Any media on my Plex server is unplayable on a remote connection. It takes forever to load and then once it finally does it will play for 2-5 seconds before it starts buffering again. Ports, router and internet are all configured the same the always have been and never had any issue’s until recently. Remote access is also showing a good connection in the Plex Media Server Settings.
This just started happening out of no where, have not changed any setting within plex.
I have also rolled backed to and older version of Plex Media Server that I know other people are using and having no issue with remote play.
Another thing i have noticed is that when i do try to remotely play media, that on the server it self the plex transcoder is not even running. Almost like it is trying to direct play.
I have no clue what has caused this to start and i have had no luck resolving the issue. Below is the most recent log download from Plex Media Server.
Nov 29, 2022 16:39:54.278 [6476] DEBUG - Completed after connection close: [172.58.207.40:37465] 200 GET /library/metadata/11937/theme/1659154856 (13 live) TLS GZIP 32859ms 376832 bytes (pipelined: 5)
Nov 29, 2022 16:39:55.064 [8268] DEBUG - Sending data was too slow, timed out.
Nov 29, 2022 16:39:55.064 [8268] DEBUG - Completed after connection close: [172.58.207.40:55919] 200 GET /library/parts/19852/indexes/sd?interval=10000 (12 live) TLS GZIP 37080ms 335225 bytes (pipelined: 1)
Nov 29, 2022 16:39:55.234 [6476] DEBUG - Sending data was too slow, timed out.
From the logs it looks like your upload speed is slow for some reason. It could be you internet or network connection, but it looks like you Plex server is using a wired LAN connection - is this correct? Just to confirm, you aren’t using your VPN, correct?
I’d suggest running a speed test from your Windows computer where you run Plex Server, such as https://www.speedtest.net/ or https://www.spectrum.com/internet/speed-test. There are many out there, but you want one that shows both download and upload speeds. For remote media play you need good upload speeds. Do the results match what you would expect for your ISP?
It may also be useful to look at the dashboard in Plex web when an attempt to play remotely is happening. Make sure to click the “Show Detail” button graphic so you can see if it is transcoding.
Yes Plex Server is using wired LAN Connection, as for internet speed it is 150/150 internet speeds have been the same for years and have never been an issue.
Also like i stated, when you try and play something from outside the home network the plex transcoder never actually starts up and i confirmed that by going though every process running and it is no where to be found.
When you look at the dashboard while trying to play media from outside the local network it show as if it is transcoding the media.
There is a GPU installed in the system to handle the transcoding, is it possible it could be a GPU driver issue.
Also i do not have VPN running atm, but i have had one running with it in the past and it has never been an issue.
I’m just not seeing any errors with regards to the transcoder in the logs as I would have expected to see. In the collapsed section below is a log snippet of the transcoder starting.
I do see an unusual cert error that I haven’t seen before. You aren’t by chance using your own cert with Plex? I don’t think so based on the logs, but checking. I don’t see the classic “API rate limit exceeded” error, but if you aren’t using your own cert we may want to have a Plex resource look at your certificate.
Nov 29, 2022 15:51:29.147 [9884] ERROR - [CERT] PKCS12_parse failed: error:23076071:PKCS12 routines:PKCS12_parse:mac verify failure
Nov 29, 2022 15:51:29.147 [9884] ERROR - [CERT] Found a certificate, but couldn't install it.
I also see some errors associated with plex.direct. Did you ever find the need to turn off DNS rebinding protection for plex.direct on your network? This could also be a result of the cert issue.
Nov 29, 2022 15:51:54.998 [15284] WARN - [HttpClient/HCl#d2] HTTP error requesting GET https://100-11-23-221.112a91436edd4b8280b15cf5dd996630.plex.direct:32400 (35, SSL connect error) (OpenSSL SSL_connect: Connection was reset in connection to 100-11-23-221.112a91436edd4b8280b15cf5dd996630.plex.direct:32400 )
So after you mentioned the idea of my internet speeds being issue. I decided to do some digging and see if I could uncover any conflicts within my network and my connection.
I am still not sure exactly what, but seems there was some type of conflict communicating to my network from outside the local connections. After some troubleshooting, resetting all the network equipment and allowing connections to be remade remote play has returned back to normal.
Not 100% sure what was getting messed up. But I use Verizon services and recently had to replace the main TV stream box for the house. So my only thought is that it didn’t release all the network info for that device when I swapped it, causing some type of network conflict.
Thanks for the insight and helping with figuring out the issue, you led me in the right direction to find the problem. Hopefully this thread will help some more people down the road.
