Large files do not play; hang at 33%. What do I set transcode temporary directory to?

[itskando]

Plex Media Server [0]:

1.13.8.5395-10d48da0d
[Plex Media Server]
[PC]
[FreeBSD 11.2-STABLE (FreeBSD 11.2-STABLE #0 r325575+97f4f541349(freenas/11.2-stable): Wed Oct 17 18:06:49 EDT 2018 root@nemesis.tn.ixsystems.com:/freenas-11.2-releng/freenas/_BE/objs/freenas-11.2-releng/freenas/_BE/os/sys/FreeNAS.amd64)]

Plex Media Player [1] [ Local-Network (WiFi) ]:

5.3.10.5048-c61db7547-Plex
[Plex for Roku]
[Roku 3]

Plex Media Player [2] [ Local-Network (WiFi) ]:

3.67.1
[Plex Web]
[OSX]

.

Issue:

Some files play, large files hang at 33% during loading bef> ore failing to play.
Occurs on Roku 3 and laptop web app.

.

Attempted Resolution:
Recommendations have been to manually set the transcoder temporary directory:

Plex > Settings > Server > Transcoder > Transcoder temporary directory

• What is the default transcoder temporary directory for freeNAS?.
• What should I change the default transcoder directory to?

(I’m going to be very specific with examples because
I’m not really sure where I should and should not create things.)

• Should I choose an already existing directory within the jail:

Examples

[Plex: Settings: Server: Transcoder: Temporary Directory]:
/tmp
/dev
/usr

• Should I create and choose a directory which is
within an already existing directory within the jail?

Examples

[Plex: Settings: Server: Transcoder: Temporary Directory]:
/tmp/transcodez
/dev/transcodez
/usr/transcodez

[Someone said: Try /dev/shm.]
[Didn’t work.]

• Should I create a dataset within the jail and then
choose that dataset (or create and choose a directory within it)?

Examples

[FreeNAS: Create dataset]:
/mnt/poolName/iocage/jails/plex/temp
/mnt/poolName/iocage/jails/plex/root/temp

[Plex: Settings: Server: Transcoder: Temporary Directory]:
../temp/transcodez
/temp/transcodez

• Should I create a dataset external to the jail, mount it to the jail, and then
choose that mount directory (or create and choose a directory within it)?

Examples

[FreeNAS: Create dataset]:
/mnt/poolName/temp

[FreeNAS: Jails: Plex:: Mount: Source]:
/mnt/poolName/temp

[FreeNAS: Jails: Plex:: Mount: Destination]:
/mnt/poolName/iocage/jails/plex/root/dev/transcodez     (?)
/mnt/poolName/iocage/jails/plex/root/dev/shm/transcodez (?)
/mnt/poolName/iocage/jails/plex/root/tmp/transcodez     (?)
/mnt/poolName/iocage/jails/plex/root/usr/transcodez     (?)

[Plex: Settings: Server: Transcoder: Temporary Directory]:
/dev/transcodez     (?)
/dev/shm/transcodez (?)
/tmp/transcodez     (?)
/usr/transcodez     (?)

[Someone said: Try this:]

[FreeNAS: Create dataset]:
/mnt/poolName/temp/plex

[FreeNAS: Create directory]:
/mnt/poolName/temp/plex/transcodes

[FreeNAS: Jails: Plex:: Mount: Source]:
/mnt/poolName/temp/plex/transcodes

[FreeNAS: Jails: Plex:: Mount: Destination]:
/mnt/poolName/iocage/jails/plex/root/mnt/temp/transcodes

[Plex: Settings: Server: Transcoder: Temporary Directory]:
/mnt/temp/transcodes

[Didn’t work.]

.
.
.

Alternative considerations possibly contributing to the issue:

Choose a dataset or directory without size restrictions.

Does the default transcoder temporary directory have size restrictions?
Do all or certain directories within the plex jail have size restrictions?

Do not use a network or shared drive.

My media server is on freeNAS, which is inherently network drive.

Does this note actually mean:
“Do not choose a drive which requires network access
with respect to the location of the media server location”?

Restart the jail or server after change the transcode temp directory?

[Someone said: No.]

Hardware: CPU

• CPU : Intel Xeon E3-1231 v3 @ 3.40GHz [passmark: 9626]

Is this too slow?
[Passmark 6000+ should run 3+ 1080p streams.]

Hardware: RAM

• RAM      : 16 [GB]
• Test file: 19 [GB]. 1080p. .mkv.

Does RAM need to be greater than media file size?
[Someone said: No.]

Hardware: Interfaces

• ISP ––wire–– WAP[router] ––wifi–– WAP[bridge] ––wire–– server (plex media server)
                                                ––wifi–– roku 3 (plex app)

Is this setup a problem?
[Other streaming services (netflix/hulu) have no issues with playback.]
[I assume it’s not.]

[itskando]

Restructured the post to clarify what I’m actually asking.

[itskando]

Should I also be posting a log dump?

[itskando]

Created external dataset.
Created directory within it.
Mounted new dataset/directory to new directory within jail/plex/root/mnt/.
Changed in transcode temporary directory menu.

No improvement.

[itskando]

Checked transcoder logs.
Buffering always at 0 for the test file.
Is this a permissions issue?

[itskando]

Someone suggested enabling VNET.
This prevented any connection to the Plex app:

[Plex]: “Secure connection unavailable (unreachable)”

[itskando]

This was solved on the freeNAS forums in this thread.

I think it could be very helpful if
the Plex freeBSD help documentation listed
common Plex jail parameters which often need to
be changed for Plex to function.

Things I missed when installing:

VNET               = "on"
default router     = < routerIP >

enable_raw_sockets = "on"

boot               = "on"

[invaderjason]

I have done everything Itskando has done as the tutorial we both used have been updated. I’m sure it’s a permission issue in my case so any help would be appreciated. I need to be able to play my files. I’ve attached my logs. You can see around the 10:12 time I tried playing The Predator. Plex Media Server Logs_2018-12-02_10-13-48.zip (3.7 MB)

[itskando]

Please follow the link and view posts #10 - #13.
Please post your own outputs of the commands in the thread.

I noticed the XML errors in your log.
Post #13 mentioned someone else with an XML issue.

[invaderjason]

Thanks Itskando, as we talked in another thread yesterday. Leaving this in case it helps anyone else. My issue was resolved by installing Plex as a plugin through FreeNAS 11.2 and modifying by adding this

VNET               = "on"
default router     = < routerIP >

enable_raw_sockets = "on"

boot               = "on"