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Speeding up network access to DrivePool


RFOneWatt

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Hi,

 

I am looking for suggestions on increasing the network read/write speed for my DrivePool. 

 

I am currently using four 600GB 10k RPM drives as feeder drives - striped on a Highpoint 2720 controller. (2 drives per stripe set) Most of the rest of the pool is on a Highpoint 2740.

 

I'm not sure of the best way to approach this and am looking for suggestions.

 

I am thinking that NIC teaming might be somewhere to start?  Or maybe it's time to be looking at fiber?

 

At the moment I am using several cheap gigabit switches that I will be consolidating to a larger, more intelligent switch.

 

The motherboard has an Intel 82576 dual GB controller but I will be upgrading to a Supermicro X10DRI-O shortly.

 

Any suggestions / advice would be appreciated :)

 

Thanks!!

 

-Tony

 

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Since at least the WHSv1 days... but it started off as a Windows Media Center only app.

 

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/13752/getting-started-with-media-browser-for-windows-media-center/

Published in 2010. :)

 

 

As for MediaBrowser Server, a couple of years, I think.

 

 

And yeah, it's open source, and one of the few open source projects that I really like. 

 

As for the metadata, I don't mind. :)

I've been using sickbeard for a long while to grab that stuff anyways (for XBMC and the like). 

 

 

And check out the metadata manager. It's ... worlds beyond Plex's "implementation" (which feels like it's an after thought tacked on...)

OOh, and don't forget to check for the "Emby" service. :)

It should work, just set it to automatic and reboot! :)

 

 

That explains some of it -- I have avoided everything "Microsoft Media Center" since day one and I didn't think people actually used Windows Home Server was a real thing up until a couple of years ago.  :o

 

You just made me chuckle...

 

"Check out the Emby Service" -- The first day I installed Plex I was combing through the options and was perplexed that I couldn't find the "Start As Service" option on a "SERVER" piece of software. Back in the NT days I used SRVANY in situations like this and I planned to do the same for Plex but just haven't gotten around to it.  Amazes me it's still not an option. 

 

I recently switched from Sickbeard to Sonarr.  I don't think I'll be headed back.  I did however find the option in Emby to store all of the metadata in a specified directory so that problem is solved.

 

As for my thoughts?  Well, I can't be definitive until I run Emby for a bit longer but right off the bat they are so close it's ridiculous and it's nice having the choice --  but I will say this: 

 

Emby is free. (Doesn't really matter, I'd donate anyways)

Emby is more my speed. (Multiple meanings)

 

I'll probably switch permanently to whichever one gets the GPU acceleration implementation working correctly....my bet is on Emby.

 

~RF

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Well, I've been using WHS since Ars Technica ran an article about it in December of 2007. :) 
I was using an XP box, with IIS enabled, and using DynDNS to make the files easily accessible remotely. :)

So WHS was a perfect fit for me, out of the box. 

 

And yeah, microsoft could have stood to do more marketing ... and maybe they'd own the NAS market right now.... Much like the DVR market and WMC.... and the mobile device market.... 

 

 

As for Plex, yeah, And they've had people requesting it for years.... It's simple on linux ... but I had horrible performance from Plex when I ran it in a VM.  I also had horrible issues with it not loading right on Windows (it would take 5-10 minutes before it became usable... and sometimes would just stop....).

However, I personally use the Task Scheduler to run stuff on startup. It works very well. And no need for a third party app. 

 

As for the GPU acceleration, there is a huge thread on the emby forums, if you want to try it out. 

http://emby.media/community/index.php?/topic/10723-gpu-transcoding-intel-quicksync-and-nvidia-nvenc/

But definitely beta quality (or worse).

 

 

As for Sickbeard vs Sonarr, I've been meaning to test it out ... but I'm not a fan of having to move my entire config over. Yes, I'm being lazy. But I have better things to do... because sickbeard works. 

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Well, I've been using WHS since Ars Technica ran an article about it in December of 2007. :) 

I was using an XP box, with IIS enabled, and using DynDNS to make the files easily accessible remotely. :)

So WHS was a perfect fit for me, out of the box. 

 

And yeah, microsoft could have stood to do more marketing ... and maybe they'd own the NAS market right now.... Much like the DVR market and WMC.... and the mobile device market.... 

