PLEX won't play anything at 1080p?


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Hi, I'm pretty noob to unRaid and total noob to Plex so please be gentle..... 

 

Main issue is that I can't play any videos (haven't even tried a movie yet) at better than 4Mbps 720p resolution.  Have googled and messed around for the past two days without much success.  Perhaps my server (Sandy Bridge i3-2100 @ 3.1Ghz with 2GB of DDR3) just doesn't have enough power for the job?  Any help would be appreciated.

 

Additional info:  I'm running unRaid v6.1.9 with the Plex application in Docker.  Parity + 5 data drives, no cache drive.  One of the data drives is entirely for Docker (set to 200GB) and Plex, the rest contain my media. 

 

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Have you tried changing Settings -> Player -> Remote Quality?  I'm not clear if you've changed it and Plex isn't doing what you asked...

 

By the way, the recommended configuration is for Docker and Plex to live on the cache drive.  Dockers in general and Plex specifically are constantly accessing the drive they're on and will keep both that data drive and parity spinning all the time, otherwise they would spin down.  Writes to the cache drive are also a lot faster than the protected array, and in particular transcoding to the array will be painful since both transcoding and calculating parity require CPU.

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This is likely more of an issue with the Plex client than with the Plex server or UnRAID. Plex has a number of different clients with different code bases so knowing that would be helpful. Also, have you tried playing it on a different device? Usually if Plex plays at a lower quality it is because of network issues. Are you streaming on wireless or wired? Is it playing from within your LAN or over the internet? Whats your network speed if on LAN? Also, don't take this as insulting as I've gotta ask, is it a 1080p TV and not 720p? If none of my suggestions help you'd be much better off asking on the Plex forum as the issue probably lies there and not with UnRAID or Docker.

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I'm streaming wired within my LAN. Transfers of large files to unRaid server are typically a steady 35MB/s.  The network itself is gigabit.  Clients I've tested with are my main desktop, 1080p tv via a HTPC, and ipad (over wireless).  None of the clients are able to properly playback video files.

 

My plan for the moment is change the current data drive containing docker and Plex into a cache drive.  Hoping performance will increase and videos will actually start playing. 

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So, the playback experience is significantly better when I use the Plex iphone app and display on the TV via Chromecast. This makes no sense to me.  Even though I have no idea what the actual playback resolution is, the results are better than a dedicated HTPC with a wired ethernet connection. 

 

iphone/Chromecast method = long delay before playback but ability to at least watch some clips.  HTPC = can't watch anything.  What gives?  Anyways, my unRaid server runs on an i3-2100 with 4GB of RAM.  Wondering if I can't reduce, or eliminate, the lengthy delay with a more powerful server.  I've noticed the i3-2100 CPU utilization almost always at 98% or greater when playing a clip. 

 

FWIW, I have an i7-950 with 8GB of RAM that I could cannibalize but I'm not too sure it would be much of an improvement over the i3-2100.

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Have you tried changing Settings -> Player -> Remote Quality?  I'm not clear if you've changed it and Plex isn't doing what you asked...

 

By the way, the recommended configuration is for Docker and Plex to live on the cache drive.  Dockers in general and Plex specifically are constantly accessing the drive they're on and will keep both that data drive and parity spinning all the time, otherwise they would spin down.  Writes to the cache drive are also a lot faster than the protected array, and in particular transcoding to the array will be painful since both transcoding and calculating parity require CPU.

 

This only affects the web player of the browser you are in.

 

What is your HTPC setup to play Plex content?

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Yes, I tried the Windows app, the web app, and the home theater app.  I used to be able to play videos quite well when I had Windows Media Center.  I installed a new hard drive in the HTPC and needed to reinstall Windows, which non longer includes WMC. This is the reason I decided to give Plex a try.

Wmc never did any transcoding.  If you've got a full htpc use kodi on that and leave plex for the mobile stuff

 

Sent from my LG-D852 using Tapatalk

 

 

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So, the playback experience is significantly better when I use the Plex iphone app and display on the TV via Chromecast. This makes no sense to me.  Even though I have no idea what the actual playback resolution is, the results are better than a dedicated HTPC with a wired ethernet connection.

It makes perfect sense, it's buffering it.  When you have a slow and/or unreliable connection, as wireless always is, then buffering several minutes ahead of time takes the jerkiness out of the playback.  The downside is you may have to wait for it to start, while it fills the stream buffer.  It doesn't sound like your HTPS did any buffering, and you may want to look for a setting allowing at least a few seconds of buffering.

