Server Version#: plexinc/pms-docker:latest from dockerhub, image pulled minutes ago
Player Version#:v.1.108.1.307-dd5b87aa February 7, 2025
So, the thing is. I am on direct play on everything. Local network. Works fine on android and on my firestick. The problem is on windows desktop only. On webplayer on firefox it works fine. I’ve installed the windows desktop app on my main pc and on my laptop, same thing.
I’ve also tried installing both from plex.tv/downloads and from microsoft store. Same behavior.
I can start a movie/tv show fine. It plays well, sound is fine. Can pause and resume after more than 5 minutes, no problem. The problem comes when I try to skip forward, when I try to click on the progress bar somewhere ahead of the part that is buffered. On the dark yellow part that is buffered from where I am currently at, I can jump forward, no problem. But that’s like 5-10 minutes ahead. If I want to go to the half of the movie, 60minutes ahead, right now I have to keep skipping on the buffered part, wait a couple of seconds for it to buffer some more, and keep skipping. Can’t click way ahead and wait for the player to buffer that part.
And I repeat, I can do it on web player, android phone or my firestick on my tv, no problems there. Only on windows. I have everything set to maximum quality, no transcoding, no limits. In my dashboard it does show direct play on both audio and video.
Tried with different shows, different movies, different media type, like mkv, mp4, etc. Still same problem
No no. It just doesn’t let me click forward on the progress bar, only in the area where it’s already buffered. Let’s say I’m at the 5 minute mark, with about 3 or 4 minutes ahead buffered (with the darkened yellow progress bar), and the rest of the bar grey. If I click on the yellow darkened part, no problem, it skips there. If I do it way forward, like the 20 or 40 minute mark, it just doesn’t do anything.
If I do that on android or the web player, for example, it does like any other player, it starts buffering from that point, and in seconds it starts playing from there.
Same thing when I try to resume a movie I watched on another device or yesterday. If I open something I was previously watching, that was left at, for example, the 20 minute mark. When I click resume, a small popup opens, I click resume from 20:00 mark. And when it should start from there, the player starts from 0, like I clicked on the “start from the beginning” button, but I clearly clicked on the first option. And that only occurs with the Desktop plex. The other places work well (android, web or tv app)
I can kind of reproduce this but eventually playback will start. If I select beyond the buffer the video pauses then after some amount of time playback starts at the point I selected. When you select beyond the buffer does playback pause?
On Web this also happens but after selecting beyond the buffer there is a spinner and a preview image that refreshes on the player. It also seems like Web is loading these seeks much faster.
I’ll file an issue for this to see what we can find. Could you please share you PMS logs (Enabled Debug logging) and the client logs (%LOCALAPPDATA%\Plex\Logs\), after reproducing the issue a couple of times? I’ll attach your logs to the ticket.
If the Desktop app had been running for some time and a watch progress has advance on a title on another device, it maybe that this watch progress has not synced to the Desktop app. On Windows F5 will refresh the player. This kind of sounds like a long standing issues we’ve had with the Desktop app. I’ll bump the internal issue tracking it.
Blockquote
When you select beyond the buffer does playback pause?
It does not pause. It keeps playing from where it is currently at. It’s like I have not even clicked that way forward. It doesn’t start loading that section. On the web it does, it works like it should. I know it’s not instantaneous. But at least there, the video pauses, starts loading the section I clicked, and after a couple of seconds, it starts playing from the timestamp I jumped to.
And it is not a sync problem. One thing I can do to reproduce the issue is that I start the movie on my phone. Let’s say until the 20 minute mark. I pause there and close the app. I go to my PC, open plex app and I see the movie is waiting at the 20minute mark just where I left it on my phone. I press resume. And it starts from the beginning. I close the pc app. Then go to my phone again and see that it started again, just where I left it on my pc. If on the PC app, if I stop the show fast enough for it to not update progress (less than 5 seconds I think), and go back to my phone, my phone can pick up at the 20 minute mark just fine. And I can skip instantly to the 50minute mark whenever I want, no issues. Can’t do that in PC, at all.
One thing you could do is quit the Plex Desktop player and then remove the contents of %LOCALAPPDATA%\Plex. This would remove anything you downloaded using the Desktop app. After restarting the Plex Desktop player, you’ll need to sign in again. See if you can still reproduce after clearing that directory.
I’ve already done that. Also installed in 2 other computers. My laptop, and a computer outside my house (a friend). Same issue. Problem is with the desktop program. Web, android, tv, everything else works. Windows desktop player is the only one having the issue.
