Plex Streaming issues

[Danglechums]

Good afternoon guys. Running plex through smart TV and Amazon tablet and getting same issues on both. Constantly stopping and buffering so I'm having to nerf the quality and run between 2-4mbps 720p My Internet currently getting average download speeds of 30mbps (bad I know but best in my area unfortunately) Any help would be appreciated. Cheers

[Chrisee]

@Danglechums I assume you are using the Plex app to connect to their steaming platform rather than running a Plex server on your network and uusingbtge app to access your own media library.

To succesfully stream video requires both sufficent bandwidth which younshould have and low jitter which could be your problem.  Any packets of data lost due to interference require resending if that takes longer than the apps buffer then the stream is affected.

This is why it is always recommended to use ethernet cables rather than wifi but with tablets you dont have a choice. So I would check that you dont have any wireless device close to your hub - DECT cordless phones etc it is worth running a wifi analyzer app on your phone to check if a neighbour's network is on the same or adjacent wifi channel to your Sky hub.  Alternatively simply disconnect the power to the hub for 30 seconds which will force it to find the best channel in your home. Often you need better wifi than a Sky hub can provide.

I have no experience of the promised free channels on Plex but given the complexity of IPTV services a media giant like Sky can have issues with stream quality if othercapps like BBC iPlayey or Amazon Prime are OK The issue could be at Plex's end.

[PVD1878]

It's not your fault.  Neither is it Plex's fault.  The culprit is Sky.
They don't like private streaming so they throttle apps such as Plex.

My son runs a Plex server and he put all my DVDs on his server so I could dump my discs in the loft and watch them on Plex instead.  I have very fast fibre broadband.

At first, everything was great.  Within a week or so, however, the quality dropped and buffering slowed everything down.  My son checked his setup and discovered that something called 'transcoding' was happening.  His system wasn't doing it so it can only be Sky.  He ran a few tests on my setup and those tests confirmed that the stream was being throttled.

If you ask Sky, they will deny it of course.  Guess what.  They're lying.

[jamesn123]

@PVD1878 

I think you need to do some research and get some basic knowledge on video streaming before you start accusing Sky of things they are not doing.

Transcoding on Plex is when the server cant directly playback the video file that is stored for whatever you are watching. This is usually down to the device you are watching on not being able to support the resolution, video/audio codec or simply wanting to playback at a lower resolution/bitrate than the original file. If your Son's plex server is falling back to transcoding frequently then he either needs to beef up the server with hardware transcoding or you need to figure out the best way to be able to direct playback from the plex server. This usually would be using a device that supports a wider variety of codecs or has better bandwidth. 

Also the Plex playback experience isn't just down to your connection, it also relies on the upload speed of your sons internet connection. If he is on FTTC then the maximum it could possibly be on a perfect line is 20mbps which may not be enough for some high bitrate videos, especially if he is using the internet for his own things at the same time.