Plex not caching playback items properly

[mxm1234]

Server Version#: 1.20.2.3402
Player Version#: Latest

I have been facing this issue for a while on my nvidia shield. Sometimes if I start a movie or a TV show (direct play), plex with spin and spin and never start the movie (the device screensaver comes up first).

Other times, the content will appear to start normally but then begin buffering with a few seconds and never recover.

What I have noticed now is that if I start content, I have to look at the playbar. I may be mis-using this term, but if there is noticeable cache on the playbar, meaning I can see where the current position of the content is vs what plex has “buffered” or “cached” all will play fine. If I do not see this, the content will buffer every 30 seconds or so for the duration of the content. Its reliably reproducable. Sometimes I have to start or restart my content several times.

What is the best way to provide logs on this? And can anyone tell me if you also observe this behavior? I am certainly not ruling out a problem with my setup. Just looking for guidance on where to start.

I have a nice Ryzen server from Hetner, using Gdrive as storage.

[anon18523487]

@mxm1234

using Gdrive as storage.

Google will sometimes block access to files which prevents your server from being able to stream them. Next time you see the buffering, try downloading the file directly from GDrive and see if goes smoothly.

[mxm1234]

Thats not what is happening here.

[anon18523487]

Ok. If you can reproduce and get me both your server logs and the android logs, I’ll take a look. Please let me know what you were watching and around what time you notice the buffering issue.