Plex is now slow, constantly buffering under

Plex Media Server Desktops & Laptops
1

Server Version#: 1.18.1.1973
Player Version#: Same, web client; also Plex for Mac preview 1.4

I’m starting to think upgrading to macOS Catalina was a mistake. On my 2012 Mac mini with 8GB of RAM, the latest versions of Plex have become a disaster. Suddenly, I can’t stream or record more than one program at a time without getting network connection errors or endless buffering. If I’m recording one program and watching another – even if that other program is coming from a hard drive directly connected to the computer I’m watching it on, rather than being streamed over the network! – playback stutters and buffers. And Plex seems compelled to convert content, even 720p MPEG-TS content it should be able to play natively without a hiccup.

This never happened with previous server versions, which all handled simultaneous streams and recording smoothly. What’s going on?

1 Like
2

I am not on Catalina, still on Mojave, and I too am experiencing slowness with 1.18.1.1973. If I have three streams going, watching live TV is a no no. Yet I can fire up the HDHOMERUN Mac app and watch as much live tv as I wish. So it’s not a network issue.

This is what I get when I do anything involving Live TV or DVR. I have attached my logs. I am running Version 1.3.1.916-1cb2c34d of the Plex app for Mac and 1.18.1.1973 for the server.

Plex Media Server Logs_2019-11-06_13-04-59.zip (5.2 MB)

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3

@Nato1978 where are you at with this sir?

Have you rolled your Mini back to Mojave? I’m not upgrading any of my hardware to Catalina until after the New Year.

4

Still baffled. I’m going to add more RAM to my Mini and see whether that helps. Maybe Catalina has higher RAM requirements and is eating up more resources. Installed the latest server update today, but it didn’t do much. I do seem to notice that for some reason, turning on hardware acceleration seems to worsen the problem. I might have to roll back to Mojave if the other fixes don’t work.

5

Yeah that hardware acceleration has been giving various people issues.

If you’d like to gather some log files, I can take a look for the usual culprits like IPv6 or the database.

6

Plex Media Server Logs_2019-11-09_10-38-12.zip (4.2 MB)

Sure, thank you! Here’s my latest batch of log files, if they can tell you anything.

It seems like Plex is now transcoding everything, even files it ought to be able to play natively – even when I’m playing those files on a computer directly connected to the hard drive storing them, with no network streaming required. And I’m getting messages I never got before about how my server’s not powerful enough to transcode these files.

I think that previously, I was transcoding all files as I recorded them, but when I checked that setting last night, it had been turned off. I’ve tried re-enabling it, and I’ll see whether that improves matters. But if other people are having trouble with hardware acceleration, that might indeed be the culprit.

Thanks much for your help, and please do keep me posted on what you find!

7

Yeah there’s no question you’re system is really nice.

There could be a simple fix, but everyone’s setup is unique. I did see a couple of things in your log files. Plex has IPv6 support enabled in your Settings, but the server tends to run better without that.

Nov 08, 2019 13:34:18.295 [0x70000d71b000] DEBUG - HttpServer: Listening on IPv6 as well as IPv4.
...
Nov 08, 2019 13:34:21.232 [0x70000d71b000] DEBUG - Detected primary interface: 10.0.1.50
Nov 08, 2019 13:34:21.232 [0x70000d71b000] DEBUG - Network interfaces:
Nov 08, 2019 13:34:21.232 [0x70000d71b000] DEBUG -  * 1 lo0 (127.0.0.1) (loopback: 1)
Nov 08, 2019 13:34:21.232 [0x70000d71b000] DEBUG -  * 1 lo0 (::1) (loopback: 1)
Nov 08, 2019 13:34:21.232 [0x70000d71b000] DEBUG -  * 1 lo0 (fe80::1%lo0) (loopback: 1)
Nov 08, 2019 13:34:21.232 [0x70000d71b000] DEBUG -  * 4 en1 (fe80::ca4:76dd:e254:1c1e%en1) (loopback: 0)
Nov 08, 2019 13:34:21.232 [0x70000d71b000] DEBUG -  * 4 en1 (2601:5c2:200:e211:a9:e23f:c019:dab) (loopback: 0)
Nov 08, 2019 13:34:21.232 [0x70000d71b000] DEBUG -  * 4 en1 (10.0.1.28) (loopback: 0)
Nov 08, 2019 13:34:21.232 [0x70000d71b000] DEBUG -  * 6 awdl0 (fe80::ecdc:13ff:fefc:119d%awdl0) (loopback: 0)
Nov 08, 2019 13:34:21.232 [0x70000d71b000] DEBUG -  * 7 en0 (fe80::1c8d:8a2d:7d83:130d%en0) (loopback: 0)
Nov 08, 2019 13:34:21.232 [0x70000d71b000] DEBUG -  * 7 en0 (2601:5c2:200:e211:1465:7295:db0d:e448) (loopback: 0)
Nov 08, 2019 13:34:21.232 [0x70000d71b000] DEBUG -  * 7 en0 (10.0.1.50) (loopback: 0)
...
Nov 08, 2019 13:34:21.236 [0x70000e7fe000] DEBUG - NetworkService: Browsing on interface 127.0.0.1 on broadcast address 127.255.255.255 (index: 0)
Nov 08, 2019 13:34:21.236 [0x70000e7fe000] DEBUG - NetworkService: Browsing on interface 10.0.1.28 on broadcast address 10.0.1.255 (index: 1)
Nov 08, 2019 13:34:21.236 [0x70000e7fe000] DEBUG - NetworkService: Browsing on interface 10.0.1.50 on broadcast address 10.0.1.255 (index: 2)

