Server Version#: 1.43.1.10495
Player Version#: 2026.4.1 (971050026)
<If providing server logs please do NOT turn on verbose logging, only debug logging should be enabled>
Since the major “New Plex Experience” update in 2025, I’ve been experiencing constant buffering when trying to play high-bitrate 4K rips at original quality on my Samsung Tab S9 Ultra and Samsung S25 Ultra.
It isn’t a network bottleneck, my server is connected to my router at 10GbE, and my devices pull nearly 1Gbps down over Wi-Fi. Also other devices on my network like my Nvidia Shield TV Pro, play these exact same files flawlessly on both Wi-Fi and Ethernet.
To troubleshoot:
I built a completely new server (running Plex via Docker) and have kept my Plex Media Server updated over the past year, but the problem remains over multiple versions.
When I roll back to the older Android app from before the 2025 overhaul, playback is absolutely perfect. I’ve tested the new app every couple of months hoping that an update has fixed it, but the buffering always returns. Because of this, I’m currently forced to stick with the legacy version of the app. I strongly suspect there is an issue with how the new app handles high-bitrate playback on these specific devices or on all devices.
