I’ve had this issue for many versions now on my Synology DS918+. Playback sometimes takes ALONG time to start (30-60 seconds) even though my NAS is hardly busy. The situation is slightly worse on 3G/4G connections (transcoding to 720p/2megabits) but it’s also present on wifi-networks (even on the same network with my server).
I’ve posted logs in this forum earlier but people are obviously clueless.
I tested setting up a PMS on my (core i5, average…) Windows 10 machine and playback is almost instant on my iOS-devices, even from a 3G/4G connection. Huge difference!
I’m started to wonder, is the problem somewhere else but Plex? I don’t think it’s my NAS thats underpowered (cause CPU usage is really low when using Plex on it…). Is it a bug in Plex for Synology? Is it my router that might be causing problems?
First, The CPU in the Synology is the Intel J3455. It has only a fraction of the CPU power in even an i3 or i5. What makes it work for Plex is HW transcoding.
Even with HW transcoding, there are things it can’t do. First, foremost, and likely the most painful, it cannot handle burning subtitles in real-time. There is no way around this.
If the subtitles are image based (PGS or VOBSUB), image merging must be done by the CPU. – FAIL.
If the subtitles cannot be handled in text form (SRT, SSA, or ASS) they must be merged into the image – FAIL.
Media preparation, as needed for the target player(s) and the type of video is required.
Tried again today on the bus going home… I was on 4G network with maximum reception according to my iPhoneXS. Playing a 480p mkv (h264+ac3) with external srt-subtitles, buffered for a minute (i was counting), it played for a second or two, stopped, going back to the moviescreen with a buffering-spinner again, after another minute I gave up. I’m using latest PMS on my Synology (I’m on PlexPass).
I tried replacing a switch at home just to see if it was something with it but no, problem still occurs. I might try to replace my router aswell but can’t find any indications that’s something going on there either (RT-AC56U).
I really want this solved, I’d be forever grateful for any hints that might solve this.
I’ll try the above soon…
Did another bus-test today but against my Plex on my old windows-machine as well pointing to the same movies as my Nas. Playback at 2megabit worked every time within 3-4 seconds and I tried many times. However when I tried my Nas Plex, they all “failed” (didn’t start within 30 seconds, then I cancelled it), but once. One time it started fast but then subtitles was missing (a common problem for me as well, restarting the movie usually fixes that problem). So the conclusion here must be that 4g isn’t the problem anyway.
Funny thing is, when the buffering problem appears on my Nas, Plex admin doesn’t say there’s anything playing (the activityview).
@trumpy81 I sent you a pm with logs+xml about my latest failed session (spinner for a half a minute or so and gave me an error, over 4G, max reception). I wish you luck in finding something that might cause these problems.
I didn’t press stop or anything similar in the last example I sent you, it stopped by itself. Are there any possible network-issues we/I could locate somehow? My experience of running a Plex on my PC with 4G seems pretty much rock solid so if we assume that cellular data is working as it should, what then could I do?
I’ve checked different settings on my ASUS router but haven’t find anything obvious that might cause issues (I’m no network-expert either so…)
Also, I need to know about the overall topology here.
PC vs NAS in relationship to playing when remote.
Also the XML of the item being played.
The logs shared to date are verbose and, as such, detail the handshake, not the fundamental data which is required.
Thanks in advance for showing interest in this matter, I really want this solved or help with what’s wrong…
If you want other logs, please let me know which logspecific-settings you want me to use.
My device I’m using is currently an iPhone XS 64GB, iOS 12.1, Plex-version: 5.7.2.
Experiences PMS on Windows (4G-playback).
No issues, playback starts very fast (in a few seconds) even on higher bitrates (I’m mainly using 720p 2megabit for testing). I’ve tried sitting on a bus playing movies, no problems whatsoever. Very impressive.
Experiences PMS on Synology DS918+ (4G)
Movies takes along time to start if they even start at all (30-60 seconds+). Sometimes they quit after the spinner and shows next episode of the tv-series instead (just like I’ve finished watching but I haven’t).
Sometimes the spinner spins for awhile but gives an errormessage in the bottom of the app saying something about the media can’t be played or something.
I’ve similar experiences in wifi-environments but it’s much more frequent on 4G.
When the spinner “spins”, there’s no signs of activity in plex. The activity-page doesn’t say anything at all.
There’s almost no CPU-load on the NAS itself according to DSM so it’s not busy. My (highly average) Windows-machine is working alot harder during Plex-playback.
I’m on a fiber 100/100 connection at home. Using an ASUS RT-AC56U router. My NAS has DSM6.2, BTRFS-filesystem.
Here’s the XML of a file I’ve been trying with:
<MediaContainer size="1" allowSync="1" identifier="com.plexapp.plugins.library" librarySectionID="2" librarySectionTitle="TV-Serier" librarySectionUUID="7b305151-fdfc-4614-91a8-5fe754aede27" mediaTagPrefix="/system/bundle/media/flags/" mediaTagVersion="1542980780">
<Video ratingKey="2098" key="/library/metadata/2098" parentRatingKey="2097" grandparentRatingKey="2096" guid="com.plexapp.agents.thetvdb://77847/1/1?lang=sv" librarySectionTitle="TV-Serier" librarySectionID="2" librarySectionKey="/library/sections/2" type="episode" title="Pilot" grandparentKey="/library/metadata/2096" parentKey="/library/metadata/2097" grandparentTitle="MacGyver" parentTitle="Säsong 1" contentRating="TV-PG" summary="Opening Gambit:
MacGyver rescues an American pilot who has crashed on top of a high cliff.
