- Plex client device: SHIELD TV 2019 (tube) with 8.1.1 + hotfix (and previous versions).
- Plex client software: 8.3.0.18912 (& beta 8.4.0.19098)
- Plex media server: 1.19.4.2935
- SHIELD is connected to a Sony HT-XF9000 soundbar which is connected to LG B9 OLED using certified (with QR hologram) HDMI Ultra Premium cables. Audio settings in SHIED and PLEX set to passthrough. Soundbar is eARC 4K/HDR10/Dolby Vision/Atmos/DTS HD-MA/Dolby True HD capable.
- NAS: Seagate Personal Cloud 3TB
- Router: BT SmartHub 2
- Ethernet cables: Belkin Cat 6
My problem is I get stuttering playback (freezing, and/or slow motion) and audio drop out when direct playing high bitrate HEVC/H264 encoded files with HDR and/or high framerate and/or lossy/lossless audio. I do seem to be getting slightly less stutter/pausing/audio loss though with the recent SHIELD hotfix.
An NVIDIA staff member has told me (link and link) that the same files (linked below) played back on the same version of PMS and Plex client and the same SHIELD product playback flawlessly for them. Another user on the NVIDIA forums (link) reported no problems playing back the files on the SHIELD Pro with the same files and Plex setup. Therefore I am a little puzzled about what is going wrong in my setup, and could do with some assistance with troubleshooting this.
Files that reproduce the stuttering:
-
Spends more time stuttering than playing: 120/140 Mbps, 4k HEVC/H264 4:2:0 29.97 fps, no audio / Dolby True HD 5.1
jellyfish-120-mbps-4k-uhd-h264.mkv, jellyfish-120-mbps-4k-uhd-hevc-10bit.mkv, jellyfish-140-mbps-4k-uhd-h264.mkv, jellyfish-140-mbps-4k-uhd-hevc-10bit.mkv (includes HD Audio) from http://jell.yfish.us/ -
Stutters every few seconds: 64-84 Mbps, 4K HEVC Dolby Vision (bt2020) 10bit 4:2:0 23.976 fps, Dolby True HD 7.1 24 bit 48kHz,
Chameleon, Escape, Leviathan and Pufferfish from https://thedigitaltheater.com/dolby-trailers/ -
Freeze/audio drop out every 30 seconds: 73 Mbps, 4k HEVC HDR10 (bt2020) 10bt 4:2:0 59.94 fps, AAC stereo 198kbps 48kHz
https://4kmedia.org/sony-bravia-uhd-hdr-4k-demo/ -
Freeze/audio drop out every 30 seconds: 41.9 Mbps, 4k HEVC 10bit 4:2:0 59.94 fps, AAC stereo 384kbps 48kHz
https://4kmedia.org/lg-nasa-two-uhd-4k-demo/ -
Freeze/audio drop out at start and after 2 minutes: 42 Mbps, 1080p, H264, 8bit, 24 fps, DTS-HD-MA 5.1
Blu Ray MKV rip of The Queen
My 2nd and 3rd highest bit rate Blu Ray rips have no problem playing for long periods of time (e.g. John Wick 39 Mbps and Ghost in the Shell 35 Mbps).
About the SHIELD:
Dolby processing is disabled, audio set to passthrough, CPU in max performance mode and I do NOT have SD card setup as adopted storage in it.
Installed apps are: Disney +, Netflix, Amazon Prime, Steam Link, Plex, Google Play Store and Photos & Videos. In fact, I have tried disabling some in built apps, such as NVIDIA Games and Android Live TV to see if it helps save RAM.
Ideally I would find out what read speed I can achieve between the SHIELD and the NAS. I’m not a Plex pass holder so can’t see the dashboard, and I can’t install plugins on my NAS. I can get a SSH console working on the NAS (http://liftoffsoftware.com/Products/GateOne) but setting up a SSH server on the SHIELD and finding a reliable speed test is a little beyond my capabilities.
Therefore I’ve tried checking how another device in my network can connect to the NAS, and how the SHIELD can connect to that device, to kind of infer that there’s no bottlenecks/throttling in the router, NAS or ethernet cables in general.
Test 1: Laptop to NAS read
If I use LanSpeedTest lite (https://totusoft.com/lanspeed) between the laptop and the NAS I get 645 MBps read and 485 Mbps write.
Test 2: SHIELD to laptop read
I downloaded iperf in accordance with https://nvidia.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/4904/~/testing-networks-speeds-on-shield-tv
SHIELD Ethernet: 600.04 sec, 65.1 GBytes, 932 Mbps (receiever,0 as sender)
My laptop can read from the NAS at 642 MBps and the SHIELD can read from the laptop over ethernet at 932 Mbps (using iperf). So whilst I can’t make a direct measurement of how fast the SHIELD is reading the files from the NAS, I can least infer that its possible for it to read fast enough to playback the files.
Other playback tests:
- Flawless playback of Dolby “Pufferfish” when copied to SHIELD internal storage and played back with MRMC. Therefore it seems to be a network or Plex Media Server issue.
- Stuttering playback of Dolby “Pufferfish” when using MRMC to playback from Plex Media Server.
- Buffering of Dolby “Pufferfish” when played back using Plex for Kodi. It doesn’t stutter, it just buffers, plays a bit and then buffers again. Buffering occurs in the same place that Plex stutters. Essentially, it swaps stuttering for buffering.
I have tried swapping the Belkin Cat6 ethernet cables between the SHIELD and the NAS for 5e cables; this made no difference. I also tried disconnecting all devices from the router leaving only the SHIELD and NAS connected; this made no difference. I have tried enabling and disabling IPv6, SMB, SFTP and FTP on the NAS; no configuration makes any difference. I have tried plugging the SHIELD straight into the TV HDMI input instead of going through the soundbar; this made no difference.
Not sure what’s left for me to test/check/change at this point, hence this post.
I just tried playing back 4 or 5 files with stuttering, Plex logs attached.
Plex Media Server Logs_2020-07-16_12-15-02.zip (677.4 KB)
