Not sure if anything changed with how PMS handles http streaming with recent server updates? I never had this problem before. I have a very fast remote server running Linux which I use to host Plex. I can download at 10MB/s from the server through FTP and HTTP, but Plex streams seem capped at 1.2-1.5MB/s. I thought it was the backbone routing so I had that switched from Cogent to Telia. Same thing. I figured maybe something with my ISP (Wave). Just moved into a new house and had Frontier FIOS installed as ISP and getting the same exact thing Plex stream capped at around 1.5MB/s. I tried different routers, different computers and devices, and all are streaming at that speed. Also tried enabling/disabling in server settings IPV6 and HTTP pipeline.
The weird thing is that if I start 2 streams on same computer (different browser windows) then total download speed becomes 2.5-3MB/s so clearly the bandwidth is available. It just seems capped per stream.
Any idea what could be causing this and how to resolve it? I would like the ability to stream high bitrate movies without transcoding.
I’m not sure how this issue can continue to be overlooked and not acknowledged by Plex. There have been hundreds of people on the fourm reporting this exact issue since 1.4.0 and still no answer on whether a fix is being worked on. The issue has existed for so long that you can’t even download a working version (1.3.4) on the Plex webpage anymore because they keep pushing new releases that don’t address this major issue. But at least you can start the choppy unwatchable playback using Alexa.
@Jdiesel87 said:
I’m not sure how this issue can continue to be overlooked and not acknowledged by Plex. There have been hundreds of people on the fourm reporting this exact issue since 1.4.0 and still no answer on whether a fix is being worked on. The issue has existed for so long that you can’t even download a working version (1.3.4) on the Plex webpage anymore because they keep pushing new releases that don’t address this major issue. But at least you can start the choppy unwatchable playback using Alexa.
I’m here… even though this is not my normal focus area. Would you like to contribute to the successful resolution?
As I have demonstrated countless times in the areas i do focus, Help me document what’s happening and I will advocate & get it fixed.
@ChuckPA I appreciate your effort in trying to track the issue down. The problem is that for many users, especially those who are paying, they want a stable usuable system and not to be beta testers. I personally do not want to switch back and forth between 1.4.3 and 1.3.4 to capture logs and troubleshoot because it makes my server usuable for myself and all my other users.
If we work as a team, All who are experiencing this, and can create a very cleanly controlled demonstration for engineering, those get fixed VERY easily. They may be good but can’t think of every combination / permutation.
That’s what our goal is… Add to the list of permutations…
My job is to work with you and when we all have it put together, start advocating. (fyi… i can be quite the advocate in those regards)
@ChuckPa said:
If you see a green dot, you’re secure. You must look below this.
Notice Local (lokal) or remote (entfernt) or indirect (indirekt)
Remote gives you the 2 Mbps limit via Plex.tv. It’s telling you the remote server is not “Remotely Accessible” on its end.
I don’t think this applies to me since mine is fully remotely accessible.
@ChuckPa said:
If we work as a team, All who are experiencing this, and can create a very cleanly controlled demonstration for engineering, those get fixed VERY easily. They may be good but can’t think of every combination / permutation.
That’s what our goal is… Add to the list of permutations…
My job is to work with you and when we all have it put together, start advocating. (fyi… i can be quite the advocate in those regards)
I’d be glad to help the devs figure this out. I can post logs and if you have a link to 1.3.4 then I can get that installed on my server to post logs as well. The distro is Gentoo
For all the Linux distros, since it’s very easy to download and keep them, I do. While I have my versions for myself, the rules don’t allow me to share them (but if you happen to share among yourselves… have at it) There are two fundamentals. Debian based and Redhat based.
If you’re willing to do a little ‘hacking’ (make sure you have all the files)
Stop PMS
rename /usr/lib/plexmediaserver to /usr/lib/plex-_version_number
install the other on top of it. (yes it might complain… so force it)
you’ll have two plexmedia* directories.
Now, rename the new plexmediaserver to reflect the current version installed.
e.g
/usr/lib/plex-1.3.4
/usr/lib/plex-1.4.4
And for the magic… cd /usr/lib; ln -s plex-1.3.4 plexmediaserver
You might want to clean out the logs directory so we don’t cross contaminate.
start it normally.
produce the condition. (JUST enough for the devs)
stop pms
capture logs (zip or tgz or whatever works)
swap the symlink.
clean the logs
Repeat 1-4 above.
with me?
