Plex media server is slick

[Tom]

h264 != XviD, right?  All of my stuff is XviD encoded, I avoid stuff marked h264.

Same family (MPEG4), but when people use the h264 term, they mean MPEG4 Part 10 AKA MPEG4-AVC, much more cpu intensive, but smaller file sizes and higher quality. XviD is MPEG4 part 2 AKA MPEG4-ASP. It's a simpler variant of MPEG4 which doesn't include a lot of the fancier compression methods that AVC uses.

[Lazybones]

h264 != XviD, right?  All of my stuff is XviD encoded, I avoid stuff marked h264.

Correct XviD should be fairly safe, however container file and audio track can be all over the place.

[Tom]

h264 != XviD, right?  All of my stuff is XviD encoded, I avoid stuff marked h264.

Correct XviD should be fairly safe, however container file and audio track can be all over the place.

I think usually you're safe with avi for xvid. h264 is usually either in .mp4 or .mkv, and sometimes you'll find xvid in mkv as well, but most encoders I think have moved to h264 for hd and what not in the higher quality mkv releases.

[Thorin]

My container files are always AVI as I avoid MKV and MP4.  They're always marked XviD as I avoid h264.  For those that are marked, I always pick the AC3 sound option.  I do this because I know that my old tech won't transcode fast enough to watch a show.

Maybe it's newer audio codecs being used that are making the sound stutter.

[Tom]

My container files are always AVI as I avoid MKV and MP4.  They're always marked XviD as I avoid h264.  For those that are marked, I always pick the AC3 sound option.  I do this because I know that my old tech won't transcode fast enough to watch a show.

Maybe it's newer audio codecs being used that are making the sound stutter.

Maybe stick with stereo?

[Lazybones]

What device are you using as an endpoint client?

- is it wired or on wifi?

[Thorin]

AC3 is stereo still, isn't it?

XBOX360 as an endpoint client.

Code Select Expand


 XBOX360 ---- Shaw Modem/Router >> wifi
100baseT      gigE
               |
               |
Drobo FS ---- Switch ---- Serviio on Computer
gigE          gigE        100baseT


All wired.  The xbox and computer are not gigE, but still wired.  There's only one DHCP server, running on the modem/router - the switch is simply passing packets back and forth.

[Tom]

AC3 is stereo still, isn't it?

I suppose you can have 2 channel AC3. But I think most of the time it's used for surround. stereo xvid I think would normally come with mp3 audio.

[Thorin]

Just noticed in Serviio today that there is an option for how many cores to use when transcoding.  It was set to 1, I changed it to 2.  I wonder if that'll make a difference.  Although these files shouldn't be transcoding, so it should work as it did before without stuttering.  Beyond that, I have no idea what changed on my system to make the sound stutter.  Maybe it's time to put the media server back on the other (nearly identical) computer.

[Lazybones]

Plex shows off cloudSync, its new online digital movie locker, we go hands-on
http://www.engadget.com/2013/01/08/plex-cloudsync/

[Melbosa]

Here is a site I wish I had looked at earlier.  Turns out my new Synology, while providing me with the space increase I needed, will not be providing me with Transcoding of HD content any time soon - even with it's dual CPUs.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AhqU12yGv_OxdC1VYjYtMmRiSlVReVZhNVBLZ0JxSmc#gid=0

Gives a listing of every NAS supported by Plex and what it can Transcode.  I'm still setting up my Synology to use Plex natively and we'll see if I have any content it needs to Transcode - if so well I might be going back to a computer in the middle.  I'll be using some of the other functionality of the Synology, so for me not a total loss, and I did need the space increase for spindles.

Just an FYI for you if you were looking for such Transcoding possibilities in a NAS.

[Lazybones]

FYI there is a new Plex server release out with a more efficient trans-coder.
http://elan.plexapp.com/2013/03/12/plex-media-server-v0-9-7-17/


Also there is a Raspberry Pi build with low cost VESA case,
http://elan.plexapp.com/2013/03/14/happy-pi-day/

[Mr. Analog]

I hope they have DVD remote options, you can mount an ISO with it but DVD menu support is spotty at best

[Lazybones]

DVD menu support will likely only eve work in the windows/Mac/Linux client as it is based on XBMC.

[Tom]

DVD menu support will likely only eve work in the windows/Mac/Linux client as it is based on XBMC.

xbmc works on android now

Though I assume they have their own mobile client code, and libdvdnav is opensource like most of the code they use.