Server Version#: 3.104.2
Player Version#: 6.3.11.5782
I have a PMS Running on a Hyper-V share on my main PC, intel i7-7820X 3.6GHz CPU with 8 GB of ram and a gigabit connection. My player is a Sharp LC-65LBU591U 4K HDR Roku SmartTV with a plex app. My receiver is a Yamaha RX-A820 (4K Support but does not do True HD).
My file is a 4K (HEVC Main 10 HDR) Video with 5.1 EAC3 codec for audio. When I check the activity monitor, I see the file being played and it says that it is being played direct.
From my computer I can watch as the video plays, stops, plays and stops, for three times then stops completely with a “Playback Error” claiming that my connection to the server was not fast enough to stream this video.
One thing that I note in my settings is that I have local speed is set to maximum (I note there is no setting for 2160p, only 1080p), and my external connections are set to 8 Mbs.
I have tried both a wired gigabit connection (direct cat5e from TV to Router to PMS) and wireless 5G 802.11ac with modem speeds upto 512 Mbs. The problem persists on both connections.
This is a TV series of 10 episodes, and this is on the 5th episode, only occassionaly buffering or sound drops on the previous 4 episodes. Is this just waiting on the technology to become cost effective? I know that I need to upgrade my receiver to do Atmos, what other options do we have for 4K viewing? Are my setting sufficient for streaming 4K to the TV wired?
your pms server dashboard has real time bandwidth monitoring, if you see the graph having solid peaks ~100-110mbs while the client is buffering then it certainly sounds like the connection to your tv (regardless of wired/wireless) is simply not fast enough for that show’s bitrate.
4k is difficult, and smart tvs apps are often not quite as smart or good as people expect or want.
Honestly i would look at the server resources before looking at the network.
Specifically disk duty cycle for the volume containing the media file.
Also. Since this is Hyper-V what is the VM layout ?
Make sure that if you’re using shared storage (iSCSI/SMB/NFS) that you’re not using using the same adapter for both VM network access and VM storage access.
But do yourself a solid and pull up the resource manager on your VM as well as on your host and look at the different performance metrics next time you run the file.
If you find that disk read latency starts rising beyond 50ms then thats what i would look at first unless your CPU/GPU or RAM is slammed at 100%.
If nothing shows up in performance metrics then make sure that you have the latest drivers for your NICs installed as well as any relevant firmware updates.
Bad NIC drivers easily presents as a network bottleneck.
Don’t start going down the rabbit hole of messing with MTU etc.
It’ll only provide more problems than it’s worth.
Okay, I comply with most of the rules of 4K, thanks for that list, very helpful, some I knew.
Checking when that file plays, it is peaking out over 154 Mbps, so I can see the wired network failing if it doesn’t have a gigabit connector on it (how stupid is that, but I’m sure a dead horse).
Also, I’m connecting audio to receiver via HDMI and yes they are on 2.0.
because tv manufactures try to use the cheapest parts they can to save $$$$ and keep prices low.
also, they do not design smart tvs to stream full bitrate 4k bluray over plex.
they design them to stream OTA via netflix/hulu/etc which use ~25% or less of a 4k bluray bitrate, not to mention no HD audio with netflix/hulu/etc.
and before someone brings up a bluray disk player, the PLAYER does all the decoding work (video and audio) and simply outputs that over hdmi as raw video/audio streams that the tv understands.
in other words, the tv doesn’t have to do any decoding or conversion when a bluray disk player is hooked to it.
Indeed, why. I don’t know any brand that does, they are all 10/100. Probably has to do with cost.
iPerf is the real way to test your wireless speed between your TV and your PMS, if your TV supports an iPerf client. If its Android TV there are a few to choose from. This is different than just doing an internet speed test, its actual bandwidth between two machines.
I just did this on my Bravia last week, testing the wireless to my PMS:
even if your wifi is decent and not overcrowded by other wifi devices and routers, wifi itself is inherently inconsistent.
Just because something does or doesn’t have bandwidth at one particular second, doesn’t meant it will or won’t have the same bw the next second.
Wifi is like a dozen or more people in a room all talking. They could be talking to specific people they could be trying to talk to the whole room, but when too many people all try to talk too loudly, it obviously drowns out other people conversations.
It could be a quiet restaurant, or it could be a loud bar with a live band playing, it will all depend on your particular area and how many other wifi’s are nearby and active.
I think this is an over simplification of “old” ideas about wifi. Mine is stable and I can direct play 4K HDR fine on my Bravia. Is it better than a dedicated device (ATV4 or Shield) that has gig ethernet? Nope.
iPerf also allows you to do extended and repeated tests, in case you were having such problems. Because if you are, something is wrong, its not the way Wifi works
But yea, wifi is also much more dependent on the hardware you have too. "nuff said.
