I just purchased the new 3TB WD Wireless Pro and am having response issues that make it virtually unusable. I am running 0.9.16.6.1993-5089475 which says it is the latest PMS version and am running the latest device firmware on the WD. Right now I added my Music collection (about 30,000 songs, just copied my whole iTunes folder over) and copied about 400 movies over, all Optimized using Plex before I copied to avoid transcoding issues.
I had issues at first claiming the server, I would hit Claim It and it would spin for a second and just give me the option to Claim It again.
When I would access it and enter my pin at the main screen it would take up to 3-4 minutes before it brought me to the main menu. After an overnight of processing it is only showing 50 of my 30,000 songs and when I select a song to play it takes 3-4 minutes before the song starts playing. I tried it in my car this morning connected point to point to the device.
As I type this I am having a whole new issue. I have the Passport connected to my home wifi right now and have no trouble accessing the WD menus. When I pull up Plex using IP:32400/web or IP:32400/manage it asks me to login, which I do, then brings me to the Plex Web interface and says my WD Mobile server doesn’t exist, even though I’m logged in to the portal via the IP address of the WD Pro.
I really don’t know where to start here, I hope there is a setting or a couple of settings I am missing that are causing all of these random access issues. I don’t expect it to perform like a full fledged PMS but I do expect it to be usable with Optimized content.
Interested in this as I have ordered mine (3TB) and hope it is not a bad product.
Since I don’t have mine yet, I can only guess - could it be that Plex is trying to organize/download data for your media and the little drive can’t do too many things at once.
It is absolutely brutal dealing with this device. It’s not just Plex that is buggy, the device itself is. Trouble maintaining a wireless connection. I think it’s biggest trouble is doing the initial scan, when it is performing this task it crashes multiple times and you can do nothing else with it when this is going on.
I failed to mention I bought two of them and both of them are exhibiting the exact same behavior.
I started them out with the smaller of my sections of movies, about 150 movies. I have a Music section with about 23,000 that I think is causing a majority of the problem. I don’t have too much of an expectation, but holding a wifi connection long enough to scrape 150 movies doesn’t sound like too much.
@jmail1 said:
I have a Music section with about 23,000 that I think is causing a majority of the problem.
That would give even a regular PC based PMS problems. I’m guessing the server ran out of memory and just stopped.
Honestly, I added like 10 movies (with local metadata: nfo, fanart.jpg, poster.jpg, etc) to the Passport Wireless and even that took a while to process (around 1-2 minutes).
I reckon the CPU is quite weak (somewhat necessary in order to maintain long battery life) and likely just barely fast enough to run Plex. You might need to copy media in batches and wait for Plex to finish processing each batch before adding more.
Another thing, this uses HDD (likely 2.5", 5400RPM) and not SSD/flash. Random read/write access is a known weakness. Probably would’ve been better if WD used SSHD instead or perhaps had, say, 16-32GB NAND flash dedicated for the operating system and programs+program data.
I had a WD Passport and sent it back. They are considered an entry level NAS. I broke down, spent the money and got a QNAP. I also tried Synology. Good product but my money went further with Qnap,
I recommend learning how to put your WD on a static IP rather than the default DNLA. A lot of your issues should go away. Especially anybody having connection issues. You’ll have to look up how to do it but it’s totally worth your time.
DNLA is an automatic way of connecting and will have a different IP every time you start up your PC. Static is the same IP every time, all the time.
Also, don’t put the Plex server software on your NAS. The software is stressing your CPU. Put it on your computer.
I read the specs and there is no mention of which CPU they have. I’ll just assume it comes with a mobile CPU like ARM or something. The reason I went with QNAP was a decent Intel CPU and I maxed out the RAM to 8 gb.
My QNAP came with the Plex server too. It doesn’t make a bad server, after all that’s what a NAS can do but my PC does it better.
My guess, the Passport Pro doesn’t makes a good Plex server. It looks like it would be great for storing media in the field. Like a photographer with one memory card.
And my Mac Mini performs flawlessly. But I would never use the Passport Wireless Pro in my home, strictly as a portable Plex system for the road (hotels, my mother-in-laws house, on vacation perhaps).
It really isn’t designed to be your main Plex server, just have the ability to direct stream. An Arm processor can handle that with ease.
@playsdbass@gmail.com said:
I was talking about a Passport NAS, My mistake.
I read the specs and there is no mention of which CPU they have. I’ll just assume it comes with a mobile CPU like ARM or something. The reason I went with QNAP was a decent Intel CPU and I maxed out the RAM to 8 gb.
My QNAP came with the Plex server too. It doesn’t make a bad server, after all that’s what a NAS can do but my PC does it better.
My guess, the Passport Pro doesn’t makes a good Plex server. It looks like it would be great for storing media in the field. Like a photographer with one memory card.
Per AnandTech, CPU is a Realtek RTD1195 Dual Cortex-A7 SoC. I think that’s similar to what my Moto G 1st gen (2013) has. Heck, the Moto G might actually be faster.
For the actual video streaming part, the Passport worked well for one client (CA:TWS encoded with Handbrake/QuickSync Balanced QP20 720p, stereo AAC, 2Mbps total bitrate). There’s some delay prior to initial playback but still much better than initial buffering with online streaming services when one has spotty 4G LTE signal. Haven’t really put it through its paces yet. Gonna try multiple clients this weekend.
At first, I put the Passport on the floor of the vehicle so there’s no risk of dropping. Alas, the drive appears to be sensitive to potholes and paused a couple of times during playback (guessing due to built-in shock protection). Ended up just holding it on my lap. Might rig a container for it with some foam/padding.
