Backing up DVD / blu ray & CD collection?

[dipsylalapo Supervisor]

A bit off topic, but do you have a Plex Pass, I've been toying with getting one for a while, but never bitten the bullet. What do you use it for or think are the most useful features. 

[sc302 Veteran]

 

1 hour ago, Technique said:

Don't worry, it's just banter. You take so you give

Well when we're watching a movie all other things (iphone, ipad etc) aren't really doing anything on the internet.

With that said, when we were watching Tomb Raider there wasn't much buffering, just a bit. We were both watching it. However when the Jackie Chan movie was on now you mention it it was only me watching it so my wife would've been using the iPad on the internet i guess. I wouldn't have thought it'd tax it that much but perhaps. If it matters then the C drive has 42GB free of 256GB on a SSD drive but that's not where the movies are stored.

Keep in mind, I stated "network" not "internet".  The two are not synonymous.  This could be taxing the wireless network or the network to the computer, this isn't related to internet traffic.  I understand that it is hard to decipher between internal network and external network, but being that plex is internal, and I am fully aware of that, let's assume that when I say network that does not assume internet (though some internet connectivity is required, none is required for playback on the LAN).

[sc302 Veteran]

16 hours ago, dipsylalapo said:

A bit off topic, but do you have a Plex Pass, I've been toying with getting one for a while, but never bitten the bullet. What do you use it for or think are the most useful features. 

viewing remotely and on multiple devices (some may require you to purchase the app) and giving other access to your library.  There is a perpetual/lifetime license for a little over $100.  

[+BudMan MVC]

17 hours ago, dipsylalapo said:

A bit off topic, but do you have a Plex Pass, I've been toying with getting one for a while, but never bitten the bullet. What do you use it for or think are the most useful features. 

I have plex pass yes - I pay for it because I want to support them in making the best product... It also license all my mobile devices without having to pay the $5 fee each, and I like the beta access and like that it pulls lyrics for music.. Big one I would think is the hardware transcoding.. From my understanding that is not available unless you have plexpass.

[Technique]

Ahh you got me then with that internet vs home network. I can’t imagine why some movies struggle where others don’t then. The tv is connected via cable and if it matters any then it’s all cat6. 

 

As for Plex Pass I saw that prompt when I tried out Plex on my iPhone to see how it'd work. The answer was without payment - not very. So I uninstalled the app. 

[+BudMan MVC]

27 minutes ago, Technique said:

I can’t imagine why some movies struggle where others don’t then.

Because it would depend on the bitrate of the movie, etc.  Without plex plass if your indirect and relay through the internet you would be limited to 1mbps.. Which yeah any sort of higher bitrate move could struggle.  If your having to transcode and not in hardware - again could struggle with doing that..  Even with plexpass relay mode "indirect" is limited to 2mbps..

 

All I can say is look in the LOGs, bump them to debug level.  Validate even if you think your on the same network that your not accessing the plex server via relay.. See my post a few back where I show you the 3 different things it could say - nearby, remote or indirect.. Your if on the local network should show "nearby" if not you have a problem with how your resolving and getting to the plex server, etc.

 

Remember way back months back when this thread started we talked about reasons you might transcode - one of them is so that your client can get the movie via direct play/stream so that your not transcoding.. Even with a rocketship of a machine transcoding can run into bumps in the road, etc.  Depending on your local network and its level of use - and the bitrate of the movie and the ability of your player you could run into issues.  Unless the movie is coded with constant bitrate - the bitrate can highly fluctuate during playback.. Which could cause you problems with playback - you could try adjusting the amount of buffer your plex server does in the transcode.. I think it defaults to like only 10 seconds or something...  So yeah - if your watching something without a lot of action (movement) in the movie and then all of sudden you hit a high action scene the bitrate could spike up and you could run out of buffer or your network might not be able to keep up with it, etc. etc..

 

This can be a HUGE time sink   I warned you from the get go...

 

If you do not want to deal with such problems, or don't have the time to ramp up your learning curve to meet the challenge - then maybe you should just stick to optical disks.  Or directly connect your "media" device to your tv to take the network out of the picture.

 

Also all players are not created equal - if your just using the player that is with your smarttv - pretty sure its dated, could be bug ridden, etc..  This is why your almost always going to be better off getting yourself a stick or better yet a box.. Roku Ultra for example..  Or I do believe I mentioned switch tv many pages ago as a player.

 

What I can tell you from experience is many a home wifi network blows chunks in overall performance for stuff like this.  Yeah sure they have some 200$ wifi router that supports wave 2 AC with mimo, but then they are using some N 1 stream client and wonder why they don't get the speeds they should, etc.

 

Your tv is connected via a cable but has what for speed?  Pretty sure your tv is only 10/100 - for that matter it might only be 10... Or maybe it only connected at 10.. Doesn't matter the level of cable you connected it too.. Hows your pc connected?  Where the server is running... What is handling the switching between?  How much other nonsense traffic is on the network... Be it not to the internet or not... Saw a thread other place guy had like 18% of his traffic on his local network was freaking multicast because he had his IPTV set boxes on the same L2 as his other devices...

