For a while I have been watching various channels on my chromecast via my plex server and got stuttering. I thought this was just crappy internet data streams. However, I have noticed that local media can also have this problem. Does anyone have any idea what is causing this?
Another thing I noticed, is that I sometimes watch youtube streams on my chromecast and those seem rock-solid (I have only done this a few times), which would imply that the wi-fi / bandwidth isn’t the problem.
I sometimes get weird stuttering depending on the transcoding. Have you tried different options there?
I do not really understand my options there, but I had changed things. I think, in general, it is set to automatic.
Content bitrate and CPU load on transcoding? Hard disk I/O?
I set the transcoding to fastest / lower quality, which I assume takes the least amount of CPU. I was streaming a channel tonight and it was choppy as hell. I do not know about local media yet.
I am disk IO isn’t an issue on just reads, there isn’t anything else going on. CPU load could be an issue, but I have no way to measure that. I have a quad core I7 that mostly sleeps.
Ok, right now I am streaming that show that was choppy as hell to my desktop instead of my chromecast. Now it could be luck, but so far it is rock solid. Maybe a bandwith issue on the wi-fi? Are there settings somewhere for that?
Maybe check for interference on the 2.4 GHz band (see what channels neighbors are using, and go for channel 1, 6, or 11 – whichever has the least interference.
If you don’t have a good WiFi signal the Chromecast will definitely choke.
I had lots of issues using my Chromecast with Plex. My issue at the time was it would completely stop playing after awhile (basically pause and never resume). I switched over to a Roku 3 instead because of that and wanting a real remote. That was over a year ago though, and I would have figured issues would be ironed out by now. I’d check around on the Plex forums for any known issues.
Ok, right now I am streaming that show that was choppy as hell to my desktop instead of my chromecast. Now it could be luck, but so far it is rock solid. Maybe a bandwith issue on the wi-fi? Are there settings somewhere for that?
I may be misremembering how Chromecast works, but couldn’t the issue be that when Plexing, you’re effectively using twice the WiFi bandwidth (streaming to the server, then to the Chromecast), whereas Youtube streams directly from router to Chromecast?
My setup works more or less right (well, capped at 6000kbps), but I noticed the transcoder can have problems with certain part of a video, usually just one transcoded “segment” of video (say, 30 secs), and I think it’s just it’s the transcoder fault. I can stop the video, reset the router, the wifi AP, start the video file again from the start and when the file reaches again the problematic part, again I have garbled audio/video for 30 secs. And the rest plays fine. Or I put a long movie, and it plays fine.
My server has a wired connection so it is not competing.
Plex + Chromecast = awesome for me. However, I do sometimes randomly get pauses, and have never quite figured out why.
I’m also not completely clear on how Plex works. I’ve got the media files on my PC, but it doesn’t “feel” like I am directly streaming from my PC to my Chromecast. Is it?
Yeah, it’s a streaming platform. You can sync files to your device but otherwise you are directly streaming. Plex also handles the transcoding on the server in real-ish time.
I have had some issues with Plex and video streaming, it is mostly rock solid, but on my tablet, it seems to be the wifi and plex not being very friendly with it. My router isn’t the best, and sometimes you have to add/drop connection to get a solid down/upload speed. I was having a hard time playing a particular episode of the simpsons, and after getting my tablet speed working (speedtest.net) check of around 10 Mbps, plex still wasn’t loading the episode, I started another that ran flawlessly, that episode just wouldn’t play. I suspect that my plex server was hung up on transcoding/serving that file to the broken connection. Resetting everything fixed this.
TLDR: I would restart your router and plex server.
TLDR2: “Have you tried turning it off and on again?”
Agreed. Every now and then the whole thing gets wonky and I need to restart my plex client and server.
Edit: Although with the rate that Plex updates usually I’ll just run the update instead of restarting, since that does the restart too (obvs)
How it should… feel? It’s doing that.
Depending of the settings and the video files, it will transcode the file and at the same time stream it, so it has a few more seconds of “waiting” when you are rewinding or putting a new video, maybe it’s because that.
Hmmm. Perhaps, actively thinking about it, it is because when I run it from my iPhone, for example, I can basically start a show then close the app, etc. and it runs “independently” - but that makes sense, since the media is actually on my laptop. And there is a big difference between playing a video from my Plex server setup and, say, streaming a video from Chrome browser.
Honestly, I don’t know why I said that, LOL! I’d had no experience with media servers, etc. so when I set up Plex and connect it with my Chromecasts (which, for some reason, seem to run more smoothly with Plex than my Amazon Fire stick did) it’s just magic. ;)
I also have no idea what I’m doing when I mess around with the server and other settings.
Remember the smartphone app is just a remote control, the streaming is being done from pc to chromecast through wifi. I use the same setup, using the android plex app as remote.
In fact sometimes I find myself like orienting myself to the tv screen when operating it, as if the signal would be better that way, even if the router is truly in another room, so the “good” direction is another one. :P
Ok, I figured it out the cause of all my problems (this might be a bit too soon to make this claim, but my initial test seemed to work beautifully). Tonight I was trying to stream a local video and it was choppy here and there. Then later on I tried to watch a channel on plex and it was completely unplayable.
I then thought, perhaps the wi-fi channel my router was on was super crowed. So I went upstairs and changed my router from “auto” to channel 11. Then I went back to started the same show that was unwatchable before because of the constant stuttering. It played just fine.
Wi-fi is crowded in my neighborhood. I use powerline ethernet now, it’s a thousand times better for streaming.