Right now, I only put 10 movies in the device. Will have to see how it handles a bigger video library. I still need to encode my videos to mobile friendly format (they’re all currently original quality Blu-ray or DVD MakeMKV rips). I have no plans of using the Passport for music. Internal storage on my phone is large enough to hold my must-haves and I tend to just use Pandora or Spotify for the most part.
@leschan - thanks for the quick update. Sounds like it will work well for me. I only plan to use it for a single stream when I travel.
What client are you using for it? What format are you changing your media to? I have started doing some “Optimized” and some converting to Roku 720p with Handbrake. Just wondering what you are doing.
(Sorry, just read your oost again ans what you’re encoding to.)
@rsava said: @leschan - thanks for the quick update. Sounds like it will work well for me. I only plan to use it for a single stream when I travel.
What client are you using for it? What format are you changing your media to? I have started doing some “Optimized” and some converting to Roku 720p with Handbrake. Just wondering what you are doing.
(Sorry, just read your oost again ans what you’re encoding to.)
Client tested is an iPad Air. This is pretty much going to serve mostly iOS devices.
As for specific Handbrake settings, I started with the default iPad profile for Handbrake then I changed the encoder in the Video tab to H.264 (Intel QSV). That’s it. I just left all other settings as default. I get around 200-250 fps average encoding speed on a measly Intel Pentium G3220 (Haswell) and resulting video quality is decent enough for viewing on mobile devices. I expect these encoding settings should be compatible with most devices.
I also tested QuickSync encoding to 1080p QP18 and got 120-140fps average encoding speed on those. Movies tested for the encodes were Blu-ray rips of the Marvel Cinematic Universe Phase I and II collections. For viewing on the HDTV, though, I’m keeping my original quality MakeMKV rips.
Sorry for the delay all, I am talking about the brand new Wireless Passport Pro, the one that Plex sent out an advertisement for a few days ago. I would have thought they would have stress tested it a bit more before advertising it. They clearly say it can be used as a portable server, if you were limited to copying 2-3 movies at a time not to overload it during scan that is insane. I understand not being able to transcode and stream multiple movies at once.
After about an hour on the phone with WD they requested I send them a log and RMA both of my devices. That seems a bit aggressive to me but I’ll go with it. He did say that multiple people at their support desk have been using Plex with no issue.
All of my media is Optimized using Plex and the 4Mbps/720p for Mobile settings.
@jmail1 - Sorry you are having those issues, stinks that they want you to ship them back.
I just got mine yesterday, I already had a number of movies and TV shows optimized, same settings as you. I moved about 15 movies over at once then let Plex go find the info for them During this time the drive became VERY sluggish. Even the WD Dashboard was slow to respond. Loaded up some more movies and some TV shows and let it sit overnight.
This morning it is a smooth operation. The Dashboard is snappy, Plex loads up on both my iPad and my ATV4. Not as fast as my main PMS (a Mac Mini) but definitely usable, especially when I am on the road.
As far as your statements:
I would have thought they would have stress tested it a bit more before advertising it.
I don’t agree that this is Plex’s responsibility, this is a WD thing. They should have stress tested it to make sure it works as planned. But, beyond that, really? You’ve been around Plex for quite a while - fully vett something before release? Thanks, I needed a good laugh this morning.
They clearly say it can be used as a portable server, if you were limited to copying 2-3 movies at a time not to overload it during scan that is insane.
Yes, a “portable” server, not meant to be a server that is my main server with all 1000+ movies or 2500+ TV episodes or 12,000 songs. Just something that I can load up some movies and shows, maybe some music (although I have my phone for that) and take it with me so I don’t need to worry about a good connection.
I hope you get yours straightened out. I think it is a nice little piece of kit, I have my first road trip coming up, three trips in three weeks. Hopefully it will work well.
@rsava said:
I don’t agree that this is Plex’s responsibility, this is a WD thing. They should have stress tested it to make sure it works as planned. But, beyond that, really? You’ve been around Plex for quite a while - fully vett something before release? Thanks, I needed a good laugh this morning.
Yes, a “portable” server, not meant to be a server that is my main server with all 1000+ movies or 2500+ TV episodes or 12,000 songs. Just something that I can load up some movies and shows, maybe some music (although I have my phone for that) and take it with me so I don’t need to worry about a good connection.
I hope you get yours straightened out. I think it is a nice little piece of kit, I have my first road trip coming up, three trips in three weeks. Hopefully it will work well.
Honestly, it’s not so much fully vetting rather it seems like barely any testing was done at all. As seems to be common nowadays, early adopters get to be the guinea pigs and beta testers.
Yes, it’s a portable server but at a rough estimate of 3-5GB per movie and 1GB per TV episode (at 720p), I think it fair to expect the 2-3TB Passport be able to handle a 2000 video library. I’m even okay with having to load piecemeal: e.g. 100 videos at a time (roughly equivalent to four TV seasons).
Seems like close comparison hardware and power envelope-wise is the Raspberry Pi 2 Model B.
Raspberry Pi 2 vs Passport Wireless Pro
900 MHz quad-core ARMv7 vs 1.0-1.5 (?) GHz dual-core ARMv7
1GB RAM vs 512MB RAM
Last year, I had been planning on a DIY RPi2-based Li-Po battery powered portable Plex server. Alas, never really found the time for that particular project. I wonder how the RPi2/RPi3 compares performance-wise to the Passport Wireless Pro when it comes to handling Plex Media Server duties.
