Thumbnail Previews (Roku & iOS) not displaying on 1080P HEVC content / 720P HEVC content and 480P content works

Plex Players Streaming Devices
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Server Version#: 1.24.3.5033
Player Version#: ROKU 6.9.4.7254 & iOS 7.2.3 & Web (Chrome & Edge)

All of my media is HEVC with exception to the OTA recorded from my tuner, that is the default MPEG-2 from what plex records it in.

My HEVC media that is 720P and 480P all play the thumbnails while fast forwarding. All of the Plex recorded OTA works great too.

My HEVC media that is 1080P, does not, no thumbnails display

I have watching the status for each 1080P while re-adding and can see the activity status showing the thumbnails being created. I’ve added new media, see the thumbnails being generated and metadata being created. But yet, no matter what player I use, I can’t seem to ever get them to show while seeking.

Example of 1080P not working:
Codec: MPEG-H Part2/HEVC (H.265) (hvc1)
Video resolution: 1920x1080
Frame rate: 30
Bitrate 2207kbps

Example of 720P working just fine
Codec: MPEG-H Part2/HEVC (H.265) (hvc1)
Video resolution: 720x480
Bitrate 1597kbps

Is there an issue with Plex using thumbnails with media that is 1080P?
Is there a preferred codec that would be better suited? I can always encode re-encode my media to another codex.

I’ve been using HEVC due to the reduction in disk space required and the reduction in network/WiFi overhead. Hadn’t noticed any issues until I realized the thumbnails haven’t been working. This has been going on for months. The thumbnails on the 1080P HEVC content has never worked.

Not opposed to changing to another codec. Would just like to try and get HEVC working if at all possible, if it can work with HEVC @ 1080P.

The following settings are configured:
Scan my library automatically
Run a partial scan when changes are detected
Scan my library periodically
Generate video preview thumbnails (as a scheduled task and when media is added)

Under the library: Enable video preview thumbnails is also checked.

If you have any ideas, I’m open to trying anything.

Thanks,
Casey

2

Quick update:

I tried converting one of the 1080P HEVC files to H264 and it works just fine. Thumbnail previews while seeking all work. Marginal difference in size since they are already HEVC. I think I’ll start converting them all over to H264 for now. But would like to figure out if HEVC @ 1080P supports the thumbnail previews, if it’s something with the format or bitrate I’m using.

Thanks,
Casey

3

In the Media Info for these items, I assume that “Indexes sd” isn’t present?

Yes, Plex can generate video preview thumbnails for HEVC content.

It does so by extracting keyframes from the video. There are a few scenarios where unusually encoded videos can prevent this process from succeeding.

If you’d like to share a sample file with me, I can confirm or deny that it’s related to the file encoding.

Alternatively, you can try changing a hidden Plex setting. This may slow down all Video Preview Thumbnail generation, but it’s also more reliable.

GenerateBIFKeyframesOnly="0"

Instructions to add hidden settings:
Advanced, Hidden Server Settings | Plex Support

Here’s an alternative way to set the value (customize this for GenerateBIFKeyframesOnly="0"):

Big Media folder? Make smaller video preview thumbnails! - #6 by Volts

One related link & discussion; it includes links to others:

Video Preview Thumbnail Generation Fails for Some Items - #48 by Volts

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Thanks Volts! They do however show: Indexes sd

This gives me a quite a bit to work with, I’ll take a look at all this and see where I end up. Very much appreciate you taking time to reply with everything.

Thanks,
Casey

5

Not exactly sure what had happened. I decided to make a new Library and experiment with that. Upon adding a couple HEVC 1080P videos from my other library; they worked without any issues on the thumbnails. That was perplexing. I then decided I would mass delete the contents of the original library, then scan and analyze. Every since one of them did like before, showing that the thumbnails were being created and updating metadata. Upon completion… every one of them works now. I added a couple additional afterwards and they all worked immediately after being added. Bottom line at this point they are all working on the original library, but I have saved the links you provided and should I have issues again, move forward with some of those changes. I may still experiment with the hidden plex settings, I had seen some of the other options and they are intriguing.

Thanks,
Casey

1 Like
6

Glad it’s working. That’s really weird.

Thumbnails are created for each media file by the file hash. If you create VPTs for movies in one library those same VPT files will be used if the same files exist in a different library too.

But it sounds like it just started working.

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