Live TV: Switching Channels takes 15-20 seconds

Plex Media Server NAS & Devices
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1

Server Version#: 1.15.3.876 Synology
Player Version#: Latest Roku Client

I have a Roku Ultra plugged into the same Gigabit router as my Synology DS918+ with a HDHomeRun Duo (HDHR5-US).

I like LiveTV and the Grid is amazing, keep up the good work!

Unfortunately, switching channels takes quite a while, ~20 seconds.

I have enabled MPEG2 in the Plex client to eliminate Transcoding on-the-fly which seemed to help a bit.

Are there any other tweaks I can perform to make the channel switching faster? It seems like it waits quite a while before sending the signal to the Roku Ultra.

2

I believe the issue is the signal vs. what the Roku can accept natively are incompatible… This results in a transcode, which can take a few moments to load.

I know there is work being done on the Apple front to minimize or even remove the need for transcoding altogether. I’m hoping this work will translate through to the Roku for the same reasons you cite.

On the whole, the presentation of Live TV on Plex is pretty good. Swapping channels is the biggest weakness. There may be no solution.

3

Enabling MPEG2 playback eliminates transcoding.

Yet the delay is still 20 seconds.

4

Understand the the stream is going to the Plex Server where it has to buffer enough before relaying to the client. This is done to enable features like recording while watching, timeshifting and multiple clients on the same channel only using one tuner.

5

Am I able to tweak the buffer amount through a config file?

6

Not that I am aware of. They have adjusted this in the past but if it gets to short then the stream tends to break.

Options would be, hope that Silicondust releases an app on Roku that you can direct tune and leave the DVR to Plex which might cause a tuner conflict if Plex needed one while you were using it. Use other methods to direct tune but still have the potential to block a recording.

7

For the record, these two things cut the delay in about half. ~10sec.

In the Roku Plex Client.

  1. Allow MPEG2
  2. Force DirectPlay

Just doing step one still ends up doing a DirectStream where it changes the container for some unknown reason. But doing Force Direct Play actually direct plays and takes about 9-10 seconds to switch channels now. Much more tolerable, but would still love to get that under 5 sec…

8

Confirming that I get Direct Play scenarios on all channels with these settings enabled. The delay between switching channels still feels long.

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