Main Episode:
When a science lab studying the ozone layer mysteriously explodes, MacGyver is called in to rescue the scientists that are trapped underground. It's soon discovered that the explosion cracked a tank of sulfuric acid, and MacGyver is in a race against time before the Army uses a missile to seal up the base." index="1" parentIndex="1" rating="7.4" viewOffset="644802" lastViewedAt="1543343049" year="1985" thumb="/library/metadata/2098/thumb/1543264608" art="/library/metadata/2096/art/1543264654" parentThumb="/library/metadata/2097/thumb/1543264647" grandparentThumb="/library/metadata/2096/thumb/1543264654" grandparentArt="/library/metadata/2096/art/1543264654" grandparentTheme="/library/metadata/2096/theme/1543264654" duration="2927968" originallyAvailableAt="1985-09-29" addedAt="1266871289" updatedAt="1543264608">
<Media videoResolution="1080" id="2296" duration="2927968" bitrate="9612" width="1440" height="1080" aspectRatio="1.33" audioChannels="2" audioCodec="ac3" videoCodec="h264" container="mkv" videoFrameRate="24p" videoProfile="high">
<Part accessible="1" exists="1" id="2296" key="/library/parts/2296/1266871289/file.mkv" duration="2927968" file="/volume1/Filmer/Tv-serier/Macgyver/Season 1/MacGyver.S01E01.1080p.BluRay.x264-BEDLAM.mkv" size="3517777048" container="mkv" videoProfile="high">
<Stream id="5326" streamType="1" default="1" codec="h264" index="0" bitrate="9420" bitDepth="8" chromaLocation="left" chromaSubsampling="4:2:0" frameRate="23.976" hasScalingMatrix="0" height="1080" level="41" profile="high" refFrames="5" scanType="progressive" width="1440" displayTitle="1080p (H.264)"/>
<Stream id="5327" streamType="2" selected="1" default="1" codec="ac3" index="1" channels="2" bitrate="192" language="English" languageCode="eng" audioChannelLayout="stereo" samplingRate="48000" displayTitle="English (AC3 Stereo)"/>
<Stream id="5328" streamType="3" selected="1" codec="srt" index="2" language="English" languageCode="eng" displayTitle="English (SRT)"/>
</Part>
</Media>
<Director id="9425" filter="director=9425" tag="Alan Smithee"/>
<Writer id="9424" filter="writer=9424" tag="Thackary Pallor"/>
<Extras size="0"> </Extras>
</Video>
</MediaContainer>
I guess I could point the transcoding temporary directory (there’s a setting for that if I’m not mistaken) to an EXT4 volume.
I’m no expert but I’d be surprised if this was more than a minor piece of the problem-puzzle…
By the way, Plex is installed on a volume that I’ve also configured for NVME read/write-caching so that should improve performance I assume.
I tried changing the temp transcoding folder but I never see any files in the folder I specify… I can specify anything in the foldername but don’t get any errormessages either.
I never understood the throttle buffer setting. Should I increase it or lower it? Does it as default transcode it in for example 60 second-“chunks” and then push it to the client or does it mean something else?
CPU-usage during transcoding is pretty low (~<=20%) so I don’t really see the connection why BTRFS "pushes things off the cliff " during playback, especially on 4G. But as I said, I’m no expert.
Yep. I tried something like “/usbshare1/PlexTemp/”…?
Ok. So if I have 1 minute segments, and only watch for 10 seconds before stopping the movie, Plex have already transfered the entire 1 minute to the client?
Just tried with a friends Android phone (pretty recent phone, no idea about OS-version) with Plex with my server. Tried a few movies/tv-series using 4G only. No problems at all. No strange delays or errors.
Tried another friends iPhone X, showed same symtoms as my iPhone XS.
I guess that rules out possible router-problems aswell. Now what?
Sorry, have to disagree here. I own a 918+ now for some months, and it handles 1080p 20Mbit transcoding on the fly flawlessly. Start up to play when transcoding is a few seconds max.
Only thing the 918+ struggles with is 4k transcoding, but direct play/streamsolves that, and worse case my tv plays it all through DMSA.
Right…well, there isnt a whole lot for you to disagree with.
-OP mentioned trouble with transcoding.
-You told him it was due to a crappy processer.
-Neither message mentioned 2160p, OP talked about 720p and in a later message about buffering a transcode on a 480p.
-I told you the processor in these situations isnt the problem, as the 918+ handles high bitrate 1080p flawlessy from personal experience (OP even mentions the CPU is t used to full capacity)…so…what is it you are disagreeing with here?
This statement as is is patently wrong then, right? At least without qualifiers, such as transcoding 2160p, which does run into the CPU limits of the 918+ with my setup (no plex pass, no HW help here), but you mention it should NOT have problems with that in your last post? Im confused. Please note im not having troubles that need to be fixed, but the two sentences (paraphrased) (1)“image based sub/encoding by CPU=FAIL” and (2) “the J3455 will NOT struggle with 2160p content” seem to be conflicting?