EDIT PLEASE do not use VERBOSE logging unless we really need to… Debug only
It seems that deleting the server config and starting from scratch fixed the issue… Strange… I will post logs later tonight or tomorrow. I’m still on 1.4.4
Nevermind it’s more complicated than that. Will post more details when I figure it out.
This is from fresh setup. After installing plex, my server gives me a URL to access it, accept terms, etc. I don’t login yet and skip, add a one file folder to library
06:50 - normal streaming (fast)
06:51 - login to plex in server settings, confirm that it’s remotely fully accessible (yes), then click on server list on top left which refreshes it, now green lock icon is there and previously wasn’t (i did try disabling secured connections before and that did not fix it though, but it seems related maybe? or at least something to do with logging in)
06:52- slow stream
@mixolyd and all… For future reference, There is a ‘document attach’ feature ^^. Would you consider using that? It makes it much easier for me versus having to jump out to some other site to get the data. It is also much easier for the dev team when they want to collect all the data for their work. It is already pre-packaged for them in the log file extracts and reference thread I give them with my write-up
Your logs b) show an issue and b) are contraindicative
1.4.4 shows me
Mar 18, 2017 06:47:46.725 [0x7f3330b35700] DEBUG - [com.plexapp.system] HTTP reply status 200, with 2328 bytes of content.
Mar 18, 2017 06:47:46.726 [0x7f3330b35700] WARN - SLOW QUERY: It took 870.000000 ms to retrieve 1 items.
Mar 18, 2017 06:47:46.726 [0x7f3330b35700] DEBUG - The system knows about 4 agents.
and
1.3.4 runs in a Relay through Plex.tv whereas 1.4.4 runs direct (theoretically faster connection path)
Mar 18, 2017 07:14:03.089 [0x7f5f037ff700] DEBUG - Relay: refreshed host key from https://downloads.plex.tv/relay/relay_v1.pub
Mar 18, 2017 07:14:03.089 [0x7f5f037ff700] DEBUG - Relay: starting relay.
Mar 18, 2017 07:14:03.089 [0x7f5f037ff700] DEBUG - Job running: PLEXTOKEN='xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx' '/mnt/mpathc/orange/Library/Plex/plexmediaserver-1.3.4.3285-b46e0ea.x86_64/usr/lib/plexmediaserver/Plex Relay' '-p' '443' '-N' '-R' '0:localhost:32401' '-o' 'StrictHostKeyChecking=yes' '-o' 'UserKnownHostsFile=/home/orange/Library/Caches/PlexMediaServer/relayHostKey.txt' '-o' 'NoneSwitch=yes' '-o' 'NoneEnabled=yes' '-o' 'LogLevel=VERBOSE' '-o' 'PreferredAuthentications=password' '-o' 'PubkeyAuthentication=no' '-l' 'mixolyd' '45.33.85.79'
Mar 18, 2017 07:14:03.109 [0x7f5f03511700] DEBUG - Auth: We found auth token (xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx), enabling token-based authentication.
Mar 18, 2017 07:14:03.109 [0x7f5f03511700] DEBUG - Auth: Came in with the master token, authorization succeeded.
Mar 18, 2017 07:14:03.110 [0x7f5efa911700] DEBUG - Request: [::ffff:127.0.0.1:44340 (Loopback)] GET /system/messaging/clear_events/com.plexapp.agents.plexthememusic (9 live) GZIP Signed-in Token (mixolyd)
Please do the following in your next attempt:
Settings - Server - Network Turn off IPv6
Use Settings - Server - Help - Download Logs to collect your log files. It will give me all the files including the agents.
@ChuckPA said: @mixolyd and all… For future reference, There is a ‘document attach’ feature ^^. Would you consider using that? It makes it much easier for me versus having to jump out to some other site to get the data. It is also much easier for the dev team when they want to collect all the data for their work. It is already pre-packaged for them in the log file extracts and reference thread I give them with my write-up
Sure, will do! I attached previous logs to my other post.
