Transcoding for DLNA

General Discussions
1

Hello,

I couldn’t find any information regarding this specific issue.

I would like that Plex always transcodes the stream when the client is a DLNA compatible device. Specifically I would like to transcode the to 720p, at a specific bitrate, always for DLNA clients.

Is this possible.

Thanks,
Romeo

2

Why should this apply to all DLNA devices? I can’t imagine a logical reason.
Avoiding transcoding in the local network is much more desirable IMHO.

You can probably hack this for one particular device with an adapted hardware device profile.

3

Thanks for the info @OttoKerner. The idea is that I only have one DLNA client in the house, a semi-smart TV with no native Plex client with a crappy WiFi chip. It always starts buffering randomly while watching something. Until I can get my hands on an Amazon FireStick I have to live with it. My idea was to just transcode everything to 720p with a lower bitrate since my Plex server can take it just fine. Also most of the content that I watch on this TV gets transcoded anyway since the TVs support for certain formats is lacking.

I make it sound like the TV is really crap, but the truth is the image quality is really good on it, only the “smart” features are kinda crappy.

4

Oh, that is much easier.
When you access the Plex DLNA server with your TV, you’ll see first 3 folders:

Video
Music 
Photos

Choose Video - Preferences - Local Resolution - 720p

Then go up one level and choose Local Video Quality - High
If that still stutters, go lower to Medium

Make sure that your TV always uses the same local IP address. Because these preferences are stored per IP address on the server.

Later, you can go in Plex Web to
Settings - Server - DLNA - ‘Show Advanced’ - “DLNA client preferences”
in there, you can see and manipulate any setting for any DLNA client that was ever made in your local network.
If you mess up in there, simple clean out the input field, then restart Plex Server and make the initial settings again with your TV client.

5

@kicsyromy said:
I make it sound like the TV is really crap, but the truth is the image quality is really good on it, only the “smart” features are kinda crappy.

Understood. :wink:
Consider wiring it up. With ‘flat’ ethernet wires available, it is easier than you might think.

6

Another option would be to consider MoCA adapaters to run ethernet over coaxial (you may already have this if you have whole house DVR with your cable TV). I had crappy wireless to my main TV and it was super easy to set up MoCA adapters, and now I run all my movies at the original resolution (1080p ~30Mbps) without any buffering/stuttering.

Although if you get good wi-fi in that area of your house (and the issue is the wireless adapter in your TV) it’s just cheaper to get a Fire TV or Fire stick.

7

@OttoKerner Thanks a lot! That sounds like exactly what I was looking for :smile: I’ll give it a try once I get home from work. Ideally, yeah, I would just hook it up with an Ethernet cable, it’s just that I really want to minimize the number of wires running rampart through the house :smiley:

@NeuroDawg I have good WiFi reception in the area where the TV is and it even shows a full signal. If I take other devices in the same room (tablet, phone, etc.) they can stream anything without any issues whatsoever. So I’m thinking it’s not a bandwidth problem.