Server Version#: 1.18.3.2156
Player Version#: 7.26.0.14578
TV Model#: Sony Bravia KD-43XG8305
Sondbar Model#: Sony HT-SF150
Hi all,
So over Christmas I’ve decided to make the jump and buy a 4K TV after using an old lump with a Chromecast for far too long. I specifically got the Sony TV because it had Android TV and therefore Plex along with a wired LAN connection.
Playing my first 4K film through plex on the TV, I experienced stop/start every 20 seconds or so with the message “Your connection to the server is not fast enough …”. I have a base understanding of transcoding and after checking the ‘Now Playing’ section on Plex on my laptop, realised that the audio was transcoding TrueHD 7.1. The film had another audio stream AC3 5.1 which played relatively smoothly but would still stop and start but now only once every 30 minutes or so, not bad but still not happy. I checked ‘Now Playing’ an it said Direct Play for both Video and Audio.
I’ve done some searching through this forum and it appears the general gist is that 4K on Smart TV’s isn’t great, either by the lack of support for audio codecs, or the 100Mbit ethernet not being quick enough for 4K bursts. I am also aware that if you’re transcoding 4K footage then you’re doing it wrong and I’m more than happy to direct play. I also read something regarding HDMI ARC, eARC and HDMI 2.1 but I didn’t really understand that too well.
Regarding the issue above with the stop start with AC3 5.1, is there still some transcoding going on that isn’t being reporting in Plex? Or is this a limitation of the TV / LAN port?
In both cases the catch all solution appears to be a a Nvidia Shield and a receiver. Bearing in mind that I’ve only got a cheap 2.0 sound bar, it seems quite an expensive solution.
Assuming the issue I’m experiencing is a bandwidth limitation, would a Nvidia Shield be enough?
If you’re set on an Android Operating System, then NVIDIA Shield is probably your best bet. It will offer Gigabit ethernet connectivity. However, this assumes that the limiting factor causing your playback pauses is, in fact, the ethernet connection. Another possibility is the speed of the PC or NAS device reading the media from wherever it is stored. Actual read speeds vary greatly depending on the particular hardware.
The fastest way to know if a stand-alone streaming box will fix your stuttering is to try one. Just make sure wherever you buy it from allows trouble-free returns. If you try an NVIDIA Shield and it doesn’t fix your stuttering, just return it. You may have already viewed this post, but in case you haven’t, the following is a good read for all things 4K via Plex.: Plex, 4k, transcoding, and you - aka the rules of 4k - a FAQ
Thanks for the reply. Its a relatively powerful box, but definitely worth checking. The CPU never went above 40% usage but never checked anything else.
Good thinking on the trouble-free returns, might try amazon. At least then I pin down exactly what the issue is
Any yep, read that post, should be pinned somewhere
Similar problems here, I have a Sony X900F (purchased earlier this year) and just picked up a 7.1 soundbar HTST-5000.
I was doing a lot of reading and found that the ethernet port on the TV is only 10/100 (wtf!?!?!!?!??!?) and people on reddit recommended to run it on Wireless instead of hard wired. I have a high powered wireless router (I just got an AX6000 router, but I think Wireless AC should work) and was able to stream 4K pretty well for a while, however I need to tweak it some more and I’m trying to figure that out.
So try to use wifi first prior to getting a shield.
So I got a 2019 Nvidia Shield TV (non-pro) and the ‘buffering’ when not transcoding video + audio is gone, so was indeed an issue with the 100Mbits cable. The UI is just generally snappier too so happy to keep it. Had to shuffle around with some settings and force it to never use surround sound as without it, I always tried to transcode my audio (reminder that my sound bar is just 2ch).
To support more audio codecs I guess this is where the receiver comes into play … not sure I can afford it at the moment, so should probably just manually encode everything into a supported format. I’m really kinda surprised that A/V codecs aren’t as supported by devices as I thought they would so late in the game.
