Plex Buffering Higher Bitrate Files? (Rclone Mount & Gcrypt)

Help and Support
1

What is the problem you are having with rclone?

I'm new to Rclone so still fumbling my way around (most of what I learnt was from reading these forums, thanks guys!).

I have setup a Gdrive encrypted remote with all my media. I made my own Client ID / API key when setting this up. I'm using Plex to playback.

When playing back (direct play) on Plex, I can stream 1080p at a lower bitrate (around 20) but if I try to stream media with a higher bitrate (40 above) or 4K content I have consistent buffering.

I have troubleshot as much as possible by searching these forums, and used many different mount commands to try and find a suitable solution. The attached mount command is the one that has come the closest to working best (taken from a post suggested by Animosity).

Wondering if anyone can suggest amendments to the mount command that may help, or if there may be a separate issue as to why higher bitrate content and 4k content cannot play on my system.

Thanks very much in advance for any help!

What is your rclone version (output from rclone version)

Latest stable, v1.51.0

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

MacOS Sierra 10.12.6, 64bit

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

Google Drive

The command you were trying to run (eg rclone copy /tmp remote:tmp)

rclone mount gcrypt: /Users/admin/Documents/rclone \
--allow-other / 
--buffer-size 256M /
--dir-cache-time 1000h /
--log-level DEBUG /
--log-file /Users/admin/Documents/rlog/rclone.log /
--poll-interval 15s /
--timeout 1h /
--umask 002 /
--rc /
--rc-addr localhost:5572 /

I have also tried this mount command which showed similar results to the above, but still had issues...

rclone mount gcrypt: /Users/admin/Documents/rclone /
--allow-other /
--dir-cache-time 48h /
--vfs-read-chunk-size 16M /
--vfs-read-chunk-size-limit 2G /
--buffer-size 1G /
--log-level DEBUG /
--log-file /Users/admin/Documents/rlog/rclone.log /

The rclone config contents with secrets removed.

[gdrive]
type = drive
client_id = XXXX
client_secret = XXXX
scope = drive
token = XXXX

[gcrypt]
type = crypt
remote = gdrive:/PLEX
filename_encryption = standard
directory_name_encryption = true
password = XXXX
password2 = XXXX

A log from the command with the -vv flag

https://pastebin.com/embed_js/WA3m8HqE

2

Your mount looks fine. How's your network latency and bandwidth and server resources?

3

Thanks very much for your reply calisro.

Do you recommend one of my mount commands above over the other, or would either be ok?

Forgive me if the below doesn't completely answer your questions, let me know if it isn't clear or need more info.

I have a 90Mbps down / 37Mbps up internet connection.

Running the server on a MacPro (Late 2013)
Processor - 2.7GHz 12-Core Intel Xeon E5
Memory - 64GB 1866 MHz DDR3

I pinged the local host to check network latency (hopefully this is what you were requesting) and came back with the below results.

admin$ ping localhost
PING localhost (127.0.0.1): 56 data bytes
64 bytes from 127.0.0.1: icmp_seq=0 ttl=64 time=0.063 ms
64 bytes from 127.0.0.1: icmp_seq=1 ttl=64 time=0.123 ms
64 bytes from 127.0.0.1: icmp_seq=2 ttl=64 time=0.063 ms
64 bytes from 127.0.0.1: icmp_seq=3 ttl=64 time=0.161 ms
64 bytes from 127.0.0.1: icmp_seq=4 ttl=64 time=0.136 ms
64 bytes from 127.0.0.1: icmp_seq=5 ttl=64 time=0.123 ms
64 bytes from 127.0.0.1: icmp_seq=6 ttl=64 time=0.083 ms
64 bytes from 127.0.0.1: icmp_seq=7 ttl=64 time=0.057 ms
64 bytes from 127.0.0.1: icmp_seq=8 ttl=64 time=0.083 ms
64 bytes from 127.0.0.1: icmp_seq=9 ttl=64 time=0.150 ms
64 bytes from 127.0.0.1: icmp_seq=10 ttl=64 time=0.079 ms
64 bytes from 127.0.0.1: icmp_seq=11 ttl=64 time=0.065 ms
64 bytes from 127.0.0.1: icmp_seq=12 ttl=64 time=0.107 ms
64 bytes from 127.0.0.1: icmp_seq=13 ttl=64 time=0.054 ms
64 bytes from 127.0.0.1: icmp_seq=14 ttl=64 time=0.059 ms
64 bytes from 127.0.0.1: icmp_seq=15 ttl=64 time=0.125 ms
64 bytes from 127.0.0.1: icmp_seq=16 ttl=64 time=0.083 ms
64 bytes from 127.0.0.1: icmp_seq=17 ttl=64 time=0.066 ms
64 bytes from 127.0.0.1: icmp_seq=18 ttl=64 time=0.161 ms
64 bytes from 127.0.0.1: icmp_seq=19 ttl=64 time=0.117 ms
64 bytes from 127.0.0.1: icmp_seq=20 ttl=64 time=0.110 ms
64 bytes from 127.0.0.1: icmp_seq=21 ttl=64 time=0.050 ms
64 bytes from 127.0.0.1: icmp_seq=22 ttl=64 time=0.137 ms

