Server Version#:1.14.1.5488
Player Version#:3.80.1
So I have plex now for a few days and set up a server. Just some basic facts to my setup:
Server is not in the same house
server can upload up to 35MB/s
PS4 and iPhone Connected via wifi at Home
ps4 has 60mb/s Download iPhone probably more
So now the problems:
No matter what movie I play or which bandwidth the movie uses. It is all the time buffering. I got movies with 10mb/s and movies with 20mb/s. On my ps4 it is buffering all the time but on my iPhone it works like a charm. My ps4 shows that I am directly steaming and so does my iPhone. My phone does not buffer and plays with no problem. But my ps4 always buffers.
What I have tried:
changed from secure to insecure connection
changed from dts to ac3 direct stream
changed the maximum h264 level from recommended 5.1 to 5.2 to none
changed the quality from original to 20 to 12 mb/s
And none of the settings change anything. My ps4 buffers every movie or series I watch on the ps4.
Do you have any advice or tutorial I could look up to check what I am doing wrong?
OK so today I played again on plex and it worked well. No buffers at no time. The only thing I have changed was to put the server to beta release channel. But there was no update for my server. Two hours later I played the same movie I tried to watch yesterday and it went through with no problems. Someone got a clue what my problem might be?
I remember that I also cleaned up windows files to get more free disk space. Could that be part of the problem? My primary ssd where windows is working only had 50gb left so I cleaned it up today and got 10gb more of free disk space.
I’m not a Plex employee but I will try to find the culprit with you. Atm the PS4 app is in an early (reworking-)stage and not all things are working out of the box.
If you know how to you could also provide me logs from your PS4 (Activate logging in PS4 Plex app, then print them from PMS (the web app, for example). Maybe I can see something in’em
thank you very much that you try to help me and spend your time with my problem. So i will try to answer your questions one by one:
ok got it. Free space is not that important
i tried to look different stuff. When the system buffers it buffers on all files i try to play. I have checked 3 files
H264 with a bitrate of 12254 kbps, it says on the rightside 9800kbps. Dont know which one is the right one. File is about 7.5 Gb an plays 90 Minutes. It says also Level 4.1
H264 with a bitrate of 20286 Kbps level 4.1
HEVC with a bitrate of 2862 kbps there is no level shown.
I made two speedtests because my server is in my office and not at my home. So here are the results
PS4: Ping 36ms, Download 129 Mbps, Upload: DNF because scripts are not supported in the ps4 browser
in the office i have a fritz box 7490, at home i have a connect box from unitymedia but i connected google wifi to that box and my ps4 is connected via wifi.
so how much of the log should i upload for you? Just the part when it starts to buffer or do you want the whole log? well i played the second file for about 30 seconds and it buffered there twice now. the log is attached so you can have a look.
so atm I don’t have much time and I’d like to swap it to tomorrow, but at first glance and my first thought was: Do you have media analyzis enabled during scheduled tasks from within the server settings? Again, I’m not an expert, but you’re getting media analyzis errors on each file you play, so a possible solution might be to analyze all of your video libraries. This could explain why it buffers so much. But I’ll have a closer look at it tomorrow ok? Maybe someone else will jump in into this topic too.
Also:
If you’re not streaming locally - have you tried lowering the bitrate? Would be a no-brainer, but if you’re streaming remotely then this might just be it, considering that your bandwidth is not the very best.
I’ll come back at you tomorrow, have a great christmas evening
Important P.S.: Please uncheck “Provide Plex-Token in logs”, because anybody could get into your server with it, if you post logs in an online forum. You might as well share your private phone number or bank account credentials
thanks for your quick view. Just to be sure i deleted the log so no one can have a look at it. I copied the stuff from the server console from the settings so that you can have a look. The checkbox is unchecked for the token. I will now provide you with the real logfile.