 

 

As for Plex, yeah, And they've had people requesting it for years.... It's simple on linux ... but I had horrible performance from Plex when I ran it in a VM.  I also had horrible issues with it not loading right on Windows (it would take 5-10 minutes before it became usable... and sometimes would just stop....).

However, I personally use the Task Scheduler to run stuff on startup. It works very well. And no need for a third party app. 

 

As for the GPU acceleration, there is a huge thread on the emby forums, if you want to try it out. 

http://emby.media/community/index.php?/topic/10723-gpu-transcoding-intel-quicksync-and-nvidia-nvenc/

But definitely beta quality (or worse).

 

 

As for Sickbeard vs Sonarr, I've been meaning to test it out ... but I'm not a fan of having to move my entire config over. Yes, I'm being lazy. But I have better things to do... because sickbeard works. 

 

After watching a few things with Emby...transcoding and access via DLNA appears a  bit "wonky".  I had two large MKV's that would stop part way through in Emby but play fine in Plex. It appears there isn't a PS3 client, which is an issue now that I've been spoiled by the Plex client..but one of the neighbors using a 360 txt'd me asking me "What this Emby thing was" and to leave it on...so... still playing with it, trying the other clients, etc.  Most certainly a nice piece of software.

 

Hey, in 1996 I had a DOS 6.22 box running a HTTP server, POP3 server, SMTP server, IRC server, FTP server, NNTP server, SMTP server, NTP server, RADIUS server while running a multi-node BBS.. All on a Pentium 60 w/ 16 megs of ram -- and it did it without flinching. Now THAT was amazing.  :)  

 

I had friends who ran Media Center boxes..2005 me thinks. It was an actual whole O/S, they had dedicated machines and cable cards. I'm guessing it was then baked into WHS. IIRC I avoided it because I had Direc-TV which meant no tuner card support. So for my use, with TVersity and the DLNA access via XBMC on original XBOX (still a damn useful machine) at the time I didn't see any reason to run it. 

 

Thanks for the GPU link. Very interesting to say the least.

 

This is obviously a stupid question and yes I could Google but doesn't there have to be logon for Task Scheduler to run something?  

 

Sonarr will take ya five minutes :)  Just do it.

 

Woot.. just popped the motherboard and PS in the 4224!  She'll be fired up tomorrow.  Things take me so long because I'm so damn indecisive... I'll sit and procrastinate on the configuration rather than just plowing forward and then think about.....I need to do more plowing and less thinking!

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As for Emby, that's what I mean. I get that when I have 2+ streams at the same time.  Which ... is horrible, because I'm using Subsonic still... to share my collection with friends and family. It also uses ffmpeg and plays just fine! 

 

But aside from that, it's very nice. And the GPU transcoding thing is getting active development, from what I saw.  Which is very nice, as it made a world of difference ... when it worked.

 

 

 

As for the scheduled tasks, yes, there is.  But you can specify it to start on system startup, and to run whether or not a user is logged in.  I do this to run sickbeard, couchpotato, utorrent, and some other automation stuff (cron job for owncloud and wordpress).  It works very well. :)

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Yeah, uh huh.  Five minutes to install, 80 minutes to configure everything to get it to where Sickbeard is. 

 

And unfortunately, Sonarr doesn't auto-process files the way Sickbeard does with sabnzbd's scripts. :(

 

True enough unfortunately..the tweaking doesn't end for a while. 

 

What isn't it auto-processing?  I have Sonarr running alongside Couchpotato and everything works as intended. 

 

The reason I'm curious is because I only used Sickbeard for about a day before switching to Sonarr and I'm wondering if I'm missed something?

 

Thanks -- I need to take another peek at the scheduled tasks.  

 

When I originally installed Plex I searched for a quick solution to auto-start it (couldn't believe it wasn't in the server options) and thought there were a couple roadblocks. (Whichis why I mentioned SRVANY) 

 

~RF

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True enough unfortunately..the tweaking doesn't end for a while. 

 

What isn't it auto-processing?  I have Sonarr running alongside Couchpotato and everything works as intended. 

 

The reason I'm curious is because I only used Sickbeard for about a day before switching to Sonarr and I'm wondering if I'm missed something?

