Hello fellow Plex users and media lovers. I’m experiencing very slow load times when using Plex on a 1080p TV, even while using Direct Play. This is mostly when the bit rate is around or above 4 MB/s. Then when I use Plex on my 720p TV, forcing Direct Play, it’s much faster. For a movie with 4.6 MB/s bit rate, it just took 1 min 40 sec on the 1080p TV and 10 sec on the 720p TV. I’m using a Roku here by the way. Perhaps this is a Roku problem? I thought it would send the same data if I’m using Direct Play on both. Does anyone have this same problem, or know what’s going on here?
Remote or local?
Wifi or LAN connected?
Can you provide the specs of the files you are trying to play. Please attach the XML of the files you are trying to play. From the web interface bring up INFO for the movie/show then click on View XML. Save and upload this please.
Local. Both the server and the Rokus are using Wifi. The strength of the Wifi is the same for both Rokus, so I know that’s not a problem.
Well, every file that I play on the 1080p TV is slower. I’ll give 2 specific movies that are though. How do I upload to here? I tried uploading using the Attach image/file thing in this forum, but it says “File is not allowed”.
Anyways, here is a link to download them from my OneDrive.
Is no one else having this problem on Roku, or any device? I can’t figure out why this is so slow on the 1080p TV and I’m afraid no one is going to want to watch Plex in the living room since it’s so slow compared to anything else. It doesn’t make sense because I’m fully Direct Playing on both devices. I’m hoping someone can offer an explanation. I can provide more info if needed.
Your server and clients are both connected over wifi.
Are you able to connect them over a wired connection to test if doing so corrects the problem?
At least the server…
I can’t currently do that, unfortunately. I would need a pretty long ethernet cable (or at least longer than any I have). I do want to try and find a way to run cables around the house, but I can’t currently do that. I’m not too sure I can blame it on the wireless connection though. The two Rokus have the same connection strength and this is a consistent thing. Services like Netflix, Hulu, Amazon are pretty much the same speed on both devices. Plex is the only thing that’s really slow on the one connected to the 1080p TV. Like over 10 times slow. I’m pretty baffled here.
The difference, as compared to Netflix and Hulu, is you only have traffic from the wifi router to the client, but with your Plex Server also connected over WiFi you double the traffic on your WiFi when streaming from Plex.
That makes sense. I don’t mind it being slower than those services, but I do mind the same device being much slower than the other when using Plex. Idk, maybe it is some weird WiFi thing. Who knows. I’m going to try and wire my house up so we can have Ethernet jacks in several rooms soon. If I can pull that off, I’ll have to compare speeds after that to see if it helps at all. I guess in the mean time, I could bring my computer near the modem and connect it through Ethernet and see how that works too.
Wireless is a convenience technology, not a performance one. Anytime you’re using wireless and have any sort of networking issues, Step 1 is to factor wireless out of the picture.
A 100’ Cat 5e ethernet cable from Monoprice is under $12 and handy to have on-hand regardless for testing and temporary setups.
Wifi on client for causal use is fine. Wifi for Server= NO NO.
@cayars said:
Wifi on client for causal use is fine. Wifi for Server= NO NO.
Yeah I know. I haven’t really had a choice though, unfortunately. It works well when I use my Roku though. I’m currently planning how I can create a wired networking system throughout my house. Hopefully I can get that done soon. I’ve never done anything like that before though. I think I’ve convinced everyone in the house that we need it, so that’s step 1 completed. Does anyone know of any good resources for learning how to set up a wired network, or any tips or suggestions? I want to create ethernet ports in just about every room. It’s a 2 story house with an attic if that matters.
Okay, so it was the WiFi router. We upgraded our Internet package and the ISP sent a new modem/router that has dual band WiFi. Using Plex is incredibly fast now, at least compared to how it was. I can actually watch my highest quality movies with only a few seconds of load time. It’s not even a good router, but it’s so much better than what we had and i can actually enjoy my Plex experience and watch whatever I want. I guess before it was just slower on the 1080p TV at the time I wrote this, but it seems that they’re pretty much the same.
