Buffering every 2min with a delay of upwards of 1min before continuing "buffering waiting"

Plex Media Server Desktops & Laptops
,
1

Server Version#: 1.25.2.5319 (Windows)
Player Version#: 7.76 (1444) tvOS

Plex Media Server Logs_2022-01-04_16-06-18.zip (90.9 KB)

Recently Plex has become unusable with almost any video file I attempt to watch via AppleTV 4K 2nd. I have also tried downgrading to 1.24.5.5173-8dcc73a59 I believe when I had the best experience was around 1.23 back then I did not remember having this many issues.

I used to use AndroidTV with X900H, but when it started acting up and stopping to stream I bought the AppleTV 4K 2nd gen having long wanted a more compatible client.

It worked for around 2 weeks and now its rendered unusable to me because of constant long delays with buffering.

Whats weird is that VLC (tvOS, Apple TV) over SMB can play the movies fine from start to end without buffering ever and it doesn’t read as extensively on the disk as Plex nor does it seem to use as much CPU.

Both server and client (Apple TV) is wired via ethernet Cat5e into a Netgear R7800 nighthawk and overall stability is excellent on the network. I also have tried moving video files to different disks 7200rpm on USB3.0 dock, nvme, 2.5" ssd all the same issue.

I’m thinking something changed (with the way the video files are streamed maybe) because I’ve been using the same setup PC for years without issues, the only thing that changed in the meantime is the TV, but since I’ve tried both Apple TV 4k 2nd gen and android TV I think its odd it keeps giving me issues while VLC plays it smooth from start to end over SMB and does not seem to work as hard to do so.

Subtitles are also set to “Burn image formats only” and Server → Transcoder > “Disable video stream transcoding” is enabled.

Both are showing as “Direct Stream” on both video and audio in dashboard meanwhile and I can see PlexMediaServer using some CPU and probably moreso than VLC.

Here’s what it looks like with debugging on Apple TV 4k 2nd gen when it stops every 2min:

IMG_8462
IMG_8462695Ă—719 81.5 KB

State: buffering waiting

2

From what I can find in your log, the video is streamed by the server as-is (no transcoding). The server itself doesn’t see any hiccups (except for the playback not progressing a few times).

Do you experience the same for non DTS HD-MA audio.

side note → you might want to review the Plex Media Server’s network settings. The List of IP addresses and networks that are allowed without auth option seems to have a leading space which causes the parameter to be ignored.

1 Like
3

They broke that with the recent updates, I have the same issue on my Nvidia Shield

4

I’ve been experimenting with different formats. AC3 seems to play smooth everytime from beginning to end.

DTS-HD definetily struggles consistently.

Also EAC3 audio threw the error “Couldn’t create a playback session for this item” while playing the movie and would happen again if I tried to resume, I could only start it over.

5

Everything that didn’t work with VLC or Plex worked with Infuse Pro incl Dolby Vision L5.1+ with their Plex integration, I just entered the trial. Buttery-smooth not a single time has it buffered and forward/backward tracking is also smooth.

So it’s not the server software I can conclude, its the client software and the Plex client on AppleTV has issues with a lot of formats I learned.

1 Like
6

This topic was automatically closed 90 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.