Can we have you do a few of things please:

  • disable IPv6 and Save,
  • Empty Trash
  • Clean Bundles
  • Optimize Database
  • restart PMS
  • wait 6min for it to initialize
  • Download Logs again please

I’d like to see it boot up cleanly. As far as the other errors I saw in your logs, they were so full of playback instances that it was a bit chaotic. At least one file, the Sesame Street’s 49x16 had a bad AC3 track.

Nov 08, 2019 14:19:40.990 [0x70000ea0a000] ERROR - [Transcoder] [ac3 @ 0x7f8b45804600] expacc 125 is out-of-range
Nov 08, 2019 14:19:40.992 [0x70000e987000] ERROR - [Transcoder] [ac3 @ 0x7f8b45804600] error decoding the audio block

Let’s just build up to a clean boot for starters. Thanks

1 Like
8

OK. IPv6 is disabled. Emptied the trash on both my libraries. Cleaned bundles, optimized the database, quit and restarted PMS, waited 6 minutes. Here’s the resulting log files!

Thanks,
Nathan

Plex Media Server Logs_2019-11-09_15-28-52.zip (2.6 MB)

9

Hey thanks for the logs.

There were mostly clean. A couple of small things appeared. It’s finding 2 NICs to listen on, and there’s some struggle going on with LiveTV-DVR.

Nov 09, 2019 15:18:00.602 [0x700004480000] DEBUG - NetworkService: Network change for browser (polled=0), closing 0 browse sockets.
Nov 09, 2019 15:18:00.602 [0x700004480000] DEBUG - NetworkService: Setting up multicast listener on 0.0.0.0:32413
Nov 09, 2019 15:18:00.602 [0x700004480000] DEBUG - NetworkService: Browsing on interface 127.0.0.1 on broadcast address 127.255.255.255 (index: 0)
Nov 09, 2019 15:18:00.602 [0x700004480000] DEBUG - NetworkService: Browsing on interface 10.0.1.28 on broadcast address 10.0.1.255 (index: 1)
Nov 09, 2019 15:18:00.602 [0x700004480000] DEBUG - NetworkService: Browsing on interface 10.0.1.50 on broadcast address 10.0.1.255 (index: 2)
Nov 09, 2019 15:18:00.602 [0x700004480000] DEBUG - NetworkService: Network change for browser (polled=1), closing 0 browse sockets.
Nov 09, 2019 15:18:00.602 [0x700004480000] DEBUG - NetworkService: Browsing on interface 127.0.0.1 on broadcast address 127.255.255.255 (index: 0)
Nov 09, 2019 15:18:00.602 [0x700004480000] DEBUG - NetworkService: Browsing on interface 10.0.1.28 on broadcast address 10.0.1.255 (index: 1)
Nov 09, 2019 15:18:00.602 [0x700004480000] DEBUG - NetworkService: Browsing on interface 10.0.1.50 on broadcast address 10.0.1.255 (index: 2)
...
Nov 09, 2019 15:18:11.635 [0x700004480000] DEBUG - NetworkServiceBrowser: Parsing SSDP schema for http://10.0.1.50:32469/DeviceDescription.xml
Nov 09, 2019 15:18:11.635 [0x700004480000] DEBUG - HTTP requesting GET http://10.0.1.50:32469/DeviceDescription.xml
Nov 09, 2019 15:18:11.642 [0x700004480000] DEBUG - HTTP 200 response from GET http://10.0.1.50:32469/DeviceDescription.xml
Nov 09, 2019 15:18:11.642 [0x700004480000] DEBUG - NetworkServiceBrowser: found 1 SSDP devices via http://10.0.1.50:32469/DeviceDescription.xml
Nov 09, 2019 15:18:11.642 [0x700004480000] DEBUG - NetworkServiceBrowser: SSDP arrived: 10.0.1.50 (Plex Media Server: Panopticon)
Nov 09, 2019 15:18:11.643 [0x700004480000] DEBUG - NetworkService: Replacing an old server at index 1 and address 10.0.1.50 (we just got packet from 10.0.1.28, index 0)
Nov 09, 2019 15:18:11.643 [0x700004480000] DEBUG - NetworkServiceBrowser: Parsing SSDP schema for http://10.0.1.28:32469/DeviceDescription.xml
Nov 09, 2019 15:18:11.643 [0x700004480000] DEBUG - HTTP requesting GET http://10.0.1.28:32469/DeviceDescription.xml
Nov 09, 2019 15:18:11.650 [0x700004480000] DEBUG - HTTP 200 response from GET http://10.0.1.28:32469/DeviceDescription.xml
Nov 09, 2019 15:18:11.650 [0x700004480000] DEBUG - NetworkServiceBrowser: found 1 SSDP devices via http://10.0.1.28:32469/DeviceDescription.xml
Nov 09, 2019 15:18:11.650 [0x700004480000] DEBUG - NetworkServiceBrowser: SERVICE updated: 10.0.1.28

