diff --git a/MediaBrowser.Api/Playback/BaseStreamingService.cs b/MediaBrowser.Api/Playback/BaseStreamingService.cs
index 164d607d28..59dfd87ecd 100644
--- a/MediaBrowser.Api/Playback/BaseStreamingService.cs
+++ b/MediaBrowser.Api/Playback/BaseStreamingService.cs
@@ -1118,22 +1118,23 @@ namespace MediaBrowser.Api.Playback
 
         private void StartThrottler(StreamState state, TranscodingJob transcodingJob)
         {
-            if (EnableThrottling(state) && state.InputProtocol == MediaProtocol.File &&
-                           state.RunTimeTicks.HasValue &&
-                           state.VideoType == VideoType.VideoFile &&
-                           !string.Equals(state.OutputVideoCodec, "copy", StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase))
+            if (EnableThrottling(state) && !string.Equals(state.OutputVideoCodec, "copy", StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase))
             {
-                if (state.RunTimeTicks.Value >= TimeSpan.FromMinutes(5).Ticks && state.IsInputVideo)
-                {
-                    transcodingJob.TranscodingThrottler = state.TranscodingThrottler = new TranscodingThrottler(transcodingJob, Logger, ServerConfigurationManager);
-                    state.TranscodingThrottler.Start();
-                }
+                transcodingJob.TranscodingThrottler = state.TranscodingThrottler = new TranscodingThrottler(transcodingJob, Logger, ServerConfigurationManager);
+                state.TranscodingThrottler.Start();
             }
         }
 
         protected virtual bool EnableThrottling(StreamState state)
         {
-            return true;
+            // do not use throttling with hardware encoders
+            return state.InputProtocol == MediaProtocol.File &&
+                state.RunTimeTicks.HasValue &&
+                state.RunTimeTicks.Value >= TimeSpan.FromMinutes(5).Ticks &&
+                state.IsInputVideo && 
+                state.VideoType == VideoType.VideoFile &&
+                !string.Equals(state.OutputVideoCodec, "copy", StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase) &&
+                string.Equals(GetVideoEncoder(state), "libx264", StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase);
         }
 
         private async Task StartStreamingLog(TranscodingJob transcodingJob, StreamState state, Stream source, Stream target)
diff --git a/MediaBrowser.MediaEncoding/Encoder/MediaEncoder.cs b/MediaBrowser.MediaEncoding/Encoder/MediaEncoder.cs
index 08ab99f9b2..c8a28e832a 100644
--- a/MediaBrowser.MediaEncoding/Encoder/MediaEncoder.cs
+++ b/MediaBrowser.MediaEncoding/Encoder/MediaEncoder.cs
@@ -874,8 +874,8 @@ namespace MediaBrowser.MediaEncoding.Encoder
             var mapArg = imageStreamIndex.HasValue ? (" -map 0:v:" + imageStreamIndex.Value.ToString(CultureInfo.InvariantCulture)) : string.Empty;
 
             // Use ffmpeg to sample 100 (we can drop this if required using thumbnail=50 for 50 frames) frames and pick the best thumbnail. Have a fall back just in case.
-            var args = useIFrame ? string.Format("-i {0}{3} -threads 1 -v quiet -vframes 1 -vf \"{2},thumbnail=30\" -f image2 \"{1}\"", inputPath, tempExtractPath, vf, mapArg) :
-                string.Format("-i {0}{3} -threads 1 -v quiet -vframes 1 -vf \"{2}\" -f image2 \"{1}\"", inputPath, tempExtractPath, vf, mapArg);
+            var args = useIFrame ? string.Format("-i {0}{3} -threads 0 -v quiet -vframes 1 -vf \"{2},thumbnail=30\" -f image2 \"{1}\"", inputPath, tempExtractPath, vf, mapArg) :
+                string.Format("-i {0}{3} -threads 0 -v quiet -vframes 1 -vf \"{2}\" -f image2 \"{1}\"", inputPath, tempExtractPath, vf, mapArg);
 
             var probeSize = GetProbeSizeArgument(new[] { inputPath }, protocol);
 
@@ -980,7 +980,7 @@ namespace MediaBrowser.MediaEncoding.Encoder
             FileSystem.CreateDirectory(targetDirectory);
             var outputPath = Path.Combine(targetDirectory, filenamePrefix + "%05d.jpg");
 
-            var args = string.Format("-i {0} -threads 1 -v quiet -vf \"{2}\" -f image2 \"{1}\"", inputArgument, outputPath, vf);
+            var args = string.Format("-i {0} -threads 0 -v quiet -vf \"{2}\" -f image2 \"{1}\"", inputArgument, outputPath, vf);
 
             var probeSize = GetProbeSizeArgument(new[] { inputArgument }, protocol);
 
diff --git a/MediaBrowser.Server.Implementations/Persistence/SqliteItemRepository.cs b/MediaBrowser.Server.Implementations/Persistence/SqliteItemRepository.cs
index b4f8245ed8..0836560fc2 100644
--- a/MediaBrowser.Server.Implementations/Persistence/SqliteItemRepository.cs
+++ b/MediaBrowser.Server.Implementations/Persistence/SqliteItemRepository.cs
@@ -2230,7 +2230,7 @@ namespace MediaBrowser.Server.Implementations.Persistence
             }
             if (string.Equals(name, ItemSortBy.OfficialRating, StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase))
             {
-                return new Tuple<string, bool>("ParentalRatingValue", false);
+                return new Tuple<string, bool>("InheritedParentalRatingValue", false);
             }
             if (string.Equals(name, ItemSortBy.Studio, StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase))
             {
@@ -3473,7 +3473,7 @@ namespace MediaBrowser.Server.Implementations.Persistence
 
             using (var cmd = _connection.CreateCommand())
             {
-                cmd.CommandText = "select Guid,InheritedParentalRatingValue,(select Max(ParentalRatingValue, (select COALESCE(MAX(ParentalRatingValue),0) from TypedBaseItems where guid in (Select AncestorId from AncestorIds where ItemId=Outer.guid)))) as NewInheritedParentalRatingValue from typedbaseitems as Outer where InheritedParentalRatingValue <> NewInheritedParentalRatingValue";
+                cmd.CommandText = "select Guid,InheritedParentalRatingValue,(select Max(InheritedParentalRatingValue, (select COALESCE(MAX(InheritedParentalRatingValue),0) from TypedBaseItems where guid in (Select AncestorId from AncestorIds where ItemId=Outer.guid)))) as NewInheritedParentalRatingValue from typedbaseitems as Outer where InheritedParentalRatingValue <> NewInheritedParentalRatingValue";
 
                 using (var reader = cmd.ExecuteReader(CommandBehavior.SequentialAccess | CommandBehavior.SingleResult))
                 {