Only playing in SD

General Discussions
1

Hi there,

Having a really bad time with playback quality issues.

I watch through my desktop PC through Mozilla, and Samsung TV in the evenings. After coming back from an overseas holiday, the browser is now only playing in SD ( 1 Mbps ) with no ability to change this. The TV seems to follow suite in how the browser is behaving, hence it’s playback is terrible too, despite claiming it’s playing in HD 2.2 mbps.

Any suggestions would be appreciated

2

Check the properties of the network connection in Windows. It must be flagged as “private”, not as “public”.

Stop the Plex server using its task tray icon.
Then restart the computer.

3

Thanks so much. I wish I was tech-savvy like you! I can’t find the darn thing. I’m in Australia - not sure PMS is that popular here, but I might try and find a tech who knows about it. How does public or private affect playback quality though ? It happened afew months ago too, but rectified itself. Very disappointed.

4

If Windows has classified the network connection as “public”, its integrated firewall will close all ports from the outside. So any Plex client cannot access your Plex server, except per relay connection. Which is limiting the streaming quality to 1 mbps.

5

In the bottom right of your desktop, there should be an icon for your network connection. If you are using Wifi, it should look like 3 curving lines (the wifi symbol). If you are on a wired connection, it looks like a monitor with a LAN cable next to it (need to squint a bit to see that). Click either one to bring up a list of your connections. There should just be one, but could be more if you install VPNs or have wifi AND a wired connection. Click the one that says “Connected”.

On the new window, click on the same name connection to get to its properties. The top option here SHOULD be whether it is a “Public” or “Private” network. Make sure that “Private” is connected.

BTW, what is your server installed on? You mention watching things on your windows browser and samsung, but no mention of the server itself.

6

Divi you’re a genius! I fumbled my way through it.Changed Ethernet 2 to private and all is good ! Many thanks. Why does that setting make such a difference ? Same thing happened earlier this year but sort itself out. Any idea why when I didn’t change anything ?

Thanks again

XXXX

7

If you take the laptop on the go, it’s good practice to set WiFi on “public” networks (hotels, coffee shops, etc) as “public”. This prevents the computer from being discoverable by other devices on the same network (the coffee shop router), which should help protect you against some jerk in the shop who is searching for victims to hack. I’m not exactly sure what it does, but i think it at least shuts down all traffic other than what your own computer requests.

I have no idea why that would prevent a direct connection from your Samsung TV, unless the server is also on the Laptop as well. If that is the case, your laptop would be outright refusing any connection attempt by the TV because you are in “public network” mode, and so Plex has to fall back on the relay system they created. This makes the video from the server go all the way to the internet to Plex’s (the company) own server, then back down to your TV. Because this uses up their bandwidth, they restrict traffic to about 1 or 2 MBps. Any video larger than that will transcode down to fit within that size, which is generally 480p.

Same thing happens I guess with the laptop browser. Since the browser player has to kind of bounce outside your computer then back into it to the server, the laptop in “public” mode is refusing its own request. This also causes the relay.

8

It’s very strange. It was set to public for some reason. I stumbled my way to change it somehow.

It’s my desktop ( private network ) though, so I’m not sure why it was set to public. This has happened before though where it’s switched to SD on it’s own. Are there many causes ? Is it common ?

9

Windows will automatically switch the connection type to “public” if it detects that it’s connected to a new network. This is a precautionary measure, to protect users who regularly move their machines into foreign networks, like a public WiFi.

A “new network” detection in your home network can sometimes even be caused by replacing the router, or updating the existing router’s firmware.

10

Oh really? Any idea as to why I can adjust the quality from original to anything from 10-20 Mbps through my desktop Mozilla, but can’t through my TV ? Perhaps being Samsung ?

Have I thanked you GREATLY btw ??!

11

Could be a number of reasons.
Most common are

  • default quality setting in the Samsung app is set too low
  • Samsung app is forced to use the public address of the Plex server, hence it is applying the quality settings for “remote” connections. If remote access is not enabled or not working, it will again fall back to a relay connection which is limiting the quality severely.
    Why the Samsung app is forced to use the public address instead of the local address can be caused by either:
  1. not being allowed to fall back to an unencrypted connection in the local network (you should enable that in the preferences of the Samsung app)
  2. the server not allowing unencrypted connections. Switch that in the server’s preferences, under Network set “secure connections” to “preferred” instead of “required”.
  3. your router is applying “DNS rebinding protection”. While that is generally a good thing, it will also prevent Plex’s use of the DNS system in your local network. Hence an exception has to be defined in the router’s settings. https://support.plex.tv/articles/206225077-how-to-use-secure-server-connections/
    Unfortunately, not all router models are exposing the necessary settings to the end user.