So I have the opportunity to build my plex server at work on a dedicated virtual machine with 2 CPUs with 8 cores each. I can go as far as 10 cores each. My hosts are connected to the network and SANs with dedicated 10G fiber connections and my backbone connection on my network is 10G at the host building with a 1G fiber to the building with our internet connection with is a 1G up and down fiber connection. I currectly upgraded my home internet to 75M up and down which is on fios. I can basically stream movies at 20Mbps but I want to stream direct my blu-ray collection that I ripped to my plex server. I didn’t use handbrake or anything to lower the bit rate. I don’t want to change anything on the rips. So the benefits of having plex at work is the CPU power and storage currently at around 12TB. My connection has been tested at speedtest.net and everything checks out with a 6ms response time. Is this impossible?? Thanks guys!
Check how the video is encoded. Some BR’s use the VC-1 codec which most devices cannot direct play. Also check the audio. Unless you are using a device connected to an AVR through HDMI that supports that particular codec, PMS might have to at least transcode the audio. Finally check if you are trying to play the included subtitles. BR’s use the PGS format. Again, most devices cannot direct play PGS subtitles.
What client are you using? What transcoding is going on? Is it transcoding both video and audio, or just one of them?
Thanks guys for your reply. I’m using a roku 3. The videos are h.264 and are DTS-HD 5.1 or 7.1. I’m aware of the VC-1 and those will have to be transcoded. My Roku is connected to a AVR that supports DTS-HD. I can setup Plex on my laptop and stream these videos just fine locally. The goal was to direct play, no transcoding to my home but I think even though I have a 75M connection at home, Verizon isn’t giving me a constant 35M speed in which some blu-rays need. I just wanted to know if I was missing anything. Does anyone know if you can manually tell the Roku to transcode the video only and direct stream the audio? I’ve seen that done automatically on some DVDs I have but I haven’t been able to get that to work on the blu-rays. When ripping the blu-rays, I used MakeMKV and unchecked the subtitles. So what I believe was ripped should be the video and the HD audio track only. Thanks again!
Get a ShieldTV if you want to direct stream full blu-ray rips…
@amason85 said:
Thanks guys for your reply. I’m using a roku 3. The videos are h.264 and are DTS-HD 5.1 or 7.1. I’m aware of the VC-1 and those will have to be transcoded. My Roku is connected to a AVR that supports DTS-HD. I can setup Plex on my laptop and stream these videos just fine locally. The goal was to direct play, no transcoding to my home but I think even though I have a 75M connection at home, Verizon isn’t giving me a constant 35M speed in which some blu-rays need. I just wanted to know if I was missing anything. Does anyone know if you can manually tell the Roku to transcode the video only and direct stream the audio? I’ve seen that done automatically on some DVDs I have but I haven’t been able to get that to work on the blu-rays. When ripping the blu-rays, I used MakeMKV and unchecked the subtitles. So what I believe was ripped should be the video and the HD audio track only. Thanks again!
Your internet speed has nothing to do with this. What matters is if your clients and server are using a wired connection. You’ll need a SHIELD TV or NUC to direct play all the various codecs Blurays use.
I agree with the Shield comments. I had some issues with the Fire TV and bought some Shield boxes. They stream everything I have thrown at them without issues.
@amason85 - “at work” might imply commercial use, which is forbidden in the license unless otherwise allowed by Plex. Not judging, just making sure you are aware in case you weren’t.
@drinehart said:
@amason85 - “at work” might imply commercial use, which is forbidden in the license unless otherwise allowed by Plex. Not judging, just making sure you are aware in case you weren’t.
I believe he means hes trying to access his server from his work while he is on break… not that the server is for commercial use for his work.
My server is at “work” but its for personal use. I’m only using their server, storage and internet connection. I manage all of it so I can get away with it. Although I’ll be buying my own NAS soon as storage requirements are growing. LOL I’ll have to try the Shield to see if the issue is the Roku. All devices are hardwired.
@SiscoPlex said:
@drinehart said:
@amason85 - “at work” might imply commercial use, which is forbidden in the license unless otherwise allowed by Plex. Not judging, just making sure you are aware in case you weren’t.I believe he means hes trying to access his server from his work while he is on break… not that the server is for commercial use for his work.
That is not at all what is written though. Re-read it. However, if I am wrong, apologies.
@amason85 - that clears it up. You should be good to go, IMHO.
@drinehart said:
@SiscoPlex said:
@drinehart said:
@amason85 - “at work” might imply commercial use, which is forbidden in the license unless otherwise allowed by Plex. Not judging, just making sure you are aware in case you weren’t.I believe he means hes trying to access his server from his work while he is on break… not that the server is for commercial use for his work.
That is not at all what is written though. Re-read it.
