That’s not how it works.
The VPN builds a tunnel to the chosen exit point. While the VPN is active, all traffic is routed via the VPN. The public IP of the NAS is effectively the IP of the VPN exit point.
I checked with ExpressVPN. They do not support split tunneling when running a VPN on the Synology NAS, so it is not possible to have Plex bypass the VPN.
what about creating a second connection in the network settings for plex alone? or would that effectively be the split tunnelling you mentioned?
Good idea. However, @king_mrstress_mike_gmail_com has a DS218j. Docker is not supported on that model.
The DS218j has one Ethernet port. You cannot make another network connection.
Even if you could, it would not matter. The VPN takes over all networking.
wouldn’t that be resolved in making a setting in the network settings where my VPN connection could have a tab for split tunneling, and dedicating certain apps to certain paths? seems like something synology could do. perhaps even let me set a balance for the VPN/NOVPN ratio of bandwith so i can stream realiably and throttle downloads in one shot.
also lets not forget even with the VPN off i STILL cannot play my videos on my phone on data. so its not like i have a trade off. Right now its VPN ON and i can download, or OFF and i STILL cannot get my stuff access off network. i still have that major issue unresolved.
Getting back to your question regarding remote access via the phone.
With the VPN disconnected and Settings → Remote Access says “fully accessible…”, you should be able to access Plex remotely. You do not have to put an IP address into the Plex app on your phone (or any other device).
Can you access Plex Media Server via https://app.plex.tv/desktop/ from a PC on your network?
If yes, can you access it via the browser on your phone?
If both of those are yes, then the Plex mobile app should work.
EDIT: One other way is to check using the public IP address with your phone browser on the mobile network.
https://public_ip:32400/web ← use your real public IP address. 76.x.y.z.
i can play in on my browser on my phone… in portrait mode. still not in the app. I did not need to use the real IP, i just used the app link and then logged in.
Split tunneling is not possible when using Express VPN on a Synology NAS.
I had a chat session with Express VPN. They confirmed they do not support split tunneling on Synology NAS.
Other VPN providers may support split tunneling on Synology NAS. You’ll have to do some googling to find out if any do so.
If you can access PMS via app.plex.tv on the phone browser, then you should be able to use the mobile app.
Android or iOS?
i appreciate the thoroughness. I was hoping Synology itself would have provided the possibility of a split connection in its settings. maybe in a later update. but it would seem split tunnelling is less hardware/software (Synology) and more service (VPN) related.
android. I do have an ipad that i can try using phone as a hotspot. that might be something to rule out all mobile devices and localize the issue to my phone
ok i have my ipad on hoptspot and it was able to play an episode. so the issue is the android plex app. I’ll just re-install it and see how that goes.
Sounds good. iPad verifies remote access is working.
Hopefully reinstall fixes it on the phone.
still… unable to play. Even with a re-install and login, and such. It shows my stuff, and a PREVIOUS show i just began watching, so its all right on seeing my account and stuff. but the episode which WORKS on browsers and ipad, doesn’t on the phone.
so one problem solved and another rears its head like a hydra that devours my time and peace of mind.
The good news is authentication works and you can see your libraries.
Not sure why you can’t play media.
Maybe @BigWheel will have some ideas when he is back online.
Might need to pull the android logs and see if they show anything.
It is getting late and I’m fading. I’ll check in later in the day. Have a good night.
LOL. Been there way too many times.
I looked up that NAS and it appears that transcoding is a no go.
Try a low bitrate 720p h.264 file and see if you can get it to work
You may want to consider putting the VPN on your Windows machine and running your downloads there
You will get tired of turning the VPN on and off and there will come a time that you forget to turn it back on when you need it
plex-log-Podcaster Mike.zip (179.9 KB)
ok here is my android logs
Oh well, my bad for not checking that.
Not that it works with your existing hardware, but I have a full Servarr stack running on a small Raspberry Pi including SAB and QBittorrent all in docker containers. Quite impressive how that tiny thing runs all that smoothly.
thing is downlaod station has a great app so if i think of a tv show or movie i want, i just hit the app, and without even having my computer on, its’ downloading and done when i get home. it sucks that i have to choose between them or just remember to turn this crap on an off. though with download in the pass i suppose i could use it. ONCE my damn phone can play the stuff.
so on my home network it plays on my phone with no issue. just off my network i still get unable to play media. it wont even try to download it “untill better connectivity is present” as the message says. so its not a transcoding issue, or file type, or my phone being outdated.
so this is a persistent app issue i still need help with.
09-23 04:08:25.711 i: [MediaDecisionEngine] Starting media decision for: Star Trek: Lower Decks - S4 • E1 (part index 0)
09-23 04:08:25.784 i: [MediaDecisionEngine] Analyzing media: 1920x1080 9175kbps (Container: mkv, Video: h264, Audio: eac3)
09-23 04:08:25.801 i: [MediaDecisionEngine] Bitrate 9175 exceeds maximum allowed (720)
09-23 04:08:25.801 i: [MediaDecisionEngine] Unable to play; server unable to transcode video
Bitrate 9175 exceeds maximum allowed (720)
When you uninstall/re-install it resets all the app settings.
The Plex Android app defaults to 720 kbps for remote streams. The media is encoded at 9175 kbps. The NAS is not powerful enough to transcode 1080p video.
Modify the Plex Android app settings so it does not have to transcode video.
Settings → Quality
→ Automatically Adjust Quality = Off
→ Limit Cellular Data = Off
→ Remote Streaming Quality = Maximum
