Video freezing on remote and local playback

Plex Media Server
,
1

Server Version#: 1.32.6.7557
Player Version#: 7.9 build 3 (Roku)

No Plex Pass

I recently transferred my Plex Media Server from:

2017 iMac; 3.4GHz i5-7500 Kaby Lake, quad core, 7th gen; 24GB RAM; 1TB Fusion drive

to:

Late 2014 Mac Mini; 3GHz, i7-4578U Haswell ULT, dual core, 4th gen.; 16GB RAM; 128GB SSD boot, 2TB mechanical data drive. Storage was originally a Fusion drive, but I split it into the SSD and HDD.

Both Mac’s are running the latest build of Monterey.

Although I had very few local or remote Plex issues on the 2017 iMac, I wanted to dedicate a smaller system as an always-on Plex Server for my house and 2-3 remote friends. The late 2014 Mac Mini was highly recommended as more than capable of handling a few 1080 streams simultaneously, so I bought a used decked-out one. All of my videos are 1080p or less and are stored on two large external USB Western Digital drives.

Everyone is using a Roku. In my house, it’s a Roku Streaming Stick 4k powered by a wall outlet and streamed to via Wi-Fi. The remote users all have smart TVs with Roku built in. None of the Rokus are having issues with streaming from other sources, such as Hulu, Disney, and Max. The problem is that 1080p videos from my Plex Server are regularly freezing on both local and remote playback. When a video freezes locally, the Plex dashboard shows that it’s transcoding audio and still continuing to play—although it’s frozen on the TV. Example:

Video: 1080p (HEVC Main 10) - direct stream
Audio: EAC 3 5.1 to AC3 - transcode
Subtitles: (when they’re enabled = SRT external)

On remote playback, users report that they’re losing connection with the server and seeing a Retry button.

Currently, transcoding is using the SSD for scratch files. All software—including PMS—is installed on the SSD, and there’s currently 75GB free space in it. I can point it to the empty 2TB HDD for transcoding, but thought that might slow it down even more.

Notes: (1) My upload speed is capped at 20Gbps. I’ve applied for fiber, but this seems like a server rather than a bandwidth issue to me.

(2) Quitting PMS and rebooting the Mini seems to temporarily fix the local streaming issue. I have my iMac set to shut down and reboot daily. I was hoping there wouldn’t be the need to do the same with the Mini. Is there a PMS memory leak problem?

Am I beating a dead horse with the Mac Mini, or are there some server or client settings that I need to enable to ensure problem-free playback?

Restoring PMS on the original computer
2

Is your Mac Mini connected to your router wired or wireless? If it’s wired, try wireless. If it’s wireless, try wired. It’s possible that either the ethernet port or the Wi-fi on the Mac is going bad.

3

It’s wired to the router and shows full upload and download speeds, but I’ll try wireless.

4

It was a good idea, but no go. I reordered the Network connections to make Wi-Fi first and then even told Network settings to disable Ethernet. Although it took longer to freeze up and did so less frequently when using Wi-Fi, my Roku still loses connection with the server (locally).

5

Does this also happen with Direct Play(no audio transcoding)? Did you try any other devices other than a Roku?

Have you tried playing a movie on the Mac Mini server itself to see if it still freezes?

You can also try to change the transcoding folder to another drive.

6

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