Hi. I’m looking to tweak my server settings to create a better user experience for the family and friends whom I share with remotely. Up to this point I’ve had the internet upload speed set at 95 Mbps (yeah fiber!) but remote stream bitrate limited to 4 Mbps / 720p. This was due to a misunderstanding on my part of Plex’s transcoding guidelines in that I thought my passmark 9000+ Xeon server should be able to handle up to 6 simultaneous video transcodes to that target quality (1500 per) instead of only 2 max for all of my movies that are full rip (30+ Mbps) blurays, as Otto Kerner recently explained to me in another thread. Of course this led to users complaining of constant buffering if they tried to watch when 2 or 3 other remote users were on at the same time.
That said and while I’m trying to figure out if I want to go back and Handbrake more of my movies for easier direct play, I’m trying to understand what will happen if I change the maximum simultaneous video transcodes from unlimited to, say, 2? Will the 3rd remote user who tries to initiate a transcoding session get an error message or will they just get the same repeated buffering until they get frustrated and give up watching? And same question for max upload speed and remote streams allowed per user under Network settings. Do either of those generate error messages (ie. if either the total upload speed is close to being saturated or if the same remote user tries to open a second stream on a different player)?
I know it’s been a focus of Plex devs to add these controls to more recent versions of PMS and I really appreciate the progress that’s been made so far. I just haven’t seen any explanation yet of what the user experience actually is when these limits are reached, and what I’m hearing from friends and family is that where possible they would prefer to just get an error message up front if there is too much traffic on the server vs. fighting their way through constant buffering (which may not start until halfway into the movie) and not knowing if it’s just traffic or some other issue possibly on their end.
Thanks in advance for any insights on this.
The Automatically Adjust Quality feature, currently is a Preview stage, is suppose to address these issues.
We don’t always live in a world with consistent home Wi-Fi or Internet speeds. Maybe the cellular signal varies during the bus ride into work, or your Wi-Fi slows down every time your roommate microwaves a burrito. When your connection quality changes, it’s annoying for video players to pause or require you to change a quality setting. In cases like that, it’s ideal for players to automatically adapt without interruptions.
To give you the best possible experience, Plex can now automatically adjust the quality of your video based on your connection speed. When auto quality is turned on, videos will start at the quality that you have selected in your app’s quality settings, then increase or decrease quality based on your connection speed.
REF: https://support.plex.tv/hc/en-us/articles/115007570148-Automatically-Adjust-Quality-Preview-
@hthighway said:
The Automatically Adjust Quality feature, currently is a Preview stage, is suppose to address these issues.
Interesting, thanks Unfortunately this sounds a long way off from helping my situation since none of my remote users use the client devices currently supported (most use either Rokus or smart TV apps) and none are Plex Pass members either. So for the time being, are there any situations where a remote user will get an error message or warning when they bump up against server settings limits or is it always the case that Plex will just try to play the stream anyway until the remote user gets tired of the buffering and gives up?
I can make adjustments around whatever the behavior is now. I’d just like to understand what it is without having to rope family and friends in on a bunch of trial and error testing and playing around with settings that aren’t going to change anything just to figure it out on my own.
Just wanted to follow up for the benefit of anyone else who might have the same question. I was finally able to test a couple of these settings myself and discovered the following:
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Remote Streams Allowed per User (under Server Settings / Network) doesn’t appear to do anything. Setting that to 1 and then starting playback off my own remote server on both smart TV and phone resulted in no error message on either device and both played normally. So not sure if that’s a bug or I’m just not understanding what that setting is supposed to do.
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Maximum Simultaneous Video Transcode (under Server Settings / Transcoder) does generate client error messages. Setting that to 1 and then trying to watch a video that has to be transcoded one one device after a video transcode is already running on the other creates an error message on the second device of “There Was a Problem Playing This Item” (on my LG TV) or “Playback Was Not Possible” (on my Android phone) with both followed by “Not Enough CPU Conversion For This Item”. So apparently the exact wording of the first part depends on the client device but the second part of the error message is universal. Which is great since this is exactly what I was hoping for.
I guess it would be a feature request at this point but what I would love is if Plex could create a setting that would generate the same kind of error message if/when the network connection becomes saturated as well. So take my setup as an example, if I have under Server Settings / Remote Access the Internet Upload Speed set to 95 Mbps and let’s say with ~70 Mbps already consumed by other remote users someone tries to direct play a 30 Mbps full rip bluray they would see a similar error message through their player of “Not enough Network/Internet Bandwidth For This Item”. That sort of thing.
Of course I’m not technical enough to know if a network setting like that would even be possible to implement in the same way as the maximum simultaneous video transcodes limit. I just think it would be preferable if, as much as possible, it’s always the last remote user who starts watching at the same time who A) gets the error message (if one can be generated in this scenario) or B) is at least the only one who experiences buffering if an error message is not possible and they were the last in line. Because someone correct me if I’m wrong but I assume the way it actually works in this particular scenario right now is that any or all of the other simultaneous remote users who had already started watching earlier are just as likely to experience buffering as the person who started their session last. Right? Which is really unfortunate to know that someone who is already an hour into their movie might be unable to finish it due to repeated buffering while the last person in line wasn’t even invested in what they were trying to watch yet and might be the beneficiary if they stick through it after the remote user(s) who started earlier give up and stop watching.
Anyway, just some feedback for the devs that I’ll go ahead and copy over to the feature request board or add my +1 if others have already requested this.
@ElJimador40 said:
- Remote Streams Allowed per User (under Server Settings / Network) doesn’t appear to do anything. Setting that to 1 and then starting playback off my own remote server on both smart TV and phone resulted in no error message on either device and both played normally. So not sure if that’s a bug or I’m just not understanding what that setting is supposed to do.
Were you logged in with your own account or one you share with? The server admin account is not limited by this setting
