Server Version#: 1.26.0.5715
Player Version#: 9.1.0.31999
Shield Android TV Version#:9.0.2
Plex Media Server Logs_2022-04-18_18-51-57.zip (6.3 MB)
Short version: I think this is mainly a shield issue but the problem only shows itself with Plex. I’ve attached logs but this issue was solved almost 24 hours ago and hopefully the logs will show.
The problem: videos on Plex (any video) will randomly buffer but not resume. Seeking forward/backward will get it going again about half the time. The other half I get an internet connection speed error and I have to fully back out and restart the video. It’s made Plex unusable. Watching on the server dashboard, the local speed will suddenly drop to nothing and shortly after, the video starts the forever buffering. This doesn’t happen when watching Disney+ or Netflix. I know the wifi speed and signal are fine because this only started happening recently, with either the Plex client update or the shield TV update, I’m not sure which.
Solution: After trying every other setting change/tweak/trick I found, short of loading different versions, I bought a small travel wifi router and used it as an extender. It is sitting right next to the shield so the wifi signal is close to the same. When the shield is connected via ethernet, the buffering problem doesn’t happen. I forced a poor wifi signal to the extender and this caused Plex to buffer but it continued playing. On the server dashboard, the connection never dropped, it was just slower when the signal was poor.
All-in-all I think this is an issue with wifi on the Shield. However, it only shows up with Plex so I think there’s something between the Plex server and Plex client that doesn’t handle signal issues as well as say Netflix or Disney+.
