Server Version#: 1.27.0.5897
Player Version#: Shield Pro 2019 9.4.0.33208
For the past few weeks, maybe 2-3, the vast majority of my files have now starting buffering during playback. This is completely new for me as I’ve had zero issues playing anything for years. I have private remote server and my house bandwidth is 1GB. In the past, routinely playing 4K HDR Remuxes have been no issue.
But now, seemingly standard HD files buffer randomly and intermittently - meaning at no particular time during playback and the same file can play black flawlessly at other points throughout the day. These are all files I’ve played numerous times before (the comfort shows).
I’ve been unable to find a common variable - TrueHD, DTS, bitrate, etc. Nothing seems to be consistent. Seemingly, the SD shows play fine; but I do not believe this is a bandwidth issue as direct speedtests to the server are high and consistent. Additionally, other users outside of my home report no issues.
My players in house are 2x Shield Pro 2019, 1x Shield Pro 2017 all direct play. Watching Plex server console shows no errors during buffering. I have no idea where to look for errors at this point.
Any thoughts are appreciated to help me track this down.
Ah OK. Looks like we have a very similar setup, with my server also being hosted by OVH in BHS, although I’m in Los Angeles. Frontier’s peering has been absolutely terrible for the past couple of months, which in my case results in severe buffering when watching anything 4K/high bit rate. Sometimes it’s so bad that I can’t even watch much smaller files.
I run tracert every once in a while to see if anything has changed, but it’s mostly all over the place. Not saying this is your issue, but probably worth looking into.
I have lots of LA users on different ISPs, and the only one with issues is me with Frontier sigh. I’ve been running this exact setup since early 2017, and it’s been great for the most part.
The only thing I’ve found that shows up as different on server side is the bandwidth. Normally, this should be complete up and down continuously. I can see on buffering files the bandwidth hover always ‘up’, never coming down to zero.
This shows two separate files (from the same series, season) that buffer on immediate play. When this show (or others) don’t represent this in bandwidth, it plays fine.
This is a normal bandwidth pattern for a non-buffering show. This is even at a higher bitrate, so clearly not a bandwidth, peering, or network issue. PMS is treating certain files different and serving them different.
I’m so sorry. For some reason I thought I was replying to another user. Thanks for the info.
Yes, it is frustrating. So far, I’ve been blaming my issues solely on my ISP, who is notorious for bad peering. You don’t seem to have the same problem, with your pings and trace routes being much, much better. I hope you’ll figure it out.
I have not yet. I’ll give it a shot, but I doubt this is the issue as I’m seeing it almost every other file I play - I doubt that many files are poor. Also, these are the same files I’ve played without issue numerous times and the same file will work then not within quick succession.
That assumes he’s using cache-mode full, and even then it won’t help if the bottleneck is somewhere else, which is likely. In my experience, the connection to/from Gdrive is never a problem, unless G is having issues themselves.
Correct assumption. I am not using full cache mode.
I’ve been playing a TV series today sporadically exhibiting the buffering problem. Every time buffering starts the bandwidth monitor shows the same “up only” pattern and buffering will start within a few seconds or so.
I’ve experimented with stopping and then starting the file over again as many times as necessary to get it to stop buffering and exhibit the correct bandwidth profile. So far, it seemingly will ‘catch’ and play without buffering and this will hold for a few hour-long episodes back-to-back until I have to do it again.
Not sure what this answers, but I believe this shows that it’s not a file problem, bandwidth problem, peering issue or Gdrive issue. If it was any of those the problems it would be present every time.