So it looks like it’s bouncing around deciding if it’s .28 or .50. There’s a option you can adjust in Plex Settings - Show Advanced - Network where you can change the drop down list to say the NIC you want to use. You can set that to en0, Save, and restart PMS.

Interface
Preferred.Network.Interface.jpg1000×149 51.6 KB

The LiveTV-DVR issue is something I’ve not seen before. It could be cosmetic or not important or a real bug. This is an example of what it’s complaining about, expected MediaContainer element, found html

Nov 09, 2019 15:18:14.693 [0x700004baa000] DEBUG - Subscription: Checking in provider Live TV & DVR
Nov 09, 2019 15:18:14.693 [0x700004baa000] DEBUG - Subscription: MATCH for GUID scheme, directly checking.
Nov 09, 2019 15:18:14.693 [0x700004b27000] DEBUG - Subscription: Checking in provider Live TV & DVR
Nov 09, 2019 15:18:14.693 [0x700004baa000] DEBUG - Downloading document http://127.0.0.1:32400/tv.plex.providers.epg.cloud:2/metadata/plex%3A%2F%2Fshow%2F5cffa52be56e71001efaccf1?includePreferences=1
Nov 09, 2019 15:18:14.693 [0x700004b27000] DEBUG - Subscription: Attempting manual match.
Nov 09, 2019 15:18:14.694 [0x700004b27000] DEBUG - Downloading document http://127.0.0.1:32400/tv.plex.providers.epg.cloud:2/matches?guid=com%2Egracenote%2Eonconnect%3A%2F%2Fshow%2F14153147&thumb=https%3A%2F%2Ftmsimg%2Eplex%2Etv%2Fassets%2Fp16454681_b_v5_ab%2Ejpg&title=Good%20Girls&type=2&year=2018&type=2&includePreferences=1
Nov 09, 2019 15:18:14.694 [0x700004baa000] ERROR - downloadContainer: expected MediaContainer element, found html
Nov 09, 2019 15:18:14.694 [0x700004baa000] WARN - Subscription: No container available for /tv.plex.providers.epg.cloud:2/metadata/plex%3A%2F%2Fshow%2F5cffa52be56e71001efaccf1
Nov 09, 2019 15:18:14.694 [0x700004baa000] DEBUG - Activity: Ended activity 1b938cf9-2d15-4afe-87e9-87f5c8dd7ee0.
Nov 09, 2019 15:18:14.694 [0x700004baa000] DEBUG - Activity: updated activity 9deeaa6a-a958-4e67-9d1d-d2ef897ac989 - completed 10.0% - Processing subscriptions
Nov 09, 2019 15:18:14.694 [0x700004baa000] DEBUG - Activity: registered new activity e1c34e7b-91f2-4dc4-a822-6b20881aa10d - Refreshing Sub

After adjusting the Preferred NIC and restarting, let’s move on to debugging your playback issue. Create another test case.

  • wait for it to initialize 6min
  • playback a video expressing the buffering issue for 30sec.
  • Then stop playback for 30sec.
  • Then download logs, zip and attack.

Thanks.