 

Thanks -- I need to take another peek at the scheduled tasks.  

 

When I originally installed Plex I searched for a quick solution to auto-start it (couldn't believe it wasn't in the server options) and thought there were a couple roadblocks. (Whichis why I mentioned SRVANY) 

 

~RF

Specifically, Sickbeard has an EXE to call when the download is complete in sabnzbd, so it processes the file right away.

 

However, it does handle everything much better.

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Specifically, Sickbeard has an EXE to call when the download is complete in sabnzbd, so it processes the file right away.

 

However, it does handle everything much better.

 

HA! You checked it out Drashna... and you've been thinking about switching haven't ya! ;)  Or did you mean Sickbeard still handles things better?

 

Looks like this thread got a bit derailed..sorry about that..

 

I'll revive it with my 10G networking questions / choices in the near future, I got my new dual Xeon server up and running this weekend and need to figure out a solution soon.

 

This thing should be able to handle just about whatever I throw at it, I think.  :D  :D

 

~RF

 

 new.xeon.box..JPG

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lol, yes, tested it out, and ... I definitely like it better overall.  And there is a way to get the same scripting done but requires creating a powershell script to do so.

 

Also ... I made the "mistake" of clicking on the "search for all missing" .... I had to turn off download notifications... :P

 

 

As for the system, glad to see it!  That's a very nice system!

as for the 10gb, good luck!


This thing should be able to handle just about whatever I throw at it, I think.  :D  :D

 

~RF

 

Except maybe for 3-4 streams on Emby .... :P

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lol, yes, tested it out, and ... I definitely like it better overall.  And there is a way to get the same scripting done but requires creating a powershell script to do so.

 

Also ... I made the "mistake" of clicking on the "search for all missing" .... I had to turn off download notifications... :P

 

 

As for the system, glad to see it!  That's a very nice system!

as for the 10gb, good luck!

Except maybe for 3-4 streams on Emby .... :P

 

Thanks Drashna.  I sold one of my prized HAM radio tube amplifiers to get this far and am considering selling another piece to populate it with drives. ;)  (Actually that's pretty stupid to do before I need the space, considering how fast drive prices change..)  I'll probably just end up buying a new drive every few months as I need the space.

 

Haha.. I was equally stunned when I did my first "search for all missing" in Sonarr as well. 

 

I'll be sticking with Plex for the time being but keeping an eye on Emby.  That reminds me -- I'm still running Emby on the Media Center box I'm putting together/playing with. It's been sitting for a few days now, I need to check it out. Depending on how resources are looking once this server/network overhaul is "done" I may leave it running... heck.. maybe in a VM. 

 

Unimportant Question, Drashna -- I just installed a Highpoint 2740 x16 card in that X10-DRI-O board and I was wondering if you knew if it made any difference which slots I occupy first?  

 

I did a quick Google and couldn't really find much (if anything, really) which tells me it's probably not that important and I didn't see it mentioned in the manual however when I was installing the card I noticed the CPU1/CPU2 markings on two of the three x16 slots on the motherboard (the third isn't marked) so I got to thinking about it... Obviously it matters for memory.....hmm. The next card that is being dropped in is that LSI 9240..

 

 

~RF

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Speaking of Sonarr, I recently made the switch because Sickrage died on me (and several other people). It doesn't need the auto processing scripts, because it's all built-in. You'll have to try it to see what I mean.

 

PS3 Plex client - Oh man it is terrible. It is so slow that I about go out of my mind trying to use it. I have an ancient Roku XD box I would rather use with Plex, not only is the speed better, but there is no fan and no 90w box running for me to watch my shows. Yes, I have a Roku 3 too, but I stumbled on this XD box for $5 at a garage sale and had to have it. I use it in a guest room or out on the patio. I was playing with Plex on PS3 a couple of nights ago for the heck of it, so it isn't that I'm running an old version.

 

Mind if I go back to network speed? My copies from my HTPC (W7) to my server (W7 in VMWare) are terrible. The HTPC side is fine, processor at the bottom of the graph, all is well. The server side pegs to 100%, and looking at the running processes, nothing shows to be running very high so it has to be the copies. Copy speed is 5 MB/second. I doubt it's my VMWare box, it's by far the fastest machine I own (Xeon 1276v3). VM has 12MB RAM assigned. Network I/O in DP is on, maybe that's it?

