Streams over 4 Mbps constantly buffer

[ShutUpFry]

FreeNAS 11.2 box: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/bVysXv

Crude network description: router -> poe switch -> wireless ap -> switch -> FreeNAS box

I'm running the plexpass iocage plugin and having a lot of buffering problems. Any stream over 4 Mbps (according to Plex) buffers forever or only plays for a moment before buffering again. Most of my content shows as 5.4 Mbps without transcoding and has the problem at that quality.

I have problems with both wired and wireless clients, local ip browser access, and app access (ps4 and Roku). I’ve run iperf from the host and the jail to wireless clients and wired clients on both switches. Wireless gets 2xx Mbps and wired gets 9xx Mbps. I’ve checked every setting I can think of and tried to monitor resource utilization, but nothing looks maxed out, incorrectly configured, or otherwise problematic.

Last night I booted an Alienware Aurora R5 (https://www.techradar.com/reviews/pc-mac/pc-mac-desktops/alienware-aurora-r5-1323301/review) off a usb Ubuntu install drive and setup a quick and dirty Plex server with access to my movies via a smb share. Every client played at the maximum quality I could choose without issue.

I don’t know what to try next. I’m about ready to just move all my jails to a separate machine and be done with it.

 

[sretalla]

In your server settings in plex, what do you see as the limit under "Remote Access | Limit remote stream bitrate" ?

Also for "Network | Treat WAN IP As LAN Bandwidth" what's the setting (on or off) ?

 

[ShutUpFry]

In your server settings in plex, what do you see as the limit under "Remote Access | Limit remote stream bitrate" ?

Also for "Network | Treat WAN IP As LAN Bandwidth" what's the setting (on or off) ?

Original (No limit)

Checked

 

[sretalla]

Given that you're testing on the same clients (presumably with identical settings) I won't presume to start looking there for client-side settings as your temporary server test was OK.

How about your temp/transcode path? is that on spinning disks (even the same disks as the media) ? Are you transcoding or is it direct streaming ?

When you look at the Plex server dashboard during playback, what is it telling you about the stream/playback?

 

[ShutUpFry]

Given that you're testing on the same clients (presumably with identical settings) I won't presume to start looking there for client-side settings as your temporary server test was OK.

How about your temp/transcode path? is that on spinning disks (even the same disks as the media) ? Are you transcoding or is it direct streaming ?

When you look at the Plex server dashboard during playback, what is it telling you about the stream/playback?

I assume the transcode path must be on the same disks since that’s the only storage. The movie I started tonight on original quality (5.4 Mbps) showed it was direct play and played for a minute or two then just stopped. The bandwidth graph just dropped to zero where before it had small bursts of activity. When I turned it down to 4 Mbps it showed transcode for video and direct stream for audio and played without issue as usual.

 

[ShutUpFry]

Looking at a few other things, the videos showed as local and the transcoder temporary directory field is blank

 

[sretalla]

You need to give the

The movie I started tonight on original quality (5.4 Mbps) showed it was direct play and played for a minute or two then just stopped.

Playback stopped or data transfer stopped? if it kept playing, this is normal as the buffer has filled and now you will just read-ahead to keep the buffer full as you watch.

You should specify the transcode location and probably put that on an SSD if you have the option.

 

[Jailer]

You need to pull the Plex server logs to see what is causing the buffering.

 

[sretalla]

Just to clarify, buffering is perfectly normal (and happens in the background when all is working).

If you see the client pause playback and indicate that it's buffering, then it's problematic and you need to look at it.

 

[ShutUpFry]

You need to give the

Playback stopped or data transfer stopped? if it kept playing, this is normal as the buffer has filled and now you will just read-ahead to keep the buffer full as you watch.

You should specify the transcode location and probably put that on an SSD if you have the option.

Playback stopped and I assume buffer stopped before that. Unfortunately I don’t have any spare connections for another drive, but that shouldn’t have affected the original quality direct play stream that failed.

You need to pull the Plex server logs to see what is causing the buffering.

I’ve tried looking at the logs some, but I don’t really know what I’m looking for.

 

[ShutUpFry]

Is this any help?

 

[ThreeDee]

I run a lesser setup than what you have and I've only had buffering issues when I changed (re-encoded) a movie and put it back without updating that folder in my plex library so plex knows there is/was a change with that file. I also only run 1080p or lower and re-encode to .mp4's and try to keep everything to 2GB or smaller. Some are 3GB'ish due to being a pretty long movie.

I've had up to 7 users not local, streaming something at once without issue .. generally only 2-3 though at any given time..

 

[ShutUpFry]

I run a lesser setup than what you have and I've only had buffering issues when I changed (re-encoded) a movie and put it back without updating that folder in my plex library so plex knows there is/was a change with that file. I also only run 1080p or lower and re-encode to .mp4's and try to keep everything to 2GB or smaller. Some are 3GB'ish due to being a pretty long movie.

I've had up to 7 users not local, streaming something at once without issue .. generally only 2-3 though at any given time..

Most of my files are in the 4-5 GB range with many being iTunes purchases run through TunesKit. I understand I should have more than enough hardware to do this, I spec-ed the machine with Plex in mind. I'm pretty much at a loss why an untranscoded stream seems to randomly stop.

 

[Jailer]

Is this any help?

So this is happening with a Roku streaming stick via wireless that looks like it keeps dropping connection. Check your wireless network.

 

[ShutUpFry]

So this is happening with a Roku streaming stick via wireless that looks like it keeps dropping connection. Check your wireless network.

It also happens with a wired MacBook Pro and didn't happen on the wireless Roku with a different Plex server running off an ubuntu usb hard drive on a machine connected to the same switch as the FreeNAS server.

 

[ThreeDee]

Have you tried nuking your plex install and re-installing it? If you did the plug in, try manually installing ..etc .. I use the plugin plexpass without issue

 

[ShutUpFry]

Last night I installed a cross flashed M1015 and moved the drives to it instead of the SATA connections on the motherboard. The next video I tried played fine for over a half hour. I have no idea how that fixed it or if it's even actually fixed.

 

[G8One2]

Looks like your hardware is fully capable of Plex streams. Id suspect an issue somewhere in your network.