Is Plex ever going to fix this problem?

Nobody even bothers to reply on it. :roll_eyes:

I have an LG TV and just watched Blue Steel with no issues. Is your firmware up to date? It still could be an issue with your TV and not Plex. Now I do not watch a lot of Plex TV Movies and mainly my movies or Live TV.

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Thanks for the response, and yes the LG TV firmware is up to date, same goes for the Plex app.

But why would it only be a problem on this particular TV model, it just doesn’t make sense. And not to forget, it used to work just fine in 2021, the problem started after about 6 months, in 2022.

So it seems that there is something wrong with the streams. One year later, and nobody from Plex bothers to come up with ideas. And of course LG can’t or won’t fix this, since all other apps work just fine.

Can you provide logs from when this was occurring. It’s very difficult to troubleshoot issues only knowing what TV you had and what title you were watching.

Knowing the specs of the Plex Server and any relevant network info would also be helpful details here. We’re happy to help

Are you an employee, I’m just wondering? And I’m not using the Plex server software, it’s about the Plex app on my LG smart TV. I don’t know exactly what you mean with logs, but I did see that the Plex TV app has an option to show technical info during streaming.

And I did get to see multiple playback errors about excessive buffering. However, normally speaking there is no problem with video, it’s only about the sound stutter. However, sometimes the stream also completely stops playing the video, but that wasn’t the original problem. So what more info do you need?

I am not an employee, I am a normal person volunteering my time to help an internet stranger, as do many others on this forum so I am not trying to single myself out.

Is the Plex server one you manage? If so you can get a ZIP from the dashboard following these instructions: https://support.plex.tv/articles/200250417-plex-media-server-log-files/

You noted you did get playback errors around buffering, is the LG hooked up wired or wireless? Do you know the resolution of the video you are playing back? Have you tried adjusting the quality / playback settings in Plex on the TV to see if that improves playback? I point these out because, while logs are helpful and can show the whole story, it sounds bandwidth related.

OK cool, I just wondered if finally a Plex employee would take this seriously. But if you can help me, it would be cool too.

In fact, thanks to you I figured out that there is indeed something wrong with the streaming part. I keep getting the playback error related to excessive buffering, even when I only have sound stutter, so the video keeps playing.

My smart TV is connected directly to the router via LAN cable, so no WIFI. Keep in my mind, that I have no bandwidth problems since other apps like Netflix, Prime Video, Disney+ and YouTube work just fine.

So the problem must be with Plex, perhaps there is something wrong with my account? But that can’t be it, since I don’t have the problem on my laptop. I haven’t looked into adjusting playback quality, but full HD shouldn’t be a problem.

And again, I’m not using the Plex server software, so it’s not relevant. And I also want to point out that I have this problem with EVERY movie. For example, at the moment I’m trying to watch Leprechaun 2. And strangely enough, it never happens during commercials, they playback just perfectly fine, no buffering or sound stutter at all.

Ah, unfortunately that I cannot help with. I do not know the specifics of how connections are routed between the Plex client and the provided of the free content available online.

Not being an employee does matter this time it seems, my apologies.

No problem, at least thanks to you I found out that it’s indeed a problem with bandwidth management, so thanks for the help. :+1:

I clearly get to see an error related to excessive buffering during streaming. The question is why it only happens on my smart TV and not on my laptop, I assume these are the exact same streams?

To clarify, both my laptop and smart TV are connected to the same powerline adapter, so the router and cable modem shouldn’t play a role. The laptop and smart TV both get the exact same connection.

The laptop will have a greater ability to buffer the stream versus the TV. Unless your Wifi is terrible you will find the tv performs better on Wifi vs a powerline adapter. All TV’s only have a 100Mbit ethernet.

Yes, but I don’t have any problems with other apps, like Netflix, Prime Video and YouTube.

In other words, it’s the Plex smart TV app which needs to be redesigned, since the player is somehow malfunctioning on certain smart TV’s, in this case from LG. So it’s up to Plex to fix this, and a new app would be welcome even without this playback problem, because it’s slow as hell.

Comparing apps and services from Billion dollar companies to Plex is not very realistic. The impression I get is if it works for you great, if it doesn’t well that is OK too.

The Powerline adapter is your issue. Get rid of it and go straight wireless if you cannot get an actual Cat5 or Cat6 line to the location. Those things are shoddy at best and you’re lucky if you can pull a stable 10mpbs.

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I honestly don’t see how this matters. It shouldn’t be hard to develop a smoothly working smart TV app, you don’t have to have a billion dollars.

And the impression that you should be getting is that I really want this to work, but Plex is the only one who can fix this. Of course I can buy an external media player, but I would like to keep using my smart TV. On the other hand, Tubi has an even better collection of free movies, so perhaps I will buy an external media player after all, since Tubi is not available on my smart TV.

No, the powerline adapter isn’t the problem, because as I have said a million times, other apps work just fine. My laptop and smart TV are both connected to the same powerline adapter and no problems on my laptop.

So that’s why I believe that the Plex smart TV app is probably crap. Keep in mind, I’m not talking about the Plex Media Server app that runs on PC’s and other devices, I’m sure it’s great. Now that I think of it, have you guys tested the Plex app on your smart TV’s, does it work good, and which TV models do you guys have?

Wow, So matter of fact. Cannot be anything else other than Plex. Keep in mind that I’ve been doing computer networking most of my entire adult life. And every time I’ve seen one of those dreadful powerline adapters, it’s been the source of the lag.

Your laptop has a ton more space to buffer. Those other service providers have about 30 copies of each video at different bit rates so that when you have a tv with a little buffer space it doesn’t stutter but has buffered 30 minutes.

Perhaps maybe instead of being so head strong on Plex being the issue you could maybe try what others have sugjested.

btw, a buddy of mine had one of those things and would buffer and stutter from his own PMS on his own network. So that stupid thing is going to be your issue.

But there is one problem with your theory, I will explain. I bought the LG smart TV back in 2021, and for the first 6 months or so it worked just fine. So no problems with sound stutter and video playback. Then all of a sudden the sound stutter was introduced in 2022, while I didn’t make any changes to my hardware.

In other words, it seemed like Plex has changed something. I don’t know if it’s a problem with the Plex smart TV app which perhaps has been updated on LG TV’s, or that Plex made changes to their streaming technology, perhaps to save money. According to you, it’s about the amount of copies of each video, perhaps they should change this?

Well since the begging of 2022 there have been around 45 updates to the LG WebOS version of Plex. And who know how many updates to their streaming system. So yes, things have changed.

You have a powerline ethernet adapter. While you may not have changed anything, that doesn’t mean that someone else didn’t add another electrical device nearby that is causing tons of interference on the line you are using cause your transfer rates to suffer.

But since you don’t seem willing to try anything else to address your issue, I’m out.

good luck

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To clarify, I am indeed not willing to change anything, since I like to keep using my powerline adapter since it works just fine with every other smart TV app. I’m not into WIFI, I like to limit radiation, and connecting the smart TV directly to the modem/router isn’t an option since I’m on the top floor.

So that’s why I keep saying that Plex is the one who needs to fix this, by either making changes to their streaming tech or by redeveloping the Plex smart TV app.

But that’s why I also wonder if other people have got problems on their smart TV, from LG or not. Because there is a big possibility that it’s a problem with the Plex smart TV app, and not with the powerline adapter. I guess I will find out when I buy the Nokia Streaming Box 8000, which also has a 10/100Mbps network card, just like my LG smart TV.

https://www.coolblue.nl/en/product/883652/nokia-streaming-box-8000.html