[Support] Linuxserver.io - Plex Media Server

[TheDragon]

Plex will now force you to transcode to /config and thus the  problem we where trying to avoid is fixed thus we do not need this mapping anymore

So does that mean that there is no way to set the transcode directory to memory (i.e. /tmp)? 

 

I have been debating switching from ESXi to bare metal, and that is something I'd love to keep since it reduces wear on my SSDs...

 

It's forced by plex not by us. We just adapted our config

 

lonix would it be possible to reinstate this mapping? From what I can see this hasn't been forced by plex - as there is still a setting within plex to set a custom location for transcoding.

However without this mapping I am no longer able to use the setting within Plex itself to use unRAID root file system which is in the RAM. I have a large quantity of RAM (as in sure some others do too) and this change has essentially crippled the transcoding feature for me

[Squid]

Plex will now force you to transcode to /config and thus the  problem we where trying to avoid is fixed thus we do not need this mapping anymore

So does that mean that there is no way to set the transcode directory to memory (i.e. /tmp)? 

 

I have been debating switching from ESXi to bare metal, and that is something I'd love to keep since it reduces wear on my SSDs...

 

It's forced by plex not by us. We just adapted our config

 

lonix would it be possible to reinstate this mapping? From what I can see this hasn't been forced by plex - as there is still a setting within plex to set a custom location for transcoding.

However without this mapping I am no longer able to use the setting within Plex itself to use unRAID root file system which is in the RAM. I have a large quantity of RAM (as in sure some others do too) and this change has essentially crippled the transcoding feature for me

unless I'm misunderstanding something, if you can still tell Plex to transcode to a custom location, just add the appropriate mapping back in yourself (something like /transcode mapped to /tmp/plex)

 

Like any other container, you can always add as many paths as your system requires without any changes from the template authors

 

[TheDragon]

Plex will now force you to transcode to /config and thus the  problem we where trying to avoid is fixed thus we do not need this mapping anymore

So does that mean that there is no way to set the transcode directory to memory (i.e. /tmp)? 

 

I have been debating switching from ESXi to bare metal, and that is something I'd love to keep since it reduces wear on my SSDs...

 

It's forced by plex not by us. We just adapted our config

 

lonix would it be possible to reinstate this mapping? From what I can see this hasn't been forced by plex - as there is still a setting within plex to set a custom location for transcoding.

However without this mapping I am no longer able to use the setting within Plex itself to use unRAID root file system which is in the RAM. I have a large quantity of RAM (as in sure some others do too) and this change has essentially crippled the transcoding feature for me

unless I'm misunderstanding something, if you can still tell Plex to transcode to a custom location, just add the appropriate mapping back in yourself (something like /transcode mapped to /tmp/plex)

 

Like any other container, you can always add as many paths as your system requires without any changes from the template authors

 

That's how I thought it worked too, but despite setting a mapping myself of /transcode/:/tmp/ and then setting it to /transcode/ in plex but it doesn't work anymore for some reason. If I try to transcode something it just doesn't play.

 

I had it working perfectly prior to the recent change which is why I thought something had changed in the container itself.

 

If I remove the custom location entirely in plex, transcoding works - albeit very slowly as my disk isn't very quick. When I had it running in RAM it was very quick which is why I'm so keen to try and get it working again, how it was before

[ljm42]

Plex will now force you to transcode to /config and thus the  problem we where trying to avoid is fixed thus we do not need this mapping anymore

So does that mean that there is no way to set the transcode directory to memory (i.e. /tmp)? 

 

I have been debating switching from ESXi to bare metal, and that is something I'd love to keep since it reduces wear on my SSDs...

 

It's forced by plex not by us. We just adapted our config

 

lonix would it be possible to reinstate this mapping? From what I can see this hasn't been forced by plex - as there is still a setting within plex to set a custom location for transcoding.

