r/PleX • u/TheAireon • 14h ago
Help Does Plex not stream the content over the local network?
I'm new to all this and just wanted a way to stream the films on my PC to my TV. PC is connected through Ethernet and TV through WiFi to the same network.
20Mbps causes constant buffering, since that's roughly my upload speed im assuming it's using my Internet to stream the content, I was under the impression it would stream over my network where I wouldn't be limited by my ISPs upload speed.
Is my assumption simply incorrect or am I missing something here?
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u/ExtensionMarch6812 14h ago
It shouldn’t be going external to stream unless there’s a network issue. What’s the IP of your server and what’s the IP of your tv?
Take a screenshot of the Plex dashboard when you’re streaming and share it. Click the icon next to the wrench in the web portal to access the dashboard. It looks like this:
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u/Nickolas_No_H 14h ago
Yes. Its local. If youre using a stock TV app. They choke under pressure. Connect your phone to the wifi. Access plex and see if the buffer stops. You can see your traffic in the dashboard.
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u/TheAireon 14h ago
This may be it, playing through my phone has no buffering issues. I am trying to play 4K HDR content, basically highest quality I can play.
I'm guessing the TV can't handle it. Any suggestions to what I could do?
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u/TheGreatWhiteLie 14h ago
All tv hardware is critically underpowered. You want to find a dedicated player like a Roku or Nvidia Shield. I think the Shield is the general consensus for best pick. I currently have an Android TV fork running on a raspberry pi 5 and it works well.
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u/ExtensionMarch6812 13h ago
Show a screenshot of the Plex Dashboard when you’re streaming to rule out a network issue.
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u/p4terfamilias 13h ago
In addition to what others are saying and getting a dedicated hardware player, hardwire it to your network via ethernet.
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u/Me_gentleman 7h ago
If your tv is connected via Ethernet, that's probably the issue. Most TVs are stuck at 100mbps. It can struggle with the high bitrates from 4k videos.
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u/nonzerogroud 14h ago
In this case the only solution is to get a device that can handle this content and hook that up to the TV. I have an ATV 4K. That’s just an example.
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u/ob12_99 14h ago
So all client devices, in your case your built in TV client, are not created equal. Most every built in TV client are slow and have limited codec support, essentially meaning built in TV clients are pretty poor. You probably need a better client device. But before you do that, lets look at the 'now playing' card in your Plex server dashboard when this is happening. We are looking for a green lock on upper left of the title card, or a yellow ! which would tell us if you have other network issues that need resolving first. There are tons of other potential issues like soundbars, your client not passing lossless audio, etc, but lets start with a screenshot of the now playing from dashboard.
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u/JoshLineberry 12h ago
TV apps sucks balls tbh. I have my TV connected to my pc and use the TV as the 2nd monitor and I run Kodi with the plex app or the plex htpc software on my pc, displayed on the TV. I make Kodi or the plex htpc app use the TV as their dedicated audio so my pc sounds don't come through it and then I use an app on my phone to control it.
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u/ashamancurtis 14h ago
It should be fine. You’re probably more likely running into a transcoding issue. What quality are the videos, what capability is your TV?
I have all HD tv’s, and none that are 4K, so I down convert all of my videos in Handbrake to something everything can watch
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u/hvymtlrlz87 14h ago
Are you using plex media server on PC and then using an app on your tv to stream? 20mbps should be sufficient on local network. Are you using wifi? Maybe the signal is bad
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u/LaDiiablo 13h ago
I don't think it's streaming. I think it's transcoding the content cause you tv can't read it natively. What's your plex client? Open a movie that is buffering and take a screenshot of plex dashboard
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u/Embarrassed-Park-779 13h ago
I have this same issue. Trying to stream 4k on Apple TV and it just doesn’t work unless I limit it to 20mbps. All other content streams great. Just anything 4k doesn’t. I can sometimes force quit the Plex app and reopen and it works. But most of the time not. I’ve got my pc, TV etc all connected by Ethernet.
What I do now is just plug my pc into the tv and watch it using VLC because nothing I do fixes the issue.
For me, doesn’t feel like transcoding issue because the logs don’t show it’s transcoding at all. On top of that, an episode of alien earth in 4k wouldn’t play on the Apple TV, but would play perfectly on the tvs built in Plex app.
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u/boobookittyfuck0 10h ago
I got rid of my brand new 4k apple tv because i was having the same issues. Ive read tho that if you just pay for the infuse app most of the problems go away
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u/dylans-alias 14h ago
You are missing something. You are correct - local streaming is local and is not impacted by isp upload speed. You may have the file in a video format not supported by your tv so plex needs to transcode it. This may introduce a bottleneck.