Server Version#: 1.20.3.3437
Player Version#: 4.45.0
I’m in the process of switching my Plex Media Server from a ReadyNAS 516 to a Small Green Computer (SGC) SonicTransporter i9. No problems with the transition but now am experiencing
some weird playback issues.
All media files reside on the ReadyNas 516 and access to these files are mounted in the STi9.
When I play back files, in original format, with bitstreams around 30 Mbps or higher on my Windows 10 PC, via Edge Browser, using //app.plex.tv/desktop, the movie just buffers … and if it does play, will continue to buffer massively.
Oddly, when I test the same file from my PLEX app installed on my Samsung Note 9 phone, the files play back beautifully in Direct Play in highest quality, original format (exceeding 35 Mbps).
And, most importantly, PLEX plays perfectly, in full resolution, using the PLEX app on my LG OLED tv in the media room. No issues at all.
This seems to an issue with PLEX playing back files on the Windows 10 pc. Testing the video files on the NAS, using VLC media player, confirms that the files playback perfectly.
Is there a setting somewhere that might fix this? I didn’t experience this issue before migrating to the new server.
You should keep in mind that browsers are quite limited when it comes to playing media. Many browsers still don’t support h265 videos or only to a limited degree – same for pretty much any audio track that’s beyond stereo and mostly all subtitles.
If I got the specs of your SGC Sonic Transporter i9 right your CPU should actually be capable enough to deal with a lot of video transcoding. Still… might be worth to investigate if there’s an issue with the transcoding (e.g. if you’ve setup Plex in a container or VM with only a subset of that machine’s resources.
The other players support much more media types natively – even those on a smart phone.
What information is showing in the “now playing” tile for that playback on the Plex server dashboard when you try to play that video through Plex Web?
Here’s an example of a movie (The 39 Steps) that just doesn’t seem to load using the PLEX app in WIN 10 (MS Edge). This movie just doesn’t play in this environment.
In this case, I’m not using the WIN10 desktop app. I’m using PLEX launched directly from the SonicTransporter (http://192.168.5.144:32400/web/…).
If those network bandwidth peaks showing at the bottom of your screenshot are real, I suppose this will explain some of your hiccups.
How is your client connected to that server of yours (e.g. wired vs. wireless, directly connected or through a number of network components)?
610 Mbps is quite some load and could be too much for some networks.
Everything is hard wired (CAT 6) to a LUXUL ABR-5000 router and 26 Port/24 PoE+ Gigabit Managed Switch.
Keep in mind, prior to the switching media servers (both on the same rack), I had no throttling issues. And, my LG televisions (one wi-fi and the other hard wired) work flawlessly.
The issue seems to be at the desktop for some reason as all other players in the house work fine.
Noticed this error message today … where is the disc space this error is referring to? Is there a setting somewhere that I inadvertently changed when switching plex media servers? Could this be the buffering problem?
I think I may have stumbled into a FIX for this issue. While I still don’t understand what changed from going from a low-powered NAS to a dedicated Intel i9 Linux-based server, it seems that the problem was at the Player level - not the Server.
Now, I’m questioning my other settings. My goal was to send video files to the various players as “Direct Play” as the Players have enough processing power to decode the video/audio containers.
With “Direct Stream” disabled at the player, my large video files now play fine (so far!)
