Is Plex still a thing?

Been running my Emby server for 8 years and love it but open to other solutions, but no need to jump yet.

However I've never gone beyond a bog-standard Windows install as I like having a living room PC, being able to remote in and when I upgrade - have a light gaming rig. I'm guess for these needs, there is no point considering other operating systems.
 
I’m pretty sure Emby was a fork from an earlier version of plex anyway. They’re similar enough that if something is working for you and doing what you need then if it ain’t broke don’t fix it.
 
something daft already!! said:
Anyone here use Tautulli? The latest version is being indicated to include viruses. I think I'll skip this version and maybe remove it completely.
Click to expand...
I got that a couple of weeks ago, they then pulled the newest windows installer, but I'm sure it was resumed last week. I have it installed anyway and it's fine.

V 2.15.1


rp2000
 
Last edited:
Bubo said:
Can't go wrong with

ffmpeg -i bigfile.mkv -c:v libx265 -crf 23 -c:a copy -c:s copy -o smallerfile.mkv

or to do a whole load of files one after another, cd to the directory where they are, create a new folder called encoded, and run this command

for %i in (*) do ffmpeg -i "%i" -c:v libx265 -crf 23 -c:a copy -c:s copy -o "encoded\%i"

Google ffmpeg to find that and how to install it, needs to be run from a DOS prompt, and path to the ffmpeg,exe file needs to be in your PATH environment variable.
Click to expand...

CRF 23 is no good though
CRF 18 for 1080p unless there is a lot of grain, in which case CRF 20 max or VBR 8000
CRF 14 - 16 for 4K HDR blurays

Use slow preset, CPU only, no GPU assistance

Anything less and you'll notice the quality difference between the disc and your encode.

I've ripped all my movies, 4K and 1080p into x265. Also OCR'd any needed English subtitles to .srt and set them as forced so they're plex friendly.
I then remove DV with DVTools because I don't need it and neither do any of my family members who have access to my Plex server. Even profile 8 can cause issues from time to time

ffmeg is not great with too many cores so it's a lot better to encode 2 4K movies at the same time, or 3 1080p movies at the same time. 2 or 3 movies at the same time is a lot more efficient than doing just 1 depending on your CPU. You need ram for this though if you're re-encoding 4K HDR content. 2 4K HDR encodes at the same time can go over 32GB which is why I upgraded to 64GB

I've also turned off transcoding and told anybody in my family with access that they need at least 35mb internet connection... The reason being is I found sometimes it would transcode when it didn't need to. I go to a lot of effort to make sure the encodes are top quality, so I won't allow them to be butchered by unnecessary transcoding. Everything is x265 and I check before inviting family members that whatever they'll be using is compatible. I bought my parents an Nvidia Shield for Christmas to make my life easier :D
 
I’m very much of the view that storage is cheap… I’d rather keep the original quality of films and use Plex to transcode as and when needed should an end device or connection need it.
 
Does anyone watch their Plex on Android? How do they deal with EAC3 audio codecs? - these play natively on my TV but obviously transcode on my phone as it seems android doesn't support this codec. I don't really want to go through the faff of re-encoding everything to a supported codec, but I can't see a way of installing the EAC3 codec on android.
 
blairw said:
I’m very much of the view that storage is cheap… I’d rather keep the original quality of films and use Plex to transcode as and when needed should an end device or connection need it.
Click to expand...

Re-encoding a 50GB 4K movie to 15 - 20GB with the settings I listed above, you would not be able to tell the difference
Some encodes are awful, but that's down to the settings some people use or the quick '1 click' gui apps. When done properly they're indistinguishable
It's much better than allowing plex to completely butcher it
 
I use a Beelink S12 and it performs beautifully at running plex server.

Although at the moment Plex have just cocked up their codecs so nothing's playing! :o
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom