I’m at my whits end trying to figure out what the issue is with the various client’s I use not being able to play. I’ve tried using both the Apple TV 4 and a Xbox One S, and have encountered issues with both. On the ATV4 towards the beginning of every movie, I get the constant buffering or a message that says “Your connection to the server is not fast enough to stream this video. Check your Network.” My internet connection is strong (45 mbps); capable of streaming 4k media from Amazon Video and Netflix without issue, so I know this isn’t a bandwidth issue. It can’t be my server either because I’m using a 2013 Macbook Pro with an i7 processor and the only thing that I run on it is plex. I played with the settings by enabling and disabling Direct Play and Direct Stream, but nothing works. Most of my files are MKVs, but I have some MP4s and I encounter the same issue with those as well.
After doing some reading and searching the forums, I saw that this issue was something that was plaguing a lot of other ATV4 users. So, I decided to try my luck with my Xbox One S. Unfortunately, I encounter a similar issue, only this time without the message. From the Xbox, movies stutter/judder, typically at the beginning, and just won’t play smoothly. Ultimately, they just freeze.
At this point, I’m getting very discouraged because I just can’t seem to get a client running the plex app to run smoothly. I’ve also tried running plex on my LG oled b6 and encounter the same buffering issue. I’ve read the discussion boards, and it doesn’t look I’m alone in having issues running plex smoothly, regardless of what client is being used. Any help would be greatly appreciated at the point. I should add that when I play movies remotely through my iPhone, everything runs perfectly fine. Using clients locally however never runs properly.
@spikemixture it happens with mostly all my media honestly. All of the media files are either mkv or mp4, with aac and ac3 audio. I tired using a wired connection yesterday, and the APTV seems to work okay for now (knock on wood). However, I tried the same wired connection with the xbox one s and amazon fire tv I recently bought and still ran into stuttering and buffering on both devices. I guess I’ll just stick with the ATV4 for now, but I’m pretty bummed I can’t have a streaming box capable of 4k that plays nicely with plex. I’m not sure why there seems to be so much inconsistency across the various plex clients, but it would be nice if they all worked seamlessly.
I give up. Plex just doesn’t work for me. Went back to having the same problems with my ATV4. I feel like I have followed every guideline/piece of advice/recommendation to get this thing to run properly, but it just won’t. My server is fine, my internet.bandwidth is fine, my media is fine, my clients are fine. Everything works except the plex app. I’ve now tired 4 different clients on my local network to stream my content, and they have all encountered the same issue or a variation of it. I don’t know what experience other people are having, but this plex just hasn’t worked out for me.
@KarlDag My ATV4 is ethernet wired. My server, macbook pro, is on wifi. I’m using the ATT U-Verse router, model number 5268AC. As far as producing logs, what do you need? I just downloaded the file, but there is a lot in the folder.
@comurphy said: @KarlDag My ATV4 is ethernet wired. My server, macbook pro, is on wifi. I’m using the ATT U-Verse router, model number 5268AC. As far as producing logs, what do you need? I just downloaded the file, but there is a lot in the folder.
Well for one, ISP provided routers are generally TERRIBLE. At least I’d recommend trying everything with your server plugged in with ethernet, but best case scenario, go out and buy a good router.
Second, to get a clean log, stop your server. Start it again. Play a “problematic” file on your appletv. Stop it after it’s been doing the weird behavior you’re seeing, then go and grab the log. Post it here in its entirety (you’ll probably have to rename it to a .TXT file).
@spikemixture I can’t get a wired connection with my macbook because it doesn’t have an ethernet port. I suppose I could use a ethernet adapter and connect via usb, but I haven’t tired that. Will connecting via ethernet increase performance that much?
This goes to another issue of whether my server, since it is connected via wifi, is being limited to the download and upload speeds being provided by my ISP. I was told that within my LAN, that all my devices connected via a wired connection would be able to transfer data as fast as the cable would permit, and that the internet speeds advertised by my ISP would only came to play when transferring data outside my LAN. Is that true? I’m assuming that even though my server is connected via wifi, it is still on my LAN. If that’s the case, is the wifi speed within my LAN determined by the ISP or by the capabilities of the router? If its the latter, then @KarlDag your recommendation of getting a better router my work, or alternatively, getting a wired connection somehow.
@comurphy said: @spikemixture I can’t get a wired connection with my macbook because it doesn’t have an ethernet port. I suppose I could use a ethernet adapter and connect via usb, but I haven’t tired that. Will connecting via ethernet increase performance that much?
This goes to another issue of whether my server, since it is connected via wifi, is being limited to the download and upload speeds being provided by my ISP. I was told that within my LAN, that all my devices connected via a wired connection would be able to transfer data as fast as the cable would permit, and that the internet speeds advertised by my ISP would only came to play when transferring data outside my LAN. Is that true? I’m assuming that even though my server is connected via wifi, it is still on my LAN. If that’s the case, is the wifi speed within my LAN determined by the ISP or by the capabilities of the router? If its the latter, then @KarlDag your recommendation of getting a better router my work, or alternatively, getting a wired connection somehow.
Yes, wifi can be affected by interferences, especially if you live in a busy place with many neighbors for example. So ethernet helps a lot .
And yes, on LAN it doesn’t use your internet speed , only your router’s.
Just wanted to provide an update. So, I finally got everything to work properly! I figured out that the problem was the wifi connection on my server. My server was connected to the 2.4Ghz frequency which was causing the speed to slow considerably given the traffic of my neighbors, in addition to the overall limitations of the frequency. I went into my router settings and put my server on the 5Ghz frequency and viola, everything started to run smoothly. I wasn’t even aware this could be an issue until yesterday, but changing my wifi frequency was the answer. For anyone who’s server or client is connected via wifi, if you’re having issues, make sure you check your wifi settings to ensure you’re on the fastest frequency. This is assuming of course you have a dual band router and devices that are capable of detecting it. Thanks @KarlDag and @spikemixture for your help.
