Server Version#: 1.20.4.3517
Player Version#: 8.9.1.221593
Hi Guys,
I’m really not very good with this stuff, but it’s been working really well for a while now.
I have a Netgear ReadyNas 316 running to an Amazon Fire Stick on a home network.
It’s all been great, until about 7-10 days ago where it now suddenly starts buffering when I try to run SOME shows through it. Can anyone give me some idea of what to look at, considering I’ve updated and restarted every piece of equipment involved. Is there some types of movies that are now causing problems?
Possibly, yes…It’s hard to tell because it appears to only affect some files, So it MAY be, but it also may be that I hadn’t played any of those files (I only moved to a fire stick recently because the app inbuilt in my samsung TV started playing up).
Sort of. I’ve found that when I used to let the app on the fire stick update, it would occasionally change some settings that led certain files to be transcoded rather than direct played, which could lead to some buffering on the front end, and sometimes even a file never playing but showing the spinning circle forever.
The biggest culprit for me tended to be “H264 maximum level.” I’ve had to lower it below the recommended level a few times after an update.
I’m running 8.5.2.20133 on a brand new Fire stick 4k, but the menu should be the same on the latest version of the app.
In the Plex app, go to settings, then scroll down to Advanced. H264 Maximum Level should be here. I have mine set to 4.1 even though 4.2 is recommended. The idea is that the you want this number as high as possible so that as much as possible direct plays to your device…
I’d also check under Video Quality that home streaming is set to maximum.
