Plex/Windows/GDrive Playback Issue

Help and Support
1

What is the problem you are having with rclone?

I am currently using Plex on Windows Server 2016, with GDrive mounted on the Plex server. I am having issues playing back 4K MKV files. I've contacted Plex, and searched for months, and I finally decided to give this forum a try. The issue is that after 25-30 seconds, the settings for the movie playing, disappear. If using a Shield (while movie is playing), I will press the down button to see a list of playback settings, subtitle selection, etc. After that time period, that all disappears, and simply shows the movie title. After 17-20 minutes, the movie freezes completely, and I have to start over. Plex does not record the playback.

I really don't know if this is a plex issue, or an rclone issue. I brought this up to the Plex forum, and after analyzing my logs, they didn't see any issues that could be resolved on their end. I can login to Plex on my local laptop, and stream a 4K MKV file without issue (from GDrive). Makes me think it's not rclone, but instead Plex. But then on the other hand, I use my Shield, and I can play 4K MKV files just fine when they're locally stored. But when I try streaming a 4K MKV from GDrive, my issue occurs. I'm really at a loss, and not sure why this keeps happening. I've tried at least 20 different mount commands in hopes of tweaking the mount, but it continues to happen.

Here's the specs:

  • WS2016
  • rclone mounted on Plex
  • rclone is encrypted
  • Nvidia Shield (2019)
  • Up/Down, 1GB Fios

Run the command 'rclone version' and share the full output of the command.

rclone v1.57.0

  • os/version: Microsoft Windows Server 2019 Standard 1809 (64 bit)
  • os/kernel: 10.0.17763.2565 (x86_64)
  • os/type: windows
  • os/arch: amd64
  • go/version: go1.17.2
  • go/linking: dynamic
  • go/tags: cmount

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

GDrive

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

rclone mount --attr-timeout 5000h --dir-cache-time 5000h --drive-pacer-burst 200 --drive-pacer-min-sleep 10ms --poll-interval 0 --rc --read-only --user-agent jw --vfs-read-chunk-size 1M -v gdrive-encrypt:/ g:

The rclone config contents with secrets removed.

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

[gdrive-encrypt]
type = crypt
remote = gdrive
password = 
no_data_encryption = false

A log from the command with the -vv flag

Paste  log here
2

hello and welcome to the forum,

well, imho, if that works, then it is not rclone.

on the shield, can you play 1080p, 720p, just not 4k?

maybe the windows machine is using wired connection, shield is using weak/slow wifi?
as a test, if the shield have a lan port, test with it.

@vbb runs a similar setup, maybe IT has a comment

3

I can play 1080, 720, and 4K on the shield.

The Shield will play 4K locally without issue, whether it be MKV, MP4, doesn't matter. The issue only happens when it's mounted from rclone and playing from the Shield. The shield has a wired gigabit connection and not using Wifi.

4

on the shield, can you play stream direct from the windows rclone mount, not using plex?

5

I'm not sure what you mean - I only use Plex to play these files.

6

i understand that, trying to simply the debugging, to remove plex from the equation.
on the shield, stream something from the rclone mount, not from plex,

--- over smb net share.
--- rclone serve dlna gdrive-encrypt:
--- rclone serve webdav gdrive-encrypt:
--- rclone serve http gdrive-encrypt:
--- rclone serve ftp gdrive-encrypt:

7

Okay, I am able to do that on my Windows laptop (not using Plex) and just streaming using VLC. I assume that I should let it run for 17-20 minutes?

8

which, if any, of my suggestions did you choose?

9

I actually have my GDrive mounted on both my Plex box, as well as my local laptop (using diff client id's) and I just used a typical mount cmd "rclone mount --vfs-cache-mode off gdrive-encrypt:/ g:"

I don't know how to stream from the Shield without using Plex.

10

well, that adds another variable/complexity.

the shield, or some app on it, must be able to stream from something other than just plex.
most everything can stream from a dlna server, which rclone can emulate, as per the command i shared with you.

or connect the shield to the win server over smb

11

I installed an app that allows me to locate other DLNA servers, and it played for maybe 2 seconds, then froze.

12

on windows server, add --vfs-cache-mode=full to the rclone commands and test.

13

Same exact thing happened.

14

need to be using a rclone debug log and look into it.

using from plex client on window laptop, can you stream to plex server on win server?

15

I'll be honest, that statement was a little confusing (sorry). Can you possibly break it down a little?

16

sure,
on the windows laptop, do you have plex client installed?

17

I actually set up the DLNA server on both the laptop and Plex server, with the same outcome. Yes, on my windows laptop, I have the plex client player installed.

18

on the windows laptop, using plex, play a movie.

and need to use a rclone debug log on the window server.
add --log-level=DEBUG --log-file=c:/path/to/local/folder/rclone.log
post the file rclone.log

19

does it take a while for it to say it's started? I see the log file was created, but it's just sitting in the cmd window. This is my cmd: rclone mount --vfs-cache-mode off --log-level=DEBUG --log-file=c:/rclone.log gdrive-encrypt:/ g:

20

It seems to be playing the movie. How long should I allow it to play? It's working and showing progress in the plex dashboard, mainly because it's being played from the windows laptop and not the shield, which hasn't been an issue.