i had a similar problem lately.
Turned out my system date was wrong and causing all kinds of issues.
@ChuckPA said:
There are two common solutions I know of.a) A Wifi extender. You mileage will vary greatly but generally good if the primary and the extender get a solid collection
b) Run ethernet up through the closet or similar location and extend the SSID that way.
@ChuckPA said:
There are two common solutions I know of.a) A Wifi extender. You mileage will vary greatly but generally good if the primary and the extender get a solid collection
b) Run ethernet up through the closet or similar location and extend the SSID that way.
Isn’t my main problem that I don’t have a powerful enough machine? It’s a Dell XPS 13 and most of the content I’m watching now is x265 1080P.
An i5 or i7 is more than enough for 1 stream, unless your transcoding from X.265 -> X.264 for the player and burning in subtitles.
What’s the player? To be as definitive as possible, please recreate a test case, in isolation (with the server otherwise quiet), Verbose logging OFF, and let me see it again.
@ChuckPA said:
An i5 or i7 is more than enough for 1 stream, unless your transcoding from X.265 → X.264 for the player and burning in subtitles.What’s the player? To be as definitive as possible, please recreate a test case, in isolation (with the server otherwise quiet), Verbose logging OFF, and let me see it again.
I’ve been trying the Chromecast instead of PS4 and it plays at a higher resolution AND with less issues. Problem is the Chromecast doesn’t have 5.1DD with my sound system and it did still lag quite a bit watching one movie.
When I go into settings on my laptop, there is a red mark beside Remote Access and it says ‘Not available outside your network’. Not sure if that is significant.
Anyway, I’ve attached logs. Verbose logging is off. Ran X265 1080P file. PS4 says 2Mbps 720p (Bandwidth limit) and I can’t select a higher resolution. The quality is awful compared to the Chromecast.
I was connected to VPN in the previous post. I disabled that and the PS4 now runs at 1080P. I did a test file for you just now (X265 1080P) and it was constantly stopping and just stopped playing altogether. In case significant, when you select my server on the PS4 app, it says remote under the server name and has a tick.
From the server perspective, where I am, there’s nothing I can do to help with the PS4 playback quality.
I’m not seeing anything from the server perspective.
If you disable the VPN and things are getting better, this indicates the network bandwidth dynamic resolution adjustment is kicking in to accommodate the lower speed. I would expect to see that but, since I can’t do any real remote work here (slow upload), I can’t experiment with it and walk through a proper test case.
I have tested Wifi to my devices and not had any issue at 50+ Mbps rates.
I am sorry but I don’t know where else to turn on the PS4.
@ChuckPA said:
From the server perspective, where I am, there’s nothing I can do to help with the PS4 playback quality.
I’m not seeing anything from the server perspective.If you disable the VPN and things are getting better, this indicates the network bandwidth dynamic resolution adjustment is kicking in to accommodate the lower speed. I would expect to see that but, since I can’t do any real remote work here (slow upload), I can’t experiment with it and walk through a proper test case.
I have tested Wifi to my devices and not had any issue at 50+ Mbps rates.
I am sorry but I don’t know where else to turn on the PS4.
@ChuckPA said:
From the server perspective, where I am, there’s nothing I can do to help with the PS4 playback quality.
I’m not seeing anything from the server perspective.If you disable the VPN and things are getting better, this indicates the network bandwidth dynamic resolution adjustment is kicking in to accommodate the lower speed. I would expect to see that but, since I can’t do any real remote work here (slow upload), I can’t experiment with it and walk through a proper test case.
I have tested Wifi to my devices and not had any issue at 50+ Mbps rates.
I am sorry but I don’t know where else to turn on the PS4.
OK, where would you suggest I go from here? I spend a lot of time watching TV and movies and it’s frustrating that I just can’t get Plex to work properly. I am willing to invest whatever is required to stop having issues.
The unknown here is the H.265 It’s not a mainstream codec by any means yet. In spite of what people try to say, having been ratified in 2013, it’s still a
moving specification. I cite: https://www.itu.int/rec/T-REC-H.265
My best advice to you is stay away from H.265 for now. Codecs aren’t stable because the spec keeps changing every few months.
As a test, go here: http://jell.yfish.us/
These are known perfect files. See how far you get with H.264 vs H.265.
@ChuckPA said:
The unknown here is the H.265 It’s not a mainstream codec by any means yet. In spite of what people try to say, having been ratified in 2013, it’s still a
moving specification. I cite: H.265 : High efficiency video codingMy best advice to you is stay away from H.265 for now. Codecs aren’t stable because the spec keeps changing every few months.
As a test, go here: http://jell.yfish.us/
These are known perfect files. See how far you get with H.264 vs H.265.
