I’m going to try to be very forensic about this. I do not understand the issue all, and I’m exceptionally network savvy.
Here’s my setup:
Router is a Netgear R7000 running DD-WRT
Plex running QNAP TVS-471 (CPU - Intel Pentium CPU G3250 @ 3.20GHz/16GB of RAM)
(2) Netgear ProSafe GS116Ev2
Roku Ultra
I have port trunking enabled on the QNAP, and those ports in a LAG group on the first switch. That switch sits in a network cabinet in the lower level of my home. Router is plugged into this switch and I have it linked via a single 1Gb ethernet connection to another GS116Ev2 on the main level of my home. The Roku is plugged into this, along with all my other wired network devices. For 4k, I have Plex set to direct play the files, and 4K set (original file type).
At any given wired device anywhere in my home, I have sustained near 100MB/sec to the NAS (in other words I have more than enough actual bandwidth to move the entire 80GB 4k movie file in minutes). However, when I go to play the movie, it buffers to 33%, crawls to 50%, jumps to 70%, then starts to play, however, it stops and rebuffers after about 1-2 minutes of playing.
Just looking for input for where to try and find the hiccup cure.
If you remove the network cable from the Roku and place your laptop there and use PMP - does it play OK then? Does the status page show that it is trancoding when playing on the Roku? I’d try and establish where exactly the fault lies by excluding things one at the time. Time-consuming, yes, but often best approach.
What are the codecs of the 4K files? Roku can only accept 4K video if it’s been encoded using HEVC. If the files are encoded using H264, your server will need to transcode the file down to 1080p. Given the fact that your CPU is relatively low-power…it is likely that your server is unable to transcode it fast enough, which results in the buffering instances.
These are encoded in HEVC. Given that the CPU is barely even blinking when I’m trying to play these, I doubt it’s a CPU bottle neck. The only thing this NAS is doing is Plex.
@Jonathan_Z said:
These are encoded in HEVC. Given that the CPU is barely even blinking when I’m trying to play these, I doubt it’s a CPU bottle neck. The only thing this NAS is doing is Plex.
If you look at the “Now Playing” screen on Plex Web while playing the file, does it say direct play or is it transcoding?
Playback of a file is decode only, if your asking your NAS to decode it and reencode it into something else for whatever reason then it might very well be too much to ask for that cpu.
Edit if you could post your PMS logs of that attempted playback it would be great.
This is the Now Playing Info for any movie, SD, 720P, 1080P or higher. If I reduce the playback, it still buffers the same and hangs up every few minutes.
Only on the new 4K TV with built in Roku, but not on any other 1080P, 720P TV with built in Roku. Those play the 4K movies better than the 4K TV. Even though they can’t display the higher resolution, the buffering sessions are much further apart; plus you can reduce the playback resolution to make it play, on the 4K TV you can’t. It wants to stay on original.
When I use Plex Media Player to play 4K media files, I occasionally see stuttering and buffering. The QNAP TS-453B (4G) is directly connected to a 4K TV - not streamed. This also happens when using native built-in QNAP Video Station, or Plex Media Server for playback. Is this QNAP unit adequate for direct 4K media playback? Do I need and upgrade in RAM, or perhaps just a beefier, faster model? Thanks for any advice…!
Hi - I upgraded to a more powerful QNAP and can play the 4K movies, however, when I set the HDMI resolution to 4K (3840 x 2160) the display holds for a few seconds then switches to black, holds for a few, switches to black… Any hints on PMP settings…?
