Need suggestions on where to look to try to determine why one user household has started to get buffering on different Roku devices (ultra, built in tv, and Stick) over the past month or two. They didn’t have any issues of note in the prior year. I have two other households that haven’t reported any issues (including one that has streamed my UHD blu-rays to their Roku without issue).
User has direct play/stream enabled and it was doing direct play for video and audio transcode to a wired Roku Ultra. This evening when I was watching it when it started to buffer on a smaller ~10mbit, 1080p file. It would start to play after a minute and then start buffering again. They tried setting a lower resolution to force a transcode and that went for a few minutes until it went to buffer mode again. I restarted the server software and had them restart the Roku and it went for another 20 mins and then started to buffer again and then just stopped playback.
They have ~500mbit down and I have 2gbit up (server software is on a high-end PC running win 11). They’ve not had any issues with PC and Xbox gaming or any other streaming service.
What should I be looking for in the logs that will tell me what the source of the issue might be?
Assuming the media is physicaly stored on your server, not some remote location, I would try a utility like iperf to test the bandwidth between the two boxes. It could be a routing change that is causing an issue
There’s also a guide with some more details. That being said… if there issue only happens in for a specific user/location, the issue might not be with your server/ISP but their network (maybe their ISP filtering/limiting traffic to/from certain ports). In anyway it might be useful to check those steps to rule out there’s a more generic issue.
Thanks for the reply. My system is configured correctly for external access with manual port forwarding and it works correctly for everyone, including this household. It certainly could be something with their network that I can’t identify but the issue is that is intermittent and inconsistent issues. To wired and wireless. And I have watched it happen where they would start streaming fine and then slow down and go into buffering after a few minutes. So it isn’t anything as clear as filtering or ports being blocked unfortunately.
So I’m first trying to figure out what it is that the server is or isn’t doing as to why it isn’t streaming correctly. Might inform me what the device or network issue is.
Well, iperf would eliminate a routing issue, which is a HUGE issue when you’re trying to xfer large amounts of data. This is why many people use CDNs like Cloudflare or VPNs to get a good route. In my case, I use a VPS as a Plex instance, without using a custom routing setup I get buffering from time to time, due to my ISP sending my packets all over the place and back. However, when I do use my custom/better routing setup I get full speed and never see buffering.
Not a guarantee that is your issue, however, if it is, you will eat your hat trying to figure it out without looking here first. I assumed your connection is working correctly, though you might also want to make sure you are getting a direct connection and not a relay as that can be a similar result.
If you use iperf and see a fluctuation in the transfer speed then you are likely having a routing issue, note, this takes Plex out of the equation altogether and allows you to verify you have a strong connection. Just make sure you run iperf both ways to be thorough.
Whoops, sorry my reply was meant to be for Tom80H’s comment, not yours.
To iperf, it is a good idea to see if I can get that set up on one of their computers to be able to test it for when they are having issues with Plex streaming to validate whether there is some strange issue between here and there during that moment.
I fully suspect it is something software based, between the plex client and the server, as plex is never without some irritating random issues, but since it is mainly only happening in one location and isn’t resolved by stop/start or device reboot, an ISP routing issue isn’t out of the question. I very much doubt there is any issue with my fiber ISP, especially as other locations aren’t having issues save some known problematic devices for Plex (Xbox One), but theirs is a small local cable one so there might be some issue with them.
You could set up a speed test site on your server so they can test it that way.
Don’t forget routing isn’t a connection issue, it is more of an issue of delay due to an inefficient route being taken. ISPs are notorious for this as it saves them money.
So much this. And that is also why Plex server admins can’t just force all their users to use original quality for direct play (if that option ever becomes available). It’s simply not a one-size-fits-all situation.
@VBB, Just a second there professor. I think it should be left up to the server admin as to if they allow transcoding. This idea that Plex knows what we want better than we do is a little too Apple for me. I tell any one that connects to my system to use original quality unless they have a good reason and I will be checking. If they can’t comply they get the boot. I do wish we could set transcoding at the user level, just like downloads, and have a default of transcoding off/on.
Agreed, it is a consideration. Fortunately not with my ISP (Ziply) but perhaps theirs. Though again, they don’t have any issues with any streaming service, download, etc and I haven’t had any issues with doing things like TeamViewer to their systems.
Ziply’s VP of Network is on Reddit regularly going into detail about what they are doing to improve the network and surprisingly quickly addressing any issues where people are noting routing issues that are not optimal. It is the anti-Comcast.
Of course I agree with you on that. I’m just pointing out that what we all want might not work for everyone. Latency/routing issues are hardly ever talked about.
100% this. #1 irritation with Plex is that I have to walk my non-technical family members on how to enable direct play/streaming and Original quality Every. Single. Device. Every. Single. Time. This lower quality default setting has nothing to do with the clients bandwidth or the server connection.
Even if you don’t make the client default that that, you should be able to change the client settings from the server. Very silly that it isn’t an option.
You do realize your ISP’s network is only part of the terrain, right? If the traffic has to switch networks for some reason then you are now at the mercy of that network. I mean I’ve literally had neighbors connect to my server and have the traffic routed from the southeast of the US to New York and back. In other situations, I’ve had people connecting to a server in Canada being routed from Florida to NY, back to Atlanta, then to Virginia, and THEN finally to Canada. I mean it really gets silly. in cases like these, there tends to be some sort of an infrastructure issue or outage that is causing this, in other cases, it is just a crappy ISP.
Not to hijack this thread any further, but how do you deal with that situation? I come across this all the time, having users from both the US and Europe. Forcing them to direct play would result in most of them not being able to play without severe buffering. And like you said, this can even happen to your next-door neighbor. Most desirable, in my opinion, would be some sort of auto option that starts out at direct play and then goes down the list until buffering stops.
I personally tell people to use original quality and that is that. If there is a big issue with the ISP then I try to mitigate it by having them go through a VPN that has endpoints close to the server location. My server is a VPS so that is not hard for me. I do have some people that just can not figure it out and I just turn a blind eye to those transcodes, however, they never get the option for 4K material as well
Auto never really seems to work for me very well. I generally end up with audio/sync issues once it drops down to a certain level. If someone can not stream I tell them to just go down the speeds, starting at 4Mb 720p, and see if one works.
Yes, ISP are only part of the terrain, but they are the only part that is going to be consistent as you note. It is either an ISP routing or transient issue. The latter isn’t something that can be accounted for and wouldn’t be something that we would see over time. For the former, I’m just saying the ‘cheap ISP routing’ isn’t likely to be the issue with mine, especially as we are only experiencing Plex issues with one household.
Same area, but as noted they are on a different small cable ISP.
Haven’t yet traced the hops but will be checking the path this evening. Seriously doubt this is going to be the issue, given that when it is having issues it is even with streams that are less than 10mbit average direct stream or even transcoded to less than 5 (when they select to reduce resolution that because of issues), but it will be good to know and be able to check when they are having issues to see if I can eliminate it as the cause.
While I can not say for sure, I can say that I’ve had the same issue on my fiber connection. I’ve had buffering streaming a 4mbps transcode when not using my CDN. My connection is a 300Mbps synchronous connection, surely enough for a 4mbps video, yet here we are.
