Videos keep buffering despite just streaming over local

General Discussions
1

Hi folks,

Can’t seem to find the answer in all the previous support article and forum discussion (or at least haven’t found the fix that I can successfully execute). All my videos are suddenly suffering from serious lag when trying to play over my local wifi. Normal stream through other apps are fine (like Sling TV), so it’s not a wifi issue. There is a noticeable difference in how much lag occurs between videos off my computer’s hard drive vs. those off my external hard drive, but both are affected (internal streams better). I’m not certain what’s suddenly caused this issue, never had a problem before, the external hard drive is only 50% full. Any suggestions on troubleshooting?

2

More info needed…
What server version
what client
server specs
media info
logs

any or all of these would greatly help troubleshooting.

PS: services such as sling, netflix, hulu, vue, etc use adaptive streaming which is not comparable.

3

stupid follow up question, but how do I get that data?

4

server version: Version 1.5.5.3634
my laptop is my server, runs an i5-6200u @ 2.30 ghz with 8GB ram, Windows 10 x64
Logs are attached

5

You should use debug logging only, unless verbose is requested by Plex - verbose logging fills up the logs very quickly with mostly redundant info.

To make troubleshooting the logs easier, your should:

Make sure debug logging is enabled (Not Verbose)
Quit Plex Server
Give the server 1 minute or so to properly shutdown
Start Plex Server and give the server 3 or 4 minutes to perform start-up tasks
Start playback of an item that exhibits the problem and playback the item until behavior occurs.
Make sure that you aren’t doing anything else with the server during this test!
Wait a few minutes and grab log files and attach them to your next post.

6

thanks for the guidance, I did just that, here are the logs

7

can anyone provide support based off the logs? Thank you

8

@astrofisher will be digging through (what looks like) Verbose logging still enabled (I think you have to reboot your box after making that change), but one of your issues is that you’ve made your Downloads Folder a Plex Library. A BAD IDEA (and good luck with that) as well as having some of the finest examples of Non-Compliant File names and Folder Structures I’ve ever seen:

C:\Users\cyril\Downloads\TV Shows
…Taboo.Season.1.720p.WEB-DL.x265.ShAaNiG
…Taboo.S01E02.720p.WEB-DL.x265.ShAaNiG.mkv

This is when we usually say: WTF is that?

C:\TV Shows
…Taboo
…Season 01
…Taboo - S01E02.mkv

Would be a Compliant Example of same.

If it happens your buffering issue is solved - that’s the next thing needing some serious work - or your issues with Plex will never, ever stop.

Now on to what is at the top (of what is most certainly) a long list of illnesses.
Jim? Take it away.
:slight_smile:

1 Like
9

and yet the video files in my download folder are the only ones to play without buffering

10

@JuiceWSA I already did look at the logs but nothing popped out to me. I didn’t see a restart of the server or a new item selected to be played. To be honest, when I saw verbose logging still enabled, my eyes kinda glazed over.

11

I disabled the verbose logging before submitting those logs. If there’s additional guidance you can provide on why it would still be keeping that setting, please advise. I restarted the server as instructed above.

12

Verbose logging was still enabled. Last two lines from the last server log in the sequence.

Apr 29, 2017 13:38:16.946 [3176] VERBOSE - * X-Plex-Token => xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Apr 29, 2017 13:38:16.946 [3176] DEBUG - Diagnostics: Building logfile zip

You must click save after making the change. Trying to find clues in these logs isn’t easy for me (I’m just a user like yourself). There are certain things I look for and didn’t see in the logs you provided which indicate you didn’t follow my instructions here: https://forums.plex.tv/discussion/comment/1429032/#Comment_1429032

Tell us about the drive you see the buffering on. Also, try again with the logs and I will take another look.

13

Also looks like that trusty ‘forum link bug’ is still running rampant.

