I have at home 300Mbit/10Mbit. That’s right, I only get 10Mbit upstream from the cheap cable company. I have tons of content that I want some of my friends to have but soon as I added 3 people the problems started. Buffering errors, you name it. Is there anyway to get Plex to accomodate 3-5 viewers with only 10Mbit or should I just give up? The problem is all my content is on my unraid server and I certainly can’t upload 40TB to a cloud and afford it. Even co-location services want to charge me $200/month. Can’t afford it. Anyone have any suggestions or ideas about how to do this or if it’s even possible?
Thanks.
@opentoe@gmail.com said:
I have at home 300Mbit/10Mbit. That’s right, I only get 10Mbit upstream from the cheap cable company. I have tons of content that I want some of my friends to have but soon as I added 3 people the problems started. Buffering errors, you name it. Is there anyway to get Plex to accomodate 3-5 viewers with only 10Mbit or should I just give up? The problem is all my content is on my unraid server and I certainly can’t upload 40TB to a cloud and afford it. Even co-location services want to charge me $200/month. Can’t afford it. Anyone have any suggestions or ideas about how to do this or if it’s even possible?
Thanks.
Use a tool like Handbrake or ffmpeg to create versions of your movies that will allow multiple remote streams. I only have a 10MB upload pipe, and I can support 3-5 users because I created versions of the movies that are 1080p @ 3MB, and I limit remote users to only those movies (I created a separate library for them). JuiceWSA and Cayars both have excellent guides on how to do exactly that.
I have a >800kbit upload, which is about as fast as I can get where I live. My wife and I watch tv shows and movies on our ipad when we’re at the in-laws and it’s passable. I don’t really think you’ll have much to worry about.
I’d love those speeds. Right now I’m sitting at >5/1 and when my area gets “upgraded” connections later this year I can MAYBE expect 100/10 but since they aren’t replacing the old copper from the node to premise I’m guessing it’ll be closer to 25/5. sigh
cough
I have a whopping 25/1.5
I can manage it by setting the upload limit to 1.25. This works for music and seriously low_ resolution video.(my iPod Classic circa 2005 was higher bitrate than this haha).
To answer your question:
Can you get 5 on 10 Mbps upload? Back compute the math and determine the max per stream. Be prepared to have your server transcode if all 5 streams are being played back at once ( 5 concurrent transcodes ).’
In short, yes, you can do it. Will it be to your liking is unknown until you test with one person after setting the per-stream limits or max cap
I’m guessing I don’t have my settings configured properly nor am I knowledgeable enough to do so. The computer that the Plex server runs on is an Intel i7 5930K with 64GB of memory and using PCI-Express SSD for ultimate speeds. I can’t see it being the server computer. One thing I can’t do is re-do all my content, since I have over 40TB of it and it would take me years. So most of it will stay the way it is. I don’t see why the server shouldn’t be able to transcode 3-4 streams at a time with different content, right? Maybe some of the experts can point me in the right direction on which settings are critical for streaming to multiple users on such a small upstream? Right now they’re basically default, except I changed the setting where you input your top upstream speed. I of course put in 10Mbit. Just looking for some technical feedback. Been a user since this project started and jumped on the Plex Pass when it was offered. I knew this program would evolve itself into something fantastic and it has in my opinion. Thanks! Any sugestions, give me a shout.
Talking this through with @cayars and @achilles (on the phone),
Here is the math we’ve worked out:
- Total upload speed of 12 Mbps (PMS will allow to you use 80% of the declared 12 so this is how it fits in your 10 Mbps)
- Set the per-client upload limit to 2 Mbps. (this may or may not be to your liking as I previously stated)
- Each client (up to the 5) will be subject to the 2 Mbps
- To increase per client total bitrate, reduce the number of clients. " 10 / number_of_simultaneous_clients "
Before I start managing all the settings and changing things around something really odd happened today. I was on my local network in my Livingroom using Plex. I started a movie and a little box in the upper right hand corner said there isn’t enough throughput on this network to show this content. What? My network has all new wire (CAT5E) it is 1Gbit all the way through. I found the movie file Plex was playing when that error came up and copied it manual with Windows and it was a steady 115MB/sec all the way through. Why in the world would Plex indicate it can’t play a movie on the local network? I guess I should start trying to find where the logs are.
