Anyone notice if the fixes included in 1.15.6.1079 for SW fallback only apply to sync/optimize or are you getting reliable HW transcoding for streaming as well?
1 Like
The Plex developers have everything they need to reproduce the issue and they have yet to release proper fix. Embarassing! Instead of fixing it properly they simply disable HW transcoding on Shield when it fails.
1 Like
Are you sure, that HW recording is actually working for you? Just have a look at the transcoding speed in server dashboard. It would be around 1x, instead of 3x and more. It just switches to software transcoding successfully now (instead of crashing). This is better, but we expected they fixes HW transcoding itself. You can get a 720p stream, or maybe one 1080p stream with SW transcoding, instead of two 1080p streams with HW transcoding. As HW transcoding is failing on MANY files on shield tv, this is a big deal.
Just a suggestion to re-analyze the media before playback, sometimes 1.15 wants fresh/additional meta before it will properly play back a file.
Hardware transcoding is still failing and falling back to software transcoding for me. This is unacceptable because the Shield can only handle 1 8Mbit 1080p transcode in software mode. If 2 or more are active they start buffering.
Is there any progress on fixing the actual issue of the hardware transcoder not working?
I agree with everyone else and am seeing the same issue: Plex is falling back to SW acceleration . I bought the Shield for one reason, hardware accelerated transcode/sync. It has never properly worked. When is Plex going to finally deliver the product they advertised?
PMS: 1.15.6.1090 (nVidia Shield)
Player: 7.15.0.10215 (nVidia Shield)
Logs attached: Plex Media Server Logs_2019-05-18_22-06-20.zip (1.5 MB)
Transcoder with HW accell still fails for me on Shieldās latest beta. I did this twice. This is the logs for the second time
Steps to reporduce:
Watch a Live TV program (via direct play)
Select a previously recorded MPEG2 file to optimize with HW accell enabled.
(Iām not sure if watching the live TV part mattersā¦itās just that I was watching it at the time)
Initially the transcode will workā¦at about 3.5x or so. Then, it will stopā¦say waiting on the conversions status page. At the same time, the live TV program will start to stutter and then freeze.
Could anyone please chime inā¦preferably a Plex Team Member: Is this issue a regression in Plex, or is it tied to a Shield firmware/software update which ābrokeā HW transcode on Plex. Can I just install an older version of PMS on my Shield which will fix this issue or am I stuck? This thread is from Aug '18, and I havnāt had Plex (my shield) that longā¦Iāve never had HW transcode work reliably.
Plex says they support HW transcode on the Shield. I canāt imagine itās always been this way.
1 Like
2 years ago with the 3.2 shiled release which first included plex server I had tested it and it could simultaneously transcode the following streams
1x12Mbps 1080p 1x8Mbps 1080p 1x4Mbps 720p
So there was no issue back in the day and I think that anyhow that was confirmed from the plex guys in some other post, that the issue appeared after a specific shield upgrade caused by memory exhaustion of the plex server.
What is still missing is the full transparency of what happens and why they canāt deal with it while it worked in the past just fine
3 Likes
Alright so enough is enough i guess, i made the switch to emby.
Lo and behold, emby has the exact same problem with ffmpeg:
FFMpeg exited with code 137 - meaning something send a SIGKILL to ffmpeg during transcoding.
So Iām not sure where to go from here. I think plex devs needs to get in touch with Nvidia and sort this out, although both parties are likely well aware of the issue.
2 Likes
Plex had stated in the past that it is probably a mem exhaustion issue and they were checking with Nvidia. But after that what we got was only this software fallback workaround and nothing more. What happened in the talks with Nvidia? What are the future plans? Etc etc etc nothing , that is the disappointing part
3 Likes
My experience with 1.15.6.1090 is that with HW acceleration turned on, when optimizing a 60 minute show from 1080 to 720, Plex still quits transcoding on the Sheild at about 20% of the way through and starts all over again. But then, instead of giving up or crashing, it reverts to transcoding with speeds normally associated with no HW acceleration, at .6%, so your 60 minute show takes 100 minutes to transcode. Looks like a band aid for now. Also, as reported elsewhere, I can no longer transfer files to or from my Shield Plex on over my network.
I send my sample to sniper from nvidia team. They produced the issue on their end. Itās not an out of memory issue, they send the analysis to the Plex team for next steps.
Fingers crossed.
3 Likes
So while we wait for ANY feedback from Plex team on this still ongoing topic, Iād like to mention that many of us opted jn the beta release channel because we expected an update for HW transcoding issue. So not only we still wait but we got hit from the latest issues too.
Anybody tried the custom firmware from Nvidia?
Some thread on reddit seems to suggest it solves the transcoding issue. I have meanwhile upgraded to this firmware but with the plex settings now broken I have no way of verifying it 
That is different. Plex/Nvidia are still working on the H/W acceleration crash issue.
Are you referring to Plex Media Server Settings?
A hot fix was released yesterday for that
Thanks! Much wanted fix 
Unfortunately even after the latest stable update Iām having trouble with H/W transcoding. Almost everything I try to transcode crashes the Shield PMS after 10 minutes.
1 Like
The gift that keeps on givinG 
1 Like
Any updates on a fix for this? It looks like most of the other issues have been knocked out between Plex and nvidia updates.
3 Likes
