A very Plex-ing problem

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13Gigatons

13Gigatons

Diamond Member
Apr 19, 2005
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I installed Plex Media Server and have run into two problems:

1. The Plex App for Roku needs internet access to see the server. The server itself DOES not have access to the internet. Without first connecting to the internet with the Roku it will not see the server. This is very annoying for a locally based server. (I manually added the IP address in the Plex app settings)

2. For music the Roku app seems to work fine but with Video I get codec fail or buffering issues. Maybe this is a Roku 1 issue. I can use DLNA with a Bluray player and it plays the same video fine. The Roku 1 works with Netflix and HBO just fine and the room has an access point so signal strength is 100%.
 
dave_the_nerd

dave_the_nerd

Lifer
Feb 25, 2011
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13Gigatons said:
2. For music the Roku app seems to work fine but with Video I get codec fail or buffering issues. Maybe this is a Roku 1 issue.
Click to expand...

Probably not. What did you install the plex media server on? It might not be able to keep up with the transcoding process.

I can use DLNA with a Bluray player and it plays the same video fine.
Click to expand...

DLNA doesn't transcode - either the player can handle to video or it can't, the server doesn't care.

With Plex, it's actually trying to make the server transcode the video on-demand to the "best" format for the client. If the server is weaksauce, you get buffering/codec errors. Since everything else is working, I'm betting that's your problem.

(Watch me look like an idiot in 3 minutes when you come back with, "well actually my Plex Server is installed on a quad-socket 64-core Poweredge 820 with 768GB of RAM.")
 
13Gigatons

13Gigatons

Diamond Member
Apr 19, 2005
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dave_the_nerd said:
Probably not. What did you install the plex media server on? It might not be able to keep up with the transcoding process.
DLNA doesn't transcode - either the player can handle to video or it can't, the server doesn't care.
With Plex, it's actually trying to make the server transcode the video on-demand to the "best" format for the client. If the server is weaksauce, you get buffering/codec errors. Since everything else is working, I'm betting that's your problem.
(Watch me look like an idiot in 3 minutes when you come back with, "well actually my Plex Server is installed on a quad-socket 64-core Poweredge 820 with 768GB of RAM.")
Click to expand...

Server is dual core with 8 gigs. Not a powerhouse. The server barely runs when the video is being trans-coded. The video is low bit-rate...less the 1 megabit.
 
dave_the_nerd

dave_the_nerd

Lifer
Feb 25, 2011
16,992
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13Gigatons said:
Server is dual core with 8 gigs. Not a powerhouse. The server barely runs when the video is being trans-coded. The video is low bit-rate...less the 1 megabit.
Click to expand...
A dual core Atom or Core 2 would be struggling. An more modern (LGA1155 or newer) "big core" dualie should be ok for standard-def transcoding.
 
13Gigatons

13Gigatons

Diamond Member
Apr 19, 2005
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sdifox said:
On your router. Say it is the 32400 port you would setup your router to direct all wan traffic to port 32400 to the ip of your plex server.
Click to expand...

The server is connected to a Gigabit switch which connects to the access point which connects to the Roku over WiFi.
 
dave_the_nerd

dave_the_nerd

Lifer
Feb 25, 2011
16,992
1,621
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13Gigatons said:
The CPU never goes over 28% during trans-coding.
Click to expand...
Oh, I see - that's what you mean by "barely runs." That's good.

Huh.

Have you updated to the latest version of the Plex server? What OS are you running on?

Mine feeds our FireTV sticks just fine. But it does go "stupid" and need to be restarted about once a week.
 
dave_the_nerd

dave_the_nerd

Lifer
Feb 25, 2011
16,992
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Dammit. You shouldn't be having weird issues like that. (I'm not going to say "switch to Linux lol" because as much as I want to, that's probably not the issue.)

Does your router have a bandwidth use / status page? It should be a direct path, but if your network is goofed up somehow, it might be trying to access your plex server over the internet, in which case you'd see your upstream WAN connection get stuffed.
 
bbhaag

bbhaag

Diamond Member
Jul 2, 2011
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In Plex under the server settings tab what is your transcoder quality set to? If on automatic does switching to "prefer higher speed encoding" make a difference? Also under the web settings tab what is your home streaming setting at? If the box "use recommended settings" is checked tryun checking it and using a lower setting.
 