14

well, regardless, I restarted everything, doubled checked verbose logging wasn’t enabled, tried to stream a few videos, and downloaded the logs again

15

Ok, we have debug logs to look at. Buffering and transcoding issues is not something I get involved in. But what the heck I’ll take a crack at it, if nobody else will. :smile:

Orderly shutdown of the server shown in server.1.log

May 02, 2017 17:35:05.914 [13120] DEBUG - Ordered to stop server.
May 02, 2017 17:35:05.914 [1152] DEBUG - Stopping server…

Verbose logging being turned off in current server log

May 02, 2017 17:42:01.167 [3268] DEBUG - Completed: [127.0.0.1:49534] 200 PUT /:/prefs?LogVerbose=0 (8 live) GZIP 8ms 268 bytes (pipelined: 12)

File being analyzed for transcoding because direct play is not available.

May 02, 2017 17:44:38.981 [15248] DEBUG - MDE: analyzing media item 3830
May 02, 2017 17:44:38.981 [15248] DEBUG - MDE: Mulan (1998): Direct Play is disabled
May 02, 2017 17:44:38.981 [15248] DEBUG - MDE: Mulan (1998): media must be transcoded in order to use the hls protocol
May 02, 2017 17:44:38.981 [15248] DEBUG - Codecs: testing aac_mf (decoder)
May 02, 2017 17:44:38.986 [15248] DEBUG - MDE: Mulan (1998): selected media 0 / 3830
May 02, 2017 17:44:38.987 [15248] DEBUG - Streaming Resource: Added session 05BB4FF0:16668fecf35b309f0be653713cb99f95
May 02, 2017 17:44:38.987 [15248] DEBUG - Streaming Resource: Reached Decision id=2831 codes=(General=1001,Direct play not available; Conversion OK. Direct Play=3000,App cannot direct play this item. Direct play is disabled. Transcode=1001,Direct play not available; Conversion OK.) media=(id=3830 part=(id=3974 decision=transcode container=mpegts protocol=hls streams=(Video=(id=9325 decision=copy width=1816 height=1080) Audio=(id=9326 decision=copy channels=2 rate=48000))))

Playback attempt - a transcode of an mp4 file located on the D: drive.

May 02, 2017 17:44:39.677 [10312] DEBUG - Job running: EAE_ROOT=‘\?\C:\Users\cyril\AppData\Local\Plex Media Server\Cache\Transcode\Sessions\EasyAudioEncoder’ FFMPEG_EXTERNAL_LIBS=‘\\?\C:\Users\cyril\AppData\Local\Plex\ Media\ Server\Codecs\57aa73f-1206-windows-i386\’ XDG_CACHE_HOME='C:\Users\cyril\AppData\Local\Plex Media Server\Cache' XDG_DATA_HOME='C:\Program Files (x86)\Plex\Plex Media Server\Resources' X_PLEX_TOKEN=‘xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx’ C:\Program Files (x86)\Plex\Plex Media Server\PlexTranscoder.exe -codec:#0x01 h264 -noaccurate_seek -i “D:\Movies\Mulan (1998) [1080p]\Mulan.1998.1080p.BRrip.x264.GAZ.YIFY.mp4” -map 0:#0x01 -codec:0 copy -map 0:#0x02 -metadata:s:1 language=eng -codec:1 copy -copypriorss:1 0 -break_non_keyframes 1 -break_non_keyframes 1 -segment_format mpegts -f ssegment -individual_header_trailer 0 -segment_time 1 -segment_start_number 0 -segment_copyts 1 -segment_time_delta 0.0625 -segment_list http://127.0.0.1:32400/video/:/transcode/session/16668fecf35b309f0be653713cb99f95/seglist -segment_list_type csv -segment_list_size 2147483647 -max_delay 5000000 -avoid_negative_ts disabled -map_metadata -1 -map_chapters -1 media-%05d.ts -start_at_zero -copyts -vsync cfr -y -nostats -loglevel quiet -loglevel_plex error -progressurl http://127.0.0.1:32400/video/:/transcode/session/16668fecf35b309f0be653713cb99f95/progress

I believe the following is stating that Plex is creating 1 second long chunks to stream.

