Plex
A community for discussing Plex Media Server. Plex Media Server is a smart software that makes playing movies, tv shows, and other media on your computer simple.
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Rules
Rule 1 - Don't be a dick
Don't be a dick. This includes any kind of trolling, baiting, etc. Bigotry may result in an instant permaban.
Rule 2 - No misleading or non-descriptive titles
No misleading or non-descriptive titles. Try to be brief but detailed.
Rule 3 - Keep post and comments relevant
Posts must be related to Plex and Plex-related products, apps. etc. Try to keep comments relevant to the parent comment and to the post.
Rule 4 - Keep discussions of "media aqcuistion" limited to means and methods only.
Discussions regarding media acquisition should be limited to the "how" not the "what", as this is not the place to discuss piracy of specific media. There are other communities for that, and we don't want to get this community defederated from instances where it's a forbidden topic. Posts/comments discussing specific acts of piracy ("How do I find X show?" or "Where can I download Y film?")will be removed. For further clarification see this post
Rule 5 - No asking / offering Plex shares.
No asking / offering Plex shares. There are other communities for that.
Rule 6 - No low-effort / spam / meme posts
No low-effort / meme posts. These are considered spam, and will be removed. Repeat offenses may result in a ban.
Rule 7 - No referral / self-promotion / affiliate links, personal voting / campaigning / funding, or selling posts
No referral / self-promotion / affiliate links, personal voting / campaigning / funding, or selling posts. These are considered spam, and will be removed. Repeat offenses may result in a ban.
Useful Resources
- Plex FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions about using Plex Media Server and client apps with many useful links
- Plex App Setup Guide - Visual guide for first-run setup of Plex apps on smart devices
- c/Plex Add-ons Guide - Detailed info on many of the most popular Plex add-ons with links to setup guides and other resources. Mantained for this community.
- Servarr Wiki - The consolidated wiki for Lidarr, Prowlarr, Radarr, Readarr, and Sonarr.
- TRaSH-Guides - Guides mainly for Sonarr/Radarr/Bazarr and everything related to it.
- Awesome-arr - a complete list of Plex-related companion apps, user scripts, etc.
- Plex Hardware Transcoding Cheat Sheet - NVidia GPUs
- Organizing and Naming Your Media Files
- Troubleshooting Server Connections
- Plex User Forums
^This^ ^is^ ^a^ ^community^ ^page^ ^and^ ^is^ ^not^ ^affiliated^ ^with^ ^Plex,^ ^Inc.^ ^in^ ^any^ ^way.^
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Because VLC is a completely different Application in how it works than Plex.
Plex is, first and foremost, a Client-Server Application. Without a Server, you won't be able to play something. VLC on the other hand is a complete standalone player which has to play (almost) everything that you throw at it. VLC also has network discovery so that you can actually play content from a network share.
That is another difference, for Plex, you don't need a network share because the data is directly coming from your Plex server. VLC, on the other hand, will always need direct file access.
Plex itself also relies on the client device to provide the necessary compatibility to play the content you want to play. When something isn't playable, Plex will have to make it playable by converting (transcoding) it. the higher the quality of the content, the more processing power you need.
For example, according to Plex itself, you need a CPU with 2000 PassMark Points to transcode a single 1080p video stream. A 4K HDR stream requires 17000 PassMark Points.
VLC cannot allow to not be able to play something on its own because if a player cannot play something, is it really a good player? However, with Plex, since it has the Server infrastructure in the back, it can allow itself to not bundle every possible compatibility in each client on every platform because if something isn't playable, as said above, the server will make it playable.
So, Plex most likely had to transcode your file into a compatible format and your server is most likely not strong enough to do that in an adequate timeframe. VLC didn't need to do that and only needed to work over the WLAN to create a buffer of the data.