Plex Movie Quality

[Shdw]

Hello and thank you in advance for your assistance. My issue is, hopefully, quite simple. I have plex installed and running properly. I'm using Aimersoft DVD Ripper to create .avi files that I'm using to build my plex media library.

System: FreeNAS 9.2.1.3 RELEASE x64 -- Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E3-1220 @ 3.10 GHz -- 16321 MB ECC RAM -- 4 Seagate 4TB HD's running on a Raid Z2

Jail location is /mnt/Disk01/Jails/Plexmediaserver_1

Files: Originally I was saving 1080P @10,000 kbps and when running the files I noted that they looked more like a crappy youtube video than an HD movie. So I tried 1080P @50,000 kbps (~50GB video file) and am having the same result. I've checked that video quality is set to the highest and tried intermittent settings. I've set transcoding at default and at 'make my CPU hurt' with no notable difference. Tried Ipad and web versions of plex for playback with no notable differences. I'm in the mist of trying an .mkv file now to see if that makes any difference. I had been using 30 fps, but it seems 1080P defaults to 24fps; so I'm giving that a shot as well.

Any other ideas? Is anyone else noticing degraded playback of their HD videos when using plex?

 

[DoubleIPA]

Have you streamed them directly from you computer to something like VLC? I don't use PLEX, but I do use XBMC and I do a strait rip with the videos I purchase. They look fantastic streaming across my network. So my guess is either you're doing something wrong with the rip or Plex is transcoding in a way that doesn't look optimal.

If I do any scaling of file size, I use HandBrake or HandBrakeCLI and use High Profile mode. q is 20 for dvd's and 22/23 for br's.

 

[Shdw]

Have you streamed them directly from you computer to something like VLC? -- So my guess is either you're doing something wrong with the rip or Plex is transcoding in a way that doesn't look optimal.

Yes, played through my machine they play great. It is through plex that they lose their sharpness. May I ask, using HandBrake, when you say q is 20, what do you mean? If not the file size in Gb then can you tell me how large the files end up being that you are ripping?

 

[pirateghost]

Check your plex server settings. There is an option for the transcoding quality while streaming on the LAN

Sent from my Nexus 5

 

[DoubleIPA]

Yes, played through my machine they play great. It is through plex that they lose their sharpness. May I ask, using HandBrake, when you say q is 20, what do you mean? If not the file size in Gb then can you tell me how large the files end up being that you are ripping?

q is quality. It's a very basic way of setting quality. The presets are good and handbrake is a great utility.

 

[pirateghost]

 

[Shdw]

I use HandBrake or HandBrakeCLI and use High Profile mode. q is 20 for dvd's and 22/23 for br's.

Do you make any other adjustments? MP4 or MKV? I do need to add subtitles. So far only tried one and it came out horrible, the pictures looks nice when it is up. However it is extremely lagged. I'll have to mess with my plex settings some and see if it is on that end, but I doubt it as this does not happen with any of the Aimersoft files I ripped. (Those with subtitles as well.)

 

[Shdw]

Yes Pirate, I've adjusted that. You use direct play? I've tried with various settings and the quality remains the same. I'll try some more though and report back. That's for tomorrow. For now, bed!

 

[Nindustries]

Try playing it directly with VLC from your media share. Do note that finding optimal settings in handbrake is pretty difficult

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk

 

[cyberjock]

This isn't a FreeNAS problem. Please take this discussion to the message boards for the software package you are using. Thanks.