Plex

Links

• Plex Forums - https://forums.plex.tv/
• NAS Compatibility [1]

Plex Add-ons

• Sub-zero — an alternative to built-in subtitle finder.

Tools

• Filebot A tool to rename media according to media center naming schemes (support Plex, Kodi...).

Install

Plex Media Player on Linux

See https://knapsu.eu/plex/. Use flatpak. Dependency on KDE [2].

flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo
flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists kdeapps --from https://distribute.kde.org/kdeapps.flatpakrepo
flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists plex-media-player https://flatpak.knapsu.eu/plex-media-player.flatpakrepo
flatpak install plex-media-player tv.plex.PlexMediaPlayer

... doesn't seem to work great on Debian Buster at least.

Kodi Plex Add-On

• Select add-on from videos add-on.
• Sign in to account.
• In settings, enable direct play and enable h265.
• Optionally, set add-on to autostart when Kodi starts.

Configuration

See also Shield TV and Wolverine.

Plex App on NVidia Shield TV Pro

• Audio Passthrough:

• Set to HDMI because it amplifies AC3 audio.
• Todo: Note that passthrough is not advised [3], so maybe we should reconsider that.

• Video quality - Adjust automatically:

• Currently set to OFF.
• Todo: Does that influence the quality of transcode?

Plex Server

• Server - Settings - Library - Disable media deletion.
• Languages - Prefer subtitles in Français.

How-To

Fix film metadata / bad matching

• Go in server library.
• Select movie, then Fix match....

If movie has several versions available, and one of these is not correct:

• Select first split apart.

See also this post about upgrading the matching agent.

Use Plex add-on in Kodi

Advantage of using the Kodi add-on is that it has (currently) better direct play support (in particular AC3 audio).

To install Plex add-on in Kodi [4],[5]:

• Go to Kodi add-on menu
• Select Download, Videos Add-Ons.
• Select Plex.
• Install.

Some settings to consider:

• Make sure direct play is enabled.
• Make sure H365 is enabled if supported.
• Set plex add-on to autostart when Kodi starts (to avoid to navigate to that add-on every time).

Naming convention

References [6]

Recommended folder structure:

   /Media
      /Movies
         movie content
      /Music
         music content
      /TV Shows
         television content

Basic Naming - separate folder

   /Movies
      /Avatar (2009)
         Avatar (2009).mkv
      /Batman Begins (2005)
         Batman Begins (2005).mp4
         Batman Begins (2005).en.srt
         poster.jpg

Basic Naming - standalone files (slower scanning)

   /Movies
      Avatar (2009).mkv
      Batman Begins (2005).mp4

Split across multiple files

Use MovieName (release year) – Split_Name.ext, where Split_Name is cdX, discX, diskX, dvdX, partX or ptX.

   /Movies
      /The Dark Knight (2008)
         The Dark Knight (2008) - pt1.mp4
         The Dark Knight (2008) - pt2.mp4

Subtitles

Must enable the local media assets scanner. Recommended formats are SRT, SMI, SSA (or ASS).

Use

• MovieName (Release Date).[Language_Code].ext or
• Movies/MovieName (Release Date).[Language_Code].ext
• Movies/MovieName (Release Date).[Language_Code].forced.ext

   /Movies
      Avatar (2009).mkv
      Avatar (2009).en.srt
   
   /Movies
      /Avatar (2009)
         Avatar (2009).mkv
         Avatar (2009).eng.ass

Troubleshooting

Collect logs

Plex Player

• Enable network logging [7].
• Visit the given URL to collect the log (eg. http://192.168.1.88:32500/logging)

.Plex Server

• Go to server page, manage, console or troubleshooting and click Download logs.

General workaround tips

When encountering an issue:

• Try to disable subtitles to see if issue is related to the subtitles.
• Try Kodi Plex add-on.
• Try changing the Plex server.

Rewind / FF issues

• Relevant issues: https://forums.plex.tv/t/fast-forward-and-rewind-will-result-in-infinite-loading-swirl-until-restarting-episode/215991/55

• At least have that issue on Chrome / Debian Buster, with ShieldTV embedded player.
• Trying fix:

• Trying the official player from https://plex.tv, click launch.
• Trying to enable Settings -> Plex Web -> Debug -> Use alternate streaming protocol for video playback. -> Much better!

30s startup delay

See Plex issue 30s delay.

Fix:

• Disable opportunistic lock on the NAS.

MP4 container with VOBSUB subtitles triggers transcode

Test case: any DVD converted with Handbrake, using e.g. MP4 container, H264, any audio, VOBSUB subtitles.

Workaround:

• Use Kodi add-on.
• Use MKV container.

MKV container with PGS subtitles triggers transcode

Test case: [zza]Lucy.2014.BDRIP.1080p.x265.AC3.mkv.

Workaround:

• Use Kodi add-on.

Quality quite bad when transcoding on Shield

• transcoding quality is quite low (using shield plex app and shield plex server)
• Note: in App, Video Quality, Adjust automatically is set to OFF, but Home streaming is set to Maximum.

Miscellaneous issues log

• Invalid Enhanced - French SRT subtitles not showing

• Because the SRT file was empty / corrupted.

• Invalid Lucy ([zza]Lucy.2014.BDRIP.1080p.x265.AC3.mkv, MKV, H265, AC3 audio, PGS and SRT subtitles) - Cannot play AC3 audio, keep transcoding it and fails.

• Not related to AC3 but to PGS subtitles, which trigger transcode. In addition, there was an issue in that media (audio delay).
• Playing with PGS subtitles trigger transcode, which fails (so transcode not due to using AC3 as initially thought [8], [9]).

1382:Dec 20, 2020 00:42:18.545 [23009] DEBUG - [Transcode] MDE: Lucy (2014): Direct Play is disabled
1383:Dec 20, 2020 00:42:18.545 [23009] DEBUG - [Transcode] MDE: Lucy (2014): media must be transcoded in order to use the hls protocol

• Workaround:

• Plex addon on Kodi [10].

• Invalid Keep transcoding AC3 media.

• Does not seem to be the case in our DVD tests. The delay is due to something else.

• Issue Transcoding quality is quite bad even though quality is set to maxium (using Shield TV Pro for transcoding)
• In the dashboard, we see that often times the bitrate is quite low (1Mb, sometimes less, or a small 2Mb). Why can't we boost the quality of the transcode to the max (say 4Mb)? Disabling HW support does not change much on this.
• Workaround Ghost in the Shell (Ghost in a Shell.m4v, HEVC, AAC LC, VOBSUB), transcode when enabling subtitles.

• Known issue, due to MP4 container.

To Do

• Done Shield TV - Play with Shield audio passthrough settings. See if that enables the direct play of AC3. — AC3 is supported wether HDMI passthrough is enabled or not.