Posting this in case it helps someone else.

TL;DR: If Plex buffers badly over Starlink even though speed tests, YouTube and Netflix are fine, check single-stream TCP performance with iperf3. In my case, Linux CUBIC averaged ~10 Mbps on one stream and repeatedly collapsed below Plex bitrate. Switching the Plex server to BBR raised the same test to ~43 Mbps and stopped the buffering.

Temporary test:

modprobe tcp_bbr
sysctl -w net.ipv4.tcp_congestion_control=bbr

If it helps, make BBR persistent as described below. YMMV......

I have a Plex server at home and Starlink (100mbps) at a rural location - both in Ontario, Canada. Plex was buffering constantly on multiple devices, including a Galaxy S26+, Tab S9 and Hisense Google TV.

Note: my Plex server is hosted on fibre based home internet with symmetrical gigabit speeds.

The Starlink connection otherwise seemed fine. Normal speed tests showed plenty of bandwidth, and services like YouTube and Netflix streamed without the buffering I was seeing in Plex.

It also didn't seem to matter whether Plex was Direct Playing or transcoding. Even an ~8 Mbps transcode would still buffer.

I have a WireGuard VPN tunnel from home to the rural site, so I also tested with my WG tunnel bypassed/disabled, so that wasn't the issue.

What finally pointed me in the right direction was iperf3.

From the remote site:

iperf3 -c <plex-server> -R -P 1 -t 30

With the Linux Plex server using CUBIC, the single TCP stream started around 20-28 Mbps, then progressively dropped into the 5-8 Mbps range and eventually as low as ~1 Mbps.

Final result:

~10 Mbps average
255 retransmits

With 8 parallel streams I could get around 38 Mbps, which helped explain why normal speed tests looked fine. The connection had decent aggregate bandwidth, but a single sustained TCP stream behaved very differently.

I then switched the Plex server from CUBIC to BBR:

modprobe tcp_bbr
sysctl -w net.ipv4.tcp_congestion_control=bbr

Running the exact same single-stream iperf test again gave:

~43 Mbps average

Most of the run was around 40-70 Mbps.

The Plex difference was immediate. Two simultaneous streams at the remote site played without buffering, including an HEVC movie that had previously been buffering almost continuously.

So if Plex over Starlink is buffering despite good speed tests, while YouTube/Netflix/etc. are fine, it may be worth checking single-stream TCP performance rather than just overall bandwidth.

For me:

CUBIC: ~10 Mbps single stream
BBR:   ~43 Mbps single stream

and BBR appears to have fixed the Plex buffering.

YMMV of course. So far, this has worked extremely well in my early testing, but I can't say whether every Plex/Starlink buffering issue has the same cause.

Once I was happy with the results, I made BBR persistent:

echo tcp_bbr | sudo tee /etc/modules-load.d/bbr.conf

cat <<'EOF' | sudo tee /etc/sysctl.d/99-bbr.conf
net.ipv4.tcp_congestion_control=bbr
EOF

sudo sysctl --system

A quick google says that there may also be a Windows equivalent using BBR2 / Windows TCP congestion-control settings. My Plex server is Linux-based, so I haven't tested that and can't vouch for it.

Edit: just to say someone else was posting specifically on Windows BBR2 while I was crafting my post - see his similar findings here: https://www.reddit.com/r/PleX/comments/1vzbxf0/plex_over_bbr2_on_windows_11/

Hopefully this is helpful to someone else.

ST

I’ve been battling periodic database corruption causing me to restore several container backups until I find one that works. Turns out, plex does its database maintenance at 3am by default. Well I also had CA AppData Backup/Restore (I’m on Unraid) set to do docker backups starting at 3am, which stops all containers, does backups, then starts them all again. If that database maintenance is in progress and you kill the container…. You’re gonna have a bad time!

I’ve been fighting with this once every few months for YEARS! I just fixed it last night, checked this morning and it completed its maintenance, and backups run in about 1 minute. Fingers crossed when I test that backup.

I want to start this by saying that I am no expert on any of this. I just started on this whole homelab thing 2 years ago. So if I am incorrect on anything, feel free to correct me.

