Hey when i turn on subtitles it causes the movie to buffer every few seconds so the movie is unwatchable. Subtitles work fine with any other device i use so this is a ps4 probably.
Any one have any ideas?
It could be because when the subtitles are on Plex transcodes the videos. I get pixelation instead. I just don’t understand why they don’t make the PS4 client managing the subtitles downloading them from the server (they are only few KB) streaming the videos directly as they are.
Have you looked through the support article on why buffering may occurs?
https://support.plex.tv/hc/en-us/articles/201575036-Why-is-my-video-stream-buffering-
First thing to check is if your server is providing the stream fast enough to the client when transcoding.
You’ll need to temporarily enable Verbose logging (once you’re done, you should disable Verbose logging).
Open up the log file and filter or search on the stringspeed =>. You’ll see some results along the lines of this:
Aug 19, 2015 16:45:38 [0x10d84d000] VERBOSE - * speed => 5.5
If your average is about 1.3 or greater, then transcoding speed is sufficient for what you’re trying to do.
Then, the next thing to check is the network, especially if your using WiFi.
@Jecht Sin said:
It could be because when the subtitles are on Plex transcodes the videos.
this is most likely the cause, and probably means your server isn’t strong enough to transcode the video in real time.
I just don’t understand why they don’t make the PS4 client managing the subtitles downloading them from the server (they are only few KB) streaming the videos directly as they are.
the issue isn’t the size or downloading them, but rather being able to render them correctly on the device, we have done some work on this but it needs to go through quite a bit of testing to make sure things work as expected.
Hey Kay,
thanks for answering.
@kay.one said:
@Jecht Sin said:
It could be because when the subtitles are on Plex transcodes the videos.this is most likely the cause, and probably means your server isn’t strong enough to transcode the video in real time.
I don’t know. I have a MacBook Pro 13" retina (last model) with an i5 CPU. I would think it would be capable enough. Then it seems to happen only with the PS3/PS4 Plex players. I had the same issue with the web browser using Plex but then I managed to make it disappearing. I described in full detail the issue (with pictures) in here:
https://forums.plex.tv/discussion/218898/big-pixelation-on-web-ps4
I just don’t understand why they don’t make the PS4 client managing the subtitles downloading them from the server (they are only few KB) streaming the videos directly as they are.
the issue isn’t the size or downloading them, but rather being able to render them correctly on the device, we have done some work on this but it needs to go through quite a bit of testing to make sure things work as expected.
I may be naive but isn’t just a matter of overlapping some text? Like VLC or other players are doing on PC/Mac. It shouldn’t be much different on PlayStations. Also, please, add the ability to sync the subs adding/subtracting some delay. 
Thanks everyone for your comments but as some have said this is a problem that effects playstation only, so the server is fine. I hope that sometime soon plex can do an update or something that would fix the problem on playstation.
Same thing is happening to me. I’ve tried with other players and everything works fine. Although when I set subtitles on PS4 it starts buffering and the video stops playing.
The reason it might appear that this is limited to Playstation is because playstation doesn’t support soft subtitles and other players that you are comparing it to do. eg, PMP, Android, fire tv, iOS, roku, etc
1 Like
