Plex server is on a 500/50 Mbps connection. Speedtest.net on single download/upload test shows roughly the same speeds, with the upload speed dipping down to ~35Mbps at minimum.
When initiating a remote stream to direct play a 1080p ~6 Mbps bitrate file in Plex Media Player on a Windows 10 PC, the server’s ethernet activity in Windows task manager shows upload data is only being sent at roughly ~5-8Mbps, sometimes slower, with rare spikes into 30-50 Mbps — this causes intermittent buffering since the file is being downloaded on the client device faster than it is uploaded by the server. I would prefer not to have to transcode the remote stream to 720p 3-4Mbps when the server’s upload speed is more than capable of reaching speeds beyond 5 Mbps. Why doesn’t Plex Media Server consistently upload the file at my ISPs rated upload speed?
Under Remote Access in the server settings, I set upload speed to 45 Mbps, with limit remote stream bitrate to original (no limit). Server support for IPv6 and HTTP pipelining are enabled under Network settings. Plex Media Player app on the client device is on a 100/100 Mbps connection, and has quality setting for internet/remote playback set to maximum to initiate remote streams via direct play/direct stream.
How can a client device download the file faster than a server can upload it, when a server is required to upload in order for the client to download? The upload speeds you’re seeing on the server should be representative of the download speeds by the client, no?
When remote clients initiate playback from my server (transcoding, or not), via NetData I see large spikes in bandwidth, followed by periods of slower transfer speeds. That said, I’m using rclone with a cloud storage mount so my setup is slightly different.
To my understanding, when a remote stream is initiated, the Plex server needs to upload the content to “the internet” first then the Plex client downloads the content for playback. What I’m assuming is happening is since my client can download at 80-100 Mbps, it’s downloading the uploaded content immediately as it’s uploaded and the server can’t keep up because its upload speed is gimped for whatever reason, despite the server’s connection having ample upload bandwidth available.
My question remains: why doesn’t the Plex server just consistently upload the content at the ISP’s max upload speed, similar to how I upload content to Google Drive or other cloud storage services?
I did more testing. When I Chrome Remote Desktopped into another client device that’s on a 200/20 Mbps connection from a different ISP than the client on the 100/100 Mbps connection, the server’s upload bandwidth is fully utilized. I’m assuming now that the the 5-8 Mbps issue on the client device with the 100/100 connection is being throttled by the ISP maybe, or the network equipment could be limiting the bandwidth somehow. Will investigate further.
