Server Version#: 1.15.6.1079
Player Version#: Roku 6.3b9
I’ve bought Plex Pass but am having a few problems… 1 second recordings on some shows and EPG download issues, but we’ll get to that later.
First thing, I can’t watch my HEVC files. Single client, server PC doing nothing else.
Media Info:
Video
Format : HEVC
Format/Info : High Efficiency Video Coding
Format profile : Main@L4@Main
Codec ID : V_MPEGH/ISO/HEVC
Duration : 58 min 11 s
Bit rate : 3 565 kb/s
Width : 1 920 pixels
Height : 1 080 pixels
Frame rate : 23.976 (24000/1001) FPS
Standard : NTSC
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Transcoder options:
Transcoder quality Prefer higher speed encoding
Throttle buffer 30
Background transcoding x264 preset Ultra fast
Use hardware acceleration Yes
Max simultaneous 1
VLC is capable of playing the file at about 2.5% CPU. Plex Transcoder pegs it at 100% and generally within a minute or two the Roku bombs with a message about the network or the server not being powerful enough. There are no network issues, this only happens on transcode and I can make it do it at will by trying to use the PC for anything while it is transcoding. Instant stop on the Roku. Roku app reports the transcode speed at 0.9 to 1.1.
CPU is a Celeron J3455 8GB RAM.
Between the transcoding problems and the DVR issues I’m really not enjoying the paid experience! Please help!
No expert here but does your gpu support hardware acceleration? If not, maybe that CPU isn’t powerful enough to software transcode as HEVC is much more intensive to transcode that h.264. VLC would be playing it on your PC directly without transcoding so it would be much easier.
Does it work if you turn off hardware acceleration? I posted a thread recently (no replies other than myself) pointing out an apparent issue with playing HEVC transcoding to Roku when HA is turned on. I CAN play HEVC files, but I CANNOT resume partially played files or skip forward in the files as it will just buffer forever. Turning off HA “fixes” it, but seems like a waste of a Plex Pass feature.
The J3455 does support QuickSync, and I did read another post with a Plex employee stating it should be fine. PC has no video card, just the Intel 500 GPU. VLC must be using the hardware decode in the CPU. It’s playing back 1080 hevc at almost no CPU usage. J3455 has hardware decode and encode acceleration for 264, 265 and others. Is there any way of getting debug info from the transcoder to see if it’s using QuickSync?
With the completely absent support, and now the abandonment (or even bait and switch) of Australian users, I see no reason to continue Plex pass. Literally getting nothing for the money.
Curious if you can use another plex app, example in windows, and choose settings forcing it to transcode one of those HEVC files. Does it play fine through that or is it just a Roku issue? I won’t be able to help you fix it, but just curious and maybe it helps someone else isolate the issue?
Have dumped Plex Pass, will be looking for something else. Lack of support on a paid product is just not good enough. Turned off hardware acceleration, no change in speed. Apparently hardware acceleration was not working despite this CPU supporting it. Cheaper to throw away the Roku and get a higher spec that can direct play, than to buy Plex Pass for hardware acceleration. Australian EPG has been dropped and very deceptive behavior on Plex’s part trying to encourage users to get a second paid service. Just disgusted all round.
