Server Version#: 1.19.1.2645
Player Version#: 4.32.2
My PLEX server is installed on WIN10 Intel NUC Celeron J3455 4 cores, 8GB of RAM. Internet speed is 100/100. System with server is located on SSD and movies on HDD.
Movies with bitrate 4Mbps or less are played well. Videos with higher bitrate start playing normally, but after 5-10-15 minutes they experience problem. It is needed some time to buffer the video.
If I am downloading movie from server (using PLEX) download speed is up to 10MBps. (usually 9-10 MBps)
While movie is streaming, PLEX does not load CPU over 35%, Internet speed also is not affected much. It is always 2-3 gigs of RAM free.
What causes the problem? I have experienced this for long time on different devices (PCs, TVs, Ipads, Androids, Iphones).
I access server from different network and countries. Client speed usually is 50-150 on download and 50-100 on upload.
Hi lazzycatster,
I actually think you might be lacking some performance, compared to an comparably entry-level cpu (sorry for intel vs amd), the celeron’s cpu performance could be better, not to speak of its GPU performance. If you want to figure out the exact problem, open the task manager (Ctrl + Shift + Esc), performance tab, to see your bottleneck. If it does not reflect my assumption above, just send me a screenshot
The remote video quality default setting on SOME clients is 4Mbps. So if you haven’t changed this setting on the client side, you could be forcing transcodes even though you have the bandwidth to direct play. The transcoding would be borderline too much for that CPU, as Super4Jet said.
Some times it can play movies with higher bit rate (let’s say 30% of time) with no problem.
If you look on network plot, you will see that the bandwidth is not used fully. CPU does not seem to be fully loaded.
Yes, this is not the fastest CPU, but it should be enough for this task.
You can see where you hit 100% CPU a couple times in the graph, maybe it spikes long enough to run out of buffer.
What is the bitrate of the source? Do you even need to be transcoding it?
Unlikely, that’s why Plex buffers. Standard unit there is one second, direct play is buffering around 2-3 seconds (which are immediately caught up), transcoded buffers about 2 minutes.
Yeah, both CPU and GPU are not very happy. Is it possible they are thermal throttling?
BTW if you want more detail for your GPU utilization, go to the taskmgr, right-click change graph to > multiple engines and look through all the engines if there is anything a 100%
You closed all application including or excluding Plex? The first screenshot is showing ~70% for both CPU and GPU, the second is ~20%, a huge difference, maybe because you chose a different stream, you changed from ~12mbit/s to ~6mbit/s upload, the first time it was probably transcoding, but not the second time.
No, plex server was running. I think Chrome from time to time loads CPU till 100%.
It was playing the same video file.
That is why it is weird for me. PC is not fully loaded, network is not fully loaded, but I can’t play video flawlessly.
And when video is 10Mbps and is encoded and streamed to 4Mbps there is no issues while I’m watching. So it means that there is no bottleneck related to GPU or CPU.
So it’s a bandwidth problem? You may check your device’s internet speeds, which are probably connected over WiFi, or any performance issues with your router.
Hi @easyruud,
uuh, you made a statement there. “always slow”. So first: Plex is not always slow; I run my old Plex Server on a Raspberry Pi 3 and it’s doing great, bandwidth of 260mbit/s though transcoding equals a crash as the Pi is just not meant for workstation tasks, that’s why I personally transitioned to a FreeNAS Server (AMD 2C). Second: Mostly pointless is your own opinion. Nothing to say there.
Third: Play your media with VLC - you’re a genious! Of course VLC is great at playing videos, though you didn’t understand what Plex was made for: Streaming and transcoding (for on the go), not playing a file of your computer. I do know that you can stream, but with very limited functionality compared to Plex, e.g. transcoding is not available.
So the same for you: If you have problems with your Plex, writing hate comments in random threads is just not helpful for anyone; open a new topic, describe your issue and the community is happy to help
Its honestly not a hate comment. Its genuinely intended to help people. Been a plex user for 8 years. Its great that it displays libruary nice and shows whats been viewed and keeps your place, however - its not worth the endless hassle and slowness. Transcoding is a false dawn.
