Regarding the setting on your computer in Plex Media Server/Plex Web.
If you go to “settings”, “quality”, the selection under quality for; “Internet streaming.” I just want to confirm, is this setting for accessing your Plex library remotely, or for when you allow others to access your server, remotely?
I want to make sure this has NOTHING to do with me using my server locally and that it’s a ‘remote’ setting only. The default is always set to 720p (even if you change it and then do a server update), it reverts back to 720p after the update has installed. So I usually just leave it at 720p, but I don’t really do anything remotely. I just wanted to confirm that this is what this setting is for and that it has nothing to do with what I do locally (from home) speed wise.
That setting, Settings -> (PLEX WEB) Quality -> Video Quality, only affects the web client. If the client is remote from the server, this is the maximum quality which will be available; if the client is local to the server, this setting has no effect.
There is another setting, Settings -> Remote Access -> Limit remote stream bitrate, which affects all clients connecting to the server remotely. Regardless of client settings, this will limit the quality available to them if the server detects that they are remote.
With regard to either setting, they only have an effect on clients which are detected to be remote. Local clients are not affected, unless they are mis-detected as being remote for some reason (DNS rebinding issues, for example).
And there are a couple of other settings under Settings -> Network which allow some control over what is seen as local vs. remote as well: LAN Networks - IPs/Networks listed here will be treated as local, regardless of their actual location. Treat WAN IP As LAN Bandwidth - Enabling this will cause requests seen as originating from your router’s external IP address to be seen as local (useful if local clients are being hair-pinned through the router’s external interface).
Limit remote stream bitrate has everything to do with the quality at which remote clients can stream. This sets a hard upper limit on the bandwidth allowed for them. This is a server-side setting.
Settings -> (PLEX WEB) Quality -> Video Quality only applies to the web client. It is not a server setting.
That setting allows the web client itself to impose a limit on the bandwidth it can use when connected remotely. Remember, the web interface serves two purposes: Server administration and media playback as a client.
Under settings, there are several sections: Account, Plex Web, Status, Settings, and Manage. Account is for managing overall account information. Plex Web is configuring aspects of the web client. Status, Settings, and Manage allow you to monitor and configure various aspects of the actual server selected.
So, anything you set in the Plex Web section only affects the web client. It has nothing to do with server configuration.
OK so in other words, that setting is if I connect to my server remotely (not at home), that’s a setting only for me then? I’ve always left it at the default of 2mbps/720p, but I don’t connect remotely to my server anyways because I only use it when I’m home. Do I basically not need to worry about what this is set to then?
I wish they would simplify all these settings. I’ve used Plex now since 2017 and I’m still confused!
Correct. If you log in to your server remotely, you’ll be limited to this playback quality. If you log in locally, it has no affect. So, if you only use the web client locally, you don’t need to worry about it.