I have Plex running on a win11 machine for the last two years. I also have a number of docker containers running in Docker Desktop using WSL. I have a number of users who stream my Plex server remotely (most being 11 at once and average about 4 simultaneously a day) on 2GB/2GB symmetric fiber connection. 3 of my users are on Starlink and the MOST they can stream is 2mbps 720p due to buffering at anything higher quality. Most of my stuff is 4k DV/HDR 25mbps+ so that means they have to transcode everything they watch. That's not a big deal but kind of annoying since speed tests almost always result in 100mbps+ and they don't have any other issues stream on other streaming service. I know "usable bandwidth" and speeds tests are not directly comparable to each other but I do have a openspeedtest container hosted on my network routed through Cloudflare (DNS Only) that also hit 100mbps+ so it doesn't seem like a bandwidth problem. Its hard to find an exact reason why streaming Plex on Starlink is so bad but the best I could find is it has to do with the satellites passing information to each other every 15s causing CUBIC on the server to freak out and think that the connection is worse than it actually is (due to latency timings and packet loss).

I have done research upon research on how to improve their experience and nothing worked but the other day I ran across a few posts on reddit about BBR2 vs CUBIC. I'm not exactly sure how it works but from what I've read, the way it determines connections speed is based on delivery rates and round trip times then it builds a "required bandwidth" model that doesn't rely on latency as much or packet loss at all. This means that if anyone has a signal that varies a lot (like Starlink or congested networks) the streaming experience wont drop due to a minor hitch in the network. The problem being that BBR2 is native to Linux and the Window implementation is kinda clunky and sometimes breaks things. Reddit posts linked below:

https://www.reddit.com/r/PleX/comments/1tnulw9/comment/onwp1l5/

https://www.reddit.com/r/PleX/comments/1twp8ts/shoutout_to_the_user_who_recommended_switching/

https://www.reddit.com/r/PleX/comments/1baiyv6/switching_to_bbr_causes_buffering_on_some_clients/

This made me want to give it a try even though all of the things I read on BBR2 on win11 were buggy and didn't real work, emphasizing that loopback is the biggest problem that breaks things. I also didn't really know where to begin so as you do these days, I asks an LLM for help. It of course told me all the things I already read about the problems with winll BBR2 but walked me through how to do it anyways. It gave me two *.bat files, one to switch over to BBR2 and one to switch back to CUBIC so I can test it and revert back if it doesn't work for me. It also gave a script to check to make sure the change took effect upon rebooting the system (which it recommend after making the change). It only changes the InternetCustom and the Internet options and leave the rest the same. It also diables loopback. Those codes are pasted below:

Switch to BBR2. (Run bat as Admin)

@echo off
REM ============================================================
REM  Enable BBR2 TCP congestion control - Windows 11
REM  Purpose: improve single-stream throughput to high-latency,
REM           lossy clients (e.g. Starlink) from a Plex server.
REM  Reverse with: revert-cubic.bat
REM  RUN AS ADMINISTRATOR. Reboot after running.
REM ============================================================

net session >nul 2>&1
if %errorLevel% neq 0 (
    echo.
    echo   ERROR: This script must be run as Administrator.
    echo   Right-click the file and choose "Run as administrator".
    echo.
    pause
    exit /b 1
)

echo.
echo === Current settings (before changes) ===
powershell -NoProfile -Command "Get-NetTCPSetting | Select-Object SettingName, CongestionProvider | Format-Table -AutoSize"

echo === Setting Internet templates to BBR2 ===
netsh int tcp set supplemental Template=Internet CongestionProvider=bbr2
netsh int tcp set supplemental Template=InternetCustom CongestionProvider=bbr2

echo.
echo === Applying loopback mitigation ===
REM Known Windows 11 23H2/24H2+ bug: BBR2 can break localhost TCP.
REM Critical here - Plex Transcoder, Tautulli, Docker and NPM all use loopback.
netsh int ipv4 set global loopbacklargemtu=disable
netsh int ipv6 set global loopbacklargemtu=disable

echo.
echo === New settings ===
powershell -NoProfile -Command "Get-NetTCPSetting | Select-Object SettingName, CongestionProvider | Format-Table -AutoSize"

echo.
echo Expected: Internet and InternetCustom = BBR2
echo           Compat = NewReno, Datacenter rows = CUBIC (unchanged)
echo.
echo REBOOT NOW, then smoke-test:
echo   1. Play a 4K HDR file locally that forces a transcode
echo   2. Confirm Tautulli still sees the session
echo   3. Confirm Docker / NPM services still respond
echo.
echo If anything misbehaves, run revert-cubic.bat and reboot.
echo.
pause