However without this mapping I am no longer able to use the setting within Plex itself to use unRAID root file system which is in the RAM. I have a large quantity of RAM (as in sure some others do too) and this change has essentially crippled the transcoding feature for me

unless I'm misunderstanding something, if you can still tell Plex to transcode to a custom location, just add the appropriate mapping back in yourself (something like /transcode mapped to /tmp/plex)

 

Like any other container, you can always add as many paths as your system requires without any changes from the template authors

 

That's how I thought it worked too, but despite setting a mapping myself of /transcode/:/tmp/ and then setting it to /transcode/ in plex but it doesn't work anymore for some reason. If I try to transcode something it just doesn't play.

 

I had it working perfectly prior to the recent change which is why I thought something had changed in the container itself.

 

If I remove the custom location entirely in plex, transcoding works - albeit very slowly as my disk isn't very quick. When I had it running in RAM it was very quick which is why I'm so keen to try and get it working again, how it was before

 

Transcoding to RAM has not worked since Plex version 0.9.14, which was released last November.  This was a change that Plex made, and it affected all Dockers / plugins / installs.  There isn't anything LS.IO can do to bring it back.

 

Here is a post describing how to set your transcode directory manually, with a caveat that you should avoid transcoding to RAM:

  https://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=40937.msg419495#msg419495

[TheDragon]

Plex will now force you to transcode to /config and thus the  problem we where trying to avoid is fixed thus we do not need this mapping anymore

So does that mean that there is no way to set the transcode directory to memory (i.e. /tmp)? 

 

I have been debating switching from ESXi to bare metal, and that is something I'd love to keep since it reduces wear on my SSDs...

 

It's forced by plex not by us. We just adapted our config

 

lonix would it be possible to reinstate this mapping? From what I can see this hasn't been forced by plex - as there is still a setting within plex to set a custom location for transcoding.

However without this mapping I am no longer able to use the setting within Plex itself to use unRAID root file system which is in the RAM. I have a large quantity of RAM (as in sure some others do too) and this change has essentially crippled the transcoding feature for me

unless I'm misunderstanding something, if you can still tell Plex to transcode to a custom location, just add the appropriate mapping back in yourself (something like /transcode mapped to /tmp/plex)

 

Like any other container, you can always add as many paths as your system requires without any changes from the template authors

 

That's how I thought it worked too, but despite setting a mapping myself of /transcode/:/tmp/ and then setting it to /transcode/ in plex but it doesn't work anymore for some reason. If I try to transcode something it just doesn't play.

 

I had it working perfectly prior to the recent change which is why I thought something had changed in the container itself.

 

If I remove the custom location entirely in plex, transcoding works - albeit very slowly as my disk isn't very quick. When I had it running in RAM it was very quick which is why I'm so keen to try and get it working again, how it was before

 

Transcoding to RAM has not worked since Plex version 0.9.14, which was released last November.  This was a change that Plex made, and it affected all Dockers / plugins / installs.  There isn't anything LS.IO can do to bring it back.

 

Here is a post describing how to set your transcode directory manually, with a caveat that you should avoid transcoding to RAM:

  https://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=40937.msg419495#msg419495

 

That makes sense! Thanks for the explanation and taking the time to reply, I'll have to see if I can find a faster HDD to use instead.

[elmn8r]

Anyone having issues with Plex picking up new content on scans?  I'm running Plex 0.9.16.6.  Sometime in the last few weeks, it has stopped picking up new Movies or Music that get copied into their respective folders.  This had worked fine before and I've made no changes to naming conventions or folders.  I've tried optimizing the db and cleaning the bundles but no joy...

[CHBMB]

Working fine for me when I looked yesterday.

[kaiguy]

I still don't really understand Plex's justification in limiting the ability to even allow an advanced user to setup transcoding to RAM.  I want to move back to baremetal unRAID, but then I'd lose that ability (I run a ramdisk in my Windows 7 VM with PMS for transcoding and it works fine).  The reasoning I got over on the Plex forums was that some people were encountering issues and it was done to maintain user experience, but that's painting with a pretty big brush.

[TheDragon]

I still don't really understand Plex's justification in limiting the ability to even allow an advanced user to setup transcoding to RAM.  I want to move back to baremetal unRAID, but then I'd lose that ability (I run a ramdisk in my Windows 7 VM with PMS for transcoding and it works fine).  The reasoning I got over on the Plex forums was that some people were encountering issues and it was done to maintain user experience, but that's painting with a pretty big brush.