Many thanks

4

My 4k rips use well over 130 Mbps according to plex
Get faster internet :wink:

5

For higher bitrate things, you most likely need more download as playing things with high bitrate generate a lot of spikes to play and stream that content.

6

Ha thanks guys. In my country this is as fast as the internet gets. Fun times :smirk:

1 Like
7

Have you looked into a seedbox server? There are several that offer 20Gbs down so you wouldn't be limited to your own internet connection. ITs what I had to do.

8

He still has to get the 4k downloaded from the seedbox to his player so that wouldn't do much for him :slight_smile:

1 Like
9

He could do a seed box with a cloud drive. It depends on the size of the 4k file I guess. I have streamed on less speed.

10

Sure, but in his earlier posts he referenced playing a 4K file and it was buffering so moving that to a seedbox would just be a more expensive way to repeat the same behavior.

If he changed the bitrate and got something smaller, he would be able play it and still would not need a seedbox.

1 Like
11

Yep I already have a seedbox with 20gbps up/down. It's what sent me down this rabbit hole in the first place. The seedbox I have has integrated Plex Media Server, Radarr, Sonarr etc which I thought was great as it's all hosted in the cloud and connected to Gdrive meant I wouldn't need a home server /drives at all.

But then I started to get buffering at higher bitrate video, so moved the PMS to my local machine hoping this would fix. No dice.

To be honest I'm not fussed with 4K right now as I don't have a 4K projector, but was interested in why it wasn't working and trying to future proof myself for when I get the 4K setup (hopefully soon).

It's just annoying when I try and play a 1080p video that has a higher bitrate and I start getting the stuttering, or if a friend is trying to stream something at the same time I am which sometimes affects playback...

13

Hey Huson, I'm not versed enough in this to 100% understand your comment, any chance you can simplify what you're saying the issue is?

14

Not sure as it has nothing to do with your issue as he's referring to a service account with a drive, which isn't related to your question at all.

1 Like
15

A bit late to the party on this one.
But since I think I fixed this issue for myself, I thought I'd share my experience.
I was messing with mounts for ages. So one evening I did some tests.
I could pull from rclone to the server I have hosted at line rate - no issue, likely not rclone.

I then did some iperf tests from my home PC to the servers. (Had to mess with the home route port forward settings to do this)

Also very good. Not quite line-rate but plenty.
(I had other stuff running on the network, and my connection is saturated in my area with LockDown)

Then I noticed that media plays fine on PC but not the shield.
Then I randomly found ppl complaining about the shield has a bug with the newest player. (Much google) :laughing: :laughing:

So it could be the client.
Also, for some reason, I've yet to work out.
I've one film that I can't skip forward or back on. (So don't rely on 1 item)

All the other high bitrate films I've tested with work fine.

Summary:
Generally speaking and IMO start with what Animosity is using, amend with caution.

If it doesn't work with that, then consider everything else that factors in.
Testing and logs are your friends.
4k over the net is always going to be dependant on the routes to your client from your server.

General Crap I feel like sharing at 1am:
I need two screens to watch the logs when watching a film :laughing: :laughing: :laughing:
(netdata and tautulli )

I also have RAM to spare, so I made a colossal 2GB --buffer-size (Not recommended)
Was messing with settings but it still works

(Thanks Animosity for the configs)

NB:
Going to watch some netflix now cause I'm too busy building the server to watch anything on it.
night all :laughing: :sweat_smile:

1 Like
16

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