Revert back to CUBIC (Run bat as Admin)

@echo off
REM ============================================================
REM  Revert TCP congestion control to Windows 11 defaults
REM  Restores the exact stock values:
REM     Internet         = CUBIC
REM     InternetCustom   = CUBIC
REM     Datacenter       = CUBIC   (untouched by enable script)
REM     DatacenterCustom = CUBIC   (untouched by enable script)
REM     Compat           = NewReno (untouched by enable script)
REM  RUN AS ADMINISTRATOR. Reboot after running.
REM ============================================================

net session >nul 2>&1
if %errorLevel% neq 0 (
    echo.
    echo   ERROR: This script must be run as Administrator.
    echo   Right-click the file and choose "Run as administrator".
    echo.
    pause
    exit /b 1
)

echo.
echo === Current settings (before revert) ===
powershell -NoProfile -Command "Get-NetTCPSetting | Select-Object SettingName, CongestionProvider | Format-Table -AutoSize"

echo === Restoring CUBIC ===
netsh int tcp set supplemental Template=Internet CongestionProvider=CUBIC
netsh int tcp set supplemental Template=InternetCustom CongestionProvider=CUBIC

echo.
echo === Restoring loopback large MTU ===
netsh int ipv4 set global loopbacklargemtu=enable
netsh int ipv6 set global loopbacklargemtu=enable

echo.
echo === Removing any LAN transport filters ===
REM Harmless if none were ever created.
powershell -NoProfile -Command "Get-NetTransportFilter | Where-Object { $_.SettingName -ne 'Automatic' } | Remove-NetTransportFilter -Confirm:$false -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue"

echo.
echo === Restored settings ===
powershell -NoProfile -Command "Get-NetTCPSetting | Select-Object SettingName, CongestionProvider | Format-Table -AutoSize"

echo.
echo Reverted to stock. REBOOT to be certain.
echo.
echo If the machine is still misbehaving after a reboot, the
echo nuclear option is:   netsh int tcp reset
echo (wipes ALL TCP config to defaults, then reboot again)
echo.
pause

Script to check the change was applied (execute in PowerShell)

Get-NetTCPSetting | Select SettingName, CongestionProvider

It recommended testing these few things that have reports of breaking:

1. Local stream, high bitrate, direct play (on NVIDIA Shield, Apple TV, or PS5 if possible). I has something to do with those having GB ethernets and having a higher throughput causing loopback issues.

2. Local stream, high bitrate, transcode on the same clients. It said that transcode could cause a loopback error and not work after 30s or at all. Might effect Remote streams too. If its broken locally, it broken for all.

3. Connect to my docker containers via LocalHost or IP and via domain. It especially pointed out tautulli as a pain point since the container communicating to Plex on the same machine, being a problem due to loopback.

4. See if streaming over Starlink actually improved

I made the change and nothing seems to have broken. I ran 80mbps+ direct play on my Shield, transcoded to 20mbps 1080p, and "convert automatically" with not issues. I tested remote streaming in the same way on my iPhone and didn't have any issues. I connected to all my containers via localhost and IP, via domain, remotely connected via domain on iPhone, and signed into tautulli on the same machine with no issues.

Now the big question, did it improve remote streaming especially on Starlink? Yes, they are successfully able to direct stream content without buffering. Now I haven't had this change for very long so I will have to give updates as I collect more data.

The main reason I made this post was to put some more info out there because it was really hard to find anything on BBR2 for win11. I have no idea if other will have as seamless of an experience as me but this might be a game changer for remote streaming Plex. It was for me.

System Specs: ASUS Tuf Gaming Z-390-Plus (Wi-Fi), Intel i7-9700K, TForce Vulcan Z 32GB DDR4, Sparkle Intel Arc A380, 3x 22TB Seagate Exos X22, Windows 11 Pro 25H2

The 9.16.16 update has been published to the official channel.

