Local buffering on M2 Mac mini

Plex Media Server
1

I’d been running Plex on my then-new 2013 Mac mini. Sprung for an M2 mini to replace it. Moved my Plex configuration over to it, plugged in my drives and everything works.

But I’m noticing a strange (and reproducible) issue. Whenever the disk(s) that houses my media have some sort of file copy or rsync operation - something that keeps the disk busier than usual - my Plex server comes to a crawl. I’ll get buffering and “connection not fast enough” error. As soon as the file operation finishes, everything is fine.

This never happened on my old mini. I’m not sure that this is as much a Plex issue as it is a Mac OS one but if anyone has any insight I’d love to hear it.

Server Version#: 4.145.1
Player Version#: 8.45 (9684)

2

Hard to tell what is going on without log files. Follow this How To: Plex Media Server Logs

Grab some of those preferably right after the issue happens and provide to the community and that should help narrow it down.

3

Thanks, logs are attached. I reproduced the issue by running an rsync operation, playing some media and - as expected - getting the “connection too slow” message. FWIW, my client is an Apple TV 4K (Model A1842) running tvOS 18.3.
Plex Media Server Logs_2025-03-04_12-46-07.zip (4.6 MB)

4

I found these errors.

2025-02-28 17:28:55,335 (1ef8e0f40) :  WARNING (data:179) - Error decoding with simplejson, using demjson instead (this will cause a performance hit) - Expecting property name enclosed in double quotes: line 26 column 1 (char 1078)
2025-02-28 17:28:55,389 (16e04b000) :  ERROR (networking:197) - Error opening URL 'http://127.0.0.1:32400'
2025-02-28 17:28:55,389 (16d833000) :  ERROR (networking:197) - Error opening URL 'http://127.0.0.1:32400/:/plugins/com.plexapp.system/messaging/function/X0J1bmRsZVNlcnZpY2U6QWxsU2VydmljZXM_/Y2VyZWFsMQoxCmxpc3QKMApyMAo_/Y2VyZWFsMQoxCmRpY3QKMApyMAo_'
2025-02-28 17:28:55,390 (16d833000) :  ERROR (services:272) - Unable to load services from system. Loading from the current bundle only.
2025-02-28 17:28:55,680 (16e863000) :  ERROR (networking:197) - Error opening URL 'http://127.0.0.1:32400/servers'
    return HTTPRequest(self._core, url, data, h, url_cache, encoding, errors, timeout, immediate, sleep, opener, follow_redirects, method)
  File "/Applications/Plex Media Server.app/Contents/Resources/Python/python27.zip/urllib2.py", line 473, in error
  File "/Applications/Plex Media Server.app/Contents/Resources/Python/python27.zip/urllib2.py", line 556, in http_error_default
    raise HTTPError(req.get_full_url(), code, msg, hdrs, fp)
HTTPError: HTTP Error 503: Service Unavailable
IOError: [Errno 20] Not a directory: '/Users/briancashion/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Plug-ins/Team-Coco.bundle/Contents/Info.plist'
TypeError: object of type 'NoneType' has no len()
IOError: [Errno 20] Not a directory: '/Users/briancashion/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Plug-ins/Team-Coco.bundle/Contents/Info.plist'
TypeError: object of type 'NoneType' has no len()
IOError: [Errno 20] Not a directory: '/Users/briancashion/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Plug-ins/Team-Coco.bundle/Contents/Info.plist'
TypeError: object of type 'NoneType' has no len()
2025-02-28 17:28:56,453 (16e863000) :  ERROR (networking:197) - Error opening URL 'http://resources-cdn.plexapp.com/hashes.json'
  File "/Applications/Plex Media Server.app/Contents/Resources/Python/python27.zip/urllib2.py", line 473, in error
  File "/Applications/Plex Media Server.app/Contents/Resources/Python/python27.zip/urllib2.py", line 556, in http_error_default
    raise HTTPError(req.get_full_url(), code, msg, hdrs, fp)
HTTPError: HTTP Error 404: Not Found
2025-03-02 17:28:56,411 (16e04b000) :  ERROR (networking:197) - Error opening URL 'http://resources-cdn.plexapp.com/hashes.json'
  File "/Applications/Plex Media Server.app/Contents/Resources/Python/python27.zip/urllib2.py", line 473, in error
  File "/Applications/Plex Media Server.app/Contents/Resources/Python/python27.zip/urllib2.py", line 556, in http_error_default
    raise HTTPError(req.get_full_url(), code, msg, hdrs, fp)
HTTPError: HTTP Error 404: Not Found

I don’t know enough about the system to diagnose. But I see some networking errors here. Still learning how to analyze these things not for sure if this is your issue or not. Maybe a more experienced log reader can decipher?

5

I would be trying a change to your DNS.

Example: 1.1.1.1 or 8.8.8.8

6

Thanks for the reply. How would changing my DNS impact local playback (which are problem-free so long as the disk isn’t too busy)?

7

Well I could not see any other difference to my setup of a Mac Mini M2 pro.

Depending on your setup Authentication maybe taking too long, your logs are full of Network error so it could having trouble Communicating with the Mother ship.

8

Your LAN is miss-configured. Your Apple TV has an IP of 192.168.0.102, while your NAS has an IP of 172.21.0.4. These should be on the same subnet.

9

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