Resolved Apple TV 4 / Mac Mini Server / Plex stuttering issues

[AppleInLVX]

So my home media setup looks like this:

I have a Mac Mini with a 6TB external USB drive attached that houses my media library. It runs a Plex server which is in charge of serving the content up.

I also have the newest edition Apple TV, with Plex app installed.

I've noticed strange behaviour since I upgraded the ATV. What's happening is that when I'm playing a .mkv file, everything works perfectly until the last maybe 1 or 2% of the show/movie. At that point, it skips, stutters and then stops. I miss the last few minutes of every single show or film. I then need to grab the iPad to watch the last of the show on it, as it has no issues. In fact, the only device with any issues is the ATV.

Does anyone know what could be causing this, or more importantly how to fix it?

Thanks for any thoughts from the community.

 

[LewisChapman]

From the Plex 'now playing' interface which you can access on a computer, what is next to video and audio on the tile that is streaming to the ATV. Does it say 'transcoding' or 'direct play'. Try this for both the ATV and the iPad and see if the values are different - I don't think they should be?

Note the last bug fix (attached) on the most recent server update - if you are on an older version of Plex server and transcoding to the ATV but not the iPad then we may have a solution!

 

[AppleInLVX]

From the Plex 'now playing' interface which you can access on a computer, what is next to video and audio on the tile that is streaming to the ATV. Does it say 'transcoding' or 'direct play'. Try this for both the ATV and the iPad and see if the values are different - I don't think they should be?

Note the last bug fix (attached) on the most recent server update - if you are on an older version of Plex server and transcoding to the ATV but not the iPad then we may have a solution!

Hello! Thank you for your reply. While I'm not sure if what I did was exactly what you were instructing me to do, I think that I may indeed have corrected the issue. The "now playing" information was saying "Direct Stream" on the computer, and when I looked at the Plex app for ATV, In the settings Video Quality, I reset Auto Adjust quality to off (it was on) and home and internet streaming to maximum (they were at some lower setting). Also set Audio Quality to "Original".

Once I did that, I tried one of the shows that skipped before and it ran smoothly. So, I'm declaring a tentative success. Whatever the issue, it wasn't the version. I looked at my Plex server, and I'm at 3.26.2, so whatever they fixed didn't fix the stutter for me.

Thanks so much for your guidance. Even if I didn't do exactly what you said, your bread crumbs led me to the right place. I really appreciate that; this ruining of the end-of-shows was really getting frustrating. Cheers to you!

 

[LewisChapman]

Hello! Thank you for your reply. While I'm not sure if what I did was exactly what you were instructing me to do, I think that I may indeed have corrected the issue. The "now playing" information was saying "Direct Stream" on the computer, and when I looked at the Plex app for ATV, In the settings Video Quality, I reset Auto Adjust quality to off (it was on) and home and internet streaming to maximum (they were at some lower setting). Also set Audio Quality to "Original".

Once I did that, I tried one of the shows that skipped before and it ran smoothly. So, I'm declaring a tentative success. Whatever the issue, it wasn't the version. I looked at my Plex server, and I'm at 3.26.2, so whatever they fixed didn't fix the stutter for me.

Thanks so much for your guidance. Even if I didn't do exactly what you said, your bread crumbs led me to the right place. I really appreciate that; this ruining of the end-of-shows was really getting frustrating. Cheers to you!

No bother at all, glad you’ve sorted it!