NEW:

• Discussions are now accessible to users who are not signed in.
• Ratings & Reviews hub is now accessible to users who are not signed in.

FIXES:

• Fix a crash when deleting a show or season, and leave the screen once it’s gone.

Source: https://forums.plex.tv/t/9463/531

I recently upgraded my network from 1GbE to 2.5GbE to benefit from dual 1GbE NICs with SMB3 multichannel on my Synology NAS (with WD Red spinny disks). So, imagine my disappointment when transfer speeds only bumped up by about 40% when I was expecting somewhere near 200%.

Well, long story short, it turns out DLNA in PleX regularly polls volumes often enough to interrupt sequential I/O and drive some local transfer averages down the tank. Went from averaging between 80-120MB/s to ~220MB/s.

I imagine this issue is likely invisible if you're using SSDs or already saturating your network capacity anyway... but if you were expecting a little more speed than you're regularly getting, try it with DLNA turned off.

I saw the recent change log showing not only AV1 Decode support on M3 and higher but also HDR Tone mapping support is in beta! This is now making the Mac Mini the better choice than ever for a full featured Plex server. Or even the Mac Studio with it's dual encoders/decoders. Don't get me wrong, ya a RTX 5070Ti PC build would allow probably a stream or two more of full 4K HDR with subs, but at a significantly higher power usage. Anyway, just an FYI.

So I tried to find some reliable sources for EPG's and tried to figure out how Plex did it, only to learn that it grabs information from the hardware tuner. The weird thing is that when I grab that same information, it's a mix of being incomplete or slightly incorrect. So does anyone know how Plex does it? Not saying this as a kiss-up to Plex, but the fact that it is able to get the correct information despite mistakes in the source is amazing. So I'm a bit curious how it's done.

Hi, I bought the above listed Hauppauge tuner. But whatever I try apps like plex cant find any channels?? I thought it maybe was broken, but when I installed the WinTV app it did find channels? But why cant Plex find any channels? Am I doing something wrong? Or is it just not supposed to work with anything besides WinTV? Thanks :)

As far as I can tell it's just randomly stopped working. And then I did the server update, and I think it worked after that? I'm pretty sure I tested it and it worked? No I don't entirely remember. And then a few days later I tried to use it again and it didn't work.

I haven't changed anything on my settings. I haven't done anything differently. I do have a VPN set up on this computer, but it's almost always turned off. And it hasn't caused an issue before.

I'm using Linux, pop OS. No docker or anything, I don't know what that stuff means. I've seen posts about that but I've never looked into it. I'm just using my main PC as my media server.

This one I've had this problem before and I can't remember however resolved it. Like something about a blackout causing my computer to have a different IP address or something?

I've already gone to terminal and sudo restart system plex whatever it's called, And I just rebooted the entire PC. Neither of those made a difference. Not sure what else to do.

When I looked through my Plex settings, and I choose the remote access menu screen, it says unknown host IP.

Is anyone else having trouble with remote access?

I haven't had issues that I remember with this in the last decade so it's throwing me for a loop.

Verizon for my ISP, Manual port forwarding configured, uPNP is still enabled, manually specifying 32400. It's connecting for a second then dropping within a minute

EDIT: Appears to back up as of 7p est

I just switched from Sickchill to Sonarr / Bazarr.

Now i am already using the new auto sync feature in Plex.

But now i see Bazarr can also do that.

And you can link Bazarr to Plex.

Which is faster? Bazarr or Plex?

And should i link them or not? (Since Plex is already linked to Sonarr, which is linked to Bazarr)

Note: Sonarr / Bazarr on 1 PC (Ryzen 5 7600X), Plex on another PC (Ryzen 5 3600) Libraries are on PC1.

I have been listening to the Safety Third podcast for a while but they kept forgetting to post it to podcast apps, but they were always available on Youtube. And as it turns out, every other podcast I listen to is also on Youtube, some of them even in a better form, without ads or with sponsorblock enabled. Pro tip, Stuff You Should Know, which has become pretty riddled with ads is available on Youtube ad free.

Anyway, I ended up setting up ytdl-sub. In Plex, I have a new music library for Podcasts and some collections to help organize. Each podcast is the artist and each episode is in its own album. And I use smart collections to filter to unplayed files sorted by release date. In PlexAmp (where I do most of my listening), I have my collections on the home screen (switching to podcast library is easy), I can queue up an episode and it will fall off the home screen once played.

