I bought Asus Ax-88u router to upgrade from 68u. Its one of the top ones and i am still having issues with buffering even though tv is few metres from router. Yesterday had no problem in streaming 18GB movie during day, but then late night it was buffering every 10 seconds. Really what could be the reason. I thought maybe TV but why it can stream without any issues at different hours?
Are you using Wi-Fi or a wired connection? If using Wi-Fi, given your router is close to the TV use an Ethernet cable and see if problems resolve, but your media server should also be connected by Ethernet as well to the router. If Wi-Fi is in the equation anywhere all bets are off for reliable streaming, and the evenings could see additional interference from neighbouring Wi-Fi access points or general electrical appliances. It’s not that Wi-Fi can’t work well, but you need to rule it out before troubleshooting further.
In addition some setups can see you streaming via the Internet even when locally connected, so even though your router is just metres away from the TV, you are going out to the internet and back again.
I stream it from laptop to TV via wifi. It cant be connected with cable because router is in my office room, but its one wall and basically few metres away and i just bought Asus Ax-88U one of the top routers available that should have no issues at all with coverage.
Also as i mentioned i was able to stream it without any problems during 2pm for example but at 11pm i couldnt and had buffering all the way.
I used 5GHZ for this one. Should i change channel? Maybe go for 2.4 GHZ instead? I am completely lost right now
My router is set on 20/40/80 MHZ for 5GHZ on auto channel control, currently at 116
I have 160 MHZ turned off as i am not sure if anything even recognize it.
The only way to troubleshoot successfully is to try and rule out the most likely causes one at a time. All routers have issues with coverage where issues exist, so replacing one for another isn’t necessarily going to make those issues go away. Also don’t forget there are two Wi-Fi points involved, the one in your router, and the one the device. If the problem is with the one in the device, then changing the router isn’t go to improve things very much.
I would recommend spending (and not very much money) to buy some long Ethernet cables and try it wired, if your issues disappear you know the problem is with the Wi-Fi, if they don’t, you can start concentrating at looking elsewhere for the problem.
Wi-Fi capacity is affected by interference so it is pretty common for things to become worse in the evening.
I also have to mention that i have no problems at all when i play movies from netflix directly from TV. Those buffering issues occur only with streaming through Plex.
I tried it with 2.4 GHZ and was ok, on 5GHZ had problems. Will see how it is during evening.
Try different channels on the 5GHz band and make sure you using 80MHz width. To me it sounds like you have some interference, be it inside the house or possibly close by.
Netflix tends to be better at handling transmission problems as it is designed to work well in all sorts of circumstances, and also may be at a lower bit-rate than your own content so not stressing things as much.
Also with Netflix you are going Internet -> Router -> Wi-Fi -> TV, whereas with Plex you are going Laptop -> Wi-Fi -> Router -> Wi-Fi -> TV, so Wi-Fi factors twice in the equation there, so any problems are much more likely to show up.
