Plex was working beautifully on a remote connection and then all of a sudden it didn’t. I was just testing the stream one second and the next time I started it, it was having lots of issues buffering on direct play. The issue persisted for days and now it’s been more than a week.
I have tried updating to the latest version of Plex on Ubuntu, restarting my router and Plex server laptop, emptying the trash on Plex, different internet connections, etc. but nothing seems to work. If I set it to a lower quality like 2-3 Mbps it works better. However it was working at the original quality of 4.8 earlier, and some videos that are around 3 Mbps original quality also have issues unless I transcode.
I don’t understand what happened and I am very frustrated because it was hard getting it setup perfectly remotely and now that I really need it of course it doesn’t work. Plex has been very stable in the past remotely, and I didn’t make any changes to my knowledge that could have caused the issue. I only updated to 1.13.4.5271 after the issue started.
My network speed should be no problem, about 10 Mbps up and 100 down on the remote client. This speed has worked in the past just fine. I’m really at a loss here, any help is appreciated.
TLDR: Remote playback is buffering at unplayable levels while I didn’t make any changes to my setup.
Maybe the configuration didn’t change. What about the title being played? It may not be buffering because of networking but because of playback settings by the remote and the XML (subtitles? codec?) of the file being played
More details, XML, and captured DEBUG log of it buffering will be needed but this sounds like a media issue
Sorry I don’t know what the procedure is for this kind of thing. I am looking in the logs, what kind of message am I looking for to capture the buffering issues? Could you point me in the right direction if it’s posted somewhere?
The best way to diagnose this is by repeating the events due to Plex’s (default) small logging buffers.
Please make sure DEBUG logging is enabled, VERBOSE disabled (Settings - Server - General)
Play the video until it buffers twice.
Stop Playback
Wait ~20 second for the session to terminate and get into the logs.
Settings- Server - Help - Download Logs
It will give you a ZIP file to attach with your reply.
Also, please obtain the media XML (Hover over the item - click Get Info - Click View XML and then copy paste all of the top section … stop when you see it get into the cast information
8 With both of those attached, I can quickly see what’s happening.
I’m also experiencing this issue with Ubuntu Plex Server 1.13.4.5251. I have 30Mbits symmetric connection. Two different people, both on Comcast Xfinity service. The problem started a week or two ago, and is severe now. Plex played flawlessly before. One of these people uses a wired Ethernet connection to his Comcast Xfinity Internet Box.
The same 28GB 2hour movie can be downloaded in less than 30 minutes over the same Internet connection, so bandwidth isn’t the issue.
The Movie plays flawlessly on a local 100 BaseT wired connection using the same equipment, Roku Ultra. The second user is watching shows using an Android Tablet over WiFi at 720p resolution. I’m using a local wired gigabit connection running at 100Mbits/sec at the Roku Player.
Yes exactly, this problem started about two weeks ago for me as well. I am also on Comcast Xfinity if that makes a difference. My server is connected via ethernet.
I have tried on iOS and my laptop on multiple different home Wifi networks in two apartments and various public hotspots throughout the city. All had over 20 Mbps. It seems to suggest it’s not a network issue, unless there is a problem with the server’s connection.
Also if I transcode to a lower bitrate it does seem to work slightly better, but it wasn’t a problem about 2 weeks ago.
One thing everyone must remember to take into consideration is the overhead.
The video + audio bitrate isn’t the number to use. The “Bytes/second” needed to transmit, in the container (MP4 or MKV) is what matters.
Assuming the file is DirectPlay (easiest to measure), take the size / duration . This gives you payload bytes/sec. Multiply 8 for bits/sec. Multiply by 1.2 to include Plex protocol and TCP + IP overhead (8%).
Now you have a more true measure of bandwidth requirement.
I rolled my Plex server back to Version 1.13.0.5023 (May 10) and asking everyone to give that a try and report back.
With Net Neutrality gone I need to rule out Comcast playing with QoS Fast lane/Slow lane tactics getting ready to charge customers even higher rates before blaming Plex.
I actually tried updating my server version as a fix, my version was from March or something like that of this year so I don’t think it was something that broke in the new update. Let me know how rolling back goes for you.
Also I don’t think the bandwidth requirement is the cause of the issue because as I mentioned it worked for months before on the same media, even the previous day when I was testing it played the whole movie through and I was using the same internet connection on both ends. It literally seems like something happened “overnight” that caused the issue
I don’t think the bandwidth requirement is the cause of the issue because as I mentioned it worked for months before on the same media, even the previous day when I was testing it played the whole movie through and I was using the same internet connection on both ends. It literally seems like something happened “overnight” that caused the issue
Yes, I agree, this isn’t likely to be strictly a bandwidth issue. I’m knocking down other possibilities for due diligence.
I recommended to my friend he switch to Frontier FIOS (also available in his area) which isn’t experiencing these problems.
I was visiting another friend today who is 60 miles away, and using a Roku unit on Comcast Xfinity service. My server is running Version 1.13.0.5023 (May 10) and has a 30Mbps uplink speed. Version 1.13.0.5023 (May 10) used to work with 18Mbps media over my internet connection. We were able to watch the movie, but had to set the bandwidth down to 2Mbps. Even 3Mbps wouldn’t play without “buffering”. Considering the “stated” bandwidth from Comcast, 75Mbps, this is absurd. I think this test combined with playing locally at 18Mbps works flawlessly is sufficient to say the problem is probably Comcast, not Plex. Plex developers may be able to find a way around whatever is happening, but they didn’t cause the problem.
I need to find another friend with Frontier service to verify he can play remotely at 18Mbps.
Thanks for doing some testing! Let me know if I can help but my server is in my home in another country so I can’t go move it any time soon to see if Comcast is the issue. Also just to be clear, I only have Comcast on the server; my client devices I have tried using various other ISPs none of which were Comcast.
If you have iperf3 installed on your server I can run a check against it. Just did this from my location in Washington state against California and Netherlands. No bandwidth issues on any of the 3 systems. I can check yours if you’d like.
It turned out to be network issues… A quick test would be going on speedtest.net and changing the server to your ISP and see what your upload speeds are between server and client
Last time I did speedtest.net on Comcast, everything looked great (75mbps/10mbps and low latency), but still lots of buffering interruptions using a new Roku Ultra 4660x2. I do think you’re right that it is an ISP problem. Two users are still experiencing serious buffering issues. Both using Comcast, neither has any other ISP choice/options, stuck with Comcast. One of these users has another house 1.5 hours drive away where they have no problems with the same movies/shows from the same physical server, different ISP. Another user in Europe says everything works perfect for them, running Samsung and Roku Smart TV’s. I’m running the latest Plex Server software on both systems; PMS Version 1.13.9.5456
What I find frustrating is Hulu, Netflix, YouTube, Roku channel all work fine at 1080p resolutions 5.1 surround under the same conditions causing Plex-Buffering and using the same equipment and connections. So why does Plex have so much trouble? Different low level protocols which don’t operate well unless conditions are nearly perfect? Plex protocol not robust enough? Don’t know. 2 physical locations which don’t work, and 3 that do work.
I have temporary access to a brand new Synology DS918+ server with hardware video transcoding support. It has similar buffering problems running PMS Version 1.13.9.5456. So it’s not just Ubuntu, and not a “slow server” problem as the Plex Buffering messages suggest.
We may never know what’s going on. Plex works for some locations and not others.