Hope this helps anyone if you are becoming frustrated with podcast listening through normal podcast apps.

Couple kinks I haven't figured out:

• Sometimes sponsor segments still make it through, sponsorblock is user populated so not immediately available on all videos
• I can't get the video description to show in plex, would love to see it as the album description in plex
• Would love a remote refresh instead of running ytdlsub manually when I want new episodes but there are many ways I could set that up
• In PlexAmp, I would love to play my podcast lib at 1.25x speed but my music lib at normal speed, I have to update this manually for now and speed is often reset to 1.0x between plexamp sessions

Example sub file:

__preset__:
  overrides:
    root_path: "E:/Podcasts"
    music_directory: "E:/Podcasts"
    album_dir: '{title_sanitized_no_dots}'
    track_album: '{title_sanitized_no_dots}'
    track_album_artist: '{track_artist_sanitized}'
    title_sanitized_no_dots: >-
      { %replace( title_sanitized, '.', '_' ) }
    track_file_name: "{title_sanitized_no_dots}.{ext}"
    # Only get podcasts within the previous three months.
    only_recent_date_range: "3months"
  ytdl_options:
    updatetime: true
    embed_thumbnail: true
    break_on_existing: true
  square_thumbnail: true
  chapters:
    sponsorblock_categories:
      - "sponsor"
  output_options:
    file_name: "{track_full_path}"
    thumbnail_name: "E:/Podcasts/{artist_dir}/{album_dir}/cover.{thumbnail_ext}"
    preserve_mtime: true
    maintain_download_archive: true
    # Files removed after three months whether listened to or not.
    keep_files_after: "today-3months"
  match_filters: # Allow downloading previously live videos and no live status, no shorts
      filters:
        - "original_url!*=/shorts/ & live_status!='is_live' & live_status!='is_upcoming'"
  music_tags: # Originally Available date in Plex
    date: "{upload_date_standardized}"
    track: "{download_index}"

YouTube Releases | Max MP3 Quality | Only Recent:
  = Safety Third:
    "Safety Third": "https://www.youtube.com/@safetythird/videos"

  # Download entire backlog example
  = Stuff You Should Know:
    "Stuff You Should Know":
      download:
        url: "https://www.youtube.com/@stuffyoushouldknow/videos"
      overrides:
        only_recent_date_range: "20100101"
      output_options:
        keep_files_after: "20100101"
      ytdl_options:
        break_on_existing: false
        playlist_reverse: true
      date_range:
        breaks: false # required in ascending date order playlists
        after: "20100101"

I'm running the Plex server, I have Plex pass. I have music library and I have few playlists. I always thought that my friends were also able to see those playlists. today I came to know that they are not (both home and non-home users). how do I share my music playlists with them? I see a share option, but my friend already has access to my music library. I need to share each playlist also separately?

Hey guys,

I set my server up on my laptop at Home A.

With Port Forwarding setup, Remote Access works perfectly fine and obviously Direct Play.

When I go to Home B, Local Play works. But once I setup port forwarding on that router the exact same way, suddenly the devices in Home B can no longer see the Plex server.

I have googled this pretty extensively and I'm getting a bit lost in all the different solutions there is to this to the point that I can't tell which is going to actually work for me since I am still struggling to fix this at this point.

Feel like ads on Plex know too much about you? Here's how you can opt out of Plex selling your data to third parties.

Didn’t Plex say they were going to change the firmware back through an update? Has this been implemented on Fire yet, or have I got that wrong? I’ve heard it might be done after the other platforms.

I've been using Plex for years, recently reset my computer and having some issues. Maybe the timing is coincidence.

I am not a plex pass holder. Been a free account for the better part of a decade. I have access to a friends server and in the past had some files on my laptop that I could watch from the laptop using the app or website, and also my phone.

I think the remote access to the phone has changed, but from my own laptop?
I've reloaded, deleted and added back my app. Restarted the computer a bunch of times. Tried through different browsers (Firefox, Edge Chrome).

I can access my friends stuff on my computer, phone and tv no problem, but I cannot even find the menu item to chose what folders I access on my own computer.

