Best plex media server for roku how to#
Best plex media server for roku movie#
Best plex media server for roku 720p#

Select one of the options in the dropdown list if you wish to use one of the templated profiles.The Optimise dialog (shown below) is displayed on the screen.

Best plex media server for roku movie#

Hover your mouse over the movie you wish to optimize, then click the three dots in the bottom left corner of the movie poster.

If all your movies aren't displayed, click the Library link at the top.

Select the library on the left that contains the movies that you wish to optimize.

Open Plex from your Web browser, and ensure the user you select has access to administer the Plex instance.

To have Plex create another, optimized, version of a movie file, do the following:

Keep in mind that this will cause high CPU usage, so you should think about doing this when your Plex server is not being used to stream media. The easiest way to create multiple versions of your movie files is to have Plex create the files for you. If many of your movies have similar specifications as the recommended specifications, then you have a good starting point for the next section. These profiles provide specifications for which media formats can be direct played, and what formats and codecs will be used to transcode the media.Ī simple solution to avoid transcoding, and have more of your media direct played, is to take a page from Netflix: provide multiple versions of your movie files. In addition, the Plex server contains client profiles containing the direct play and transcode targets for many different Plex clients. This would cause Plex to transcode the movie file, using up resources on the Plex server. While the above specifications are good for a majority of media streaming devices, it may not be compatible with some devices - such as older, low-end, or some mobile devices.

Video codec: H.264 (level 4.0 or lower).

Such a large file with a high bitrate will mean some of your streaming clients may need to transcode the movie. Simply ripping your Blu-rays directly to your Plex Media server produces a large file with a high bitrate. While different devices can play different types of movie files, there is a good specification that can be used for high-quality movies, that can play on a good number of media streaming devices. So with such a varied array of devices, how can you go about managing your movie files so they require less transcoding? The best way is to provide movie files that are compatible with a wide variety of devices.

Best plex media server for roku 720p#

There are mobile devices, or older media playing devices, that may require content be streamed at 720p or less, and can't direct play movies that have video content that is 1080p and higher. This causes Plex to convert the video/audio codec to something the streaming device can play. The reason that transcoding happens is that for many devices that can stream content from Plex, the devices may not be able to play the movie because it doesn't support the video/audio codec. While you can try to have your Plex Media Server and clients direct play as much content as possible, there may be times where that isn't possible, and transcoding happens.

The goal of managing a Plex server is to transcode as little as possible. Transcoding, however, can use up to 100% of the CPU, depending on what is being transcoded. The next best option is Direct stream because it uses little system resources but more than direct play. There are three methods that Plex Media Server will use to stream content to a device: direct play, direct stream and transcoding, and out of the three methods, transcoding is used if Plex can't find a compatible movie file to stream to a device.ĭirect play is the preferred method, as it uses the least amount of resources on the server.

Best plex media server for roku how to#

Learning how to avoid transcoding movie files from your Plex server is a common question, as it can cause issues if multiple movies are being transcoded at the same time.