I understand where you're coming from - I had Plex setup this way for several years and never had any problems. I wish the ease of setting to transcode in RAM had been maintained for those that wish to. Unfortunately I've been unable to get it to work since the changes were made by plex. Initially I thought it was the container, but I'm now sure it is plex and not the container

[kaiguy]

I understand where you're coming from - I had Plex setup this way for several years and never had any problems. I wish the ease of setting to transcode in RAM had been maintained for those that wish to. Unfortunately I've been unable to get it to work since the changes were made by plex. Initially I thought it was the container, but I'm now sure it is plex and not the container

Pretty sure its a combo of both.  I think Plex asked LSIO to remove the capability to map a transcode directory to /tmp in the container settings.  Yet PMS still enables you to manually specify a transcode directory.  Not sure if its default Docker limitations or PMS on top of that that prevents /tmp mapping...

[ljm42]

I think Plex asked LSIO to remove the capability to map a transcode directory to /tmp in the container settings.

 

I don't think that is accurate.  There are really only two reasons to care about where the transcode directory is located:

[*]To transcode to ram

[*]To make sure transcoding doesn't happen in the docker.img

Since:

[*]the option to transcode to ram hasn't worked since Plex 0.9.14

[*]and as of Plex 0.9.16.3, the default transcode location is in the /config directory rather than /tmp

there is no longer a need for 99.9% of people to specify a transcode directory.  Pretty sure that's why LS.IO removed it.

 

For the 0.1% of people that can still think of a reason to change their transcoding directory given the two points above, they could always do it manually:

https://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=40937.msg419495#msg419495

[TheDragon]

I think Plex asked LSIO to remove the capability to map a transcode directory to /tmp in the container settings.

 

I don't think that is accurate.  There are really only two reasons to care about where the transcode directory is located:

[*]To transcode to ram

[*]To make sure transcoding doesn't happen in the docker.img

Since:

[*]the option to transcode to ram hasn't worked since Plex 0.9.14

[*]and as of Plex 0.9.16.3, the default transcode location is in the /config directory rather than /tmp

there is no longer a need for 99.9% of people to specify a transcode directory.  Pretty sure that's why LS.IO removed it.

 

For the 0.1% of people that still have a need, they could always do it manually:

https://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=40937.msg419495#msg419495

 

Regarding the link you gave for the '0.1%' that doesn't actually work - I tested it yesterday. That's why I brought it up in this thread.

[ljm42]

I think Plex asked LSIO to remove the capability to map a transcode directory to /tmp in the container settings.

 

I don't think that is accurate.  There are really only two reasons to care about where the transcode directory is located:

[*]To transcode to ram

[*]To make sure transcoding doesn't happen in the docker.img

Since:

[*]the option to transcode to ram hasn't worked since Plex 0.9.14

[*]and as of Plex 0.9.16.3, the default transcode location is in the /config directory rather than /tmp

there is no longer a need for 99.9% of people to specify a transcode directory.  Pretty sure that's why LS.IO removed it.

 

For the 0.1% of people that still have a need, they could always do it manually:

https://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=40937.msg419495#msg419495

 

Regarding the link you gave for the '0.1%' that doesn't actually work - I tested it yesterday. That's why I brought it up in this thread.

 

I linked to it because it shows how to change your transcoding directory.  It is still possible, there just isn't much of a reason to do it since transcoding to ram doesn't work and plex no longer transcodes inside the docker.img by default.

 

Edit: I reworded the closing statement on my last post to:

For the 0.1% of people that can still think of a reason to change their transcoding directory given the two points above, they could always do it manually.

Hopefully that will make it more clear.

[kaiguy]

I don't think that is accurate.  There are really only two reasons to care about where the transcode directory is located:

[*]To transcode to ram

[*]To make sure transcoding doesn't happen in the docker.img

Since:

[*]the option to transcode to ram hasn't worked since Plex 0.9.14

[*]and as of Plex 0.9.16.3, the default transcode location is in the /config directory rather than /tmp

there is no longer a need for 99.9% of people to specify a transcode directory.  Pretty sure that's why LS.IO removed it.

