Server Version#: 4.145.1
Player Version#: Plex for Mac version 1.108.1.307-dd5b87aa
I have plenty of upload bandwidth (1Gb) but my iMac player streaming remote via fiber (200Mb down) still transcodes to 720p and causes 100% CPU on the Plex server and the stream constantly buffers on the iMac Plex client.
When I stream remotely from my iPhone using the cellular 5g network the Plex server still transcodes but at 1080p and it doesn’t max out the CPU and plays without buffering.
When I disable transcoding on the Plex server I get the following error when trying to play on iMac:
Playback Error
Recording failed. Please check your tuner or antenna.
And I get the following error when trying to play from my iPhone over 5g:
Playback Stopped
Something went wrong playing your media. Please try again.
Could not direct play because: Not enough bandwidth for direct play of this item. Required bandwidth is 40000kbps and only 720kbps is available.
Could not transcode because: Not enough CPU for conversion of this item.
I understand why direct stream fails on my 5g connected iPhone but I don’t understand why I can’t direct stream on my iMac.
I wouldn’t mind using the transcoder if I could get it to use less CPU and not max it out, but I’ve tried every setting I can find to reduce video quality or speed up transcoding and it makes no difference on the iMac. The odd thing is that transcoding works fine on the iPhone over 5g (no buffering) even though the dashboard shows transcode at 1080p. CPU is high (80%) but it doesn’t get maxed out so there is no buffering. No matter which setting I change on the server the iMac still transcodes at 720p, maxes out the CPU and causes buffering.
Does anyone have a similar problem that you were able to resolve?
