Hi guys, this is becoming very frustrating for me and I am looking forward to a solution.
I’ve got a very basic, very simple setup so nothing fancy:
Now the server is running on a laptop (win10, i3, 12G, 5400HDD, Wi-Fi router a few meters away) and the player is an LG 4K Smart TV (webOS, with the Plex app running). I have got like a total of <20 movies and shows (most HD/FullHD), so again, nothing to write home about. All Plex software and every software I can think of in this context is up-to-date.
Now quite often, a few seconds into the playback and it pauses (the icon with the 3 dots appears) and it actually resumes after some looong seconds) and that goes on until we get frustrated and just stop and do something else.
Checked laptop Performance tab (also resource monitor of Task Manager) while the issue showed and at first, there was indeed a 100% disk activity so I thought I had found the solution (disk I/O bottleneck causing it) but then when it happened again a few seconds later, check disk I/O again and there was nothing outstanding.
A few weeks/months ago this setup was running smoothly.
You need to provide logs.
wifi to wifi never good. Meaning the server connected via wifi and the client also connecting wifi. And I personally hate smart TV’s themselves. They are only reliable in my opinion running the usual apps that support adaptive streaming ie: netflix, hulu, and amazon.
Smart TV connects through Ethernet. Tried connecting also the laptop with UTP but to no avail…
I am pretty reluctant to attach logs with potentially sensitive information in such a public forum so I seem to be stuck now… 
Did your LG tv OS update lately to maybe Web OS 2? If so there is the issue.
AFAICR webOS updated to 2 on my Smart TV
Will double-check tonight.
Truth be told, however, the other night I tried resuming what had previously been interrupted (and it just did not want to resume after which I started this thread).
For the first few attempts, resuming still did not happen, playback was being stalled at the same time mark, black screen with the playback control at the bottom.
Then I tried some random troubleshooting, involving restarting stuff, switching back and forth between wifi and eth, as well as restarting the whole playback from 00:00 as a last step…
Not sure what helped but finally, I could watch until the end, with no interruptions.
So I will be monitoring this for a while and hopefully issue is gone.
But nevertheless, I think Plex could have a built-in streaming flow quality check and give some diagnostic feedback during playback. It could also be a separate feature to check the whole playback flow end-to-end, as it is fully controlled/facilitated by Plex (server-client), anyway…
Cheers
This doesn’t work any more, guys…
I am just trying to resum a movie at 51:38 where it halted the other day and on the webOS app, when it tries to jump to the second to resume playback, there is a huuuge timeout after which there is an error on the TV screen:
There was a problem playing this item.
The video did not start playing in time.
I had checked the webOS version, it is 2.2.1-something
I am running ethernet+ethernet now and there is hardly any load on the Plex server laptop…
If I try and resume playback on mobile (Android, 7.0), it resumes, but it pauses every other second after a message that the connection is not enough or something… even though I sit 1m from the router.
I guess the best hint was SiscoPlex’s with the webOS 2+
What now?
I would hate cancelling membership if this does not improve…
I would go into the plex app on the TV go into the audio settings and uncheck all audio settings. Bet it works then. Please. please work so I don’t look like an idiot, crap… did I say that out loud? DOH
Just out of curiosity, I installed XPlay, which jumped to the second in no time, resumed playback and played it back flawlessly until the end…
Going forward, I will be using XPlay, then.
PS: will try your audio trick, Sisco, now and report back.
Did not work, sorry.
I unchecked both audio options.
Movie started playing back as normal (no change, there) but when I fast-forwarded to minute 51, a loong timeout followed, with the same error.
Poop… so I am an idiot… no surprise!, my wife might tell you the same.
Alternatively it looks like I got you pointed in the direction of a workaround ie: the thread discussing the issues with the web os 2.0+.
Anyway, cheers mate enjoy your media once again.
No, you are not an idiot, mate. Cheers for trying to get to the bottom of this.
So what does this issue have to do with webOS 2?
