Question Media server help...plex sux.

[Batmeat]

I need a good media server. I'm tired of plex. It lags and buffers no matter what I do. I've put up with it now for over 5 years. My media server is my desktop. Gigabit hard wired to my Linksys Velop AX4200 router. TV is also hard wired to my router, Samsung Q80 if I remember right. Desktop is a 9700k all cores at 5.0 ghz. 32gb ram. Western Digital Red's 8tb drives (one is a mirrored backup). using a cheap video card and letting the CPU do the grunt work. When streaming media, the desktop isn't being used at all. 300megabit internet connection.

not sure where the home media section went, but I haven't been on for a long time. I need options. I want something that is robust and works well....Plex isn't it. Recommendations?

 

[lakedude]

Scroll up and watch the vid to see why.

Ok so there is a quality difference that you can see, if you look closely with a magnifying 🔎 glass in a shaded area...

I think I'd prefer to get it all working smoothly and then worry about upping the quality.

Have you unplugged the TV from the wired network and just tried to stream on wifi? Is your TV close to your wifi? If not the older 2.4GHz actually has better range.

Sounds to me like the clients are not using a big enough buffer...


Direct stream should reduce the processor workload at the expense of possibly bogging down the network.

The buffer needs to be big enough to compensate for the excursions over your network speed or you need to speed up your network.

If you can't find a way to adjust your buffer and/or speed up your network the best option is going to be to give up on the direct stream and have your server encode the stream to a format the client prefers at a bit rate your network can handle.

 

[ch33zw1z]

@lakedude - That may or may not be true, it really depends on the file and client

- A raw 4K, 100Mbit could struggle for sure.

- 4K encoded to x264, maybe less likely, depends on settings

- 4K encoded to x265, not likely to struggle on a 100Mbit connection.

I test quite a bit of this stuff, all 4K's I have are x265 using the HB roku 4K preset. My only 4K client is a TCL roku TV. 100Mbit LAN, or 2.4/5Ghz WLAN (I prefer LAN whenever possible). Files direct play no problem

On the LAN 4K playback will spike to 80-100Mbit to buffer for a couple seconds, then settles right down. On the WLAN, It *usually* spikes about the same, but I have seen it spike a little higher occasionally (120ish Mbit)

The playback in the end doesn't suffer.

That being said, I definitely agree to just unplugging the LAN cable altogether when testing the WLAN.

*note - the only set top type client I know of that run's a gigabit network connection is the Nvidia Shield

 

[lakedude]

Yeah another client besides the stupid built in one would help for sure. We use our phones and a DeX if the Chrome Cast gives us trouble. A playstation and laptop are other options if you already have any of these. The Shield 🛡 comes up all the time as a great option.

 

[Batmeat]

Got it all figured out. The router sends out 3 signals. 2.4ghz, and two 5ghz signals. You can name all of them whatever said name you want, but You can’t access them under normal router access through 192.168.x.x. The router has an advanced mode you have to access by clicking a stupid small hyperlink after you directly logging in, akin to scrolling to the bottom of a webpage and finding a small little link on the main index page.
What I did was keep five gigaherts signal number one the same SSID, and five gigahert signal number two a separate SSID that the TV has direct access too. No other device is on the second channel. Viola, problem solved.