4K Direct Play buffer issues (worked fine.. bug in PMS ?)

[bbouws]

Server Version#: 1.15.3.876

Hi all, greetings from the Netherlands.

Since a couple of months (?) i’ve not been able to Direct Play 4K movies without buffering. It used just to work fine (60-80gb 4K movies with HDR, no buffering).

Server is on a Windows 7 PC with Core-i3 7100 (3,90ghz) with 8GB RAM. (strong 5ghz wifi connection, nearby router. Also tried with cable)

I tried different clients but they all have the buffering issues, some worse than the other.

• XPlay on OLED LG C7 TV. I always used XPlay and it worked great. Now it buffers every 10-20 seconds). Connected via Wifi 5ghz (steady 170 Mbps connection, close to router).
• Plex app on TV. Same issue as XPlay, maybe even worse.
• Plex app on Xbox One X (ethernet). Plays fine for about 2 minutes and than starts buffering again every 1-20 seconds.
• LG Photo & Video app. Seems about the same as Plex on Xbox.

I already completely reinstalled PMS and the clients without success.

I do not understand what’s causing this. It used to work fine. Is it a bug in the newest PMS software? Is it my PC ? Or network issue ?

I don’t know what to do anymore and I’m looking for some tips

EDIT: The problem only occurs with high bitrate movies (50 Mbps+). I wonder if buying a dedicated device like a Shield will solve it…? But it’s strange because I did not have problems before with XPlay, even with high bitrate sources.

[Rams3y]

Its the PMS software mate. They released an update that basically messed things up. The last 2 years i was able to direct stream every 4K file via the X-play app, but the last 2/3 months i got massieve buffer issues, and only with 4K media files. It sucks, because now i need to use the default LG app to watch 4K movies.

[bbouws]

Thanks. Now I use the Plex app on my Apple TV 4K. Works much better. No buffer issues anymore. And I like the app a lot more than XPlay. Very nice layout