diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index fbb56fbd91309fb262896ff6be169c819223d12f..083ef2adf840d4cfffdd7a38fc07869019d4128a 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -89,7 +89,8 @@ codec-smoke-test:
   script:
     - bash ci/smoke_test.sh
     ### analyze for failures
-    - if cat smoke_test_output.txt | grep -c "failed"; then echo "Smoke test failed"; exit 1; fi
+    - if cat smoke_test_output.txt | grep -c "failed"; then echo "Smoke test without PLC failed"; exit 1; fi
+    - if cat smoke_test_output_plc.txt | grep -c "failed"; then echo "Smoke test with PLC failed"; exit 1; fi
   artifacts:
     paths:
       - out/logs
diff --git a/ci/smoke_test.sh b/ci/smoke_test.sh
index c1502bac538ffac056d9c7b669ce3c836a6a338b..b8c4bdd3f0ebf8703bc76dd78b0fc7dac5df6351 100755
--- a/ci/smoke_test.sh
+++ b/ci/smoke_test.sh
@@ -6,8 +6,10 @@ if [ ! -d "lib_com" ]; then
 fi
 
 make clean
-make all -j
+make all -j 8
 
 # get all modes except SBA rate switching (which is broken currently)
 list=$(./scripts/runIvasCodec.py -l | grep -v "SBA.*rs")
 ./scripts/runIvasCodec.py -p ./scripts/config/ci_linux.json -m $list -U 1 | tee smoke_test_output.txt
+
+./scripts/runIvasCodec.py -p ./scripts/config/ci_linux.json -m $list -U 1 -D="-fec 15" --decoder_only | tee smoke_test_output_plc.txt