Transcoder default throttle buffer (in PMS settings)

General Discussions
1

Could someone explain the meaning (in “layman’s terms” :smile: ) of this Transcoder advanced setting?
The description “Amount in seconds to buffer before throttling the transcoder” is not totally clear to me as to what exactly it is doing.

Thanks in advance!

2

Don’t change it unless you have massive problems with transcoded playback.
An even if you do, only use increments of 25% or so.

And be prepared to go back to the default values. Because in most cases, changing these won’t result in improvements at all.

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3

Answered by a Plex Team Member on other thread: “The “amount of seconds to buffer” tells the transcoder how far ahead of where you are in the movie to stay. During normal transcoding, it quickly transcodes a block of time then sleeps until it needs to transcode more. The time you tell it is how big that block is as measured in seconds.”

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4

What problems?

5

Repeatedly pausing playback, particularly when streaming over longer distances or poor networks.

But don’t mistake this as a cure for the situation, when playback is pausing due to transcoding and a weak cpu.

6

Yeah, I get the same thing, plays fine on my home network but from outside despite having wicked internet speed I get the same failed playback noise. Nobody has an answer here ever that works or makes any sense.

7

because you cant control other peoples networks, any weak link in the chain is going to be exposed

8

Hey John, When playing away from home, theres tons of factors that will slow down or freeze the playback.

  1. the actual data connection to your phone is typically the weakest link. Unless youre connected to a stable wifi network you will have stability issues.
  2. if you have your sever set to limit remote/web playback, it will always transcode to a lower bitrate and that might be stressing your CPU.
  3. This typically isnt an issue but if the route between your house and wherever you are is not stable then you will have issues again. i hope that helps.
9

Thank you, perhaps this is the case.

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