Is Plex Pass worth the cost?

mushtafa

mushtafa

mushtafa

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Trying to figure out if I need to buy the Pass, and if I do, is it worth the cost?

I don't mind spending money on decent software, but this seems expensive to me.

Does anyone know if the pass is required to use hardware transcoding? Read conflicting infomation.
 
Yes it's worth it and yes it's required for hardware transcoding. See here.

There's often a deal for the lifetime pass for new accounts, keep an eye out for those.
 
I've been sent a deal. Plex Pass lifetime works out to ~£60.

Might get it ordered then, be nice to have a performance boost of the transcoding
 
I thought the plex pass was only really of any use if you serve several streams at the same time and they cannot do direct play ect(no encoding needed) or if you need to access your plex server from outside your network.

If noe of the above applies to you do not bother its a waste of money.
 
mushtafa said:
Does anyone know if the pass is required to use hardware transcoding? Read conflicting infomation.
Click to expand...

The Pass is required for Hardware Transcoding (i.e. accelerated via a Nvidia or AMD GPU, or via Intel Quicksync), without you are reliant on raw CPU power to do the transcoding.

Ideally you shouldn't be transcoding at all - best to match your media formats to the clients that you will use to play it.
 
I've started storing the files at large nitrates, 4k, Atmos audio etc.
Main issue I have is when my daughter streams to her 720 TV.
The hardware encoding would be nice.
I had to inject subtitles into a video last month, that made the PC work hard!

I might leave it for the time being and see how I get on. If it was £25 I would have already bought it without hesitation, but even having a deal at £60 it still seems expensive
 
VincentHanna said:
How does that apply if you have a Plex server and use the Plex app on a TV? Does it still help?
Click to expand...
agree with that, I think its a con,
other than gpu's, which have hardware encoding, which would help for transcoding,
the regular intel processors have help for decoding, but, for transcoding you have to re-encode too (unless it's a repackaging)

I thought you were better off using 3rd party software, to help on real time transcoding eg ffmpg, or, moreover, pre-caching a transcode, with a codec you know will be hardware compatible on your clients.

I thought the plex pass question, was, just, down to, will i use their pvr.

edit afterthought - if you have mpeg2 media off of freeview, then plex might help, since plex pay for a license that unlocks some additional cpu hardware decode, but there are some (payed) pvr software that offer that too.
 
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Subscribe for 1 month, let it expire, wait 3 months for a 37% off code, costs less than £60 for a lifetime sub then.

Plex pass also gives you the option to limit remote streaming bandwidth, you can also specify your upload speed so that the 'streaming brain' can adjust bitrates on the fly.

They have also just added the skip into functionality which again is only available via plex pass.
 
you do get the mobile apps with it yes, although you can buy those stand alone as well if that was all you wanted
 
All I'd gain is the hardware encoding.
I'll have to get my HDDs, and move my media over to the server and see how it handles it. The deal I had has now expired anyway
 
It's worth it for sharing outside your home network but everything inside my home network will either direct play or require minimal audio transcoding.

I bought it ages ago and don't regret it but transcoding should always be a last resort with home devices.
 
Plex always seems a bit expensive for me, a bit like Roon! Encoding always seems like a nice to have but in theory how much use is that going to get? Like in the home you should be direct playing content as much as possible. That together with the server hardware needed to actually encode high bit rate material is another expensive overhead for what amounts to a 'what if' scenario.
 
I give family members access so transcoding happens a fair bit, my Ryzen 2600 is more than capable though.
 
I don't have Plex Pass. My Shield is able to Direct Play pretty much everything (helps if encoded correctly of course). I am able to add family members as guests if they sign up with a Plex account and able to access my Plex server from outside my network fine.

PiKe said:
I give family members access so transcoding happens a fair bit, my Ryzen 2600 is more than capable though.
Click to expand...

Do you transcode 4K?
 
On the subject of Plex it's annoying me in that it's keeping my NAS awake 24/7.
Drives are spinning constantly. Annoying the Plex won't let drives hibernate.
 
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