10

Switched Preferred NIC to en0 (I’m not sure how it ever got two NICs), restarted Plex server, waiting the 6 minutes (or more). Then I tried to play one of the videos I’d previously had issues with. On my first try, it wouldn’t start playing at all; the DVR was recording, and apparently that combined with being asked to transcode as it recorded, which I’ve never had trouble with in the past, kept the video from playing at all. I had to kill the recording to get the video file to play. Waited 30+ seconds, stopped playback, waited 30+ seconds, and then dumped the logs. I hope you find something helpful here!

I’m still thinking the problem is less in my setup and more in some interaction between Plex and Catalina, probably involving hardware acceleration…

Thanks!

Plex Media Server Logs_2019-11-10_15-30-52.zip (2.8 MB)

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Don’t think so, I’m running Catalina without issue. Might be hardware 2012 Mac mini, turn off Hardware acceleration , save and restart you Plex server.

With an iMac late 2015, hardware acceleration enabled.

Just my Guess.

12

The logs show some that you’ve requested it do hardware acceleration, but I’m not sure a 2012 processor can do that.

Nov 10, 2019 15:21:44.724 [0x70000f8a4000] DEBUG - TPU: hardware transcoding: enabled, but no hardware decode accelerator found
Nov 10, 2019 15:21:44.725 [0x70000f8a4000] DEBUG - TPU: hardware transcoding: zero-copy support not present
Nov 10, 2019 15:21:44.725 [0x70000f8a4000] DEBUG - TPU: hardware transcoding: final decoder: , final encoder: videotoolbox
Nov 10, 2019 15:21:48.369 [0x70000f0f7000] DEBUG - TPU: hardware transcoding: enabled, but no hardware decode accelerator found
Nov 10, 2019 15:21:48.370 [0x70000f0f7000] DEBUG - TPU: hardware transcoding: zero-copy support not present
Nov 10, 2019 15:21:48.370 [0x70000f0f7000] DEBUG - TPU: hardware transcoding: final decoder: , final encoder: videotoolbox

Like SE56 and you surmised, maybe it should be disabled?

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I’ve disabled hardware acceleration, and Plex does run better now than when hardware acceleration was enabled. And goodness knows my 2012 Mac mini isn’t brawny in the hardware department. But it ran just fine with hardware acceleration turned on under Mojave – I didn’t have any problems streaming more than one program at once, watching one program while recording another, etc. Maybe Catalina’s changed something about how hardware acceleration works, and Plex hasn’t caught up yet?

I’m still waiting to see whether more RAM helps the issues Plex is having. If not, I might try downgrading to Mojave and seeing how that works.

14

I would have a solid read of this support article from Plex. My searches show the Mac Mini late 2012 used Ivy Bridge processors. If that’s the posters model it’s just a maybe ok. If it a 2011 model but bought in early 2012, that a different story.

42%20am
Screen Shot 2019-11-12 at 6.48.42 am.png1702×640 71.4 KB

15

Yep, I’ve got a late 2012 Mac mini (model 6,2) with the Ivy Bridge processor, which does have Intel QuickSync. So I should be able to run hardware acceleration just fine! So either Catalina broke something, or Plex did, or both…

16

I probably forgot that you had this running well with Mojave. At least we are closer to your issue, which is likely with Plex Media Server because many people are having problems with hw acceleration atm.

I like to use SuperDuper to clone my Mac drives. It’s easy to roll back when you have an exact duplicate.

Sorry I don’t have a better workaround.

17

My answer is you should be able but only maybe without issue.

18

dump that os and install ubuntu server on it… mine never even hiccups and i only have 8gb’s on a quad core amd board

19

Screenshot_20191111-223538_Termius

20

It doesn’t necessarily help with your issue, but perhaps it will give you some confidence that this can work. My primary PMS runs on a late 2012 Mac Mini; it has an i7-3615QM CPU and 16 GB RAM. I upgraded to Catalina ~2 weeks ago and did not experience any ill effects as a result. My PMS version is currently 1.18.2.2015, but my experience with 1.18.1.1973 before that was the same.

I use hardware acceleration and it works well; I’m able to play 1080p Blu-ray rips fine, even while recording using DVR functionality. I don’t use 4K media at all so I can’t comment on its performance. The CPU’s QuickSync capabilities don’t support H.265 transcoding but work well with H.264, for the most part.

Do you know what specific processor model your Mini uses? They had several options available at the time as I recall. I’m pretty sure 8 GB RAM should be plenty for Plex as I have allocated 8 of my 16 to VMs I run for other purposes (along with a couple of CPU cores).