I have 997 movies in my Plex server that always played with no issues. Recently, any video that has 5.1Ch AAC or AC3 audio, Plex reports “Playback Error - This server is not powerful enough to convert video.”. This is playing video directly on the built in Plex player. I get the same error when trying to play via either of my Roku sticks, XBox 360 or Playstation 4.
I am running Plex server on Beelink U57 with i5-5275U @ 2.7Ghz, 8GB RAM, Windows 10 Pro x64 v21H2.
These videos have always played with no issues until recent Plex updates.
Videos all play fine with VLC or Windows media player. Both .mp4 and .mkv containers have the same issue.
I hate the idea of having to re-code hundreds of videos.
AAC is fine, it should not transcode for your Roku.
AC3 is device dependant. Only Ultra devices handle it natively. But they will pass through audio to a device that supports it. See Roku Documentation here.
What device are you using for audio playback and does the decoder change modes based on input?
90% of the videos are AAC. Playback on the server is via Win10 on a Sansui 32" TV via HDMI. Roku sticks are HDMI on a Sansui TV and HDMI on a Samsung 50" via a Samsung sound bar.
I also found that if it does not play on the built in Plex player on the server, it will not play via Roku, Plex app on iPhone or Plex app on Kindle Fire.
What bothers me the most and makes the least sense is all of these videos have played perfectly for several years and only recently started to have issues.
I connected VLC to the server via DLNA and everything plays just fine.