 

For the 0.1% of people that can still think of a reason to change their transcoding directory given the two points above, they could always do it manually:

https://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=40937.msg419495#msg419495

Perhaps I misunderstood Plex's position, but this thread seems to suggest that the transcode to RAM not working was due to a free space check that had unintended results.  Apparently that was rolled back ("Yeah, it was a silly heuristic, we've reverted it.")  In fact, there's active discussion regarding transcoding to ram that the devs respond to and don't mention there being an active campaign to prevent this practice.

 

Then there was this thread in which a Plex rep commented on Plex limiting that capability.

 

Edit: Would it not be possible to just symlink whatever the transcode directory is within /config to /tmp on the unRAID side?

[kaiguy]

Ok, well I tried symlinking a folder under unRAID to /tmp, then mapping that directory for the container.  No go.  Also tried creating a new tmpfs mount, and that didn't work either.  Despite Plex's desire to limit transcoding to tmpfs, does anyone know how to go about exposing a tmpfs folder for use within Docker?  I'm all out of ideas with my limited knowledge.  I'd really like to transcode to RAM, as I have plenty of extra to use.  Thanks!

[mr-hexen]

Did you tell Plex to use the new transcode directory in advanced settings (from within Plex)?

[kaiguy]

Did you tell Plex to use the new transcode directory in advanced settings (from within Plex)?

No.  As a test, I entered the container, navigated to the mapped folder, and did a "touch test" to create a file.  Exited the container and looked at that folder.  Nada.  Here's the weird thing.  If I unmounted the tmpfs or the symlink to /tmp, then the file showed up.

[mr-hexen]

You dont need to symlink, just map /transcode to /tmp from unRAID. Then assign your transcode directory to /transcode.

 

 

[TheDragon]

You dont need to symlink, just map /transcode to /tmp from unRAID. Then assign your transcode directory to /transcode.

 

Just tried this and it doesn't work. If you try and open any media that requires transcoding it fails to play. As soon as you remove /transcode as the directory specified in plex it works again.

 

Do you have any other ideas about how to get this working again?

[mr-hexen]

Which version of Plex are you running?

 

See this post on plex.tv forums:

https://forums.plex.tv/discussion/194777/0-9-14-2-broke-everything/p4

 

[TheDragon]

Which version of Plex are you running?

 

See this post on plex.tv forums:

https://forums.plex.tv/discussion/194777/0-9-14-2-broke-everything/p4

 

I'm running 0.9.16.6.1993-5089475

[TheDragon]

Which version of Plex are you running?

 

See this post on plex.tv forums:

https://forums.plex.tv/discussion/194777/0-9-14-2-broke-everything/p4

 

I'm running 0.9.16.6.1993-5089475

Looks like this does affect the version I'm running. Guess will have to wait for the next major release before trying again. Thanks for posting this mr-hexen

[zosoleary]

i'm on 0.9.16.6.1993-5089475 and the /transcode to /tmp is working just fine for me! 16gb ecc and it never really gets above 7gb from plex

[kaiguy]

You dont need to symlink, just map /transcode to /tmp from unRAID. Then assign your transcode directory to /transcode.

i'm on 0.9.16.6.1993-5089475 and the /transcode to /tmp is working just fine for me! 16gb ecc and it never really gets above 7gb from plex

Wow.  It really is that simple.  I just confirmed that Plex is indeed creating the transcode files in /tmp when mapped (and set within PMS settings).  I tried it on this version before and it didn't work for me.  Guess it's just one of those things.  Thank you to you both.

[bally12345]

Look for some support and advice on my plex setup.

 

I have got Fix Common Problem plugin installed and its telling me I need change my unassigned mounts to slave but not quite sure how.

 

My general setup is MACHINE1 (AMD NEO cpu) has all data/videos etc no plugins and MACHINE2 (intel i3 cpu) has plex docker. Eventually I will probably migrate everything to a single machine but for now this will do the job.

 

I have attached screenshot of what my plex docker screen looks like. Any help or tips to improve setup would be great.