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.
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 a similar issue when I am visiting my parents. Despite having 30 mbps upload at my home, I cannot get anywhere near that when trying to access things from my parents house. Not just Plex either, I host a number of services. I’ve tested their wifi and download, and everything seems fine. I can also stream my Plex just fine from my friends places. I’ve chalked it up to poor (or throttled) peering between my parents ISP and my ISP. I’ve been meaning to test it through a VPN next time I go home.
Thanks for sharing your experience. I pay for a static IP through my VPN provider, and I’ve wondered if there would be a benefit to running my server through the static IP, then using the same IP to access the server remotely. (Not sure if I’m describing that correctly.)
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.
You said you recently got a gigabit plan, but that’s related to your home download speed. Check to see what your upload speed actually is. Depending on your ISP’s plans, you might have a speedy download but a slow upload.
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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 a similar issue when I am visiting my parents. Despite having 30 mbps upload at my home, I cannot get anywhere near that when trying to access things from my parents house. Not just Plex either, I host a number of services. I’ve tested their wifi and download, and everything seems fine. I can also stream my Plex just fine from my friends places. I’ve chalked it up to poor (or throttled) peering between my parents ISP and my ISP. I’ve been meaning to test it through a VPN next time I go home.
Thanks for sharing your experience. I pay for a static IP through my VPN provider, and I’ve wondered if there would be a benefit to running my server through the static IP, then using the same IP to access the server remotely. (Not sure if I’m describing that correctly.)
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.
You said you recently got a gigabit plan, but that’s related to your home download speed. Check to see what your upload speed actually is. Depending on your ISP’s plans, you might have a speedy download but a slow upload.
I tested between 800-900Mbps UP, closer to a full gig down.
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