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PS3 Plex client - Oh man it is terrible. It is so slow that I about go out of my mind trying to use it. I have an ancient Roku XD box I would rather use with Plex, not only is the speed better, but there is no fan and no 90w box running for me to watch my shows. Yes, I have a Roku 3 too, but I stumbled on this XD box for $5 at a garage sale and had to have it. I use it in a guest room or out on the patio. I was playing with Plex on PS3 a couple of nights ago for the heck of it, so it isn't that I'm running an old version.

 

Mind if I go back to network speed? My copies from my HTPC (W7) to my server (W7 in VMWare) are terrible. The HTPC side is fine, processor at the bottom of the graph, all is well. The server side pegs to 100%, and looking at the running processes, nothing shows to be running very high so it has to be the copies. Copy speed is 5 MB/second. I doubt it's my VMWare box, it's by far the fastest machine I own (Xeon 1276v3). VM has 12MB RAM assigned. Network I/O in DP is on, maybe that's it?

 

 

You don't like the PS3 Plex client?  I think it's the absolute best (that I've seen) compared to just using Chrome.  I'm surprised.  It almost sounds like you might have an issue because I have 8-9 PS3's on my network, all wired gigabit and no speed issues or usability complaints. If there is a better client I certainly want to check it out.  The Samsung client is darn nice too but I still prefer the PS3 client overall.

 

5MB a second, yeah - that's a problem -- Tell us a little about your configuration...  Are the speeds different copying from your HTPC TO the Server (the W7 box in VMWARE) and FROM the server to your HTPC?  When your W7 VM box is pegged what's the processor utilization in ESX?  I'm guessing your wired gigabit and not trying to use wireless on the PS3?

 

What kind of drives are you using (Specifically RPM) and are you using a FEEDER drives in your pool?

 

I've never had a problem with Network I/O boost in DP but it's an easy place to start.

 

~RF

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Thanks Drashna.  I sold one of my prized HAM radio tube amplifiers to get this far and am considering selling another piece to populate it with drives. ;)  (Actually that's pretty stupid to do before I need the space, considering how fast drive prices change..)  I'll probably just end up buying a new drive every few months as I need the space.

 

Haha.. I was equally stunned when I did my first "search for all missing" in Sonarr as well. 

 

I'll be sticking with Plex for the time being but keeping an eye on Emby.  That reminds me -- I'm still running Emby on the Media Center box I'm putting together/playing with. It's been sitting for a few days now, I need to check it out. Depending on how resources are looking once this server/network overhaul is "done" I may leave it running... heck.. maybe in a VM. 

 

Unimportant Question, Drashna -- I just installed a Highpoint 2740 x16 card in that X10-DRI-O board and I was wondering if you knew if it made any difference which slots I occupy first?  

 

I did a quick Google and couldn't really find much (if anything, really) which tells me it's probably not that important and I didn't see it mentioned in the manual however when I was installing the card I noticed the CPU1/CPU2 markings on two of the three x16 slots on the motherboard (the third isn't marked) so I got to thinking about it... Obviously it matters for memory.....hmm. The next card that is being dropped in is that LSI 9240..

 

 

~RF

I'm not as familar with dual socket motherboards .... But I don't think it matters here.  On a normal system, I'd say use the slot closest to the CPU/RAM, but it sounds like it's divided up .... so it shouldn't matter.  

 

 

 

Speaking of Sonarr, I recently made the switch because Sickrage died on me (and several other people). It doesn't need the auto processing scripts, because it's all built-in. You'll have to try it to see what I mean.

 

PS3 Plex client - Oh man it is terrible. It is so slow that I about go out of my mind trying to use it. I have an ancient Roku XD box I would rather use with Plex, not only is the speed better, but there is no fan and no 90w box running for me to watch my shows. Yes, I have a Roku 3 too, but I stumbled on this XD box for $5 at a garage sale and had to have it. I use it in a guest room or out on the patio. I was playing with Plex on PS3 a couple of nights ago for the heck of it, so it isn't that I'm running an old version.

