I’m sure this will likely come down to asking someone to kindly help dig through logs to see what’s going on. HOWEVER, before that I want to make sure I’m not smoking crack.
I can play 1080p just fine. I can play 4k transcoded just fine. As everyone knows, you shouldn’t transcode 4k. So… I’m working on making 4k work. I realize that I won’t get 4k everywhere, I just care about in my family room.
This works (not Plex):
Xbox One playing 4k bluray → hdmi cable → receiver → hdmi cable → Sony TV
This plays 4k for about 90 seconds and then exits the movie:
PC (Intel NUC 8th gen Core i5) → gigabit switch → gigabit switch → gigabit switch (happens to be a router) → Roku Ultra → hdmi cable → receiver → hdmi cable → Sony TV
I’m pretty sure that using the Roku to stream 4k (Netflix or other) works, so my assumption is that my issue is somewhere with the PC or cat5 cables or gigabit switches or configuration of the Plex app on the Roku. I know 3 switches isn’t ideal, but I’m not sure that’s a contributing factor here.
It should work provided it’s not transcoding 4K → 4K. But I agree, your 3 switches is not an ideal situation at all… Is there not a way to reduce the number of hops it has to take?
Edit:
Don’t use Netflix as your benchmark for success… Even though Netflix offers the content in 4K, it’s highly compressed (to the tune of about 20-35Mbit depending on the title) and they use what I call dynamic stream switching to move between 480, 720, 1080, 4K, 4K HDR content depending on your bandwidth at any given time. Not sure if you’ve noticed, but the first few seconds of a movie are usually super blocky and low res, and it gradually increases in quality depending on your connection, all the while giving your tv the false flag of being 4K the entire time.
By contrast, your 4K Content (assuming Ripped/Remuxed straight from the Disk using MakeMKV) is typically uncompressed, and is full on 4K from start to finish without changing resolutions, and is typically packed into bitstreams that can go well above 100Mbit at a time. So, you MAY want to check the Roku’s ethernet port, if it’s only 100Mbit, try it on Wifi (most Wireless AC/Wireless N are capable of speeds well over 300Mbit).
Moving my NAS + PC + bluray drive + keyboard into my family room would likely result in wife/grief.
I looked for the specs for my Roku (4660x2). It does appear as though the WIFI supports much higher speed. The ethernet port is a 100mb port. I’ll try on WIFI over the holiday.
LOL I certainly wasn’t suggesting that. But Maybe selling off your multiple switches and buying one larger (More ports) switch to handle everything might be a better idea? Here’s what my setup Looks like:
Google Fiber Box-> MikroTik CRS312-4C+8XG (12 x 10Gbe ports)-> 2 of the Cat-7 cables from that to the back room where my plex server is, one is plugged into my Aquantia 10Gbe card in my computer, and the other is plugged into a Nighthawk X4 in Access Point mode to run the Wifi and the Gigabit devices in this room.
Far simpler solution with fewer pieces of equipment to go through… The Google Fiber Box handles the routing and the Wifi at the front of the house, and the switch gives me the amount of ports I need for everything else and is ready for when Google Fiber goes 10Gigabit.
The switch is a brand new purchase though, only got it a little while ago. I was using an unmanaged Asus with 2x10Gbe ports before that…
Unfortunately I can’t simplify the topology. The wiring panel is in my 2nd floor laundry room (contains the cable modem and one gigabit switch). From there, it connects to my 2nd floor bedroom where I put my NAS+PC+others (that’s the 2nd gigabit switch). A different run connects the laundry room to my 1st floor family room which is where I have a wireless router/switch (linksys w/ 4 gigabit ethernet ports). The Roku is currently connected to the family room switch and then the receiver/etc. It’s not the size of the switches, it’s the location.
The only simplification would be to move the PC to the family room (no room in the laundry room). It’s a NUC (small) so not a huge deal, but I’d get resistance moving the NAS down there too.
If I decide to use the Roku via WIFI instead of ethernet, I could potentially get a stronger signal router upstairs in my laundry room and nix the one downstairs. My next step will be to just try connecting the family room Roku via wifi to the wifi router right there.
The quality of the switch in the Laundry room would be a factor. I use to have an unmanaged switch that had a tendency to lock up under heavy Plex traffic, upgrading to a managed switch resolved that.
It’s it freezing at the same spot on all videos? I’m just tossing a guess, but maybe you’re testing one video that was ripped with MakeMKV, and it’s still copy protected? 90 seconds is a good long time in the network world, as long as the CPU/ASIC in your switch(s) aren’t thermal crashing, it should keep sending data.
Gigabit all the way through should be a good setup, provided that you can get close to gigabit and are not getting clobbered on by a toss-away CAT3 cable or some parallel run of electrical lines next to your data lines. Three switches isn’t the problem, but you’re getting a bottle-neck at each uplink port. I’m assuming that you’re isolating the traffic during these tests and don’t have security cameras or some other bandwidth hog running concurrently. Wi-fi is worse as it’s a collision domain and only one device can talk in turn at a time with your AP. Regardless, try the wi-fi test, it’s a test and data is king!
Check the network cables, and maybe run one long 100’ cable downstairs from the NUC switch to the Roku if you can. ($17 can net you a good test cable.)
I’d worry most about the 10/100 Mbit interface in the Roku Ultra. That sounds like your biggest choke point.
Also try a jellyfish test, and keep scaling up until you find the limit of your setup. http://jell.yfish.us/
You were saying one of the switches was indeed a router (guessing it’s in bridge mode) doesn’t matter if it’s not. Then you should be able to login and run a network diagnostics test, check for LAN TX and RX errors. If so reserve your devices and server LAN IP’s in that router, this will limit collisions
Also if possible I would rather see the order of the switches be a bit different if possible.
One switch post the router would protect all your IOT’s, which is important.
FYI: I haven’t done any serious testing yet, but I’m pretty sure the issue with my setup IS with the 100mb ethernet port on the Roku Ultra. I happen to have an XBox One at the same location (both connected to the same switch) and the XBox is streaming the 4k video just fine.
I’m streaming Thor Ragnarok at 121mbps (no transcoding video).
