issues with plex server

[xdeathshot20]

so im running plex off of a rasberry pi 3.  The storage comes from my buffalo nas running 2 2tb hdd's in raid 1.  So recently ive noticed when ever i go to watch 4k video on my sony 4k tv, i get a error message saying that the transcoder failed or something similar to that.  This just started happening as it never happend before.  I am able to stream 1080p with no issues its just 4k.  Any ideas on how to fix the issue?

[Electronics Wizardy]

The pi can't transcode, so you will need a faster plex server or a system that can direct play your 4k content.

[Jarsky]

Run LibreElec (Kodi) on it instead, the RPi 3 has HEVC/X265 compatible hardware

[WereCatf]

2 hours ago, Jarsky said:

Run LibreElec (Kodi) on it instead, the RPi 3 has HEVC/X265 compatible hardware

No, it doesn't. It still decodes HEVC in software.

[paddy-stone]

6 hours ago, WereCatf said:

No, it doesn't. It still decodes HEVC in software.

Agree, although I do recommend running KODI instead as the player is more forgiving, and will likely run the files fine.

[2FA]

Does the movie start playback at all, and if it does, can you see whether it's directplay or transcode?

[xdeathshot20]

10 hours ago, 2FA said:

Does the movie start playback at all, and if it does, can you see whether it's directplay or transcode?

the movie does begin to play, just the issue is randomly it will cut off and not play.  and i dont know how to tell the difference personally

[Jarsky]

22 hours ago, WereCatf said:

No, it doesn't. It still decodes HEVC in software.

Well either way, RPI3 with LibreElec works just fine for 4K hevc playback so would still be better switching from Plex to Kodi

[2FA]

13 hours ago, xdeathshot20 said:

the movie does begin to play, just the issue is randomly it will cut off and not play.  and i dont know how to tell the difference personally

Check your Dashboard with said movie playing, it will tell you some more information including whether it's being transcoded.

 

EDIT:

here

[Mikensan]

The Pi 3 last I understood it runs off USB2, and if you've downloaded 10bit 4k movies you're asking too much of the Pi's USB bus. The gigabit adapter as far as I'm aware runs off the USB bus as well, so same limitations.

 

To transcode, plex will pull the movie down, transcode it and write it to local storage, and then stream it to whatever device you've cast to. So what I suspect is happening is it is streaming faster than it can transcode - hence why it starts (initial buffer) then stops.