 

Mind if I go back to network speed? My copies from my HTPC (W7) to my server (W7 in VMWare) are terrible. The HTPC side is fine, processor at the bottom of the graph, all is well. The server side pegs to 100%, and looking at the running processes, nothing shows to be running very high so it has to be the copies. Copy speed is 5 MB/second. I doubt it's my VMWare box, it's by far the fastest machine I own (Xeon 1276v3). VM has 12MB RAM assigned. Network I/O in DP is on, maybe that's it?

 

As for the network stuff, if you have Network IO Boost, that could contribute to the problem.  We use additional CPU cycles to identify where the traffic is from and to prioritize it.  This could definitely bog down your system.

 

However, we're not the only thing taht pushes network traffic processing onto the CPU.

On the NIC (in device manager ... or the host, or both), disable any setting that has "checksum" or "offload" in the name. Turn off jumbo frames.  If that doesn't help, check out the network auto-tuning option.  

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc731258(v=ws.10).aspx#BKMK_6

 

Specifically, run "netsh interface tcp set global autotuning=highlyrestricted" on both the client and server.

 

 

As for SickRage, did the developers break it or just abandon it?

As for the autoprocessing, Sonarr is set to scan every minute by default, and that should be good enough.  I'm just hesitant of change. However, I'm pretty sure I'm going to disable Sickbeard in the next day or so. If only because Sonarr supports Emby and Plex for notifications..... properly.

You don't like the PS3 Plex client?  I think it's the absolute best (that I've seen) compared to just using Chrome.  I'm surprised.  It almost sounds like you might have an issue because I have 8-9 PS3's on my network, all wired gigabit and no speed issues or usability complaints. If there is a better client I certainly want to check it out.  The Samsung client is darn nice too but I still prefer the PS3 client overall.

 

5MB a second, yeah - that's a problem -- Tell us a little about your configuration...  Are the speeds different copying from your HTPC TO the Server (the W7 box in VMWARE) and FROM the server to your HTPC?  When your W7 VM box is pegged what's the processor utilization in ESX?  I'm guessing your wired gigabit and not trying to use wireless on the PS3?

 

What kind of drives are you using (Specifically RPM) and are you using a FEEDER drives in your pool?

 

I've never had a problem with Network I/O boost in DP but it's an easy place to start.

 

~RF

 

Well, he did say reads, so that should be good.

But are the files duplicated? If so, make sure read striping is on.

Also, could you enable file system logging when this happens?

http://wiki.covecube.com/StableBit_DrivePool_2.x_Log_Collection

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On the NIC (in device manager ... or the host, or both), disable any setting that has "checksum" or "offload" in the name. Turn off jumbo frames.  If that doesn't help, check out the network auto-tuning option.  

https://technet.micr...10).aspx#BKMK_6

 

I should have mentioned, my apologies, I've already made these changes, but I did not do the auto tuning. I made the NIC changes a couple of days ago when I saw the issue. I'm going to go disable the Network I/O boost now and do another test.

 

During the copy, the host box is not maxed out, or at least I don't remember it being maxed out. I can look at that again during the next copy.

 

These are copying files that are NOT duplicated. I'm copying TV shows, and I never duplicate TV shows.

 

I can run the logs and copy some more, I have more I need to copy off the HTPC. Should I run the logs with Network IO Boost on or off?

 

As far as Plex goes, yes the PS3 client, and both my PS3's are wired gigabit. It is horribly slow compared to, say, my Roku 3 or Amazon Fire TV Stick (and the AFTV box is faster than the stick). 

 

Server side specs:

Intel server board DBS1200V3RPL

E3-1246v3 Xeon processor

16GB ECC RAM

C: drive - 7200 WD black 500 GB (SSD failed)

E and F are 5TB WD reds

G is the drive pool

NIC is the integrated NIC on the motherboard. Another Intel 4 port is in the machine, but it's used for management, the two pfSense ports, and one of the NICs for WSE2012.

 

The VM is configured to give this machine 6 cores and 12 GB, dedicated. There is a WSE2012 using 4GB and 2 cores, sharing with my pfSense box, although the pfSense box is 1 core and 1 GB. The VM does not share boot drive with the WSE or pfSense VMs.

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Both ends are Windows 7 in this case. I'll start the copy here in a bit.

