Looking for some clarification on Reserved Bandwidth and device recommendations.
First question:
If I have 20 Mbps upload, and two remote users begin streaming movies that reserve 8 Mbps for each stream, what happens when a third remote user comes along to stream and needs another 8 Mbps of reserved bandwidth? Will they get an error message?
I believe the Reserved Bandwidth is tied to the RequireBandwidths in the XML. Depending on the Plex client (hardware), Plex will reserver bandwidth based on the numbers in the RequireBandwidth. For example:
One client (smart tv) might need 15.3 Mbps reserved but the Plex Windows client might only need 2.6 Mbps.
Second question:
There must be some data the Plex is determining which number for the comma-delimited list to use. I assume this is amount of RAM available to the Plex client. Can Plex share with us what amounts of RAM determine which sets of numbers are used from the RequiredBandwidth? And/or, can Plex help in sharing the information about how large RAM amounts are for different streaming devices so we can make better informed purchase decisions?
It’s been mentioned that Smart TVs are horrible (I assume come with small amounts of RAM), and that is very helpful information. But, do I go out and get a Roku stick or Ultra or a Nvidia Shield or does a Fire stick model suffice for getting those lower Reserved Bandwidths?
Tip!: The Plex Media Server is smart enough to prevent saturating the bandwidth value specified here. It will only use 80% of this for streams, both to ensure that normal network requests can be completed and because streams have variable bitrates and will naturally go up and down somewhat.
The bandwidth used for remote streams depends on server & client settings, not the client hardware.
The bandwidth limit for a remote stream is the lesser value of Plex Media Server settings for (a) Internet Upload Speed and (b) Limit Remote Stream Bitrate; and the Plex Client setting for Remote Streaming Quality.
If requiredBandwidths exceeds the remote stream limit, Plex transcodes both the video and audio to get below the limit.
Not sure how Plex determines buffer size on clients.
However, Plex Media Server sends as much data as possible. When the client buffer is full, it signals PMS to stop sending data. When the buffer empties enough, it signals PMS to send more data.
You can see this in the Plex Dashboard bandwidth graph.
PMS (or the client) might be configured with a 8 Mbps limit. However, when streaming, the bandwidth may burst well above the limit, especially when the stream initially begins, but the average will remain 8 Mbps.
Streaming a movie to my phone on mobile network. The Plex mobile app has a 8 Mbps limit. The phone supports AC3 audio, but PMS transcodes both video and audio to get below the 8 Mbps limit.
Thats wrong, or maybe you misunderstood what we said. We talked about the requiredbandwith metric and that strongly depends on the client hardware capabilities.
The Streaming Brain calculates the needed upper floor for the bandwith INCLUDING all the spikes in the bitrate DEPENDING on the buffer size.
Because of that the SAME file will need (sometimes extremely) different bandwith reserved when played back by different clients.
A file with a constant bitrate on the other hand has the same value for each buffer size and that will also match the average bitrate.
I hope I’m not misunderstood. I’m not asking for trade secrets. I’m just hoping to be able to make better recommendations about device purchases so me and my users can use Plex best.
