Server Version#: 1.19.4.2935 Linuxserver.io Plex Docker container.
It has been a couple of weeks since my two remote users, from two completely different locations, have been reporting playback problems. I have not been able to reproduce the issue locally.
The problems persist regardless of player (Web interface through Chrome, Windows Store App for Windows 10, iOS, Android TV and Android) and regardless of transcoding or direct playing.
It happens randomly, sometimes after 10-20 seconds of playback start, sometimes minutes. But it happens every single time. They cannot watch anything without interruptions.
PMS is running in docker, on a 16core/32thread Dell R720 with 256GB of RAM. The internet connection is a 200mbps up/down fiber line that has had 0.01% packet loss for the last 10 days. Media being played back is 1080p 3-8 mbps.
Something else that is weird, at least in the case of the Android TV, possibly with the other players as well but I have not confirmed it, is that the device does not show the buffering sign, instead the picture just freezes. This can also be seen in the logs where PMS thinks that the playback has been paused.
I have been testing with my Android TV device through a VPN so I can simulate a remote connection and got 3/3 streams to stop within minutes. They should be included in the log.
Here are the logs from both the server and client.
Playback started at 14:44:16 and stopped at 14:45:21.
The reason it stopped is because the video would not load any further.
I did not pause, stop or interfere in any other way with the playback. The internet was fine, as were the local networks.
Other media playing apps such as Emby and Jellyfin do not show any problems with remote playback whatsoever, hence this is a Plex problem.
AFAIK from the logs, the server will not provide the client with any more data at a random point, the client has to pause the playback and report it back to the server and the server thinks the client paused the playback and the playback just stops and never resumes.
This is on server version 1.20.1.3252 and Android Plex version 8.6.0.20351 (397d660a).
This behavior can be replicated with remote connections from devices ranging from Plex for iOS, Plex Web for Windows, Plex for Android and Plex for Android TV. I repeat that networking is not an issue and this seems like a general bug, probably server-side.
