# Plex increasing bitrate causing problems **URL:** \ **Category:** General Discussions\ **Created:** [January 1, 2020, 8:27am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-increasing-bitrate-causing-problems/518706 "2020-01-01T08:27:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![BKWQ](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/bkwq/32/164901_2.png) [@BKWQ](https://forums.plex.tv/u/BKWQ)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2020, 8:27am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-increasing-bitrate-causing-problems/518706/1 "2020-01-01T08:27:24Z")
Hello, I have been running plex for years and have just discovered a strange issue. My server is reasonably powered Xeon 1231v3, 16gb ram, Debian headless. I have some TV shows that are 1080p and between 10-13mbit bitrate. When I play them from a browser they play fine at the original bitrate as reported by the server dashboard. When I play this content via my Smart TV, the dashboard reports that its being transcoded to 19mbit bitrate. This causes the video to buffer randomly from 10 seconds to 30 seconds continuously. I can limit the local bitrate on the TV to 10 or 12 mbit and it plays fine, but when I set ‘original’ as the quality it starts messing the bitrate up again causing buffering. Any ideas or help would be greatly appreciated? Thank you ---
**Author:** ![JasonNalley](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/jasonnalley/32/24210_2.png) [@JasonNalley](https://forums.plex.tv/u/JasonNalley)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2020, 9:12am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-increasing-bitrate-causing-problems/518706/2 "2020-01-01T09:12:04Z")
Do you by chance have bitrate and the bandwidth reserve confused? If you’re setting quality to Maximum/Original, and it’s “DirectPlay” The bitrate is whatever the file is… If you transcode it to a lower bitrate (your 10 to 12Mbit scenario) then it’s obviously lowering the bitrate. Plex, as far as I know, does not increase the bitrate, unless you’re doing something like going from a 1080p 4Mbit x265 file to a 1080p x264 file for codec compatibility, in this case, plex will artificially inflate the bitrate to like 10Mbit or something like that… The next question I have is, is the TV DirectPlaying or transcoding? If it’s DirectPlay you could have a couple of different issues. - The Decoder of the TV Is not working fast enough (seems unlikely but it IS a possibility) - The wifi connection to your smart TV is not fast enough for whatever bitrate you’re playing, but it IS fast enough for 10-12mbit - From what I understand, some older Samsung TV’s don’t like the multiple audio stream files so much… anything more than 2 Audio Streams and it freaks out… If it’s transcoding, that could be a bunch of different things… Your server should be fast enough to transcode I believe… it’s got a 9,000 passmark so iirc that should be enough for 4x1080p transcodes (I think it’s 2,000 score per 1080p transcode). More information and logs will likely be really helpful here to let the community see exactly what’s going on in that exchange… ---
**Author:** ![Egleu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e274bd/32.png) [@Egleu](https://forums.plex.tv/u/Egleu)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2020, 9:24am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-increasing-bitrate-causing-problems/518706/3 "2020-01-01T09:24:51Z")
Can you give the exact video and audio specs of the file, and are you using subtitles? ---
**Author:** ![BKWQ](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/bkwq/32/164901_2.png) [@BKWQ](https://forums.plex.tv/u/BKWQ)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2020, 9:52am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-increasing-bitrate-causing-problems/518706/4 "2020-01-01T09:52:48Z")
> [@JasonNalley](#): > > Do you by chance have bitrate and the bandwidth reserve confused? I think I might be confusing the two. I have a strange feeling that my Hisense Smart TV’s network is not capable, even though its ethernet. When I start a TV show and watch the Plex dashboard, the bandwidth will never exceed 20mbit via the TV, but other local devices will use 50-100mbit when starting. One of the files the tv has problems with is as follows: #### Media Duration 1:02:27 Bitrate 12277 kbps Width 1920 Height 1072 Aspect Ratio 1.78 Video Resolution 1080p Container MKV Video Frame Rate PAL Video Profile high #### Part Duration 1:02:27 Size 5.36 GB Container MKV Video Profile high Codec H264 Bitrate 11893 kbps Language English Bit Depth 8 Chroma Location left Chroma Subsampling 4:2:0 Frame Rate 25 fps Height 1072 Level 4.1 Profile high Ref Frames 4 Scan Type progressive Width 1920 Display Title 1080p (H.264) Codec AC3 Channels 2 Bitrate 384 kbps Audio Channel Layout stereo Sampling Rate 48000 Hz Display Title Unknown (AC3 Stereo) ---
