perhaps whatever hardware you have (more info?) isn't supported for hardware decoding in the Plex HTPC app on your particular flavour of linux and choice of kernel. The webclient is likely forcing a transcode to a supported format in the browser, while the HTPC app might not be and cant decode the video properly, even through it is telling the server app that it can.
this post was submitted on 06 Aug 2023
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Update: I adjusted the settings in the HTPC client to force a lower quality (the TV that's hooked up to is only 720p anyway). Smooth as butter. I think it was definitely what you were saying and forcing a conversion was a good workaround.
To anyone else who's reading this and me see a related issue in the future: I also have an issue on this box where I can't get my display to output at the actual resolution of the TV. The system insists on outputting 1080p, and when I manually adjust the display settings it goes black.
It works fine for some reason though. I mention for future folks because I suspect (based on the above input) the HTPC client may be taking cues from the system setting, which is wrong.
In any event, the HTPC might still think it's outputting to a 1080p display but with the forced conversion it's operating just fine. THANK YOU.
edit: I wanted to add I had done this from the menu available while watching a video, and it didn't work. I had to do it at the main settings with no playback going.
re. the resolution thing, there are settings in the app for setting the TV to match the resolution and or refresh rate of the video content, which is intended to give the best possible image, however an older TV or one with an unusual resolution (1366x768 for example was common on budget flatscreens for a while and scaled poorly) can have trouble with the auto switching settings.
The other thing that is possible here is trying to direct play a 1080p video, even if hardware decoding is working is forcing the system to then downscale to 720p to drive the display, so the scaling can be a bottleneck unless it can be done in hardware, which might not be working, or is too much for the system to handle. that could be why forcing a transcode to 720p is more stable as it gets that step out of the way before it is even decoded. of course the best solution would be to not have to do it at all.
you might be better with the scaling settings turned off so the app doesn't try to change them from your system settings, but if you do that you can run into problems with 24p content not being paced properly on a 60hz TV for example, so play with them.
Fantastically helpful and really helping my learn the system. Thanks a ton!
This would definitely make a ton of sense! I don't know how to validate but that's exactly what it seems like.
Im running a dell precision 5810 with an nvs 310 for graphics and 64gb of ram. Using plasma as a DE if that trips anything up.
that GPU is likely causing issues, no NVDEC or NVENC in a plex box makes it useless, so it's having to brute force decode and encode everything, which it probably isn't powerful enough to do while also being the server. That GPU has only basic h264 decoding at up to 1080p, no H265 or 10bit or 4k or anything like that, and might not even be supported by Plex HTPC or you need to try different driver versions as it might just be an Nvidia+linux thing cause the drivers are a bit of a mess.
Look into something slightly more modern like a p600 or newer. Or redo the server with an intel desktop cpu (even just an i3) which will have an igpu capable of pretty much everything up to and including 4k HDR.
That makes sense. I've been looking at upgrading the card on my usual desktop (current card is a GeForce GTX1060 3GB). If I can find a deal on something non-nvidia I'll get something directly for the plex box though.
I had banked on all of that RAM and processor headroom being able to have it function well as a server despite the graphics card (and it did a good job encoding and sending OUT streams), but I'm still learning what does what in this whole chain. Thanks for all your help!
If you log into the server — does it give any feedback on transcoding? Like is one playback method transcoding differently from the other?
Have you tried toggling direct play and other settings on the client?
they were indeed both direct playback, but it's resolved(ish)! Take a look below.