*FIXED* Issues with Plex direct play 4K content via a mount (Not an rclone issue)

Help and Support
1

What is the problem you are having with rclone?

So firstly I'm not 100% sure the issue is with rclone, but it's the first stop in my troubleshooting :slight_smile:
I have a Raspberry Pi4 (4gig of ram) that I use for direct playing Plex content in my lounge. 1080p content plays back flawlessly, but 4K content not so much. It starts playing ok, but very quickly starts freezing and stuttering. I have a second Plex server on a remote server that I share with family and friends, from which the same content has no issues. The remote server has 32gig of ram, but I don't see why 4gig would cause problems with direct streaming.

Here's the script I'm using below for the mount;

[Unit]
Description=PlexMount Service

[Service]
Type=notify
Environment=RCLONE_CONFIG=//home/craftyclown/.config/rclone/rclone.conf
KillMode=none
RestartSec=5
ExecStart=/usr/bin/rclone mount "RichFlixCrypt:/Encrypted/" /home/craftyclown/Skull
--allow-other
--buffer-size 16M
--dir-cache-time 48h
--log-level INFO
--log-file /home/craftyclown/logs/PlexMount.log
--poll-interval 15s
--timeout 1h
--umask 002
ExecStop=/bin/fusermount -uz /home/craftyclown/Skull
Restart=on-failure
User=craftyclown
Group=craftyclown

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Is my buffer size too small? I was trying to keep it low due to the fact I only have 4gig of ram to work with.

Here's the script I'm running on the remote server. It's a bit out of date and I've been meaning to adjust it, but 4K content works fine

[Unit]
Description=RClone Service

[Service]
Type=notify
Environment=RCLONE_CONFIG=//home/craftyclown/.config/rclone/rclone.conf
ExecStart=/usr/bin/rclone mount "RichFlixCrypt:/Encrypted/" /home/craftyclown/Skull
--allow-other
--buffer-size 256M
--dir-cache-time 72h
--drive-chunk-size 32M
--log-level INFO
--log-file /home/craftyclown/logs/rcloneencryptedmount.log
--umask 002
--vfs-read-chunk-size 128M
--vfs-read-chunk-size-limit off
--tpslimit 3
ExecStop=/bin/fusermount -uz /home/craftyclown/Skull
Restart=on-failure
User=craftyclown
Group=craftyclown

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

What is your rclone version (output from rclone version)

rclone v1.51.0-305-g0ce662fa-beta

Which OS you are using and how many bits (eg Windows 7, 64 bit)

Rasberry Pi 4 Ubuntu 20.04.1 LTS (GNU/Linux 5.4.0-1015-raspi aarch64)

Which cloud storage system are you using? (eg Google Drive)

Google Drive

EDIT:
Upon closer inspection I discovered I had a program running on start up (cpulimit) that limited the CPU usage of Plex to 75%. I installed this a while back to troubleshoot some crashing that had been occurring during library scans and evidently forgot it was still set to run. Removing it immediately fixed the playback issues.

2

I just tested with a buffer of 256mb and it made no difference, so it isn't that.

I'm using a Shield TV 2019 tube, but the issue can't be there as the same files play back fine via the remote server

It's all very confusing

3

hi,
the odds are that this is not the resolution to your situation,
but the latest stable is v1.52.2

for what it is worth, my pi4 has been a massive disappointment in so many ways.

4

That's a shame to hear. How so?

5

I would check the network, cpu and disk performance when the video starts to stutter - maybe the Pi can't keep up at that point.

6

Thanks Nick, I have monitored playback using webmin (The Pi is running a headless Ubuntu 20.4 LTS install) whilst playing 4K content and it doesn't appear to under any undue stress.
I can't for the life of me work out why it won't play nice :frowning:

7

Try transferring files to and from the Pi over the network and see what sort of speeds you can get.

8

Thanks Nick, to clarify are you suggesting I test transferring files over the local network to and from the Pi?

I have an external drive connected to the Pi (used for nightly backups from different devices in the household) and if I transfer a file over the LAN from a connected PC I am seeing transfer rates of around 30MBs to the Pi and 40MBs the other way.

I take it we are testing the network speed here and not drive speeds, correct?

9

You'd have to share a debug log to look at to help out. You deleted that crucial line from the help template.

10

Ah, sorry, good point! I was originally thinking this was a possible scripting issue, so just shared them. I'll grab up some logs and post them

11

Thanks for the assistance fellas. Upon closer inspection I discovered I had a program running on start up (cpulimit) that limited the CPU usage of Plex to 75%. I installed this a while back to troubleshoot some crashing that had been occurring during library scans and evidently forgot it was still set to run. Removing it immediately fixed the playback issues. Thanks again for the help troubleshooting.

12

Great, glad you fixed it.

I read a heatsink is a good idea for a pi4.

I only have a pi3 so I haven't tried this myself!

13

Can you please elaborate on this? In what way is it disappointing?

14

are you having a problem with your pi?

15

No sir. I'm not using a Pi for playing Plex yet. I was thinking of trying it, but saw your note about how it was a disappointment so I'm trying to learn about things I don't yet know.....:wink:

16

i have a 1Gbps fiber optic connection.

on my personal comptuter, using rclone, i can saturate uploads to wasabi without having to tweak flags
but on the pi4, no matter what flags i tweak, i cannot get more than 400Mbps.

so for my home server, i took an old used computer and get much better performance.

it all depends on what you want to do.

for the price of the pi4, it is hard to complain.

1 Like
17

acutally, right now, i am playing around with the pi4.
i am going to install emby and see if i can stream 4k from a google drive gcrypt.

1 Like
18

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