 

EDIT: Well, I figured out what it was without having to collect any logs. I am currently copying at 52 MB/second. 

 

The problem had nothing to do with Drivepool. Turns out MCEBuddy was kicking in and processing files as they were being copied. When I checked the other day, I didn't see anything in the MCEBuddy conversion list, but when I looked today they did start showing up after about 5 minutes. BUT, the files WERE being processed, they just weren't showing up immediately. And, I'm really surprised that the processes that MCEBuddy uses (ffmpeg, Handbrake) didn't show up in the Processes tab. (and yes, I have Show processes from all users checked!) Normally, those processes do show up. 

 

So, I'm going to consider this solved, hide my face, and crawl into the corner of shame. :)

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As far as Plex goes, yes the PS3 client, and both my PS3's are wired gigabit. It is horribly slow compared to, say, my Roku 3 or Amazon Fire TV Stick (and the AFTV box is faster than the stick). 

 

 

 

 

This might be a stupid question -- but I originally made this mistake. 

 

Are you viewing Plex on your PS3 via DLNA rather than the actual Plex client you download from the Playstation store?

 

Glad you got everything working!!

 

Drashna has this knack for making you think sideways sometimes which is a blessing when, well ---- I need to think sideways. 

 

He's saved my butt on a couple different Sundays.

 

-RF

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I'm using the Plex client, the one that requires Plex Pass, downloaded from Playstation Store. I tried it again last night, and yep, it is slow to move around in the menus compared to Roku 3 and AFTV. Of course once it is playing, it is just fine. I know it's a minor quibble, I am really glad they released the PS3 client, I just wish it took advantage of the PS3's hardware to speed up the navigation. Oh, I did note while testing that it takes a long time to load, too. Eh, like I said, minor quibbles, I hardly ever use the PS3 for Plex since I have other options.

 

I am glad my copy speed is back up where it belongs, too! I don't know how MCEBuddy was staying hidden away from me, because right now Im' looking at the server and I see HandbrakeCLI.exe sitting at 80%. Why the system showed System Idle Process at 90% but the processor pegged yesterday is a complete mystery to me.

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Both ends are Windows 7 in this case. I'll start the copy here in a bit.

 

EDIT: Well, I figured out what it was without having to collect any logs. I am currently copying at 52 MB/second. 

 

The problem had nothing to do with Drivepool. Turns out MCEBuddy was kicking in and processing files as they were being copied. When I checked the other day, I didn't see anything in the MCEBuddy conversion list, but when I looked today they did start showing up after about 5 minutes. BUT, the files WERE being processed, they just weren't showing up immediately. And, I'm really surprised that the processes that MCEBuddy uses (ffmpeg, Handbrake) didn't show up in the Processes tab. (and yes, I have Show processes from all users checked!) Normally, those processes do show up. 

 

So, I'm going to consider this solved, hide my face, and crawl into the corner of shame. :)

Well, that would definitely do it. :)

And yeah, it's odd that it wasn't showing ffmpeg or handbrake.  :(

Check to see if it's updating the process list properly. Also, running process monitor may be a good idea. (or even procmon), as you can also see what each process is accessing, as well.

 

And no need to feel shame.  It lead to finding the cause, so it's worth it. Troubleshooting can be very difficult!

 

Drashna has this knack for making you think sideways sometimes which is a blessing when, well ---- I need to think sideways. 

 

He's saved my butt on a couple different Sundays.

 

-RF

 

It's because I'm a perfectionist and I love tinkering (because I'm a perfectionist). :)

 

And I'm glad to I could help. :)

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Hi

 

Having listened to you all I downloaded plex to see what all the fuss is about my first impressions are its a good looking interface fast and easy to setup/use program what I tested it on

 

iPhones plex app

Lg smart TV plex app

PS3 plex app

Xbox one plex app

Amazon fire stick plex app

 

All worked fine then I noticed my amp was not receiving DTs for the life of me I couldn't get anything pass through DTs the Xbox and PS3 provided the best sound but we're only passing 5.1 standard directplay/directstream made no difference. Then I started to lag and stutter now this was down to my server been more on the green side rather than performance.

