Just switched from running my Plex server on my main PC to a new Synology DS218+. On most files the playback will stutter for ~30 seconds then be smooth for another couple of minutes. Does the same thing before and after enabling hardware acceleration.
Client is a Gen 2 Fire TV Box. Previously, direct play worked fine on everything up to 1080p.
When I play files through the VLC app they work perfectly up to and including 4k HDR.
Tried enabling/disabling transcoding with little effect (other than extremely low quality when transcoding). CPU/RAM usage on the NAS is VERY low while streaming (~20-30%).
Any ideas?
Server Version#: 4.22.3
Player Version#: 7.30.2.16712 (e2fecda3)
VLC is not a valid comparison point.
VLC reads the the raw file and then decodes directly onto the glass
It is a “Thick Player” (it has all the decoding codecs)
PMS is a Server-Client architecture . The Plex app is a “Thin Player”. It relies on the player (TV) capabilities to do the final rendering.
To determine what’s happening here requires the DEBUG (not VERBOSE) log files .
The best logs to present are those which were captured about 30 seconds after starting playback of something which demonstrates this problem
Thank you, I just made the change. I heard a horror story about RIOT games not capping their logs and users had 100GB+ logs so I was a little trigger-shy.
Apr 17, 2020 16:32:20.374 [0x7fef94af4700] DEBUG - Scaled up video bitrate to 77688Kbps based on 4.500000x fudge factor.
Apr 17, 2020 16:32:20.381 [0x7fef94af4700] DEBUG - MDE: Selected protocol hls; container: mpegts
Apr 17, 2020 16:32:20.381 [0x7fef94af4700] DEBUG - MDE: analyzing media item 1107
Apr 17, 2020 16:32:20.381 [0x7fef94af4700] DEBUG - MDE: Blade Runner 2049 (2017): Direct Play is disabled
Apr 17, 2020 16:32:20.381 [0x7fef94af4700] DEBUG - MDE: Blade Runner 2049 (2017): media must be transcoded in order to use the hls protocol
Apr 17, 2020 16:32:20.381 [0x7fef94af4700] DEBUG - MDE: Blade Runner 2049 (2017): no direct play video profile exists for http/mkv/hevc
Apr 17, 2020 16:32:20.381 [0x7fef94af4700] DEBUG - MDE: Blade Runner 2049 (2017): no direct play video profile exists for http/mkv/hevc/truehd
Apr 17, 2020 16:32:20.381 [0x7fef94af4700] DEBUG - MDE: Blade Runner 2049 (2017): no direct play video profile exists for http/mkv/hevc/dca
Apr 17, 2020 16:32:20.381 [0x7fef94af4700] DEBUG - MDE: Blade Runner 2049 (2017): no direct play video profile exists for http/mkv/hevc/ac3
Apr 17, 2020 16:32:20.381 [0x7fef94af4700] DEBUG - Blade Runner 2049 - video.bitDepth limitation applies: 10 > 8
Apr 17, 2020 16:32:20.381 [0x7fef94af4700] DEBUG - Blade Runner 2049 - video.bitDepth limitation applies: 10 > 8
Apr 17, 2020 16:32:20.381 [0x7fef94af4700] DEBUG - MDE: Blade Runner 2049 (2017): no remuxable profile found, so video stream will be transcoded
Apr 17, 2020 16:32:20.381 [0x7fef94af4700] DEBUG - MDE: Cannot direct stream video stream due to profile or setting limitations
Apr 17, 2020 16:32:20.382 [0x7fef94af4700] DEBUG - Scaled up video bitrate to 77688Kbps based on 4.500000x fudge factor.
Apr 17, 2020 16:32:20.382 [0x7fef94af4700] DEBUG - MDE: Cannot direct stream audio stream due to codec truehd when profile only allows eac3
Apr 17, 2020 16:32:20.382 [0x7fef94af4700] DEBUG - MDE: Blade Runner 2049 (2017): selected media 0 / 1107
Apr 17, 2020 16:32:20.382 [0x7fef94af4700] DEBUG - Streaming Resource: Adding session 0x7fef708db250:73d0088e4c38ba55-com-plexapp-android which is using transcoder slot. Used slots is now 1
Apr 17, 2020 16:32:20.382 [0x7fef94af4700] DEBUG - Streaming Resource: Added session 0x7fef708db250:73d0088e4c38ba55-com-plexapp-android
Apr 17, 2020 16:32:20.382 [0x7fef94af4700] DEBUG - Streaming Resource: Reached Decision id=805 codes=(General=1001,Direct play not available; Conversion OK. Direct Play=3000,App cannot direct play this item. Direct play is disabled. Transcode=1001,Direct play not available; Conversion OK.) media=(id=1107 part=(id=1107 decision=transcode container=mpegts protocol=hls streams=(Video=(id=2750 decision=transcode bitrate=20000 encoder=libx264 width=3840 height=1600) Audio=(id=2751 decision=transcode bitrate=1032 encoder=eac3_eae channels=8 rate=48000))))
Apr 17, 2020 16:32:20.386 [0x7fefa4920700] DEBUG - Completed: [192.168.1.233:49324] 200 GET /video/:/transcode/universal/decision?audioBoost=100&autoAdjustQuality=0&directPlay=0&directStream=1&directStreamAudio=1&fastSeek=1&hasMDE=1&location=lan&maxVideoBitrate=200000&mediaBufferSize=209664&mediaIndex=0&partIndex=0&path=%2Flibrary%2Fmetadata%2F805&protocol=*&session=73d0088e4c38ba55-com-plexapp-android&subtitleSize=100&videoBitrate=200000&videoQuality=100&videoResolution=3840x2160 (10 live) TLS GZIP 190ms 3881 bytes (pipelined: 5)
It’s going to convert the HDR video to SDR for the player display.
While the J3355 can do it, the J3455 would be the better choice here.
The reason for this is the audio. Converting the TRueHD 7.1 -> EAC-3 is a bit hard on the slower clock-speed CPU at first.
Once the buffers get filled, it should be ok.
I am a bit surprised at ‘laggy’.
I suspect more of a client problem at this data & bit rate but I’m not the most qualified here because I don’t have that player here to test directly. (I have a ton of other stuff but not that.)
Thank you so much for the info! I’m not surprised it’s chugging a bit on that video. I am more concerned about 1080p content, there should be a record in there for an episode or two of What We Do in the Shadows. The playback is continuous, no pauses from buffering, but every minute or so the video stutters while the audio remains steady.
Installing 7.28 did the trick. Even 4k being transcoded down to 1080 worked great and the NAS cpu only showed 45% activity. Strange that this happened after switching Plex servers specifically.
Thank you so much for your help, it’s incredibly appreciated!
