Hello everybody! I need some help to avoid local streaming interruptions on my Plex system.
I have my server ( Version 1.27.2.5929) on my main PC, Windows 10 x64, connected to my network via Wi-Fi.
I watch media on a Hisense smart TV, usually with the Android TV Plex app, but I have also tried using the built-in Chromecast. Lately, we have been getting lots of interruptions on our streams, both with 1080p and 4K HDR content, regardless of whether the movie is being transcoded or direct-played.
It also happens that lately (because of summer vacations) we have started using Plex much more than before, so this problem may not necessarily be recent. It is just that now we notice it very often.
At first I thought that it could be the Wi-Fi on the TV, but we do not have issues with any other service like YouTube or Prime Video.
I need help, because I do not even know how to start troubleshooting the issue. I tried all options on “Playback settings”, like force transcode to a lower bitrate or disable subtitles, but it does not help. After 10-20 minutes, the stream stops to buffer, although sometimes it just does not recover.
I know there are some advance settings on the Server that deal with streaming, but I am a total ignorant and don’t know which of them could help, if any.
Most of the time that’s comparing apples and oranges. The media streamed from streaming providers is highly optimized… even high-resolution videos will stream at rather low bitrates.
On your Plex Media Server however you’re most likely hosting higher quality / higher bitrate files – so a bad WIFI could indeed make a difference. Keep in mind that it’s rather easy to impact a WIFI signal… all it takes are a good distance between the router and TV, some walls, maybe furniture, interfering WIFIs communicating on the same bands…
Sounds like you are using Wifi on both ends of the stream (TV and Windows server). You could try to wire things up if it’s convenient, to see if it’s the wifi. Check to make sure that
I THINK you ought to be able to get wifi stats on your router, to see if maybe its dropping packets a lot from interference. I have no idea on if they actually do keep track of this, or if your model even does, but as an upcoming network tech I’d hope stats like that is buried in a router UI somewhere…
Shouldn’t “Automatically Adjust Quality” take care of that issue? I expected the stream to reduce its quality if signal was weaker to avoid interruptions. Just like YouTube or Prime Video do.
Yes, I am using Wi-Fi on both ends. Sadly, I have no easy way to connect either the PC or the TV directly with the router via cable. I used to use powerline adapters, but they were very unreliable and had even worse problems. Moving to Wi-Fi improved the situation greatly.
