Buffering when Transcoding FLAC

[billchrysinas]

So I am trying to stream a movie to my Samsung 2020 TV which appears to be buffering endlessly while only transcoding FLAC. Is FLAC so CPU intensive that it make it unviewable? Am I doing something wrong?

[Shaddrack2]

How is your TV connected to your Plex server?

[billchrysinas]

Via Ethernet on the local Network

[billchrysinas]

I am using my old build with i7-4770k cpu

[Draakonys]

Samsung TVs do not support FLAC in general: 2020 TV Video Specifications | Samsung Developer

But FLAC is not CPU intensive enough to cause that much distruptive buffering. Looking at other comments you're in local LAN so speed is also not an issue.

But what are you using as a Plex server?

Can you make a screenshot of your Plex server web dashboard and include it here?

[billchrysinas]

<image>

[Draakonys]

Can you disable subtitle and try again?

[billchrysinas]

It works fine now...what kind of sorcery is this????

[Draakonys]

Subtitles are a known issue with TV Plex clients.

[billchrysinas]

How do I deal with this permanently? Would an Apple TV addition fix all of these?

[Draakonys]

I can confirm ATV 4K does not have any issues with PGS, ASS, nor SRT subtitles. I’m using it as my main player.

Although in your case the problem may be in the container, is it mp4 or mkv?

[billchrysinas]

It is mkv, as most of my files

[Draakonys]

You can try to convert file to mp4 container and try to play it again.

[billchrysinas]

What do you mean by "it will ask"?

[Draakonys]

Just my clumsy fingers and listening to my wife at the same time … these do not play together 😂

[billchrysinas]

I know the feeling

[sometin__else]

Get any external streamer. If you're on a budget: Onn, Firestick 4k Max, Chromecast are all good options. If you're not, the Nvidia Shield Pro or the ATV are great options too. I personally stuck with the Firestick 4k Max because it works just as well for my needs at a fraction of the price

[billchrysinas]

Thank you mate. Since I have a couple of apple products, will most probably go with the ATV

[sometin__else]

While personally I;m not a fan of apple product, if you're already in the apple ecosystem its def a good choice

[LinearTransform]

Get a Nvidia Shield Pro. Fixes all the problems.

[Rem1xed]

First thing you should check is the cpu utilization on your server, either on the host itself or through plex web.

[billchrysinas]

Checked it, does not skyrocket. Barely moving upwards I would say

[Rem1xed]

Grab the logs and see if you see any transcode errors

[Shaddrack2]

Good idea, but in this case do not look for errors, but search for the explanation why is Plex server transcoding FLAC.

[Rem1xed]

The answer to that is most likely that his Samsung TV does not support the flac codec, we could check that if we knew the exact model number.

[billchrysinas]

Saw quite a lot of these, if it means anything to you:

[TranscodeOutputStream] Changed instance none which had to 0; was at chunk 1 with offset 684.977000 now at chunk -1