So I have an update to this issue. It finally occurred to me to remove the Plex app and all its settings from the Apple TV. Once removed I rebooted the Apple TV and reinstalled the Plex app from the App Store. Reconfigured the settings and have not had the connection error since even when playing content I know I had issues with in the past. I can only speculate that perhaps a past update on the app caused issues with the Plex settings within the app. Removing it and reinstall seems to have corrected the issue. I hope this can help others.
Server Version#:1.41.2.9200
Player Version#:8.42 (9478)
I have bee running a Plex server for many years and only about a couple of months ago started having an issue. When streaming certain files to an Apple TV, the video will start to play fine then freeze and after a few seconds I get a massage in the top right of the screen that essentially says that the connection to the server is not fast enough to play this content. If I go into the settings for that video and change from Convert automatically to Play Original Quality then the video continues without a problem. This problem is occurring on my LAN, I have not tested this problem remotely and does not seem to occur if I am watching the content on a computer with Plex.
This does not occur with every file and only recently started to happen. I have tried changing the streaming speeds, forcing all videos to play original quality (that caused other problems), nothing seems to have helped. I have some Gen 4 Apple TV’s and one 4K it seems to happen on each one.
About my infrastructure, all the AppleTV,s have the latest firmware from Apple. All AppleTV’s are connected via ethernet except one. I did try the 4K on WiFi 5 GHZ and had the same problem. The router is only 5 feet from the AppleTV so signal strength is great.
The Plex server software is running on a dedicated Mac mini (2018) 3.2 GHz Intel Core i7 with 64 gig of ram. The OS is Mojave 10.14.6. Plex server is the only thing running on the Mac. The Mini is connected via 10gig ethernet to a Netgear S3300-28X Prosafe managed switch.
The media is stored on a Synology DS1621xs+ with 32 gig of ram running the current firmware from Synology. The unit has a 45TB capacity and has 2 256gb M2 cache drives installed into it for file offloading. The Synology is also connected via 10 gig ethernet to the Netgear switch.
I cannot see how this network topology can be the problem hear and I have had this configuration for almost 3 years and has never been a problem. I am assuming then it is a software issue and looking for any advice to resolve this issue.
Same here, only on Apple TV. Streaming a 480P BW western. Does NOT happen with Amazon 4K Fire Stick, Roku 4K Streaming Stick, and 2-3 different browsers in windows and MacOS. Exact same video.
Bug in the PLEX app on Apple TV? If so, who is responsible, Apple or Plex?
I have a wired connection to the computer (Apple Mini last gen) and the Apple TV running the client, and it cannot play any files for more than a minute without the error. This used to work for years, but it’s unplayable in the last few months. Infuse seems to work great with the files so perhaps it’s just time to move on.
Having the same issue with AppleTV plex app. Works just fine with the LG TV app, but load up the ATV app and all of a sudden I don’t have enough bandwidth! I have just stopped using the plex app on ATV.
Has there been any insight on this? I also seeing this problem. I end up having to swap to transcoding in my own lan. ¯_(ツ)_/¯
I also find mine randomly swapping to transcoding to 4K. It’s odd that infuse works so well to stream but the interface sucks, while Plex cant play movies but has a better ui.
Same Issue Here, Recently upgraded to the Plex Pass Lifetime, same issue no difference, I have all unifi network with the new u7 AP, I am getting about 1184MB/s to the Apple TV on local speed test to NAS, so it’s not a network issue. Either Plex has bugs in the APPLE TV app, Apple is playing games or the plex server has a bug/problem streaming to Apple Devices.
@plex it would be great for you to reply and help us in the community solve this issue!
What Apple TV model is that?
Are the server and the Apple TV on the same network/subnet? If not, the stream might be considered remote and trigger some transcoding. If your server insists enough for that, the tvOS app might conceive that as the network not being fast enough.
HI,
I am the original poster in this thread. So I have a few different Apple TV’s in my home, there is a model A1625 (32 GB) tvOS 18.3 [22K557], a model A2169 (64 GB) tvOS 18.3 [22K557] and a model A1625 (64 GB) tvOS 18.2 [22K155]. All Apple TV’s are hardwired gigabit ethernet and I have tried switching them to WiFi both 2.4 and 5 ghz. This problem persists on all the Apple TV’s and started on all of them at the same time. They are all on the same LAN and subnet and the problem does not occur on any computer or the two Roku TV’s that I have. When I get the error while streaming a show, if I swipe down and go to the playback settings and change the Quality from Convert Automatically to Play Original Quality the show will then play fine so this seems to confirm that it is not a network issue. you can check my original post to see the Plex server, network and switch configurations. I am not sure if this problem has resulted from a Plex Apple TV App update or an Apple tvOS update but something changed a few months ago to cause this problem on all my Apple TV’s at the same time. I had never experienced any issues streaming Plex content to an Apple TV prior to this.
Thanks
Dave
Sounds like automatic quality triggers some transcoding and that might be the culprit. What’s showing on the now playing section of your server if you try to stream from one of the Apple TVs (with automatic quality enabled/disabled)?
So here is an interesting update, it seems to be definitely related to the transcoding and I now realize I am getting different results on different Apple TV’s. When I play a particular episode on the model A2169 (64 GB) tvOS 18.3, I get the error and the server status shows it is transcoding. If I swipe down on the Apple TV and go to Quality and select Direct Play the episode will play normally however the server is still showing transcoding. If I play the exact same episode on the A1625 (64 GB) tvOS 18.2 it plays fine and the server is showing Direct Play. Here is a screen shot from the server while playing on the model A2169. Having said this I have experienced the issue on all the Apple TV’s in the past on various different content however not all the time. If it correctly chooses direct play there does not seem to be a problem. I did try and force the server to direct play all the time but that caused issued with some other content.
Here is a screen shot from the Plex server playing the exact same episode on the A1625 (64 GB) tvOS 18.2 and it has correctly chosen Direct Play and plays fine.
