Server Version#: 1.41.6.9685
Player Version#: Plex for Windows (1.108.1.307-dd5b87aa), Plex for Samsung (5.91.2)
I have my Plex server running on a Synology DS723+ including RAM upgrade. Everything was working fine until around mid of last week when I noticed that “some” of my videos are taking a very long time to start (30+ seconds) on my Samsung Smart TV. I also checked the episode with my Windows Client and on there, I have the same issue. Opening the episode on my PC (the .mp4 file itself) I get a working video quit quick. I checked some other episodes and found that, some of them start with this 30+sec time delay others don’t start at all. I can see the activity in Plex and it’s labeled as “Direct Play” so I assume transcoding is not involved. The episodes that are playing delayed are 720P (H.264) 24FPS. This is also the same for the episodes that don’t play at all. I then checked further videos and found that a different series works without any issues or delay. I checked this files as well and the same, 720P (H.264) 24FPS.
I have Plex pass. The Plex server is reachable from outside via the Reverse Proxy of my Diskstation. It’s also linked to my Plex account and on the Clients I’m accessing the Server via the Plex account. The videos are located on the HDDs (Exos 16TB) of my Diskstation. No Wifi is involved at all and the complete network is 1GBs. I also don’t see significat activity on the diskstation or in the Plex server while the Clients are trying to access.
I’m slightly confused now. There was no change inside my home network, I didn’t change anything on the other devices and also I’m not understanding on why certain episodes show this delay, some won’t play at all and some just work without issues. It is to say, the episode that show issues were added recently whilst the episodes that are working fine are already on the DS since ages. Anyhow, they are the same format so I’d expect them to behave the same. I already organized the files once again to exclude issues with the files themselves but same result. Maybe someone here has an idea on what is going on?
Edit: Digging deeper into the .mp4 files, I found that the videos facing issues it looks like it has something to do with the “overall bit rate mode”. Video that are facing delayed start or even not starting have a “Variable Bit rate mode” whilst videos that are working are not showing this tag. I checked this via a program called “MediaInfo” that gives me more detailed view. This would now mean, I need to somehow encode my files without this Variable Bit Rate so to say.
