An issue has recently been brought to my attention. I invited a couple of my friends to my Plex server. They can play certain files with no issues, but others will load indefinitely and never play.
Most of my library files are .mp4, but some are .mkv. It seems random, but my friend cannot watch certain shows. There is no trend in the file format as he can watch some mp4 and mkv files, but not others. He can load up a 1080p movie almost instantly. But some of my TV shows that are 20 minutes long in 1080p will buffer indefinitely. I’ve looked at my server performance while he encounters these issues. I see my HDD reading 1+ mb/s and 1-3 mb/s of upload speed being used by Plex. It seems that my PC is sending him the files, but his client cannot play them. He has tried using the Windows App and the internet browser player. Both have this issue. While I do not know his PC specs off hand, I know they’re more than enough to play a TV show.
I’ve attempted to replicate the issue myself with no success. I disconnected my phone from my local network and remote played some of the problematic TV shows. My phone loaded and played the shows without issue. However, I asked a long time user to try and play some of these TV shows and they encountered the same indefinite buffering.
The only trend I’ve noticed with the problematic shows are TV shows that I loaded into Plex when I first started building my collection 4 months ago. All of the shows I’ve added within the past month or so play without issue.
For any that are interested, below are my server specs:
32GB 3200mhz ram
Ryzen 7 3700x overclocked to 4ghz on all cores
6TB WD Black HDD
Gigabit download with 40 mb/s upload
I’ve encountered this issue in the past on my Roku TV. I fixed the issue by disabling direct play. I’m not sure if this is the solution for his issue though. I had him change the video quality to 480p / 720p from the original 1080p. It didn’t fix his issue. I’m also not sure if there is a way to disable direct play on a PC. I don’t see why he wouldn’t be able to load a MP4 file though.
If anyone has some suggestions it would be greatly appreciated!
The bit-rate of the files may be different, so check that. If their download speed isn’t that great, then perhaps you have an uncompressed 1080p vid that needs 40+ mbps pipe, and they’re still on 10 or less, which would be sufficient for compressed 1080p (2-5 MBPS).
Also, the encoding type may be an issue. See if the videos are x.264, or HEVC/H.265. 265 requires a beefier computer/player to decode. If they are using a full-on computer, I doubt it would be insufficient to run 265 videos, but it’s worth looking into whether the files that don’t play are 265 vs 264.
As I previously stated, all of the problematic shows are the first shows I loaded into Plex. Looking back they’re pretty garbage quality, 1080p with 1538kbps bitrate. Meanwhile my new ones are 1080p 8103kbps bitrate. As a test last night I deleted one of my old TV shows and re uploaded a better quality version to my Plex Server. Somehow he can load the file now which makes no sense to me, given that the newer files are 5x the bitrate. Aside from that the only difference is that my old files were .mp4 and my newer ones are .mkv. Here are some screenshots with the video information.
Here is one of the problematic files:
H264 seems to be what all of my older files were using.
Here are some screenshots of the newer files that work:
Around 90% of my newer files are H.265. That’s why I’m so lost. He can’t play the dumbed down files in H264 with 1/5 of the bitrate, but he can play the beefy H.265 files with no issues. I’m considering deleting and redoing half of my library to get the better quality files and solve this issue as a side note. But that’s a lot of data and I may need to buy a new HDD before doing that.
My buddy also lives by himself with 150mbps download speed. Though I don’t think this is the issue since it’s the baby files he can’t play. If you have any ideas, I’d be forever grateful. Otherwise I get to do the task of deleting and redoing half my library.
Please attach the XML Info for one of the problematic files. The forum does not support .xml attachments, so save the information as a text file or zip it.
Also, please have your friend retrieve the Plex for Windows log files after recreating the problem. Use the file for which you provided the XML information.
Launch Plex for Windows.
Recreate the problem
Stop Plex for Windows.
Retrieve log files and attach to thread.
The log files are in %LOCALAPPDATA%\Plex\Logs\.
The default location for %LOCALAPPDATA% is c:\users*user_name*\AppData, which is normally hidden. To make it visible in Windows Explorer, select the View tab, then check the box next to Hidden Items.
I got a bit of a kick out of the Plex Dance. I guess it has to be called something. I did that and it didn’t fix the issue.
I had him turn direct play off and then he could play the file, but the quality dropped significantly. I don’t see why he can’t direct play an mp4 file. It’s also not ideal because it stresses my CPU fairly hard. I wouldn’t be able to do two 1080p transcodes at once. So that would make it where only one person could watch my server at a time. Windows should know how to play those files by default unless I’m crazy and forgetting something?
I dream that hardware acceleration on AMD GPUs will come soon.
Anyways, here is a copy of my buddies Plex Log: John’s Plex Log.log (125.8 KB)
Two general comments, not specific to why the video is buffering for your friend.
Video transcoding is compute intensive, so even with one transcode you’ll see the CPU utilization spike and hear your fans crank up.
If I’m reading the logs correctly, you’ve a Ryzen 7 3700X.
That CPU can handle eight to ten H.264 1080p transcodes.
Plex needs ~2000 passmarks to transcode a H.264 1080p video. The 3700X has a passmark score of 22757.
In the Plex for Windows app on John’s PC, check Settings → Quality → Video Quality.
Plex clients default to 2 Mbps / 720p for remote streaming. Have him change it to Maximum.
On your server, in Settings → Remote Access, set Internet Upload Speed to match the upload speed from your location.
That should provide the best remote video quality when transcoding is required.
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Log entries showing transcoding to 1921kbps:
```
Jan 26, 2022 21:57:18.661 [39408] DEBUG - [Transcode] MDE: Angel Beats! - S1 E1 - Departure: selected media 0 / 8678
Jan 26, 2022 21:57:18.661 [39408] DEBUG - [Transcode] Streaming Resource: Adding session 0628B6C8:unxtblzalhwcuymng2y5px39 which is using 1921kbps of WAN bandwidth. Used is now 1921kbps
```