 

See my picture while back   If you really get into this - that could be for your new plex server and real network, etc. etc..

 

You could always go back to the 1990's and pop in your disk to your player..

[Technique]

On 3/6/2019 at 4:50 PM, BudMan said:

Because it would depend on the bitrate of the movie, etc.  Without plex plass if your indirect and relay through the internet you would be limited to 1mbps.. Which yeah any sort of higher bitrate move could struggle.  If your having to transcode and not in hardware - again could struggle with doing that..  Even with plexpass relay mode "indirect" is limited to 2mbps..

I just tried again to see if it was the movie or just a bad day. Same movie, same problem. So i then took a look at the bitrate as shown in Windows Explorer of movies that i know buffered a bit, movies that are buffering a LOT and movies that i watched perfectly fine.

 

The perfectly fine movies were like 20000-35000 ish on the bitrate. I'm currently trying to watch Jackie Chan - Police Story and it has a bitrate of 41157 and it's just unwatchable really.

 

I was wanting the movies stored in original quality to be honest but it becomes pointless if i can't watch them. Looks like i'll have to take a see at transcoding.

 

I'm thinking that's where Handbrake comes in, right?

[Technique]

On 3/5/2019 at 9:51 PM, BudMan said:

^ exactly... For all we know your running indirect and your tv is pulling the stream from your local server form the internet and your limited to 1 or 2mbps the relay service allows.  Does your plex player show the server is local or indirect?

 

 

 

Mine says "Nearby" like the above quote.

 

I've downloaded the logs. It came in a .rar file and there's a ###load of files in there. Anything in particular i should be looking at so it's not quite such a needle-in-haystack job?

[Mindovermaster Global Moderator]

25 minutes ago, Technique said:

Mine says "Nearby" like the above quote.

 

I've downloaded the logs. It came in a .rar file and there's a ###load of files in there. Anything in particular i should be looking at so it's not quite such a needle-in-haystack job? 

Might be prudent to upload those logs an have us look at it...

[Technique]

18 minutes ago, Mindovermaster said:

Might be prudent to upload those logs an have us look at it...

To be honest, after looking at the files myself i'd rather be directed where to look so i can show you what it says instead of uploading it willy-nilly.

[Technique]

[Mindovermaster Global Moderator]

12 minutes ago, Technique said:

<snip>

 I meant the RAR file, not pictures of the files...

[Circaflex]

29 minutes ago, Mindovermaster said:

 I meant the RAR file, not pictures of the files...

I believe what he was getting at, was, which log do you want to analyze. Have you ever done debugging for Plex?

[Mindovermaster Global Moderator]

1 minute ago, Circaflex said:

I believe what he was getting at, was, which log do you want to analyze. Have you ever done debugging for Plex?

I'm just trying to help him, is all. Likely, someone will come along, and know which files to search in. It IS possible that not one specific file will answer the reason for all this.

[ozyborn]

DVD Fab. Plex, NAS= network attached storage.  Set it up for Raid.  

[Technique]

38 minutes ago, Circaflex said:

I believe what he was getting at, was, which log do you want to analyze.

Precisely.

 

As Circaflex was able to work out, the reason i uploaded images of the file list was for someone in-the-know to tell me which file or files they need or which information in those files.

 

Uploading the .rar itself just goes back to the point i made before - having looked at the [contents of the] files myself i would rather not upload them. I'm sure you can figure why. Though i don't mind posting whatever you need to know if you just tell me how to get it.

30 minutes ago, ozyborn said:

DVD Fab. Plex, NAS= network attached storage.  Set it up for Raid.  

Utheni?

 

[+BudMan MVC]

Well for starters want to look at the plex media server log, Then maybe the transcode stats... But doubt it the server should give us some clue to what happened during playback.. Did you enable debug? 

 

The names are pretty freaking telling here people!  Do you think need to look at the agent logs for example.

 

The media info from the file that is failing and say one that works flawless would be good to look at, etc.

 

https://mediaarea.net/en/MediaInfo

[Technique]

To spell it out to people who haven't grasped it (though i'm sure Budman & Circaflex have) - i don't particularly want to just upload the whole thing because i noticed it contains personal information. Now while i'm not trying to say someone is going to use it to come and assassinate me for example, i'd just rather not have certain information put out there freely.

 

Right, to give some info on some of these video files. First off i'll start with Plex...

 

If you mean selecting debug here then no i haven't, but i >think< you're not talking about this section of Plex?...

I found the section that looks like your screenshot and this is what i have it like...

 

One movie that is unwatchable due to the constant buffering is the Jackie Chan film Police Story (1)...

 

Compare this to another movie i watched which only had 1 point in it that buffered (and actually thinking back to it, the movie was then stored on a portable drive connected via USB (unlike the drive today connected to the MOBO). This is BAby Driver...

