I recently built a new Unraid server with completely new parts, and for some reason Plex refuses to transcode anything. My old Unraid server had no issues playing my shows, but this new setup has better specs and components, yet it cannot play almost half of my library.

I enabled transcoding in Plex, but it never actually transcodes. It always tries to direct play, even though the settings are correctly configured to allow transcoding. Because of this, many of my shows either fail to start or go into an endless loading loop.

If anyone can help me figure this out, I would really appreciate it. I have been trying to watch several shows and the server just will not work properly.

I also had to reset my folder properties cause i was having issues accessing certain things, i think i fixed most of it but i am quite unsure.tower-diagnostics-20251128-0140.zip

Plex Media Server Logs_2025-11-27_22-40-07.zip

I see a couple of things:

Add '--runtime=nvidia' to the 'Extra Parameters' (From the NVIDIA Driver support thread - from the beginning of the thread)

Also, Burn In subtitles only transcode by CPU, not by external hardware.

I assume the server is registered to someone with Plex Pass? For hardware transcoding is a feature that requires Plex Pass.

8 hours ago, ConnerVT said:

I see a couple of things:

Add '--runtime=nvidia' to the 'Extra Parameters' (From the NVIDIA Driver support thread - from the beginning of the thread)

Also, Burn In subtitles only transcode by CPU, not by external hardware.

I assume the server is registered to someone with Plex Pass? For hardware transcoding is a feature that requires Plex Pass.

I tried the runtime, it would break the docker, i also am having issues with getting unraid connect to work too, lots of things going on i don't understand, but lets stick to plex for now this is the error i get when i add the following to plex. I also do have Plex Pass forever.

this time it worked after i restarted it 5 times, but here is the issue still i cannot play stranger things, video is MKV format, and in my other plex it had no issues at all playing these or allowing them to run.

I appreciate the help of course, If anyone else got any ideas let me know, also if there is a file converter that is automatic and suited for plex i am open to that, if it keeps the files subtitles and everything attached.

restarted my server and now all videos are now all showing black.

A couple more thoughts:

 

1. Don't use the Plex Web client for troubleshooting.  It has long standing issues that make troubleshooting difficult, especially when changing the requested transcoding.  Instead, use a Plex App on your client device - AppleTV, Roku, smart TV, etc.

 

2. Delete the contents of you Codecs folder.  This has solved odd transcoding issues for many people in the past, even for those using hardware transcoding.  Your Plex server app will go out and re-populate the folder with a fresh set of codec files when you start the Plex docker.

 

17 hours ago, ConnerVT said:

A couple more thoughts:

 

1. Don't use the Plex Web client for troubleshooting.  It has long standing issues that make troubleshooting difficult, especially when changing the requested transcoding.  Instead, use a Plex App on your client device - AppleTV, Roku, smart TV, etc.

 

2. Delete the contents of you Codecs folder.  This has solved odd transcoding issues for many people in the past, even for those using hardware transcoding.  Your Plex server app will go out and re-populate the folder with a fresh set of codec files when you start the Plex docker.

 

OMG THIS IS THE FIX, i fixed the nvidia setup parameters and i deleted the codecs, everything is now playing no matter what format and how long thank you so much for this but any suggestions to improve my plex and server capabilities and enjoyment?

Glad to hear you have it resolved. I have posted the codec folder fix at least a dozen times here on the forum, and it has solved issues nearly every time. This has been going on with Plex for years. No one seems to have an answer to why this happens, but an easy fix for it. It not a frequent problem for me (every few years?) so I haven't bothered with any proactive preventative actions for it.

Issues with the Plex Player on the web has also been a long time issue. Usually will show up when changing bit rate or resolution, but sometimes just pausing/restarting a video will flake out as well. Recommend using one of the Plex client players instead of a web browser when troubleshooting.

For me, Plex just continues to work, until it doesn't. Bought a Lifetime Plex Pass on sale in 2018 for $75. Feel I've gotten my money's worth out of it. The one thing I have seen over the years is Plex doesn't do a great job regression testing their software. They will add some new feature (which I don't care about) and break something else (which I do care for). So I avoid updating my Plex Docker container unless I really must. To avoid any unexpected update, instead of using the "latest" tag in my container, I have it locked to a fixed release (known to work correctly for me). If I do update, and something I need breaks, I can roll back. (Plex seems to break Live TV every few releases. HDR transcoding is another frequently broken function)

Edited November 30, 2025Nov 30 by ConnerVT
Added screenshot