I mean, XPlay runs smoothly on the same version…
So, as of recently, this issue is back again, and is driving me soo mad.
I have done every troubleshooting steps I could come up with.
The only step left is trying to downgrade the current Beta server to previous versions to see if any of the versions introduced this regression. Lately, there have been many server upgrades which I took on.
Before I go down that path, do you guys want me to provide you with any information regarding the current version (1.13.2.5102)
Let me know, thanks.
To recap, what happens is that, every few seconds, playback on my LG webOS TV app stops, showing the 3 dots overlay, hangs for a while (usually not more than for 10 seconds), then playback resumes, just to hang again after a few seconds.
This time, both Plex app and XPlay app do that.
Additionally to the previous case, what I have observed this time is, that if I pause the playback in the app when it hangs, and I wait for 1 minute or so, then playback runs for longer before hanging again.
That suggests some transcoder-related issues, what do you guys think?
Thanks.
1234567890
Update on the sluggish video playback:
I downgraded to the Public release of the server, but that also exposes the issue.
I have found out that only some videos have this issue, others play back smoothly.
So I have dug a bit deeper and checked different scenarios, as follows:
The good case - smooth playback on TV video:
Format…: MKV
Length…: 42min 10s
VIDEO…:
Resolution…: 720x404 23.976 Fps
Subtitles…: -
Codec…: x264
Bitrate…: 583 kbps
AUDIO…:
Soundtrack…: 2.0
Format.: M4A/AAC
Bitrate…: 144 Kbps, 48000 Hz
The bad cases: stopping playback on TV videos:
(Sluggish, pausing for a few seconds, every few seconds)
Bad video 1:
On the Status screen of the media server, while playing the video back on the TV (sluggish, unwatchable):
Plex for LG
Buffering
Converting
Video Direct Stream
Audio Direct Stream
Interestingly, on the Status screen of the media server, while playing the same video back in the browser running on the media server Win10 (smooth, watchable):
Firefox
Playing
Converting
Video Direct Stream
Audio Transcoding AC3 to AAC
Video techs:
Codec…: x264, L4.1
Resolution…: 1280x536
Bitrate…: 7 196 Kbps
Fps…: 23.976
AUDIO 1 AUDIO 2
Format…: AC3 Format…: AC3
Bitrate…: 256 Kbps Bitrate…: 640 Kbps
Channels…: 2 (2.0) Channels…: 6 (5.1)
Subtitles…: Hungarian, English
Bad video 2:
VIDEO INFORMATION
Resolution…: 1280x720
Bitrate…: 7822 Kbps
FPS…: 23.976 fps
Codec…: x264
AUDIO INFORMATION
Format…: AC3 | AC3
Frequency…: 48 Khz | 48 Khz
Bitrate…: 384 kbps | 640 kbps
Channels…: 2.0 | 5.1
Subtitle: Hun, Eng
Do the above help?
It sounds to me like a transcoding issue… what do you guys think?
Are you using subs?
If so, try without the subs and see if it plays correctly.
If it does, it should help the developers pin down the issue.
1234567890
I have almost always played back without subtitles. The only case when I switch on subtitles is when a different language is used in the movie, without corresponding translated audio cover.
So, apparently, when I put any subtitles ON, it actually switches to smooth playback on the TV. Any of the available language subtitles, that is.
Experimenting some more with this, but it looks like playback without any subtitles is what causes the buffering.
Nice catch! 
Unfortunately, the subtitle-on hack only works in some cases.
I have just started watching a series where there is the same heavy buffering going on with or without subtitles…
What is the best Plex alternative today?
No bells and whistles, just the ability to browse and play back home videos on a TV from a server.
This time, the server on its Status screen displays:
Converting (throttled)
Video Direct Stream
Audio Transcoding AC3 to AAC
Why “(throttled)”? Could that be causing the bufferings? How can I drop any throttle on the server? Tried a lot of settings, could not find the culprit…
