Same issue here, since the 7.2 update the wifi in the Nvidia Shield TV just sucks.
I’ve Reset Plex, Reinstalled Plex, tried with different servers, done a hard reset. The only thing that fixed was connected the ethernet cable.
A simple ping will show huge latency fluctuations and random drops. Probably is the upgraded wifi drivers…
I’ve been using an ethernet connection since I got my Shield two years ago so the problem can’t be upgraded wifi drivers for me.
So m4r1k you solved your problems by changing your network connection from wifi to ethernet?
Yup. My home wifi uses Orbi RBR50 with two additional RBS50 satellites one per floor. Internet comes at first floor connected to the RBR50 (the Orbi router). The Shield is wired connected to the RBS50 on the second floor and the Plex server is on the 3rd one. TV (Lg C8) and soundbar (Sony HT-ST5000) are connected by wifi.
During all my debugging I made sure the Shield was connected to the local (local to the floor) satellite.
Watching plex on the C8 doesn’t give me any issues. Wifi connection is stable, no loss neither latency spikes. iperf between the Plex Server to the Shield gave me inconsistent results using wifi: bandwidth sometimes over 200Mbps, other times below 20Mbps with everything in between but most importantly with lots of retransmissions. With the cable, of course, I can saturate the Orbi backhaul at about 500Mbps. No loss, perfect latency.
A simple ping displayed the issue in my case. I also noticed that after a reboot for about 20/25 seconds the shield has comparable latency to both soundbar and TV and only after that it gets ugly. That’s why I’ve initially done a hard reset 'cause I assumed some random background service was doing weird a stuff.
This morning I installed Plex on my old Mi Box with an ethernet connection to a different TV in a different room. Worked beautifully. Using a Wi-Fi connection, videos also streamed to the Mi Box without problems. So my recent problem is with the Shield - not Plex.
I’ll just stick with Emby on the Shield for now and retry Plex whenever the Shield gets its next firmware update.
It’s a Plex issue. I have the same problem on Every Android Device I Own Including my Phones, Tvs, And Shields.
This started happening reportedly when they switched to exoplayer2 in the 6.3.x version. However new shield firmware comes bundled with v7.x.x so you can’t revert like you could before.
Only my xbox and ps4 work fine. Also the kodi plugin works fine running Kodi on Android, but not the native Android app.
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I have exactly the same issue as Gungan say’s. Since last version of Plex I have many problem with local playback of Direct Play content. I now have to lower the quality to make it possible to playback without having this message. I have this problem with the Nvidia Shield TV.
nvidia finally came back to me on the support ticket and recommended trying to downgrade to 7.1 on the shield, however i havent found the time to try that yet. Did anyone else try this?
Well considering it’s been happening to people since Shield Experience 6.3 I doubt downgrading to 7.1 is going to help.
The only known 100% fix is to downgrade the Plex app to 6.12, but since you can’t downgrade the app version to 6.12 if you’ve already upgraded your Shield to Shield Experience 7.0 (Oreo) most people can’t use that fix anymore.
FWIW, it seems like a lot of people are only having problems with MP4 files, so if that’s what you’re using, you could probably try remuxing them into MKVs and see if that fixes the problem.
I’ve had the same problem intermittently on the Shield. I’ve seen some log entries that seem to suggest that the problem occurs when the Plex client on the Shield is trying to contact the Plex server on the Shield through the public IP (note, nevermind not using localhost, sometimes it’s not even using the internal private IP address!).
This then forces the Plex client to treat it as a remote stream - and crucially, it’s then subject to whatever you have in your Remote Streaming quality settings in your Plex client. Which , if you haven’t changed it, is 1.5Mbps.
I’ve changed my Quality settings for Remote Streaming to the highest - and I haven’t seen the problem since.
Of course, this doesn’t fix the underlying problem, but if it works for you it’s a useful workaround. The only downside I can see with it is if you use your Plex client on the Shield to connect to a remote Plex server … but that’s going to be a rare use case.
@rwoffice - this only just started happening for me on shield version 7.2 … everything was flawless with 7.1, this is why i think downgrading shield to 7.1 could work… guess trying won’t hurt.
Most of my stuff is in mkv containers and this issue happens regardless of bitrate (it can happen with 10mbit stuff and 70mbit stuff)…
@DavidAndAndrea, my situation is a bit different from yours then since im accessing the plex server through a ipsec tunnel (in a remote site - with 300mbit connection)… and it’s (almost) always using “direct play”.
For anything that isnt 4k i can watch directly on my TV, so i doubt its the connection.
My remote stream is maxed and the problem persists.
It’s infuriating.
I’m not remuxing 500+ files to mkv.
You never know, certainly worth a try if it’s a new issue for you and not an on going one like everybody else.
I’ve already tried to downgrade back to 7.1 or earlier and unfortunately the bootloader or kernal upgrade from the 7.2 OTA prevents success. Only option is to wait for Plex to fix this or switch to alternatives that aren’t broken.
strange, as this was suggested as an alternative from nvidia support.
I’m still looking into this issue, if anyone could provide any extra logs it would be appreciated and help to understand whats going wrong. Steps on gathering logs are available here: https://support.plex.tv/articles/201573117-android-android-tv-fire-tv-logs/
Would also be curious if you only see the issue when refresh rate switching or passthrough support is enabled, and if it goes away when you disable refresh rate switching?
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I will start gathering logs. (whenever i get a free moment to watch tv… ) I think i currently (and always have) had refresh rate switching on AND passthrough support enabled. I’ll try to disable refresh rate switching also.
I’ll get more logs too, but I have never used refresh rate switching. Passthrough is on.
Always an issue with hevc 5.1 ac3 mp4s.
I do notice my soundbar dolby led cycling on and off while this error message is on screen. However this problem exists in all my android mobile and Android tv devices so this isn’t isolated to this specific sound bar.
logs.zip (194.5 KB)
Hi sixones,
I’ve attached my server log, android smartphone log, an nvidia shield log, and my Sony AndroidTV log. None of these devices can play my hevc ac3 mp4s through plex even though literally every other media player can. Even the Kodi plex addon can play them fine, just not the native apps.
I get the “network is too slow to play this file” message, and they all stutter through 5 seconds of play, 20 seconds of loading for all eternity.
It is a client-side issue specific to the Shield. When I get the message, my server logs say the client terminated the playback. The same client version on my Sony Android TV works fine.
My issue happens on every android device. My Sony TV or my shield, or my phone.