I have all the logs, does anyone know which file that particular error would be in? There are over 100 log files.
@opentoe@gmail.com said:
Before I start managing all the settings and changing things around something really odd happened today. I was on my local network in my Livingroom using Plex. I started a movie and a little box in the upper right hand corner said there isn’t enough throughput on this network to show this content. What? My network has all new wire (CAT5E) it is 1Gbit all the way through. I found the movie file Plex was playing when that error came up and copied it manual with Windows and it was a steady 115MB/sec all the way through. Why in the world would Plex indicate it can’t play a movie on the local network? I guess I should start trying to find where the logs are.I have all the logs, does anyone know which file that particular error would be in? There are over 100 log files.
115 MB/sec is gigabit, not 10 gigabit.
If you’re using 10 GbE on Cat 5E, it’s not good enough. Cat 6a is required. Also check your length,.
10GBASE-T, or IEEE 802.3an-2006, is a standard released in 2006 to provide 10 Gbit/s connections over unshielded or shielded twisted pair cables, over distances up to 100 metres (330 ft).[36] Category 6a is required to reach the full distance of 100 metres (330 ft)
I think you missed the point. If I can copy the same movie file using Windows across my network at a constant 115-125 MB/sec then Plex should have no problem doing the same thing.
Apologies. 
When the point of the OP is remote streaming, mentioning LAN muddies the water. That confused me.
Can we please stay on one facet? Remote or Local?
While PMS may be sending on your LAN at full speed, it will ONLY send the quantity the client needs to fill its buffers.
If you want to test full throughput, ‘Download’ the movie/episode while in the Plex/Web gui.
If you find this is a problem, it’s something we can retest as there was a problem with it in 1.4.1. While unlikely and not being mentioned by others, it is possible it’s regressed.
I’m on the same LAN where I can copy a 15GB file with Windows to another computer on my LAN (doesn’t matter which one) and copies fine at a 110-120MB/sec. If that speed was what Plex was getting on the same computers, I guarantee there wouldn’t be a throughput error. I’m even connected into the same switch. Maybe there is a bug in the latest version of Plex. Add another ingredient in the pot I also use a Dune Solo4k Media player that’s attached to the same network. I can’t play 4K content because I don’t have a 4K TV but this media player can play any file direct and has NEVER complained about throughput issues. They aren’t cheap, but they work %100 and can decode pretty much most video and audio. Why my media player can play a full HD movie with no hesitation with my media player, then trying it with my Plex server reminds me of the old days of Netflix where it just buffers and buffers.
I wanted to use Plex for convenience, but if it’s not going to work properly no matter how configured I’ll just stick with my Dune media player.
What ports does Dune use?
Do any of its ports conflict with Plex?
Here’s the list of ports Plex uses. https://support.plex.tv/hc/en-us/articles/201543147-What-network-ports-do-I-need-to-allow-through-my-firewall-
EDIT: Are you accessing PMS using DLNA?
My Dune Media player uses SAMBA to connect to any of my shares on any of my computers on the LAN. If you ever experienced it and its performance, you wouldn’t want to go back to other hardware players. I have always preferred hardware players since they kick butt, but you don’t get all the metadata and posters. I can live without if my speed and connection are flawless.
Check it out if you want. Make sure you click on specifications. Does just about anything.
https://dune-hd.com/eng/products/full_hd_media_players/48
I still want my Plex to work, so I’m installing it as a Docker on my unraid server. I’ll see if I get throughput errors streaming from there.
