Server Version#: Version 1.42.1.10060
Player Version#: 5.93.2
Hi everyone, I’ve noticed an “issue” when I use PGS subtitles while direct playing video and audio.
The first screenshot is hard drive activity when direct playing. This is expected behavior.
The next screenshots are is video/audio being directly played, but with PGS subs being “directly streamed”. What Plex does in the background is transcodes (based on server logs) and stores the entire movie into RAM.
After posting on a separate forum, I was told to download Tautulli which gave me slightly more information with the help with a convenient bar to visualize what the transcoder does. I took the picture early, but Vice ended up eventually being stored entirely in RAM and Ralph Breaks The Internet shows being fully transcoded (and also being stored entirely in RAM).
Oddly enough, this “issue” only happens when audio and video is directly played, but with PGS subs. It doesn’t happen when an actual transcode is being run. The screenshot below is expected behavior using the transcode buffer settings.
I’ve also tried on a PS5 and XBox Series S, however, they both transcode, so I wasn’t able to recreate the “issue”.
Now, I’m using quotes when referring to the issue because it doesn’t affect playback. The movie plays with minimal issues. What does bother me is the fact that the entire movie is read from the hard drive. For a 4K movie, this might mean 30GB being read off of a drive for something I might watch for 5 minutes. I would rather that not happen, but I can’t seem to find a setting or a way to throttle it the same way a “normal” transcode is throttled.
TLDR: Using PGS subs when direct playing video and audio triggers an unthrottled transcode in the background.
Any help that might avoid me having to remux the PGS tracks would be greatly appreciated.
Edit:
Plot twist? It seems to do it on SRTs also
Edit 2: Whether I play .srt subs or PGS subs, it transcodes them into my Transcode directory. When .srt subs are being played, I’m able to open the “chunk-xxxx” file using notepad and it just looks like a normal, complete .srt file, but broken into individual text/time. When PGS subs are being played, I’m unable to open the “chunk-xxxx” file, but two of them are create for each chunk; one of varying file size and the other at 1KB. The transcode folder ends up being < 30MB once the entire movie is buffered into RAM.
