I’m just now dabbling into the HTPC world. I’ve been ripping a few of my blu-rays to my PC using MakeMKV, and then using Plex Media Server (version 3.29.5) to host them. I am noticing that when I try to play some of the movies back on either my PC (Chrome and IE) or my XBox that certain movies are showing some weird artifacts. I don’t have any other Plex-capable devices to test on. I’ve attached screenshots of the screens with the artfiacts. These weird artifacts show up for just a few moments in most of the movies I’ve tried so far, but they always occur at the same exact places in those movies.
At first I thought it was something wrong with the MKV or the files inside of it… but, I’ve downloaded VLC and when I view those same movies with that player, I do not see any artifacts. Everything looks perfect. I’ve attached the MKV settings from VLC in case that sheds any light on what might be happening. In case it’s relevant, my PC has an i7 8700k and I’m running Windows 10 64bit Pro.
Try Plex Media Player - top of the forum/downloads/get an app
IF that produces clean video - there’s something in your files your players don’t like.
IF PMP still produces bad video - check your HDMI cable(s), check for DRM in your files, find out what’s in those files that’s making them fail.
Reproduce a failed playback of one of your files - then…:
Thank-you very much for the reply! I download the Plex Media Player, and the movies actually look fine on it! However, when I try to play it using Chrome or IE on the same PC, I get the artifacts. I also noticed that LG TV’s built-in app also shows the artifacts. So, perhaps it is something with those players? Is there any way to narrow it down?
I have also attached the information requested, both the XML and the logs.
A couple of years ago Plex released a server ver with a flawed transcoder. At that time all my files were mp4 so the transcoder was never needed for my playback but I do use index files and the flawed transcoder produced index files that looked like the attachments that were included here.
It could be that when you try to play in a browser the file gets improperly transcoded but PMP being more robust and better at playback direct plays the files so they look fine.
I think I would stop your server, uninstall your current Plex server (using the Windows uninstall programs but do NOT allow anything more than just a standard uninstall) then download a new copy of the Plex server from the Plex web site and install it. That should result in a clean install while keeping all you library info and settings intact.
Thanks, @JuiceWSA. I’ll wait to hear back from you. As an FYI - I’ve done as @Elijah_Baley suggested, but unfortunately, uninstalling and reinstalling the latest version of Plex Media Server has not fixed the issue.
to determine if it’s the fault of the transcoder, disable (only temporarily!) Direct Play and Direct Stream in PMP. Play the movie and look out for the artefacts.
I see you are playing the second file of a 2 file set.
In general, it is better to have a movie in one file. Try to join the 2 files with this procedure and see if the resulting video then behaves any way different:
I can confirm that this issue happens on movies where there’s just a single file. So, I don’t believe it is related to the fact that there are two files.
I think I disabled direct play and direct stream. I tried to follow the instructions here: support.plex.tv/hc/en-us/articles/208053067-Settings-for-Plex-Media-Player. However, the menu options available to me are much different in my PMP. My PMP looks almost identical to what I see in the web. I managed to disable them in the “Debug” settings. I attached a screenshot to make it easier to show you what I mean.
@Sabran said:
I think I disabled direct play and direct stream.
If you did disable these, do the artifacts appear in PMP as well?
I tried to follow the instructions here: support.plex.tv/hc/en-us/articles/208053067-Settings-for-Plex-Media-Player. However, the menu options available to me are much different in my PMP. My PMP looks almost identical to what I see in the web. I managed to disable them in the “Debug” settings. I attached a screenshot to make it easier to show you what I mean.
If your PMP is in windowed mode, then you changed the right settings.
The help article describes PMP’s ‘full screen mode’
Side note:
I got the ‘wonderful’ Windows 10 Creators Update and had to reinstall ALL my codecs when ‘not much’ was working right… this issue may/may not be related somehow… (PMP may come with it’s own stuff - I don’t really know)
I do not see artifacts in PMP when both direct streaming and direct play are disabled. I took a look at the site you posted, @JuiceWSA, but it’s a bit overwhelming. I managed to find this: shark007.net/forum/Thread-Setup-and-usage. I’m in Windows 10 64bit Pro - so do I want to just get the "Download the ADVANCED x64Components " link?
