Would be nice if one could have crazy large cache for remote streaming (like a few gig maybe even). 1080p mkv`s usually have an average bitrate around 10 mbps (pirate style, not bluray). This makes streaming of these theoretically possible for ALOT of people. The problem however arises when the bitrate peaks, during high motion scenes, sometimes up to 30-40 mbps. Plex will start playing jerky.
How bout allowing plex to write to local disc, and play the movie from it, while downloading the file at the highest speed it can achieve simultaniously. That way, plex will cache up alot of data during low motion / low bitrate scenes, preparing it to cope with high motion / high bitrate scenes later on in the movie. It seems Plex, as of now, only downloads at the contents given bitrate at any given time.
This would allow peopl,e even with as slow as 12 or 15 mbps internet connections to stream 1080p content.
+1 from me, lots of space on the disk of the client, this would also allow for better performance over wireless networks
Totally agree. We already have a cache setting up to 20secs. Why not allow this to be set to 60sec? 120sec? etc. I wouldn’t mind waiting for a min for the buffer to fill if that meant smooth sailing afterwards.
This should be pretty easy to increase I would have thought? I have 4GB in my MacMini. If Plex could be set to use 80% of this sat as a buffer I’d be set!
Regards,
Simon
Honestly, I dont think the cache settings should be limited by time, but rather size. If you have plenty of space, set it to 2 gig or whatever. Have Plex start playing instantly, but have it use excess bandwidth during low bitrate scenes to fill up that space so that whenever high bitrate scenes comes along, the player is (more than) prepared.
Does it need to cache in RAM? cant it scratch to local HDD?
Concur. I have 1080p issues over local ethernet network (10/100, not gigabit - SMB mount/share) and I’m pretty sure it’s a cache issue rather than hardware or network…
+1 - This is the way I see it... and if I hit Pause let it keep spooling.
+1 - I love this idea. When the playback device is a fully functional computer with gigs of RAM and free disk space, I don’t see the logic behind the 20 second max cache size.
Completely agree. I wrote something about this a while ago, in this thread.
(1) The most straightforward implementation would be to have two cache settings: Initial and Maximum. This would work if your link has at least as much bandwidth as the file’s average bit rate. If your link is slightly slower than the file’s bit rate, extra caching would be needed, which brings us to 2:
(2) The idea that mitch969 proposed in the thread that I just linked is very interesting: Plex would, based on the average transfer rate, estimate how much it would need to cache before playback could actually start. Could be some seconds from your local LAN, a couple minutes from your neighbor’s shared library, or even half an hour or more for, say, a movie hosted on my fileserver back home in Europe.
(3) The third thing that would help immensely would be to allow the Mac client to ask PMS for a transcode. Elan mentioned that this could come, as soon as the team merges a newer version of ffmpeg into Plex (support for httpstreaming, which comes standard on iOS, is needed). See this ticket on Lighthouse.
Personally, I believe that this way of accessing content will be incredibly popular in the near future, and I hope some of these ideas can see higher priority from the community.
Definitely need this… Having plenty of problems streaming from:
NFS Server ==GigE==> Apple Airport Extreme ==802.11n 5GHz==> Mac Mini
Occasionally, for SD content, Video will get choppy, but audio will continue without issue.
Regularly, for HD content, Video will get choppy, but audio will continue without issue.
If I copy the files from my file server to either of my Mac Minis around the house, the same media file is not choppy.
I concur, even if the transcoding comes later, the cache sizes we have now are relics before hd hit mainstream. I hope they get on this asap!
Wireless is the issue there.
I agree larger caches would be welcome. This is something I asked about before v0.9 and was told cache management would be updated in the new version, so I expect it is something they're looking into. Since I moved all my Plex nodes to a GigE network I really haven't had any issues, but I'd still like larger buffers.
adrianb, except it obviously is not…
There is no choppiness when using VLC or XBMC.
Way +1 on this! Due to physical logistics we stream from a NAS to a Plex Mac Mini via powerline networking, and HD content frequently pauses in Plex because of bandwidth issues. (When our electrically-noisy X-mas lights were on around the holidays, even SD content was periodically choking. :D)
Yes, add me to this request.
I run Plex (PMS and client) on a late 2010 Mac Mini hooked to the main house TV (Samsung 46") with HDMI. On a different floor I have two (soon three) Netgear ReadyNAS NV+ serving some 8TB of movies/tv shows etc. These can´t be in my living room because of the noise. I can´t run an Ethernet cable to the Mac Mini so I have to use a home plug solution, which gives the best bandwidth. But it´s not nearly good enough to stream HD rips, and it´s kinda slow for running regular DVD content.
To make this experience smooth, I hooked up a WD Elements 2TB usb disk to the Mac mini as a “cache”. Everyting that is watched frequently (kids watch Ice Age or Madagascar every freakin day) and BD rips is manually copied there, and the playback is instant and flawless. It is not ideal, but better than the lagging playback I get when playing directly from the NAS over the home plug.
I see this as a “queue” functionality in Plex. When clicking on a movie in a library on the NAS, I would get the option to either play directly, or to “order” the movie/tv show. This last option would start downloading the file, and based on the bandwidth and size of the file tell me how long it would take before I could start watching without any lag (a progress bar would be perfect), while continuing to download in the background. It could start playing when it feels ready, or it could hold until I manually tell it to start. And it should cache the movie for later use, transparently. This way I would get rid of the local usb disks.
Yep, some kind of bigger cache would be nice to cope with the more high quality movies. 20 seconds isn’t enough even with 100 mbt whn the movie peaks.
what source do you have that is pushing more than 100mbps?
Killa Sampla 
I kid, I kid
I'll second this. Due to some problems with my ISP lately my bandwith isn't what it used to or should be. No I can't watch anything without lagg. I know that it's not a PLEX fault or bugg, it's just a problem of mine. However, if I could increase the cache to say 50 seconds the problem would be solved. Even for HD content.
+1 I have the exact same issue; started my own thread under "cache entire file" before I knew this one existed. Mac Mini, Mac Pro+esata RAID, Airport Extreme (wired). Its pausing at a constant interval. Workaround: copy file to desktop, play off desktop. Disadvantage: looks very goofy to choose a title then exit plex and wait while it copies before continuing to watch.
http://forums.plexapp.com/index.php/topic/22418-cache-entire-file/page__p__141982#entry141982
This feature would be a great addition and would probably save a few greenhouse gases from all those servers that can spin down instead of serving up a 5 gig movie 6mb at a time for 2 hours:p
See also the thread for a random shuffle option on any media. This would increase usability for large libraries, when its hard to decide amongst so many titles:
http://forums.plexapp.com/index.php/topic/21672-play-a-random-unwatched-movie-shuffle/page__p__148616#entry148616
+1 from me also. I’m having exactly the same problems as everyone else. I was actually searching the forums now because of lagging playback from episodes of supernatural (1.17gb – 720p/5.1ch). I’m running a QNAP NAS over wireless N to a late 2010 mac mini (base model). It’s a little disappointing to have this happen with these files. I haven’t gotten around to watching any of the DVDs I recently ripped, but I’m guessing I’m going to have some problems.
Fingers crossed.
