Hey all, I’m very new to self-hosting and have no background in anything computer-related. I’ll explain in as much detail as I can. I’m running Plex on a Synology DS220+. I’m using the Plex app, i.e. not using Docker (see note below).
The issue: I can watch Plex on my local network in 4K, but outside my local network it barely makes it to 720p. I thought it was an issue with my upload speed, but I got gigabit last week and it hasn’t fixed the issue. I have remote access enabled in Plex through a manually-specified port. The issue persists with my own account and any friends who have access to my library.
I appreciate any advice, links or questions you can offer!
NOTE: I understand the benefits of Docker and I promise to transition in the future. I spent many hours learning and troubleshooting, and it was even functional at times, but eventually I needed something that just worked.
EDIT: You all have been so helpful and supportive. Thanks for meeting me where I’m at and sharing some potential issues.
EDIT2: I found the culprit by accident. I had UPnP enabled on my router. I turned it off and my local speeds increased significantly, and my Plex library is available remotely. I don’t know how or why UPnP is related, but that’s what the solution was for me. Thanks again for all your input and support.
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Acronyms, initialisms, abbreviations, contractions, and other phrases which expand to something larger, that I’ve seen in this thread:
Fewer Letters More Letters DNS Domain Name Service/System HTTP Hypertext Transfer Protocol, the Web IP Internet Protocol IoT Internet of Things for device controllers NAS Network-Attached Storage NAT Network Address Translation Plex Brand of media server package SSL Secure Sockets Layer, for transparent encryption VPN Virtual Private Network nginx Popular HTTP server
9 acronyms in this thread; the most compressed thread commented on today has 14 acronyms.
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One thing I haven’t seen called out that could be a contributing factor is the hardware capabilities of the playback device. Depending on the codecs used in your media, there may not be hardware accelerated decoding support if the playback device is a smartphone. This may cause the plex to decide to transcode your media into a format that is supported by your playback device.
Also, hardware accelerated transcoding is a subscription based feature. Without plex pass active, the transcode will be CPU based only. The dual core CPU will almost certainly not have enough oomph to transcode anything beyond 720p, but the CPU has Intel QSV support so plex should be smart enough to use that.
This is good to look into. I’ve tried remote streaming on several different devices. Before I bought the NAS I was sure it could handle a few streams, but maybe I was wrong.
I have three hypotheses.
- There’s a setting for remote streaming quality. It may be set to 720p.
- The port isn’t open on your router and Plex streams via a Plex relay server which limits the quality.
- The CPU might not be fast enough to transcode beyond 720p and Plex might be transcoding for remote streaming.
Thanks for the concise reply!
-Streaming quality is set to original on every device I use to access Plex.
-I still get confused about open ports, but I’ll check again and make sure it’s not running through relay.
-I believe the hardware should be fast enough to transcode at least a couple streams, but I’ll check again.
I was talking about a server side setting under Remote Access. Check there.
I have gigabit, and struggled to stream. Turned out I had the Quality of Service (QoS) /traffic priority settings on my router misconfigured.
This might be something to look into.
Can a remote user download something from your network at a reasonable and consistent speed? (Not using Plex)
Can you upload a large file somewhere and monitor the speed and see if it maintains speed as expected?
For me, these two things were also performing at unexpectedly low speeds, or being wildly inconsistent until I fixed my QoS settings.
Unfortunately I’m using Nest WiFi and it doesn’t have QoS settings. You’re making me consider buying a new mesh router system because Nest also doesn’t have manual band selection, which I need for some IoT devices.
I have the older “Google WiFi” mesh and I was able to install OpenWRT on them. You might want to see if that’s an option for yours before spending money on a new system.
My fiber company double natted me.
It was really messing with my Plex remote connections and my VPN.
If you can’t sort it out locally might want to give your isp a call and find out if they e done the same.
P.s sorry for the shit website link.
Ah, Plex suggested I might be double-natted. Since fiber doesn’t need a modem (from my understanding) I have: fiber cable to box, box Ethernet to router, router ethernet to NAS. Maybe it would be better if I did box directly to NAS? Or would that put it on a separate network? I’ll look into your double-nat solution. Thank you.
You need to call your isp and request a static ip. Most probably they’ll say its extra but usually around $5. If they say they don’t give static ips to individuals you can request an ipv4 dynamic address and use a ddns. ipv6 only networks also result similarly to double nat
Thanks for the tip. My ISP only offers static IPs for the business tier, but I’ll ask about ipv4.
Have you enabled remote access? You may be using the proxy.
Remote access is enabled but whether I’m actually able to access the server or library remotely is intermittent. Plex says I may be double-natted but I was pretty sure I’m not. I’ll have to investigate again.
What IP is your router bound to? Is it a public IP?
I’m sorry, I’m not knowledgeable enough to answer this. Should my router be bound to a certain IP? I believe it has an assigned local IP, but does it also have a public one?
Then you’re double NATed. Contact your ISP to see if you can forward a port.
