Plex has been in the news quite a bit as of late, what with its massive 200 percent Lifetime Pass price increase, but the company’s Media Server function remains impactful for anyone looking to build out a home media server using their own local audio and video files.
Part of the appeal of using Plex Media Server is that it lets you stream your high-quality local multimedia files in crisp fashion, all while skipping out on the noise that comes part and parcel with standard streaming services.
That being said, some of Plex’s default settings and behaviors aren’t entirely conducive to playing back local files at the highest fidelity possible, which is why I’ve gone out of my way to make some tweaks and optimizations.
Here are four Plex Media Server settings I immediately changed as soon as I set up Plex, as to ensure the best possible picture and the smoothest overall experience.
Adjust remote quality
For a higher fidelity picture
By default, Plex Media Server is configured to compress and transcode the video stream it sends to your devices. This is done to ensure a lack of stuttering and buffering, but it also means that your picture quality takes a hit.
For the most part, you can dial up the quality of your remote stream without encountering issues, so long as you have a reasonably stable internet connection. The default is set in the ballpark of around 8 Mbps, but you can crank things up considerably to ensure a more pleasant viewing experience.
On your Plex application, navigate to Settings > Quality > Remote Streaming. From here, you can choose Original to ensure that no transcoding takes place, which leaves you with no middleman between your local files and your remote stream.
Adjust transcoding quality
To reduce artifacts, banding, and more
If, on the other hand, you do have a spottier internet connection, you can opt to enable transcoding within Plex Media Server, all while preserving as much quality as possible. To do this, navigate to Settings > Quality > Remote Streaming and then select Maximum.
Unlike Original, which removes transcoding in its entirety, Maximum attempts to play back your stream in the highest quality possible while also allowing for some in-stream flexibility as needed. With this setting enabled, you can expect your picture to retain its vividness as often as possible.
Disable Automatically Adjust Quality
To wrestle back control of video playback
Plex Media Server features an Automatically Adust Quality setting when streaming that attempts to dynamically increase or decrease the quality of your video in relation to your Wi-Fi or cellular data speed. When enabled, streams start at your specified quality setting, and then adjustments are made on the fly from there on out.
Automatically Adjust Quality is a welcome inclusion for those times when you’re away from a perfectly stable internet connection, but it isn’t the sort of thing that warrants being enabled while at home or in locations with a strong signal. To disable the feature, navigate to Settings > Quality > Automatically Change Quality and toggle the switch to its off position.
Enable Refresh Rate Switching
For a smoother experience on the big screen
If you’re playing back your local media files using Plex Media Server on a smart television set, you’ll want to enable the Refresh Rate Switching setting. This option forces your TV’s refresh rate to match that of your content, which may result in less banding, tearing, jittering, and other visual issues.
On some versions of Plex, the Refresh Rate Switching feature may be referred to as Match Content or Match Frame Rate.
For example, if you’re watching a feature film that has been mastered at a cinematic 24Hz, your playback will be smoother if your TV is also set to 24Hz rather than, say, 60Hz. To get started with this setting, navigate to Settings > Video > Refresh Rate Switching and switch the toggle to its on position.
