Transcoding problem with local and remote clients

[Father_Dad]

Server (nVidia Shield Pro) Version#: 1.18.3.2156
Player (nVidia Shield Pro) Version#: 7.29.2.16071
Player (Roku 4 Ultra) Version#: 6.4.12.6214

I’ve been experiencing this problem for over a year and now that COVID-19 is forcing us to stay in I’m hoping to address and fix it.

I have 8 clients (6 around the house, 2 that I use remotely) - they ALL experience the same problem (versions of clients above):

I have a ton of 4K HDR content as well as 1080p duplicate contact. I’m very aware to make sure the device I’m on to select the correct format as to not get my server to attempt to transcode 4k down to 1080 etc… but my problem is that almost all of my content transcodes no matter what. Last night I watched my remote stream transcode down to 720p - no matter what the source video was. My local content kept transcoding 4K - but it was the audio - it would take 7.1 and drop it to 5.1 (video passed through). The 4K content when streaming inhouse on the Shield (from the Shield) takes a good 30 seconds before it even starts streaming - and it’s because of this audio transcode I believe.

When I go into the player itself and tell it to pick the top stream and force direct for audio - the problem goes away.

Remotely - 720 seems to be the default. I can go into the player and change it to 1080 - but the next time I log in remotely, it defaults back to 720.

So I have two problems here:

1. Remote systems always get 720p
2. Local systems seem to want to transcode the audio instead of just passing it through.

I have gone through every setting, one by one, on the server making sure there are no caps. No bandwidth limitations, trying to make sure if an option like direct play was available, to allow it. As for remote - I have a 400 Mbps upload pipe (900 Mbps download) - I am 100% certain it’s not throttling or having other issues like that.

While my local house setup is not 7.1 - it’s 5.1 (in 4 rooms), the receivers DO support it and they will down converting it to 5.1 for me - so transcoding is not necessary.

I’ve got Tautulli installed and confirmed all of what I’m saying above as well as through the dashboard on the server itself. Transcoding is killing me and I can’t figure out how to fix it. Suggestions? Help?

Yes - I’m aware of some of the quirks with Roku’s - thus why I have several nVidia Shields doing the same problems described above.

Thanks a million in advance!
Shawn

[fx4]

I just recently re-setup Plex server on Nvidia Shield and everything was working great, then all of the sudden things melted down and transcoding isn’t working at all. I am scratching my head on this problem. It’s like the processor on the Shield has been throttled and Nvidia isn’t allowing Plex to use too much of the GPUs power. I have not confirmed this but it looks like the server was updated on my system March 30th. This could just be the setup date too. I’m trying to figure out what happened because even 4k transcodes were working.