Server Version#:1.41.6.9685
Player Version#:1.70.1.303
M2 Mac Mini OS 14.7.5
Is it a known issue that VC-1 files playback choppy both under software and hardware decoding with Plex HTPC ?
In comparison, the same files play back smoothly using VLC, with far lower GPU use.
Compare GPU Usage:
EDIT: Checked and it plays back smoothly on an old 2012 intel mac mini with plex media player 2.58
VC1 is a terribly ancient and inefficient codec. It may even be single threaded. Terrible for streaming, was never used commercially for streaming AFAIK.
So poor performance is not surprising. Very little uses for it.
Not a helpful reply. The point is that it used to work fine, and it still works fine under VLC, a free app, whereas it does not under Plex, a paid app.
huh?
It’s entirely helpful. You are putting square peg into round hole.
VC1 is more than a 2decade old inefficient codec inappropriate for streaming. Intel has depracated out of their GPU support. Apple has deprecated out of your M2 gpu support.
Not only was it never used mainstream for streaming, whatever purposes it has has been deprecated by industry. It’s just best not to use it.
Or use your preferred VLC tool. But keep an old version of it archived… because they could do a rewrite and deprecate as well.
As your your edit, vc1 was merely a decade old codec for that decade old hardware. A 2012 Intel based Mac was likely sandy bridge or haswell, and had GPU HW decode support for VC1… GPU HW decode helps video dramatically.
Whether it’s VC1, H264, or H265 doesn’t matter.
Too many blockbuster movies were released with VC1 so it’s here to stay.
Moving forward –
Debug log files please which capture server & player activity so I can forward to Engineering ?
You aren’t telling anyone anything they don’t know. Please stop. You aren’t as smart as you think you are.
where do I securely submit the log files?
the issue is happening on all apple silicon devices, with all codecs. h264, h265, vc-1. overall very high cpu/gpu usage and choppiness. VLC is super smooth. see graph above. its the same relative difference for all codecs VLC vs Plex HTPC
Edit: (link to my log files removed) I’m not interested in troubleshooting this any more. Its a known issue as described here: Mac Player stuttering video playback - #12 by gbooker02
I don’t see any Plex staff responses in that thread even though its identical to my issue.
To confirm, playback is choppy in the latest version of MPV as well as Plex HTPC. Playback is smooth in VLC.
Playback is also smooth in PlexHTPC-1.59.0.121-1c051efb-universal
why are older versions removed from the website?
Somewhere between 1.59 and 1.70 a bug was introduced
See above for comparison of CPU/GPU usage for the same movie played back in Plex HTPC 1.70.1.303 and then VLC.
1.71.1 has been released with a fix. Give it a try and see if that solves the problem
Now its having an error with VC-1 files on the 2024 Apple Silicon macs, “Application disabled direct play”. Plex HTPC version 1.71.1.346-f62ce92
VC-1 plays back smoothly on my 2019 Intel Mac Pro (Plex HTPC version 1.71.1.346-f62ce92) and my 2012 Intel Mac Mini (Plex Media Player 2.58.0.1076-38e019da)