Well which settings are recommended for scheduled tasks? I just installed the plex server and i did not change the settings here. So basically all checkboxes are active except for one. The tasks start at 2am and are stopped at 5am.
which tasks are recommended mostly depends on your libraries and their content. I suggest you read this article https://support.plex.tv/articles/201553286-scheduled-tasks/ to learn more. Anyways could you run the maintenance atm and see if the problem persists? You could specify a time like 12pm - 2pm (how long you run the maintenance depends on your library size) and see if streaming gets better afterwards.
This is just a guess, as I’ve never seen media analyzis errors on my personal server. Oh btw are you completely new to plex?
my settings are like the settings from that page you presented me. All boxes are checked except the one “update all libraries during maintenance”. Also my Maintenancetime is between 2am and 5am in the morning and not in the evening.
Should i start the maintenance just on every medialibrary i created or can i start it for all medialibraries once? And should i just perform an analysis or should i “refresh all metadata”?
Yes i am pretty new to plex. I had it installed years ago and just reinstalled it a week ago. Thought it was just plug and play or more a “install and watch” thing
Haha. Well it actually is “install and watch”, but some things need further calibration
Uhm that’s what I meant! I thought you could set the maintenance time to now, but you can as well just start the analyzis for each media library from the web app’s home screen for example. Just hit the 3-dot menu of the library(ies) and click on “analyze”. Depending of the size of the libraries this might take a while
ok i started to analyze the librarys. Can i see how long the analyze will take and if the analyze is parallel on all my libraries, when i start them all together?
i couldnt resist to try it now but i still have the problems with the buffer. I lowered the quality to 12Mbps but it still buffers every 30 seconds. So the analysing and lowering of the quality did not change my buffer problem
I tried it a few hours later and it went through like a charm. I dont know if it is the ps4 app that starts buggy and after a restart everything works fine? Do you have another idea what i could test?
Hey Donatus, now my problems are so bad that I have to lower the quality to 8mbps so that it works. All above just buffers. Do you have any idea or should I post some more logs maybe? Don’t know why that works so bad.
Hey there. If you are still having problems with your Plex on the PS4, you aren’t the only one. You did mention you were wireless on the PS4, first thing you should try to do is get that puppy wired. Wireless is a great thing, but when it comes to consoles…wired wired wired wired!!! That being said…the buffering issue is an ongoing struggle on the ps4. I have ps3, ps4 and xbox 1 x I have a Plex server running off a NAS in my storage room. I noticed problems with major buffering issues the other day while trying to watch a movie on my ps4 and saw someone else had connected to my Plex to watch something. Nothing new there as I do share it with some people outside of my network, but once they came on, the buffering was non stop. So, my next test was to set up the same thing for my xbox1x…had my friend stream the same movie they were watching when it originally happened and I accessed my xb1x and watched the same movie as I was watching before, basically same scenario, different console. No buffering issues what so ever. Back over to the ps3. Same as PS4…buffering issues. Now you may think I am trying to hate on ps and call xb1x superior (if it was, I wouldn’t even have ps in the first place, lol), but I will say, the xb1x app is far superior to that of the ps4 (and ps3). Might want to consider an alternative source for broadcasting plex on through your tv.
If however you have found the solution for ps4…THEN WHAT IS IT??? I would like to know. lol
Hey there, thanks for your reply. My solution is an apple TV. I bought an apple TV and now i watch all the movies with this machine. It will not work on a PS4. Don’t bother your time and get another Machine to watch on your TV. Everything will do like apple TV, Fire-TV Stick or a chromecast.
Had same issue with my PS4 and PLEX. PLEX server installed at Win7 PC and running in same network. PS4 connected by wire, but had issue with buffering (each 5-6 sec). And only PS4 had this issue, cause streaming on my TV and laptop was OK without any stopping, so it was looking like a problem on PS4 side. Tried all things what was described in this topic without any improvement.
But made last thing describred here [https://support.plex.tv/articles/201575036-why-is-my-video-stream-buffering/]((Windows) Disable “Large Send Offload” (LSO) Driver Setting) and buffering issue on PS4 disappired.
Maybe it helps somebody…
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