**Author:** ![JasonNalley](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/jasonnalley/32/24210_2.png) [@JasonNalley](https://forums.plex.tv/u/JasonNalley)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2020, 6:16pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-increasing-bitrate-causing-problems/518706/5 "2020-01-01T18:16:19Z")
That file checks out, and oddly, it’s a 12Mbit file, so I don’t think it’s a bandwidth issue if you’re able to successfully do 12Mbit 1080p with other files. This XML Data only gives us more questions than answers… So when you’re playing is the file DirectPlay or is it Transcode? ---
**Author:** ![OttoKerner](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/ottokerner/32/10079_2.png) [@OttoKerner](https://forums.plex.tv/u/OttoKerner)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2020, 6:27pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-increasing-bitrate-causing-problems/518706/6 "2020-01-01T18:27:32Z")
> [@BKWQ](#): > > Bitrate 12277 kbps Now take a look at the _real_ bandwidth requirements of this file in the [Plex XML info](https://support.plex.tv/hc/en-us/articles/201998867-Investigate-Media-Information-and-Formats "Plex XML info") Because the number above is only a stupid average, calculated by taking the file size and divide it by its play time. For “streaming” purposes this can be misleading in a big way. ---
**Author:** ![TeknoJunky](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/teknojunky/32/165055_2.png) [@TeknoJunky](https://forums.plex.tv/u/TeknoJunky)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2020, 6:31pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-increasing-bitrate-causing-problems/518706/7 "2020-01-01T18:31:02Z")
> [@BKWQ](#): > > Video Frame Rate PAL Server is probably transcoding ---
**Author:** ![OttoKerner](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/ottokerner/32/10079_2.png) [@OttoKerner](https://forums.plex.tv/u/OttoKerner)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2020, 6:33pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-increasing-bitrate-causing-problems/518706/8 "2020-01-01T18:33:08Z")
> [@TeknoJunky](#): > > Server is probably transcoding That is a weird conclusion to draw. It only means the file has either ‘25fps progressive’ or ‘50fps interlaced’ frame rate. ---
**Author:** ![TeknoJunky](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/teknojunky/32/165055_2.png) [@TeknoJunky](https://forums.plex.tv/u/TeknoJunky)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2020, 6:41pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-increasing-bitrate-causing-problems/518706/9 "2020-01-01T18:41:30Z")
I didn’t think all tv were compatible with pal? In any case, checking the reason for transcoding is the first thing to check. ---
**Author:** ![OttoKerner](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/ottokerner/32/10079_2.png) [@OttoKerner](https://forums.plex.tv/u/OttoKerner)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2020, 7:02pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-increasing-bitrate-causing-problems/518706/10 "2020-01-01T19:02:01Z")
I think the issue here is the opposite. Because OP said if he is limiting the bitrate, playback is smooth. Which means that direct-playing causes stuttering. The bandwidth graph in the Dashboard can give you a clue: - stop all playback activity of other clients - start playback on the tv without restricting the bandwidth Now wait ~60 seconds and then look at the bandwidth graph. If you see a flat horizontal line, you have a network bandwidth restriction somewhere between the server and the TV. (but it could be caused by the TV itself as well) If you however see “bursts” of data, the network bandwidth is probably not the issue. ---
**Author:** ![TeknoJunky](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/teknojunky/32/165055_2.png) [@TeknoJunky](https://forums.plex.tv/u/TeknoJunky)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2020, 7:04pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-increasing-bitrate-causing-problems/518706/11 "2020-01-01T19:04:29Z")
Screenshot of the dashboard with the video playing would be useful too. ---
**Author:** ![BKWQ](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/bkwq/32/164901_2.png) [@BKWQ](https://forums.plex.tv/u/BKWQ)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2020, 10:43am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-increasing-bitrate-causing-problems/518706/12 "2020-01-07T10:43:38Z")
Thank you to everyone for your replies. It turns out that it was my smart TV’s inbuilt plex client and the TV’s throughput in general causing the problem. Can’t believe I have never noticed it before. Got a new device to fix the problem as it definately wasn’t Plex related. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/plex/original/3X/2/a/2acb9765406f63293d357b4ec509ec39aa28f2ad.png) [@system](https://forums.plex.tv/u/system)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2020, 10:43am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-increasing-bitrate-causing-problems/518706/13 "2020-04-06T10:43:39Z")
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