Video playback buffering for user without Plex Pass

Plex Media Server NAS & Devices
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Hi, I am new to Plex and have encountered a weird issue…

The Problem:

  • I log in to plex as a secondary user (does not have a plex pass, shares libraries of another plex user)
  • The video playback (if bitrate > 3 Mbps) is buffering every 30-60s
  • I log the user out.
  • I log in with the admin instead (owner of PMS and a Plex Pass) on the same device.
  • The video does not buffer anymore.

I cannot recall reading anywhere that you need a Plex Pass for higher bitrate streaming.

My Setup:
PMS-Version: 1.16.2.1297
Host: Synology DS1019+ (DSM 6.2.2-24922)

=> I downloaded PMS from plex’s download center and installed it manually, rather than directly via the synology package center.

I have two users:

  • user-admin: Owner of the PMS (has Plex Pass)
  • user-1: shares 2 libraries of user-admin (has own Plex Account, but does not have Plex Pass)

=> The two users have all settings configured excactly the same.

Internet upload speed server-side: 52 Mbps
Limit remote stream bitrate: 12 Mbps per client
The option “Use hardware acceleration when available” on server is checked

Both users…

  • have their playback set to 10 Mbps, 1080p
  • use recommended settings for “Home Streaming”

The Problem in Detail:
I have tested the issue with two different video files both local and remote and on serveral devices. One file has a 2.7 Mbps, the other one a 8.7 Mbps bitrate. Both of these bitrates are well below what the network is capable. The remote download speed was well above 200 Mbps and locally it was 1 Gbps (wired LAN).

The issue seems to occurs only if the bitrate is above 3 Mbps or so. Neither the network nor the Synology NAS was maxed out in any form.

The same behaviour occurs on Windows PCs (access via Firefox and Chrome) and Smart TV.
On my Smarthphone (Samsung Galaxy Note 9) the high bitrate video does not only buffer for user-1, but actually won’t play at all. Instead it displays an error message, saying that the connection to the PMS was lost.
However, if I log in with user-admin (on the same device) the video plays back without a problem.

What I have tried so far:

  • Rebooting the NAS
  • PMS “Optimize Database”
  • Client “Automatically adjust quality (Beta)”
  • Client “Play smaller videos at original quality”

Logs:
To create a clean log I have…

  1. deleted all previous logs
  2. logged in as user-1 on Chrome-Browser (Windows 10 - PC) in same Network as PMS
  3. played the 8.7 Mbps video until it started buffering
  4. logged out of Plex
  5. logged in as user-admin
  6. played the same video for 2-3 minutes (without buffering)

logs.zip (243.1 KB)

I have enabled verbose logging, because otherwise the transcoding speed indicators are not visible.
They are by the way between 0.7 and 0.8, rather than above 1.3 as they should be. But the CPU is never maxed out. Besides, what is PMS even transcoding if it streams at original quality?

Any help would be appreciated! Thanks!

1 Like
2

I figured it out :sweat_smile:

I found this post: https://forums.plex.tv/t/synology-ds1019-hardware-transcoding/384853 I hadn’t seen this one before…

On the user-1 account I had subtitles enabled, on the user-admin account not. That was the only difference.

It appears that if I either disable the subtitles on the video and/or turn of hardware acceleration the problem is resolved. That is unfortunate, because I do want to be able to use subtitles and I would have prefered to leave hardware acceleration enabled.

But at least it works now :laughing:

If anyone can think of a way that I can have both, please let me know! Well, without buying a new host machine :grin:

4

Thanks for the tip, I will check my files… That is, after I have fixed my new Problem :see_no_evil: maybe you have an idea for this too? => My new Problem

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