May 02, 2017 17:44:44.746 [10312] DEBUG - HLS: Building an M3U8 for 5271 total seconds with 1 seconds/segment, target duration of 1.

Transcoding speeds look good throughout

May 02, 2017 17:44:45.153 [15296] DEBUG - Request: [127.0.0.1:50294 (Loopback)] PUT /video/:/transcode/session/16668fecf35b309f0be653713cb99f95/progress?progress=1.7&size=-22&speed=181.8&remaining=28 (43 live) Signed-in Token (sackhouse)
May 02, 2017 17:44:45.156 [8884] DEBUG - Completed: [127.0.0.1:50294] 206 PUT /video/:/transcode/session/16668fecf35b309f0be653713cb99f95/progress?progress=1.7&size=-22&speed=181.8&remaining=28 (43 live) 3ms 326 bytes
May 02, 2017 17:44:45.657 [15248] DEBUG - Request: [127.0.0.1:50373 (Loopback)] PUT /video/:/transcode/session/16668fecf35b309f0be653713cb99f95/progress?progress=3.2&size=-22&speed=151.9&remaining=30 (53 live) Signed-in Token (sackhouse)
May 02, 2017 17:44:45.657 [8884] DEBUG - Completed: [127.0.0.1:50373] 206 PUT /video/:/transcode/session/16668fecf35b309f0be653713cb99f95/progress?progress=3.2&size=-22&speed=151.9&remaining=30 (53 live) 0ms 342 bytes
May 02, 2017 17:48:12.636 [4452] DEBUG - Request: [127.0.0.1:51488 (Loopback)] PUT /video/:/transcode/session/16668fecf35b309f0be653713cb99f95/progress?progress=3.9&size=-22&speed=15.4&remaining=12299 (19 live) Signed-in Token (sackhouse)
May 02, 2017 17:48:12.637 [8884] DEBUG - Completed: [127.0.0.1:51488] 206 PUT /video/:/transcode/session/16668fecf35b309f0be653713cb99f95/progress?progress=3.9&size=-22&speed=15.4&remaining=12299 (19 live) 1ms 342 bytes
May 02, 2017 17:53:20.290 [16256] DEBUG - Request: [127.0.0.1:52546 (Loopback)] PUT /video/:/transcode/session/16668fecf35b309f0be653713cb99f95/progress?progress=0.1&size=-22&speed=19.1&remaining=335 (19 live) Signed-in Token (sackhouse)

Client report buffering 28 times during playback.

May 02, 2017 17:47:02.147 [10312] DEBUG - Client [16668fecf35b309f0be653713cb99f95] reporting timeline state buffering, progress of 104000/5270420ms for guid=com.plexapp.agents.imdb://tt0120762?lang=en, ratingKey=2831 url=, key=/library/metadata/2831, containerKey=, metadataId=2831

1 Why is Plex transcoding a mp4 file to a Roku? Quality settings. Bad encoding?
You should probably provide Plex Media Info xml for that file.

2 Is D: drive a usb drive or a network drive? How is attached to the server?

3 What type of antivirus are you using?

16
  1. See attached
  2. D is an USB-attached external drive. it’s one of the two places I hold media that the server draws from for my libraries
  3. Avira antivirus

Many thanks for taking a look at all this! Totally overwhelming for a newbie. I appreciate the insights

17

Do the files having issues reside only on the external by chance?.. Trying to narrow it down a bit.

18

Following along with SiscoPlex here. If you copied that same file to the internal drive, does it still exhibit the same behavior?

Do you still get buffering if you temporarily disable your antivirus? I have read posts where antivirus software can cause issues during transcodes - it scans it each segment which can slow down sending the data out to the client.

19

Yes, the buffer only occurs when reading off the external drive, not the internal drive. I’ll try the anti-virus thing and report back on how that goes

20

@astrofisher & @sackhouse you guys rock!

Great log file diagnostics!