I’ve setup my Plex server on a linux machine (Ubuntu Server 16.04 LTS). It’s running as a docker with the latest Plex Pass beta version (v1.12.1.4885). It’s a server with an Intel Core i7-3770 (9.3k passmark). The server is hosted at a server farm. It has 1 GBit/s dedicated up and down. I have about 7 active users, but at most 2 or 3 are transcoding at the same time.
Some users experience buffering issues. It’s random as far as I know. Sometimes it runs smoothly, sometimes it keeps buffering every few minutes or so. If it happens they have to completely close the connection (Chromecast) or exit the app (iPad). After resuming playback it happens again eventually.
They have different clients: Playstation 4 (wired and wireless), Chromecast, smartphones (Samsung, OnePlus), tablets (Samsung Galaxy Tab, iPad), and your typical browsers. Seeing this list it must be something in my server.
I have tried enabling logging (verbose and not verbose), but since the issues are so random useful logs are hard to get by. It’s also incredible hard to see what is going on. Besides, the logs only have DEBUG level information, but have no useful INFO, WARN or ERROR information in them. So using PlexPy/Tautulli is pretty much useless. I have no errors to go on.
Looking at Tautulli I can clearly see a lot of breaks from a playback of a single file:
Same issue here with all my Chromecast users for months now, but like I said in a different thread. Plex support seams dead and not responding to any major issues…
I noticed support is nowhere to be found. It’s happening with chromecast almost all the time, but not exclusively. I don’t mind if there’s a problem. Even if it’s a bug on Plex’s side. But I need to know what is wrong so I can try to fix it. Not getting there is the most frustrating part.
@BobMt@sossienl I am currently trying to make a sense of this. I have only seen reports about this issue in the Linux category of the forum. Are you aware of other users / reports with the same issue? Did your issues appear with 1.12.1.4885 or are these long standing problems?
The Chromecast category is full of your errors. So we know for sure, that there is definitively a bug in the Chromecast app right now
@uglymagoo I appreciate your response! Sorry if I sounded salty. I’m desparate for answers.
I have had this problem for a couple of months now. So, far before 1.12.1.4885. It started with issues with chromecast playback in december I think. At that time chromecast had a couple of issues in general it needed to fix so I wasn’t paying much attention. The last 4-6 weeks most of my users seem to also get buffering issues. Everything seems to run fine on my end.
I was not aware of the same reports, although I did a quick scan on the forum before I posted it. Good to know I’m not the only one. Also quite odd it’s mostly happening on Linux machines.
I’m willing to try everything. I don’t mind sharing logs, as long as it’s private or I can mask user privacy data. It’s just, I don’t know where to start.
If I might ask: are you a Plex staff member or some sort of representative? Or just a fanatic user like I am? Do you know what the current state of these buffering issues are on Plex’s side? What is being done about it?
@BobM Nothing really new. It’s just that my “buffering” issues with the Android TV client are apparently only cosmetic. At the start of each movie, the Plex client always displays the “connection not fast enough” message and the playback halts for approximately 5 seconds. After that, the playback resumes and the issue does not reappear till the start of the next movie / episode. This is in line with your Android logs at the top of this post (1 minute playback). I have notified the devs.
I just figured the 1 minute playback in my screenshot probably isn’t the best example. This specific user has the free Android Plex app without Plex Pass. From what I understand she’s only able to watch 1 minute unless she does a 1-time payment for the app or has Plex Pass.
But my setup is also affected and I am very interested in a fix 