As he clarified prior to your post… And this doesn’t mean its for commercial use because it resides in a workplaces Virtual enviroment.
@amason85 said:
Thanks guys for your reply. I’m using a roku 3. The videos are h.264 and are DTS-HD 5.1 or 7.1.
The Roku should be able to pass through this and diretc play.
My Roku is connected to a AVR that supports DTS-HD.
Make sure it support 7.1 too.
I can setup Plex on my laptop and stream these videos just fine locally.
Are you using Plex Media Player. That will play anything so you can’t compare it to any other Plex client.
Does anyone know if you can manually tell the Roku to transcode the video only and direct stream the audio? I’ve seen that done automatically on some DVDs I have but I haven’t been able to get that to work on the blu-rays.
It should do it automatically. If something isn’t working right with the Roku 3, please provide the logs for the Roku after you start playing the video.
@MovieFan.Plex said:
@amason85 said:
Thanks guys for your reply. I’m using a roku 3. The videos are h.264 and are DTS-HD 5.1 or 7.1.The Roku should be able to pass through this and diretc play.
I can only get the roku to stream DTS-HD 5.1.
My Roku is connected to a AVR that supports DTS-HD.
Make sure it support 7.1 too.
Yes, my AVR supports 7.1.
I can setup Plex on my laptop and stream these videos just fine locally.
Are you using Plex Media Player. That will play anything so you can’t compare it to any other Plex client.
I setup plex as a server on my laptop and point it to copies of local videos for testing. I use the Roku to stream the videos from my test plex server on my laptop.
Does anyone know if you can manually tell the Roku to transcode the video only and direct stream the audio? I’ve seen that done automatically on some DVDs I have but I haven’t been able to get that to work on the blu-rays.
It should do it automatically. If something isn’t working right with the Roku 3, please provide the logs for the Roku after you start playing the video.
To get any of the blu-ray rips to stream direct, I have to change direct play from auto to force. Even if I’m streaming from my laptop and auto is selected, the videos transcode. For DVDs and other recordings with Dolby Digital audio tracks, if auto is selected, they stream direct. I’m guessing there is an issue with DTS-HD audio tracks forcing transcoding with the roku if direct play is set to auto. I try to upload the logs tonight. I’ve never done it before so I’ll google it.
Are you sure the file is DTS-HD 7.1 and not DTS-HD MA 7.1? These are different. I don’t think the Roku supports DTS-HD MA.
It shouldn’t make a difference if your server is a desktop or a laptop. There must be something else going on.
You can find instructions for how to get logs in my signature.
@anon18523487 said:
Are you sure the file is DTS-HD 7.1 and not DTS-HD MA 7.1? These are different. I don’t think the Roku supports DTS-HD MA.It shouldn’t make a difference if your server is a desktop or a laptop. There must be something else going on.
You can find instructions for how to get logs in my signature.
I found where to enable remote logging on Plex app but I couldn’t find it on the roku itself. i also couldn’t log into the web interface of the roku. I played Jurassic World for about 15 minutes just in case the logging worked. It does seem to be having a hard time playing at video set to original and direct play set to auto, seems to buffer a lot at 35.9Mbps. The receiver says Dolby Digital. I have attached four screen shots. One from MediaInfo, the plex web interface and the roku interface showing the format of Jurassic World and the stream status.
@MovieFan.Plex said:
Are you sure the file is DTS-HD 7.1 and not DTS-HD MA 7.1? These are different. I don’t think the Roku supports DTS-HD MA.It shouldn’t make a difference if your server is a desktop or a laptop. There must be something else going on.
You can find instructions for how to get logs in my signature.
One more thing to add, I just put the blu-ray movie in my player and the receiver displays DTS_HD MSTR 7.1 where once I get plex to list the movie as direct play under the status page in a browser, it only reads DTS 5.1. Not sure where the disconnect is with the audio. Based on the pictures I’ve given you, can he tell if its DTS-HD or DTS-HD MA? Is there a better way to tell than what I’ve done?
Thank you for all your help in this. I really appreciate it!!
Ok, just confirmed, the Roku (all of them actually) can only direct play DTS 5.1. Any other variant will have to be transcoded. The audio you have in that file is DTS-HD MA 7.1 with a DTS-HD 5.1 core. The Roku cannot support this, so you get what you have. Video - direct, audio - transcode.
@MovieFan.Plex said:
Ok, just confirmed, the Roku (all of them actually) can only direct play DTS 5.1. Any other variant will have to be transcoded. The audio you have in that file is DTS-HD MA 7.1 with a DTS-HD 5.1 core. The Roku cannot support this, so you get what you have. Video - direct, audio - transcode.
Thank you for all your help! I have ordered a shield like the others have recommended.