 

Then noticed many of my films missing plex does not like ISO's so while I could use other programs or just convert them all I went back to my Acryan mini2 to compare now and I have to say they continue to impress they can play anyformat they pass all audio Including HD which my amp confirms by telling me on its screen and my server doesn't need to convert anything all the boxes take care of all that. So the server isn't thrashing around, downside is its in house only I think I haven't tried them off the network dialling in via ip I try that this weekend form my parents.

 

So I like plex but I think either I need more compatible hardware or it needs more codecs either way I believe those that want 1080p with true hd sound running through a high end sound system will notice the difference if you just wanna stream to your stereo smart TV it's perfect as long as your server is powerful enough to handle a lot of streams.

 

Lee

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DTS passthrough can be done but it's a bit tricky to setup properly.  Wait until the plex forums are back up and then search for DTS.

 

Plex won't touch image files.  It prefers files ready to stream.  Remember, Plex is a streaming server so it wants files in a streamable format, not an image format.

 

Ideally MP4 files are the best all around files that work with just about every client without having to transcode (bandwidth aside).

 

I run one of the largest and most advanced Plex systems around so hit me up if you have any questions.

 

Carlo

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Hi Carlo

I think I have everything setup as it should be however the amp (pioneer lx88) cannot detect anything other than standard 5.1 for instance if I play the same film through the acryan mini2 it plays fine amp detects DTS HD when I play the same film using pass through on the Xbox/ps/firetv/lgtv the amp is only displaying surround sound they are running plex but interestingly if I put the disk in the Xbox and play it then the shows DTS HD so either I have something set wrong in plex or it can't pass the correct sound I will check forums like you said maybe I am 1 checkbox away from solving the problem lol

Thx
Lee

EDIT: Well I searched the forums and found 1 article relating to the Xbox quote does the app support DTS reply at present there is no support for 3rd party applications to play DTS.

So it looks like I can stop fiddling it's never going to happen lol I think I will probably run plex along side my acryan streamers the TV's in the bedrooms are all smart and the app works fine and there is no need for advanced sound on them so it's great and easy on them while in the main rooms downstairs I will continue to use the Ryan's to get the most of the systems I have set up and best sound.

 

Also doing some more research the MP4 container does not support DTS but MKV does and is preferred by most however the video quality is the same and MP4 does generate smaller files however if you have ever listened to a film in DTS HD you would never settle for standard 5.1 again so I hope this helps anybody else who may have noticed the downgrade in sound while using plex.

 

So like I said above I will continue to use both as I do like plex but overall if you want the best picture/sound they are other options

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Hello lee1978,

 

I didn't notice you said DTS "HD".  Thought you just said "DTS".  "HD" is harder to get working as Plex doesn't recognize "HD" vs "DTS".  All the meta data just says "DTS".  However pass through should still do the trick.

 

You will definitely want to search through the forums located here: https://forums.plex.tv/  At present they are down due to a hacker.  I believe you will need a PlexPass to search for this as the good info on DTS-HD will be in Plexpass forums.

 

As for the Xbox One.  Plex has submitted a new version (the one you will want) to MS for approval but there is an issue they are fixing before resubmitting.  This version will help with DTS passthrough as well as provide native MKV support and due away with the 20mbit limit.  Currently MS has a bug that affects DTS with 3rd party apps which comes into play also.

 

The MP4 container (as well as Plex) can support DTS.  If you look at the original spec of MP4 you'll see it wasn't supported but revisions years ago have allowed it.  Tools such as HandBrake, ffmpeg will easily put DTS in MP4s.  I have them in my files.

 

Carlo

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Another thing you need to know about missing films - if you don't name the files EXACTLY the way Plex wants them, they don't show up. It is one of the things that bugs me about Plex. Emby will show it, but it won't have any program details if it doesn't know what it is for sure, but Plex just ignores the file altogether. 

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Another thing you need to know about missing films - if you don't name the files EXACTLY the way Plex wants them, they don't show up. It is one of the things that bugs me about Plex. Emby will show it, but it won't have any program details if it doesn't know what it is for sure, but Plex just ignores the file altogether. 

This.

 

Though, I've found that if you have XBMC/Kodi metadata, it does a much better job of picking up stuff. But not perfect.

Which makes sense, especially considering that the home theatre app is a fork of XMBC's code. 

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