Your logs b) show an issue and b) are contraindicative
1.4.4 shows me
Mar 18, 2017 06:47:46.725 [0x7f3330b35700] DEBUG - [com.plexapp.system] HTTP reply status 200, with 2328 bytes of content.
Mar 18, 2017 06:47:46.726 [0x7f3330b35700] WARN - SLOW QUERY: It took 870.000000 ms to retrieve 1 items.
Mar 18, 2017 06:47:46.726 [0x7f3330b35700] DEBUG - The system knows about 4 agents.
What does this mean?
and
1.3.4 runs in a Relay through Plex.tv whereas 1.4.4 runs direct (theoretically faster connection path)
Theoretically, I guess. Strange that 1.3.4 is much faster though.
Mar 18, 2017 07:14:03.089 [0x7f5f037ff700] DEBUG - Relay: refreshed host key from https://downloads.plex.tv/relay/relay_v1.pub
Mar 18, 2017 07:14:03.089 [0x7f5f037ff700] DEBUG - Relay: starting relay.
Mar 18, 2017 07:14:03.089 [0x7f5f037ff700] DEBUG - Job running: PLEXTOKEN='xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx' '/mnt/mpathc/orange/Library/Plex/plexmediaserver-1.3.4.3285-b46e0ea.x86_64/usr/lib/plexmediaserver/Plex Relay' '-p' '443' '-N' '-R' '0:localhost:32401' '-o' 'StrictHostKeyChecking=yes' '-o' 'UserKnownHostsFile=/home/orange/Library/Caches/PlexMediaServer/relayHostKey.txt' '-o' 'NoneSwitch=yes' '-o' 'NoneEnabled=yes' '-o' 'LogLevel=VERBOSE' '-o' 'PreferredAuthentications=password' '-o' 'PubkeyAuthentication=no' '-l' 'mixolyd' '45.33.85.79'
Mar 18, 2017 07:14:03.109 [0x7f5f03511700] DEBUG - Auth: We found auth token (xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx), enabling token-based authentication.
Mar 18, 2017 07:14:03.109 [0x7f5f03511700] DEBUG - Auth: Came in with the master token, authorization succeeded.
Mar 18, 2017 07:14:03.110 [0x7f5efa911700] DEBUG - Request: [::ffff:127.0.0.1:44340 (Loopback)] GET /system/messaging/clear_events/com.plexapp.agents.plexthememusic (9 live) GZIP Signed-in Token (mixolyd)
Please do the following in your next attempt:
Settings - Server - Network Turn off IPv6
Use Settings - Server - Help - Download Logs to collect your log files. It will give me all the files including the agents.
I did try disabling ipv6 before to no effect. But I just did it again. Attached logs for 1.3.4 and 1.4.4 with ipv6 disabled. Both are fresh installs, and all I did was add my library then restarted PMS and then streamed a video for ~30 seconds. 1.3.4 was streaming fast going up to 8MB/s and 1.4.4 was not going faster than 1.5MB/s and buffering. if you need more info let me know.
This is apples to apples. Literally the only difference is the PMS version. Clearly something was changed between 1.3.4 and 1.4.4. If you don’t believe me I can give you access to my remote server, although I am not sure what that would accomplish. I went back and forth, back and forth, at least 5 times yesterday between the two versions, using different devices, and even a completely different ISP. The ONLY difference is the PMS version. Settings are absolutely the same. Like I said these logs are from a fresh install.
This is not a 70 MB/s vs 117 MB/s scenario. I have tested on several different devices. The logs are from the same device, a Windows computer connected through ethernet
I am unable to stream high bitrate movies on 1.4.4. 10mbit is not good enough when I have a 65 inch TV, and 4k movies are around the corner. Sure I can stay on 1.3.4 but then I’m missing out on bug fixes and new features.
Bytes. Yes the jump from 8 -> 1.5 MB/s is drastic. I don’t understand it either. I’m not a programmer and don’t pretend to know anything about it. I can only guess that something was changed in how PMS functions with remote streams. Local streaming does not seem affected
If it would help, I really would be glad to give you access to my plex so you can see for yourself. The server is in Virginia so not sure how good peering will be for you. I’m in Oregon and get 8-10MB/s. Speedtest is here https://whatbox.ca/speedtest (US server)