The problem is that pretty much everything is x265 now. I am forced to use it in some cases. I will try some of the x264 vids you linked to and let you know anyway.
The links I gave you are both H264 and HEVC. This is why I gave you the link. You can test your player’s ability to decode them. In almost all cases where problems arise, you’ll find the decoder is the source of the problem.
@ChuckPA said:
The links I gave you are both H264 and HEVC. This is why I gave you the link. You can test your player’s ability to decode them. In almost all cases where problems arise, you’ll find the decoder is the source of the problem.
Can you recommend which sort of files I should try? I’m a little lost with all the bitrates etc.
With regard to that link,
Keep notes as you do this:
- Download a 10 Mbps, h264 content. Create a fake movie name for it so Plex can ‘match’ it. Play the test
- Download a 15 Mbps version of the same file, Rename it and copy it on top of the 10 Mbps version. Click ‘Analyze’ after copy completes. Play this
- Repeat for 20 and 25.
Now perform the same sequence using h265 content, also starting at 10. Repeat the full sequence.
Compare the results.
@ChuckPA said:
With regard to that link,Keep notes as you do this:
- Download a 10 Mbps, h264 content. Create a fake movie name for it so Plex can ‘match’ it. Play the test
- Download a 15 Mbps version of the same file, Rename it and copy it on top of the 10 Mbps version. Click ‘Analyze’ after copy completes. Play this
- Repeat for 20 and 25.
Now perform the same sequence using h265 content, also starting at 10. Repeat the full sequence.
Compare the results.
Thanks, I’ll try all of this. BTW - what sort of cost would I be looking at to setup a server for Plex? As it’s something that would be handy to have anyway. I might just go for it.
@ChuckPA said:
With regard to that link,Keep notes as you do this:
- Download a 10 Mbps, h264 content. Create a fake movie name for it so Plex can ‘match’ it. Play the test
- Download a 15 Mbps version of the same file, Rename it and copy it on top of the 10 Mbps version. Click ‘Analyze’ after copy completes. Play this
- Repeat for 20 and 25.
Now perform the same sequence using h265 content, also starting at 10. Repeat the full sequence.
Compare the results.
I didn’t get very far with my test because the 15mbps x264 video isn’t playable. Is that to be expected? I’ve attached logs. The 10mbps x264 video did seem to be running OK, though now it’s saying 720p bandwidth limit again, even though VPN is disabled. The 10mbps x265 video doesn’t play well.
Your issue is network throughput. The computer you have now is more than capable.
Jun 21, 2017 19:41:31.168 [9776] DEBUG - Completed: [127.0.0.1:49212] 206 PUT /video/:/transcode/session/y440ed8x5clqpgr4k429nk7c/progress?progress=49.8&size=-22&speed=5.4&remaining=-1 (10 live) 1ms 326 bytes
Proves to me it can transcode a 5.4 times faster than is needed to satisfy real-time playback requirements.
Just above it we see where the transcoder’s buffers had been full and it’s decided to start filling them again. This is normal operation.
Jun 21, 2017 19:41:30.765 [11052] DEBUG - [Transcoder] Throttle - Getting back to work.
Given you have 50 Mbps internet, it’s not that. The challenge is to find out WHAT on your network, presumably WiFi is so terrible or so horrifically interfering with your Wifi signal as to rob you of basic 10 Mbps bandwidth.
12 year old 802.11g is capable of 56 Mbps. You can’t even get this speed. Your modem is at least this fast and most likely 802.11n (300 Mbps) or 802.11ac (1300 Mbps). Only the extremely old 2000-2005 vintage wifi (802.11a/b wifi units were limited to 11 Mbps)
Connect an ethernet cable. repeat the test again. If this fails, you’ve got a) defective hardware or b) seriously misconfigured hardware neither of which I can do much to help you without laying hands on it. Sorry
Fwiw. If you have 50 Mbps, You should easily be able to play any 25 Mbps file DIRECTLY in a browser without buffering. If you can’t do this, contact your ISP.
Thanks, my laptop doesn’t have an ethernet port, but I’ve ordered a USB to ethernet adapter and will test again when I receive it.
I should add that I ran a speedtest from my laptop in the location it usually runs plex from and the results seemed OK.
That result, in isolation, is fine. We’ve given you an upload of ‘12 Mbps’ (PMS allows you to use 80% of the specified value because most will look at the video bitrate and forget to include audio bitrate. … it also other overhead into consideration itself)
Your result of 13 shows you’re more than safe at “12” we’ve given. In reality, You can bump 12 up to 14 and still have some breathing room.
Just do the basic math. (declared_max * 0.80) / Nclients = per stream rate.
Good news…I did a speedtest on the ps4 and it got 9Mbps. I tried my xbox and it got almost 40. It seems to be playing x265 1080P vids with no issues at all.
