Server Version#: Latest/Not sure
Player Version#: Roku
I’m experimenting so that I can migrate my Plex server to a new system. One of them that I’m exploring is using my Synology DS3617xs. I used the Plex application to start with. It all worked great, found my media, was very snappy. The problem arose when I tried to stream any of my shows to my Roku built into my TCL TV. It won’t stream anything faster than 2 mbits per second. If I download the same file via plex web, I get 640 mbps download.
I can’t find any setting in the Synology that would limit the bandwidth or in the plex servers settings.
This 2 mbps seems peculiar since it’s kind of acting like a remote bandwidth limit, but everything is local, so there’s no reason that would be the case. On the Roku I’ve also disabled any limits that I know of so it’ll direct stream. It’s possible I missed something though, however on my current plex server, it’ll direct stream with no limits so I doubt the limit is on the Roku side of things.
Here’s a little more data that might help. I’ve also been tossing back and forth between the official plex docker running on the Synology (it has other problems unrelated to this one) and the Plex Package for Synology, just to see if there was any difference in behavior/performance. Interestingly, both have this same problem. So I think this must be some setting on my Synology that I’m not aware of. Normal SMB/CIFS file transfers go at gigabit speeds though, so it’s acting like something is keeping my Packages/Dockers from using much bandwidth. Traffic control is disabled on the Synology.
I must be missing what your getting after. That port on my router is not being forwarded to my Synology box. I’m not trying to access my Synology or Plex remotely. Everything is on my LAN. I did use Canyouseeme.org as requested, and as expected, it doesn’t see that open port. But from my WAN I’d not expect it to see it
Are you trying to stream on your home LAN and not getting more than 2 Mbps or Remotely and not getting more than 2 Mbps?
One question I have for LAN / WiFi use. Are the WiFi adapters in Isolation mode?
(e.g. are they blocking access to wired?) Some do have that on by default even though all hosts are on the same subnet.
All access is via LAN. No streaming remotely via WAN. (That will happen, but it’s not my concern at the moment.) Everything is hardwired CAT6 or CAT 5e with gigabit ethernet, except maybe the TCL TV. That may very well be only 100baseT, not sure. Wifi exists in my house, but non of the devices involved in this streaming issue are on Wifi. Both my current Plex Server running on Ubuntu and the Synology box are directly connected to my gigagit switch.
With the 2 megabit limit, I suspected something related to the remote bandwidth limit as well, but that doesn’t make any sense, especially since my Plex on Ubuntu instance has no trouble streaming some 60 mbps content.
Ok. I will do that as soon as I can. One thing to note, it doesn’t ever actually play the content, it just buffers endlessly. Of course this is with the high bit rate content. I’ll try to regular vanilla HD content to see what happens.
Here’s the logs from the server that won’t stream quickly. megabeest_log.txt.txt (359.9 KB)
It buffers for a while, plays for about 3 seconds, then buffers again for a while. Get a burst of 49 mbps at the beginning of playback on the bandwidth console, then it drops to 1 mbps.
Edited: Sorry, I didn’t pay close enough attention to how to get the logs. Here is the zip as requested.
(File removed)
These are some very good insights. I’m learning two things at once here, which makes things tricky.
The first playback did indeed work fine, which was odd, because when I created the first text file log, it did not. So I tried again with the 4k HDR file, and the problem came back. Tried to play the 1080p file again, and again was hitting the 2 mbps limit. I’ll disable the hardware acceleration, of course. Don’t need it anyway.
I like the network issue find. That sounds promising. Fixing now.
OK, so I turned off all hardware transcoding, and disconnected one ethernet cable (bonding didn’t help anything). Played my 1080p content again, and it seemed to play fine for a while, then started buffering again. Bandwidth use looked better, but then fell off a cliff.
I’ve attached a log of when this happened.
(File removed)
Also, I do believe I played the same content via the web interface and it played great with no buffering. I think that may be in the log as well and it was streaming at well over 10 mbps.
Maybe I didn’t get the log properly then. Crud. It played for about 1-2 minutes smooth as glass, then buffered, then after that, no more than 2 mbps, so constant rebuffering on the Roku.
I’ll try to capture it happening again, and see if the logs show anything different.
Btw, which file are you looking in in the logs? I’d like to learn how to fish as well. Not just you guys giving me the fish.
Here’s a new log, this time I’m playing back 4k HDR content which always fails streaming from this server, but always succeeds from my previous server. Playback starts after Nov 29, 2020 12:14:56.467 I believe. I’m not sure what log message indicates the playback start.
This file buffers very slowly, plays for less than one second then buffer again. It does this 3 times before the Roku bails on playback. It of course cannot play because 4k HDR will never stream at 2 Mbps.
(File removed)
192.168.3.162 Is the Roku doing the playback.
192.168.3.147 is the Plex/Synology
192.168.3.95 is the desktop PC I’m using the retrieve logs and such.
I don’t see any error in Plex Media Server.log. But I know playback isn’t working on this server, so there’s something wrong.
No certificates, just the Plex public key for the package download.
Timestamp Nov 29, 2020 12:15:06.943 shows the content that I’m playing. It is a 4k HDR video. It’s the same file that when played from my current Plex server streams directly just fine with HDR passthrough.
I’ll check the ethernet connection, however, if that were the problem I’d expect that any and all transfers from/to that Synology box would be hampered by that problem. They are not. I can download the file directly from the File Share and via the web on Plex at gigabit speeds.
As for DNS Rebinding Protection, I apparently do have that because from my research all Asus routers have it enabled by default and cannot be disabled. As it stands I no of no way to work around that without using custom firmware, which I’m not really interested in doing. Is that a problem that only exists with using the Plex Package for Synology? Because as I’ve said, the same content streams without issues on my other Plex server.
So the log may show that, but actual playback on the device does not reflect that as reality. It buffers very slowly, never actually does any playback but a 500 ms blip then goes right back to buffering. Does the log show buffering or the timing of how long it takes for that buffering?
Let me state the DN Rebinding Protection another way: All of my research shows that it is not configurable. It’s just on, no configuration possible to allow domains to passthrough.
That being said, what is different about the Plex package on Synology that would make DNS Rebinding Protection an issue versus a Ubuntu installed Plex server install?
Sorry for the misunderstanding on my part about the DNS Rebinding. It was not on purpose.
I did just try playback on a Windows PC connected to the TCL TV and used both Plex for Windows and Plex Media Center. Both played the 4k HDR content just fine. However, my other research indicated that those application do not do HDR passthrough, but rather SDR Tonemapping. Maybe that’s wrong, but it’s also tangential to the subject at hand. But it does show that the server is indeed able to stream the content quickly.
So that just leaves the why it cannot stream the 4k HDR content to the Roku but my other Plex server on the same network can.