 

iphone/Chromecast method = long delay before playback but ability to at least watch some clips.  HTPC = can't watch anything.  What gives?  Anyways, my unRaid server runs on an i3-2100 with 4GB of RAM.  Wondering if I can't reduce, or eliminate, the lengthy delay with a more powerful server.  I've noticed the i3-2100 CPU utilization almost always at 98% or greater when playing a clip.

 

Media playback for most is a complicated process, because there are many codecs for audio, video, and captioning/subtext.  And what one media handler may prefer may be different from another, especially from the various playback devices.  And there's the connection speed and reliability to workaround.  If the playback device can't handle the specific formats that the media file or server handle, then the server has to convert or transcode it, a CPU intensive task.  And if the connection can't support the amount of data, then the server will also have to transcode it to a lower resolution.  Clearly your server is not up to the task, or the software it's running is not correctly using the available hardware boosts.

 

Your WMC was an ideal solution, a single application to both manage the storing and the playback.  It could store the media just the way it wanted it, and play back the media files directly, without any conversion or transcoding, or connection issues.  WMC limited the format choices, to keep it simple, but WMC also hid all the complexity from you.  Now you're back in the real world.

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Wmc never did any transcoding.  If you've got a full htpc use kodi on that and leave plex for the mobile stuff

 

+1

Use kodi for playback on the htpc and plex for the library. There is a kodi plugin which keeps it all in sync.

This means that kodi plays the files direct from disc but uses the metadata from plex for the ui.

Also if you can get the directshow plugin for kodi to work you can use the excellent madvr filter for upscaling the content to your screen.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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Yup. I've a Roku for the kids and " 'er indoors ". And of course for when I'm feeling lazy. Works great.

 

Plex can be a bit funny sometimes. Could try changing some of the client settings. I'm sure there is a setting for ' direct play ' or 'prefer direct play' which helps miss out the transcoding step.

 

Also your client needs to be able to play the codec if you are direct playing the material else plex has to transcode. Each client has its own preference.

 

Which codec and client was having trouble again?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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Kodi for the HTPC sounds interesting.  Also, I'm thinking about scrapping the PC for an Apple TV.  Everything should be simple and work well since Plex is a native app.

 

That's where you need to be careful.  Most HTPCs should be able to play anything you throw at it without transcoding but any other device may need transcoding, and then you'll need the CPU to handle it.  It's a question of your source material and the capabilities of your player.

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+1 turn off direct play in the client! I've run into many times where that is the bottleneck. Your HTPC is attempting to read the file directly and if it doesn't have the correct transcoders loaded into the os or hardware decoding it can have an issue. It's typically under Settings>advanced>video.

 

Yup. I've a Roku for the kids and " 'er indoors ". And of course for when I'm feeling lazy. Works great.

 

Plex can be a bit funny sometimes. Could try changing some of the client settings. I'm sure there is a setting for ' direct play ' or 'prefer direct play' which helps miss out the transcoding step.

 

Also your client needs to be able to play the codec if you are direct playing the material else plex has to transcode. Each client has its own preference.

 

Which codec and client was having trouble again?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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Ok, after increasing the amount of memory on the unRaid server to 4GB, I can finally play videos normally on my desktop machine using the "original" quality setting.  I noticed CPU utilization remains at 1% instead of jumping to 99% with any other setting.  Going to try on the HTPC later tonight to see if it works there as well. 

 

This makes me believe two things:  1) the i3-2100 is not powerful enough to transcode my video files to lower quality settings; and 2)my powerline home network that my HTPC is on may not have enough bandwidth to accommodate videos at the original settings.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Ok, after increasing the amount of memory on the unRaid server to 4GB, I can finally play videos normally on my desktop machine using the "original" quality setting.  I noticed CPU utilization remains at 1% instead of jumping to 99% with any other setting.  Going to try on the HTPC later tonight to see if it works there as well. 

 

This makes me believe two things:  1) the i3-2100 is not powerful enough to transcode my video files to lower quality settings; and 2)my powerline home network that my HTPC is on may not have enough bandwidth to accommodate videos at the original settings.

 

If you have coax in every room, look into MOCA instead, I had a similar problem with my bed room player tried using an old router as a G extender, then power line, and finally some eBay sourced Verizon FIOS Actiontec routers.

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