PSA: If you use native Smart TV apps, like Plex then you should connect over WiFi

[Steven P. Administrators]

After years of scratching my head because of Plex buffering some 4K content or even high bitrate 1080P content. I stumbled across a tip to not use the Ethernet connection on the TV, because even in this day and age, they still ship with only 100mb speeds!

WiFi 5 is capable of almost 5x that speed. (WiFi on 1 gig service should be capable of running at least 450Mbps on 2.4ghz and at least 600Mbps on 5ghz)

It seems weird, because you'd expect a wired connection to be better/more stable, but it literally is too slow for some streaming services, like Plex.

I came across this because I started using my living room and bedroom TVs for Plex because both TVs support HDR10+ Adaptive, while my Nvidia Shield Pro (2019) does not.

I now only use my Shield for UK TV apps (with Windscribe VPN).

[Brandon H Supervisor]

It is the weirdest corner that gets cut on TVs and I've noticed it too over the last few years.

Really don't understand the reasoning because I can't imagine it would add all that much to production costs over a gig port compared to everything else that goes in to the TV.

Edit: Also still a shame that Nvidia has abandoned their Shield linup. They really were the best Android TV devices on the market.

[Alpha_Tay]

does Plex use more than 100mbps for 4k and 1080p?

[Steven P. Administrators]

On 15/09/2024 at 17:18, Alpha_Tay said:

does Plex use more than 100mbps for 4k and 1080p?

I think the issue is more to do with throttling. My TV does not have dedicated speeds over the hub it is connected to, but I can tell you that some content buffers and struggles, or is blamed on "Server not powerful enough" over Ethernet, but when I am connected to WiFi I can play that same content and everything else just fine through Plex.

My TV supports more formats than the Nvidia Shield Pro, so it no longer makes sense to use it in my setup.

The only thing I use it for now is for my UK TV apps (from The Netherlands) because Samsung's Tizen seems to override the Smart DNS I configured (can only configure DNS 1, not DNS 2) and it is not possible to install a VPN in Tizen either. PiHole blocks too much insofar that I can't even update apps as well heheh.

[Som]

On 15/09/2024 at 11:42, Steven P. said:

 

Delete message, my brain farted 🙈

[i_was_here]

I don't use my smart TV directly for apps but I do keep it hard wired for internet. It blew my mind when I discovered it was only capable of 100M. They are as bad and sometimes worse than printers!

[Ryster]

I've got a Samsung 4K TV myself (I forget the exact model) and it's connected by ethernet through a Unifi switch, into a Unifi Dream Machine SE. My Plex is running on one of my old gaming PCs, running Windows Server 2022, it and the Synology NAS it gets its media files from are on another Unifi switch, which in turn also connects to my UDM SE. I've never had any issues with buffering or errors using the Plex app on my Samsung TV, and I've got a fairly large library of 4K HDR content on my library now.

Might the issue be the ethernet hub you're using?

[+InsaneNutter MVC]

I suppose depending on the quality of the 4K HDR content you probably are getting close to saturating a 100Mbps connection thinking about it.

If the movie was 75GB that would take approx. 1h 48 mins to copy the whole file at 100Mbps.

Certainly seems like a weird thing to cheap out on, I wonder if you could use a Gigabit USB Ethernet adaptor?

[Steven P. Administrators]

On 16/09/2024 at 12:10, InsaneNutter said:

I suppose depending on the quality of the 4K HDR content you probably are getting close to saturating a 100Mbps connection thinking about it.

If the movie was 75GB that would take approx. 1h 48 mins to copy the whole file at 100Mbps.

Certainly seems like a weird thing to cheap out on, I wonder if you could use a Gigabit USB Ethernet adaptor?

Plus overlaying subtitles (not transcoding though) apparently adds to the total data, even when direct played.

[~Johnny]

On 16/09/2024 at 11:10, InsaneNutter said:

I suppose depending on the quality of the 4K HDR content you probably are getting close to saturating a 100Mbps connection thinking about it.

If the movie was 75GB that would take approx. 1h 48 mins to copy the whole file at 100Mbps.

Certainly seems like a weird thing to cheap out on, I wonder if you could use a Gigabit USB Ethernet adaptor?

4K Blu-Rays supports upto 144 Mbit/s, and there are a decent amount of discs on the market that will hit over 100 from time to time. If you're playing full backups you'll hit it :')

[SuperHands]

Just a heads up if you do need to use ethernet, on many TVs you can use a USB ethernet adapter and you''ll get much faster speeds than the 100mbps ethernet that ships on many sets still.

[C:Amie]

+1, good PSA. I had this exact issue a few years ago and noticed the 100mbps of my devices at the time. It's pretty shameful that they're still using 100mbps NICs on any 2020's TV, let alone a 2024 high-end.

[Steffan]

They probably just put an Ethernet port for businesses and schools that need it for kiosk mode and just think the average consumer is just going to use wifi anyway.  I do agree with others in here that manufacturers should put something better than 100mb port in the TVs.

[dwd999]

You have to check the TV's specs to get an idea of what they expect from an ethernet or wifi signal. On a Samsung TV I had the specs indicated a maximum input of 80Mbps but another TV from LG says maximum 60Mbps. They seem to think you only need higher with an 8K set. As for UHD backups the highest I've seen is 84Mbps. So having a 100Mbps ethernet input isn't that serious. Also, this is why I don't use Plex or similar programs; direct input with just MPC-HC always works just fine for me.