HD Homerun woes?

Live TV & DVR
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ServerVersion#: 1.32.8.7639 on Asustor AS3340T NAS
Clients: 2018 Samsung Series 8 and Windows clients.
Tuner Make/Model: HD HomeRun Connect Quatro.
All running latest released versions.

issue: starting a live tv channel takes about 35 seconds, then buffers incessantly through a session. it is unwatchable.

BUT – I can record from the same source without any problems. DVR on the same channels, same HD Homerun source – the recordings look great, are totally watchable and performant. Love it!

I am running Plex server on an Asustor NAS AS3304T with gobs of free space. I’ve turned off plex transcoding, turned it on, have disabled commercial detection and tried a myriad of things from reading similar live tv issues. I’m running out of ideas.

Clients are connecting to Plex via hardwire gb ethernet on the same network. There is no outside access to the NAS or internal network. Both the Samsung 8 and windows running desktop Plex exhibit the same issue. Both can watch every other thing we have on Plex without any issues at all.

I know my HD Homerun is set up properly because I can watch TV from silicon dust’s app on Windows, and Plex DVR records from it perfectly. Plex is working great for everything else I’ve thrown at it.

If I can use Plex to watch live tv, it will finally get me off windows media center (yeah, I know…I’ll turn out the lights when I leave). I am humbly asking for any clues.

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Subtitles (CC)?

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Thanks for the reply. I do not have any subtitles enabled in the Agents.

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  • Realtek RTD1296 Quad-Core 1.4 GHz CPU

High probability that when trying to watch live that the stream is transcoding which is beyond the capability of the processor. Closed Captioning would make it worse.

For Windows, use the Plex for Windows client not a browswer. Samsung TV, not much can be done there other than buying a Roku/Shield etc.

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Thanks – I am having the exact same issue with Plex for Windows Desktop as I am with the Samsung.

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If the transcoding is more than the processor can handle, why do the same shows from the same tuner get recorded by plex properly? You would think that would even be more taxing to the processor.

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looking at my CPU today – I was sitting at 23% utilization. Started up a live channel and the CPU went to 59% and stayed between 56 and 61% during the test. Video stopped and restarted about twice a minute with very little change in CPU utilization.

I don’t believe my CPU is pegged in this situation.

Memory utilization also runs about 70% utilization during a live tv playback.

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Another strange thing is that there is buffered video, yet the playback still pauses. You can see in the attached image here there is more than enough buffer:
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This seems like a playback issue, not an encoding or configuration problem. Any advice is greatly appreciated.

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Grab the now playing from the dashboard, you should see direct stream/play for Video and Audio if the device supports it.

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no directStream for me – so I’m SOL?

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Go to the download page and download the Plex for Windows app, you using the browser app.

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On this computer I am…but on my media PC I run Plex for Windows. It has the exact same issues.

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It will be tough to get around the audio transcoding which can only occur on one core.

It works once it’s recorded because it has a chance to analyze the audio and video for playback.

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well darn. so close to being perfect. Thanks for trying anyway, appreciate the help.

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Could always go the NUC route to run Plex and store files on the NAS.

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I do have my media center pc, I could run my server there instead. I’ll give that a go. fingers crossed!

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Not sure if it helps but I have the same HD unit. I know you mention that you haven’t setup remote access to Plex outside your local network but you haven’t mentioned how you connect to Plex, only the hardware so thought I’d suggest something to try - are you connecting through the local network i.e. using the IP address and port number? I’ve found that (albeit externally) it will buffer on poor networks, I’ve never had many issues directly connecting at home using the IP and port number from a PC however have had some issues on some devices like the Amazon Firestick (not sure if they’ll want to connect externally rather than on the local network but never bothered to look into it to date). Consider it a penny for my thought… :slight_smile:

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Thanks for the tip!