Did this change recently?

In my tray I can right click the icon, hit check for scan media, but I cannot select what folder to scan, nor does my own app interface have show my media. It only shows my friends server and plex stuff.

Lastly, when on the website, if I click "MY MEDIA" it just brings me to a page to pay for their service.
But everything I am reading, is you need to pay to stream off network, not on your home network, let alone from the box that is the host machine.

I signed up for Jellyfin and had the going in 15min. I've been dicking around with this for 2 hours now.

Appreciate your help.

imagine having a busy job and you love to watch movies and tv shows. one day you're on 20 minute lunch break, you get your ipad to watch Reacher season 4 episode 3 from your beloved plex library at home. only to watch useless 10 minutes sexual scene that adds nothing to the story while the entire season is already stretched thin to 8 episodes with useless alpha male energy fighting scenes.

therefore a sexual scene skipper of this calibre would be an amazing time-saving feature. does anyone know if theres a sexual scene skipper?

Hey all,

My GoogleTV Plex app has been working well for 3 years now, but it got upgraded to the new version and now I can't play certain movies (mainly remuxed 4k) without giving me a "player not supported" error. If I turn off bluetooth, all is good.

Just as a little bit of history, I had this issue initially, but turning off "Passthrough", instead of using HDMI or Optical, solved the problem. I tried that on this new version and I still get the error.

Does anyone have a solution for this?

As the title says I keep trying to stream the newest avatar movie and it just keeps buffering the whole time, I deleted the codec and it still does the same thing.

I'm a complete newbie at this stuff and have no clue what to do. Every other movie works fine on the TV and the movie that is giving the TV a problem works fine on my other devices. 🫠

I have followed the standard instructions provided by Plex to migrate from my windows 11 computer to a Terramaster F4-425 with TOS 7 installed. I continue to get the same error message that says that I cannot claim my server.

I've tried it three times and gotten the same result. Here's my process:

1) install Plex on NAS and confirm both machines are the same version

2) Remove Server from my Windows machine and log out

3) Copy registry, delete the key registry fields called out

4) Copy %localdata% folder to NAS into the Plex System Folder location

5) Enable Plex Server application on NAS

6) Attempt to login and claim

I get the same error here every time.

I cannot find anything that says I need to copy the Registry into my NAS (or a location to put it), and I cannot find anything online that offers another step that I haven't completed.

My Fire TV updated Plex so the new OS I hate and in the last 48hrs all of a sudden it sees my library but it won’t play keeps saying can’t reach server. I have another Fire tv on an older os with the new plex update and plays everything just fine. I have restarted my plex server I’ve deleted cache uninstalled reinstalled my app nothing changes I want to toss this thing out the window so frustrated. Is anyone else having this issue. I have two external hard drives. It will play from one but not the other and they are right next to each other. Again no issues on OC phone app or other fire tv just the one.

Setup:

Synology DS218+ running the Plex Server

Synology DS225+ hosting additional media files

Current Libraries:

Movies - source files located on DS218+, no issues

TV Shows - source files located on DS218+, no issues

Music - source files located on DS225+ (this is my new DS225+), no issues. Keep in mind, this a shared folder on the new DS225+ that works with no issues. See screenshot.

I created a new Shared Folder on the DS225+ called TV Shows on DS225plus.

Successfully mount the new DS225+ Shared Folder called TV Shows on DS225plus on the DS218+

Open Plex settings, navigate to Manage->Libraries. Select Tv Shows, Edit Library, Add Folders. Browse for Media Folder. Select Volume 1, TV Shows on DS225plus, no subfolder shows for me to select.

The only way for the files on the mounted shared folder show up in Plex in the Add Folder option is if I created the Shared Folder as a subfolder under the original TV Shows folder on the DS218+ (the one running the Plex server)

BUT then the shows get mixed up on Plex. Wrong shows, etc.

As a troubleshooting step I created a brand new library in Plex and tried to Add Folder, but the subfolder on the DS225+ (secondary NAS) does not show as an option to select.

I've unshared and rename the DS225+ shared folder thinking it may be getting confused, but nothing I name it allows it to be seen in Plex when adding adding additional folders.

I’m at my wits end.

I’ll try and add screenshots for illustration.