Plex buffers every 30s-60s with 4k media

Plex Media Server
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1

Hi

I am encountering a few issues with 4K playback on the Plex Web client. All 4K media I have buffers for roughly 30s-60s and then plays for roughly the same amount of time. The loop starts here so it is not watchable at all. Playing all the same media files works wonderfull and instantly on my Nvidia Shield.

Server Version#: 1.21.1.3830
Player Version#: Plex Web Firefox 4.49.2

Docker Host VM:

  • 30 E5-2670 cores
  • 128 GB ram
  • Linuxserver.io Docker image
  • only SSD for plex
  • media storage mounted CIFS share

Media File:

  • 4k MKV
  • Video: HEVC 10 HDR, 17919 kbps
  • Audio: EAC3 5.1

Logs:

  • (File removed)
  • (File removed)
  • Tell me if any other log files are needed

Questions:

  • Is the Web client even supposed to support 4K media?
  • Should I split 4K media from other media?
  • What else should I try?

Thanks for any suggestions

2

Plex web, as the name suggests, is running inside a web browser.
Many web browsers don’t support HEVC-encoded video at all. Even less so HDR.
Therefore Plex server is transcoding HEVC to AVC.
Your Xeon CPU was once a good database or web server CPU, but it is not made for transcoding video.
Crucially it doesn’t have Quicksync support. (And even if it had, it is simply too old to have support for decoding HEVC).

  1. Don’t even try to play 4K HEVC video in a web browser. Use a different client which does support HEVC natively, like the Shield or Plex for Windows/Mac.
  2. Many ppl still separate 4K into a different library and only share it with people who have the appropriate clients.
3

I know it is not the most suitable CPU but I thought it will just use more ressources. Guess I will have to start splitting my media.

Thanks for your quick reply though!

4

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