Server Version#:ANY
Player Version#: ANY
Due to increased data density (8k video starting to be come mainstream) and subsequently higher bitrates, plex is completely unable to keep up to the demands of playback, the higher the latency between the server and client the lower the bitrate ceiling, but even at a 1ms latency ceiling there is a calculable maximum bitrate a plex server can sustain due to an outdated, very archaic method of delivering video streams, not limited to transcoder etc, this is purely a hard software limitation and if plex do not keep up, an alternative in the space eventually WILL.
The problem seems to lie in the implementation of the streaming algorithm that just sits and waits for an RTT between each data chunk sent to the client (Imgur: The magic of the Internet) which between each of those waits causes the video to experience a “micro-stutter” which is better or worse based on the latency of the device.
I was even able to simulate this locally over an very minorly artifically inflated network latency (110ms~)
This seems to only be exacerbated in conjuction with plex determining the connection speed though also, e.g if a slower network is used that has a higher latency, the buffer length is increased and the user instead of receiving short micro-stutters has a longer time between buffer cycles, or in some cases the initial buffer can be long enough to mitigate all subsequent buffers that would’ve occurred.
The image I linked demonstrates this in more than enough clarity. I hope this bug can be categorized and resovled quickly!
I’m not sure how long this problem has existed for (judging from old posts it dates back to at least 4 years ago) but there doesn’t seem to ever have been an official response or notifying that it is a bug that is known/being worked on. I and many other lifetime plex pass subscribers surely would appreciate Plex’s transparency. Thanks!
*edit
To form an opinion based on observations, experience and admittedly a healthy helping of salt I’ve had recently I’d have to say;
Though with the loss of the only large sponsorship spots I’d think I’ve ever seen plex have (from Linus Media Group) and a seeming unwillingness to work on maintaining existing feature sets as well as future-proofing, I can only surmise plex has decided to sunset and are willingly cascading toward catastrophic failure and approaching subsequent bankruptcy in the somewhat near future. To say there’s some blockbuster level of decision making going on would honestly not even cover it.
A media server that can’t reliably and scalably serve media the host is physically capable of processing just fine is very problematic.
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