or even BR or UHD remuxes, you will max out such an upstream pretty fast.
Yes, I understand that once you get the symmetrical 1 Gbps internet access, you tend to forget that. 
But the majority of user can still only dream about speeds like that. (particularly ‘upstream’!)
In case of having a slow upload speed, you are able to limit the remote stream bitrate in the settings so I really don’t see upload speed as a valid reason.
Only Plex Pass holders can do that.
Okey then this discussion took a turn. I guess it is question about whether it is worth implementing a lower limit or not. With the already existing higher limit, it shouldn’t be rocket science to implement a lower limit?
What do you mean by that exactly?
I was talking about implementing a minimum bitrate limit for remote streams, but I guess a “Force original video quality” function would be more logical.
I am unsure what you mean by ‘minimum bitrate’.
Should the server refuse to deliver video to the client if the client has set a maximum of e.g. 1mbps?
What about transient bandwidth slumps in the network connection between server and client? Those can and will occur - more often than you think.
“Force original video quality” would be basically a policy to not transcode the video. Which can and will not work with many clients. There are so many quirks in some player stacks that can only be worked around by either
So, to Plex only the second option is available.
You are missunderstanding with that I mean by “Force original video quality”. I understand that clients may require the video format to transcoded to another format, and I am not saying that the server should refuse to do that.
But I think the server should be able to decide whether it is okay for the client to transcode the video just to get a lower bitrate to save bandwith. Plex is currently able to limit the maximum bitrate of a remote stream, and I am asking if it is possible to implement a function to limit the minimum bitrate of a remote stream to the original bitrate of the media file.
I mean, the code for a higher limit already exists, isn’t that a good start for writing code for a lower limit?
What would be the goal by doing that? What would you as the server owner gain from it?
I would save CPU power by avoiding video transcoding.
I’m not sure how you could avoid transcoding by setting a minimum bitrate.
Ok minimum bitrate was bad wording, I meant to disable the option to set a lower bitrate then the original bitrate of the media file aka only allow playing the video in “Original” video quality
I already wrote something about that above
Yes and that is why I wrote this
You are missunderstanding with that I mean by “Force original video quality”. I understand that clients may require the video format to transcoded to another format, and I am not saying that the server should refuse to do that.
And yes I think the server owner should be given the option to refuse to deliver media to people who cannot stream it in original bitrate. I think the “maximum video transcodes” is a bad way of trying to limit CPU power, because it doesn’t differentiate between those who have to transcode the video to another format and those who simply just play it at lower resolution because they don’t care.
I just think that one should be given the possibility to avoid video transcodes, because that takes loads of CPU power.
People, myself included, have been asking for this “feature” for quite some time now. Every time it comes up the response is very similar to Otto’s…most people don’t have the upstream, the clients set the default quality, blah blah blah…
All we are asking for here is the OPTION, nobody is asking to change the core functionality. If the client cannot direct play, OK transcode, if the bandwidth is too low, OK transcode. But to have people watching 1080p 10+mbit content at 720p 2mbit on a Roku (which can direct play pretty much anything I throw at it) is ridiculous.
I already cancelled my Plexpass due to Plex refusing to add Google Home support. It seems many others are jumping ship entirely. I sure hope Plex leadership is paying attention.
Agree with you
I’m having to explain to my Grandparents how to set the remote quality to Maximum on every client, and I pretty much have to explain this to anyone else I share with.
It’s not even about saving CPU power for me, I just want my family to be able to watch a maximum bitrate 1080p stream without having to explain to them why the video looks funny.
EDIT: I just wish Plex Pass users were listened to. I’m sick and tired of News, Podcasts, and Web Shows and want actual bug fixes, quality of life improvements, and proper support for all of the Plex Clients.
Yeah, even better would be if one could get an "Set Maximum quality as default for all clients" button under the account settings. If they later want to change it for their invidual clients, fine they can do that if they find it needed.
Then I could log into their account from home and change it so they don’t have to do anything.
Many people I share with aren’t technical and telling them to change the video quality settings on all their devices is a lot of trouble for them.
I still can’t believe plex clients have such a ridiculous default quality.
The plex server determines quality based upon upload speed.
yes and only plex pass users can transcode down to whatever silly default client quality setting, so your point is rather moot.
Unless you expect ‘most’ users to have 2mbit direct streamable media.
