So I just installed PMS on my N36l with 5 gigs of RAM. Was using YAMJ/Eversion before but since a plex app for the Popcorn Hour came out I switched.

 

Big issue here whenever I play a 3d h-sbs (I have that in the file name as well) it freezes and stutters to crawl after a few seconds

 

When I play a normal 2D movie, it is about a minute before it freezes.

 

I am doing this on a popbox 3d with the newly-released app that is supposed to work well. I have no idea why this is happening. Do you guys think PMS could be transcoding it or something?

 

I had no issues playing any of these movies with Eversion/YAMJ

 

Also the Cpu load is about 35% on unraid while watching the stream stutter and skip.

 

Would REALLY appreciate some help with this.

Someone out there must be able to help me lol. i spent the entire day today figuring this thing out!

 

I did some more testing and 720p shows play just fine through plex, no issues. So it's my 1080p movie collection that's the problem. Again, no issues playing anything directly through the POPBOX3d interface or Eversion/YAMJ that I had before.

My guess is that your server can't handle the transcoding needed to play the files.  If I understand correctly,the 36L uses a 1,3 Ghz processor.  I seem to remember that Plex required something like a 2.4 Ghz CPU for effective stutter free transcoding.

 

Your best bet is to avoid transcoding and use something like Handbrake to convert the files to a format that will not require any transcoding.  I use Appletv to watch all my media and therefore convert all of my files to m4v.

 

Hope this helps but I am 99% sure that is your problem.

 

Kryspy

As Kryspy stated, it appears your server is transcoding, and that CPU isn't going to cut it.

 

If your front ends can deal with it, you don't need to transcode anyway.. so just disable transcoding to local network in Plex, assuming the Popcorn Hour client has that option.

 

EDIT: It appears it does - I saw your post over on networkedmediatank and can see in that same thread that there is an option to play natively.

 

 

I am using the native player on the PCH, same result...

 

I am not sure why it is transcoding and the player does not have the option to turn off transcoding or anything like that. I don't see that option from within PMS as well?

 

I don't understand why it is transcoding when the player can handle the codecs on its own. This is demonstrated if I just use the PCH direct interface to play the file or Eversion/YAMJ combo. Plays perfectly fine in those situations.

Okay I may be wrong since it's been quite some time since I set up Plex. 

 

In the Plexweb page [server ip:32400] goto settings and then the plexweb tab.

 

Next click on player and set local to the highest bitrate possible.  The setup seems backwards but what you are actually telling plex is at what bitrate threshold it needs to start transcoding. Also make sure direct play is checked.

 

Kryspy

Kryspy I think you are right! I selected the highest rate in the drop down box which is 20Mbps.

 

The problem is that a lot of the movies are above that!

 

I clicked on a movie and hit "display" so I could see the bit rate, and I think you are right, every time it goes above 20Mbps it freezes!

 

I tried another movie and same thing! So what do I do??? How I set it to unlimited or not to transcode to this device at all? I thought it is automatically supposed to detect if the device can play the codec than to disable transcoding. So what am I supposed to do now?

 

Here is a screen shot of the screen

Except one issue, I set the transcoding to a really low number this time and it doesn't freeze any sooner and the bitrate in the video does get higher than what I specified so I dont know.

 

Here is a screen shot of CPU Usage and RAM while it is stuttering. I notice my RAM usage is very high? Could that cause an issue? But then why would it cause less of an issue at 720p bit rates since plex would still be running and just streaming form the hard drive...?

 

Depending on home many movies you own you may want to convert them and avoid the headache.   

 

If you are going to use the HP micro server then you have to accept it's limitations.  Me I chose to conver to native m4v for simplicity for use with AppleTV because I wanted to avoid this whole scenario.

 

Just glanced through the plex forums. There doesn't seem to be any way to completely shut off transcoding in Plex.  Only way is what I have outlined.

 

 

Kryspy

Turning off transcoding is a client feature, not a server one.  Plex client for android and HT for Windows has an option to 'direct stream' for example.  They haven't implemented this option at the server end as most people want to transcode to phones/tablets, but direct play to htpc etc...  So if the option to 'direct stream' isn't in the pch client, probably best to ask the developers of that client if they can implement the option.

 

Sent from my GT-N7105T using Tapatalk 4 Beta

 

 

Oh wow this sucks. I wouldn't want any of my streams transcoded down to a low bit rate just because... That lowers the quality, especially when that doesn't need to happen...

 

But is transcoding really taking place? Should the processor than be at close to 100% utilization?

so it is transcoding. saw it jump to 90%

 

How do I get it to stop?

Like I said it's a client feature.  You need to speak to the pch client developers

 

Sent from my GT-N7105T using Tapatalk 4 Beta

 

 

Okay, thank you guys. This is disappointing

When life deals you lemons..... sell the damn Proliant and build a beefier server for transcoding

 

Kryspy

Or go back to YAMJ/Everson..

Went back to YAMJ/Eversion. I don't want to build a new server when the player shouldn't even need to transcode and loose quality... Plus I don't wan't extra power being used by the server in-necessarily...

 

I went back to YAMJ/Eversion, however, I got spoiled by Plex! I love the fact that it is dynamic and you can create your own categories easily, and it automatically and seamlessly shows up new episodes that aired, got added, etc..