 

 

So Baby Driver was pretty flawless unlike Police Story.

 

 

 

 

[Technique]

I just opened the log & started editing out all the personal info. It was barely shifting the slider so i put it in to MS Word out of curiosity to see how many pages we were looking at.

 

Sorry, with 801 pages i'm not going to edit my info out of all that since there's multiple entries per page.

 

I know it might be a PITA but if you can direct me at something specific in the log that i can search for by using the search function then i'll happily post it here. I know it may hinder the chances of me getting help but as it stands i can't  (or rather wont) post it, sorry.

[Technique]

Moving a tad off topic for a second, what's you guys settings for Handbrake when [insert correct term here] you're 'shrinking' your videos but in a way so that there's no major impact on image/sound quality?

 

Obviously you can't have it both ways, so shrinking the file size must surely mean a reduction in quality somewhere along the line, but like with 4k vs 8k, i personally can't tell the difference even though there must be some so what's the 'sweet spot' settings if you will that you use when you shrink the video (still staying on the Plex & movies topic here though)?

 

Just wondering if this would also help with those movies that are buffering like crazy.

 

Final question on it - how long does it take for your computer to do this? I tried to run a quick test with default last night & it was set to take just over an hour to do. Not sure if this is accurate or not.

 

[+BudMan MVC]

Dude the logs are time stamped - so how about you look at the logs for the time period that you were having a problem.. Its not that difficult people - have you not looked at a log before? 

 

Its in time order, just scroll down to time you having an issue - or search for the time, etc.

 

Yes depending on your machine its going to take time to transcode it down.. Sure it could be hours... I have been finding 2500 bps is decent bitrate I can live with...  I don't normally mess with the audio - not enough bang for the buck there for space savings.. So like to keep that default at DTS.. Or AAC 6 channels which is what my Sound System has no issues with..

 

My mp3 I normally do at 320.. but not sure really can hear the difference when its lower, etc.

 

[Technique]

To be honest with you .... no. I haven’t. Not that I can recall anyway. 

 

When something is is second nature to you everything is easy and it’s easy to look down on others. I find myself doing it at work all the time but then you stop yourself and remember that you were once that guy who knew nothing too. 

 

anyway I’ll take another look at the timeframe. 

 

I’ll also try tinker with handbrake too. If I can shrink the video without any noticeable loss in picture and audio quality then win-win, providing that also makes the movie watchable without buffering. 

[dipsylalapo Supervisor]

29 minutes ago, Technique said:

To be honest with you .... no. I haven’t. Not that I can recall anyway. 

 

When something is is second nature to you everything is easy and it’s easy to look down on others. I find myself doing it at work all the time but then you stop yourself and remember that you were once that guy who knew nothing too. 

 

anyway I’ll take another look at the timeframe. 

 

I’ll also try tinker with handbrake too. If I can shrink the video without any noticeable loss in picture and audio quality then win-win, providing that also makes the movie watchable without buffering. 

To be honest, you're trying to do too much and by too much, I mean trying to solve the issue multiple ways. You could end up resolving the issue, but having no idea what you need to do to fix the issue in general.

 

You could shrink the video file multiple times and still see the buffering issue. I'd hold off doing anything with the video files, unless you know that is what's causing the issue. 

[+BudMan MVC]

So just noticed your media output - yeah those are pretty high bitrates 25, 29Mbps.. And those are just average - not what it could peak at, etc.

 

When you play the file - are you transcoding it or direct play/stream it - look in your dashboard on plex server and it will show you.. 

[Technique]

7 hours ago, BudMan said:

So just noticed your media output - yeah those are pretty high bitrates 25, 29Mbps.. And those are just average - not what it could peak at, etc.

 

When you play the file - are you transcoding it or direct play/stream it - look in your dashboard on plex server and it will show you.. 

 

Do you mean that nearby thing?

 

I've done some more looking in to this tonight and it could seemingly be due to my CPU?

 

Now one or more of you may have already said this at some point i can't remember. It's a long thread with many posts. Mine is an AMD Athlon Phenom 2 2.6GHz processor. I built the PC in 2010 so it's already 8-9 years old. Whether this is 'THE' cause or just a contributory factor i don't actually know but it's something i came across tonight.

 

Not something i can easily change. Sure i can go out & buy the latest & greatest PC that money can buy .... but that costs. Sure i know you said it'll hit the resources right at the start but for now i'm not at a position to go replace my entire PC just yet.

 

I remember right at the start you poo-poo'd DVD quality & championed Blu-Ray quality which tells me you must surely have Blu-Rays in your library.

 

You'll also know infinitely more about Plex, how it works & all the settings so on & so forth than what i do.

 

So how powerful is your Plex server (i recall you mentioning NAS enclosures and cheap raspberry pi things so you must be able to run these things on not a lot of horsepower)?

Also what quality is your blu-ray movies in? Do you just rip them raw from the disc and leave it at that or are you shrinking it down somewhat?