ImpulsE69

ImpulsE69

Lifer
Jan 8, 2010
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They made this change a few years ago and it was basically their way to 'push' everyone to their paid version which turned me off it. I still run Plex classic and a fairly old build of Plex Server, but yes, you DO need an account and it has to be able to talk outside your network. (there are benefits to it yes, but it should not be a requirement if you have no need for them).

Also...Roku 1??? At least get a Roku 3...
 
13Gigatons

13Gigatons

Diamond Member
Apr 19, 2005
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500
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bbhaag said:
In Plex under the server settings tab what is your transcoder quality set to? If on automatic does switching to "prefer higher speed encoding" make a difference? Also under the web settings tab what is your home streaming setting at? If the box "use recommended settings" is checked tryun checking it and using a lower setting.
Click to expand...

It was set to auto but seems to work right set to the "higher quality" setting....hmm.
 
13Gigatons

13Gigatons

Diamond Member
Apr 19, 2005
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500
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bbhaag said:
So is it safe to say you found a solution to your problem?
Click to expand...

One video won't play but the rest are fine. However I have not figured out why Roku needs internet access before turning on the local network.
 
jhansman

jhansman

Platinum Member
Feb 5, 2004
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My $.02: When troubleshooting hardware, I usually go the "substitution" route. Get a new Roku device that you can return if it proves not to be the solution (Amazon sells everything Roku makes, and has a very generous return policy). At least you can then rule out whether your aging Roku is the issue; the network settings are well beyond my ken, so others can pitch in with that.
 
ImpulsE69

ImpulsE69

Lifer
Jan 8, 2010
14,946
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Are you saying PLEX or the ROKU?..because the ROKU requires you to have access because it wants a CC before it will let you use it. There may be a way around this, but I don't know for sure.

Plex requires an account for some reason to their servers even if you only plan on using it locally - though its use is for your myplex (and plexpass.etc).
 
Red Squirrel

Red Squirrel

No Lifer
May 24, 2003
70,407
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www.anyf.ca
That seems like a terrible software design, why would a server need internet access for a local client to connect to it. I guess it's doing some kind of stupid cloud thing.

If you don't want to mess with that, check out Kodi. you can setup NFS or SMB share to the server you use to store your media and don't need internet access.

Also, I don't like anything that requires me to forward ports unless there is a very good reason to, as it's opening up the network to attack if there if a vulnerability found in the software that listens on said port. Any server stuff I run like game server or ethereum node I have on a separate vlan that is reserved for "internet facing" stuff, so that if it does get exploited the attacker is limited to that vlan as the firewall blocks access to the rest of the network.
 
13Gigatons

13Gigatons

Diamond Member
Apr 19, 2005
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My Bad:
1. The Roku only gets it's local IP from the gateway. The access point DHCP server is disabled. (Forgot I did that)
2. The Roku gets unplugged when not being used otherwise it would maintain a local IP address.
3. The Roku only needs 5-10 seconds of access to the Gateway to get an IP address and then can be disconnected.
 
Bardock

Bardock

Senior member
Mar 12, 2014
346
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91
Just use Serviio.

I have dual core with 2gb ram 32 bit windows 7 and serviio never has a hiccup. Doesn't automatically transcode, only when it has to.

Streams dlna to chromecast, bluray, anything in the house.
 
13Gigatons

13Gigatons

Diamond Member
Apr 19, 2005
7,461
500
126
Bardock said:
Just use Serviio.

I have dual core with 2gb ram 32 bit windows 7 and serviio never has a hiccup. Doesn't automatically transcode, only when it has to.

Streams dlna to chromecast, bluray, anything in the house.
Click to expand...

Was using Serviio....just got bored with it. Thought I would see what Plex was like since everyone seems to use it.
 
Bardock

Bardock

Senior member
Mar 12, 2014
346
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91
Me too but it transcoded every single thing I played and the transcoding maxed out my server, and the app crashed on my phone. The new Serviio that came out thursday fixed all the problems and added some new stuff, I am really enjoying it, version 1.9.1
 
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