Remote Play buffering only for windows 10 plex media servers

Plex Media Server Remote Access
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Server Version#: 1.24.4.5081
Player Version#: 1.35.1.2632-c6783c78
Windows 10 Version: 1903 (OS Build 18362.1256) (My Main Server)
Windows 10 Version: 20H2 (OS Build 19042.1348) (My Desktop, which has this issue when I put plex media server on it as well)

Plex has been buffering for my brother (on his browser/windows client/phone) and mother (TV/browser) while using remote play. When I check the bandwidth, it is only uploading at an average rate of 6 or 8 mbps (more on this later, it isn’t an internet problem on either end). The files they try to play have a bitrate above what is being uploaded. This causes plex to enter this endless buffer and playing loop.

To rule out hardware problems:
Transcoding is not the issue. I’m able to transcode the files they play just fine locally. The buffering also occurs when direct playing with the same exact pattern. The hard drive isn’t the problem as I am able to play the files locally with no problems. Hard drive speed tests are normal.

To rule out port forwarding problems:
Remote access and port forwarding is not an issue either. They get 6 or 8 mbps and not the 2 mbps that they would get if it wasn’t port forwarded. Additionally, I rented a VPS to test remote play and was able to remote play the files on a second account with no buffering issues.

To rule out bandwidth:
My friend who is also on the same network as me has his own plex server. I had my brother play the same movie off of his server and he was able to play it perfectly (It’s worth noting he uses the linux plex server). This eliminates their download and my upload being problems. It also leads me to believe my plex server alone is the party at fault for this problem. My brother/mother have gigabit internet (seperately, they don’t live together). I have 10 gigabit internet (with 1 gbit hardware). Using the VPS contributes to ruling out any concerns of my upload. Finally, I am able to direct play and transcode using LTE on my phone with no issues.

Ruling out server-side settings:
I’m able to play the files remotely on the VPS using a second account without changing settings.

My current server-side settings are: (anything not listed is blank)
Remote Access:
Internet Upload Speed: 1000 mpbs
Limit Remote Stream Bitrate: Original (No limit)

Plugins
None.

Network:
Enable server support for IPv6: checked
Secure Connections: Preferred
Preferred network interface: Any
Strict TLS configuration: unchecked
Enable local network discovery: checked
Remote streams allowed per user: Unlimited
Terminate Sessions Paused for Longer Than: 0
Treat WAN IPs As LAN Bandwidth: checked
Enable Relay: checked
Webhooks: checked

Transcoder
Transcoder Quality: Make my CPU hurt
Transcoder default throttle buffer: 300
Background transcofing x264 preset: Very fast
Enabled HDR tone mapping: checked
Disable video stream transcoding: unchecked
Use hardware acceleration when available: checked
User hardware-accelerated video encoding: checked
Maximum simultaneous video transcode: Unlimited

Ruling out client-side settings:
My brother was able to successfully play the same files from my friend’s plex server without changing any settings.

To summarize:

  1. I can locally direct play and transcode everything just fine.
  2. I can remote play using a second account and VPS just fine.
  3. Bandwidth isn’t an issue for both of us.
  4. My brother and mother are the only ones that have the buffering issues on my server and I’m uploading 6/8 mbps to them.
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Update:

I tried reinstalling the plex media server. When I did I had my brother try playing something and it played it perfectly. He then restarted his client and the same 6mbps and buffering occurred.

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The left peaks are what it’s supposed to be like, but the right peaks are what happens every time they try to play something off network (again, only for them, remote play works well on the VPS).

Edit:

I tried completely removing plex by creating backups of the appdata files and the registry and uninstalling plex. I then removed the registry entries and appdata files and installed plex. On the fresh install, the same 6mbps problem occurred.

I installed plex media server on my main PC. The same 6mbps problem occurred when my brother tried playing something. Perhaps this is a windows server problem? My roommates server is a linux server and my brother was able to play form his just fine.

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I would be curious about the result, if you also install your plex server onto a linux system, like ubuntu.

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I finally got around to putting plex media server on a ubuntu VM. The videos played perfectly for my brother on that server. I expected this would be the case considering my roommates server is on unRAID and my brother could play off my roommates just fine. I’m confident that this is a windows server issue as we haven’t had any issues on my roommates unRAID or my ubuntu VM. Additionally, to reiterate my last comment, the same buffering happened when I installed plex media server on my main PC further indicating windows plex media server as the problem.

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You give me the hope, that my similar problem can be solved by changing to ubuntu.

Im happy that it works at your side, i will try it as well!

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Unfortunately I don’t really have the time as of late to try and either migrate over to unraid. Or to come up with some jank way to run plex on a ubuntu VM on my windows plex server while having the VM see all my data on the windows machine. So I guess I just have to hope a plex employee/dev will see this and potentially fix it.

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I see exactly the same problem, except I cant seem to get better than 4Mbps stream. Running PMS on Windows Server 2016.

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So, after digging through a number of other threads, I tried this:

In the network settings, I unchecked “Enable Relay.”

Then I added my domain name to the “Custom Server Access URLs”

I’ve streamed about 4 hours now of varied content and haven’t had the issue reappear.

YMMV, but may be worth a try.

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Okay, I’ve changed the settings to what you changed them to. I had my friend help me troubleshoot this time and he had the same 6mbps buffering problem on his android phone. It doesn’t seem like the relay is the problem for me. Just a windows 10 + Plex media server problem.

At this point I have a feeling that giving my windows version as well as my plex version is important. I’m currently running Windows 10 Version 1903 (OS Build 18362.1256) on my server. On my desktop, which also had the problem when I tried putting the server on there, I’m running Windows 10 Version 20H2 (OS Build 19042.1348). The plex server is Version 1.24.5.5173. Hopefully this may be of use for a dev… if they see this ofc. I’ll update the original post to reflect this info.

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I’ve been fighting this issue since July and haven’t found any solution.

I installed and configured Emby yesterday (it comes with a free trial) and have been using it ever since. Has been working well, 99% fewer issues.

I’m not a paid shill or anything, just no longer interested in continuing to act out the definition of insanity.

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I don’t blame you in the slightest for switching. I want to give plex the benefit of the doubt and say that the problem is in windows itself. I put my plex server on a ubuntu VM and mounted the drives with all my media into the VM via some virtual optical drive method thing (I’m still not sure what I did, but it’s working for now and that’s all I need to care about). Remote streaming works really well, but plex is having a hard time updating the library when new content is added, but I blame the VM for that. I’ll try using a cifs mount in the future to see if that fixes it.

I only want this to be a temporary solution and hope someone out there has a more permanent one.

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Update: I’ve finally made the long needed switch to unRAID and there have been no issues with remote play. I’m still willing to help anyone troubleshoot windows servers since this problem persisted when hosting on all my other windows machines.

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