Video takes a long time to load.

[zynine-]

Symptoms:

Video takes a long time to load.

Cause:

PMS transcodes the video into 4MB chunk sizes. The lower the quality, the longer it takes to fill up this chunk, before it is played on the client device, on devices which uses matroska container instead of HLS container.

Detailed Analysis:

Video Quality	Theoretical Load time	Chrome HTML5	Roku3
20 Mbps	2 s	7 s	7 s
12 Mbps	3 s	7 s	-
10 Mbps	3 s	7 s	-
8 Mbps	4 s	7 s	20 s
4 Mbps	8 s	12 s	-
3 Mbps	11 s	15 s	-
2 Mbps	16 s	20 s	25 s
1.5 Mbps	22 s	38 s	-
720 kbps	46 s	60 s	-
320 kbps	103 s	-	-
208 kbps	158 s	-	-
96 kbps	341 s	-	-
64 kbps	512 s	-	-

Tested with i5-3570K Quad Core, 32GB RAM, SSD, Windows 10, PMS 1.1.4

Resolution:

Increase the Plex video quality on the client. Typically: Settings->Player->Online Quality

Roku Resolution:

Change Plex Client Settings->Video->Transcode Format->HLS

Affected:

• Chrome + HTML5 (Win10)
• ChromeCast
• Plex Media Player (Win10)
• Roku

Not Affected:

• Android
• Chrome + JWPlayer (Win10)
• Microsoft Edge (Win 10)

[andrewconnell]

Noticing the same behavior... would like to improve the signal acquisition time on the Roku Premium+. When viewing an OTA channel via this plugin using the Plex Web app (1.2 beta 4 for DVR), signal acquired within a few seconds. However, best I can do on the Roku Premium+ is 45s.

Scenario

• PMS v1.2.* beta 4
  • 2x XEON Quad Core (E5620) 2.1Ghz
  • 48GB RAM
  • Windows Server 2012
  • OS drive dual 1T 7200RPM mirrored & data on NAS via mapped drives
• HD HomeRun Connect
• Everything hardwired via CAT5e & commercial switches
• Roku Premium+
  • Player transcode set to automatic (was slower set to HLS)
  • Local video quality set to 20Mbps (not sure this matters since it's transcoded video)