Trucker needs help streaming from home

[rfm223]

I"m a trucker (not a newbie to computers in anyway, designed websites, programming, databases, built computers, etc), I am trying to setup a media server at home that will let me watch my movie collection while on the road. I already have things setup, the wife has/is converting all of our dvd collection and the setup for viewing at home works great..

I'm using the plex server, only one I've really found that works pretty good

What I am trying to do is listen to movies while I drive (only listen so I'm not distracted by the video) and watch movies while I'm parked. I have an old samsung galaxy mega phone I use for my media player while driving, stream pandora/etc. and then I have a tablet (can't remember the name but it is running android 4.2+??) that I stream to chromecast hooked to a 42" tv..

The internet connection at home is dsl avg 5meg down and 2meg up, all is setup and working but I get bad buffering, I'm not too concerned about the quality, I know I won't get dvd quality, I have lowered it down to below 100 and it still buffers.

I know my connection on the truck is good, I can stream netflix (set at the lowest quality) and get 0 buffering, if any..

so....

I'm looking for suggestions on how to do this so I have limited buffering and have a close to netflix experience

Thanks in advance for any help

[sophisticles]

I think the obvious answer is to get a faster internet connection, a 2mb up DSL connection just isn't going to cut it for what you want to do.

[jagabo]

The internet connection at home is dsl avg 5meg down and 2meg up

Have you actually measured your DSL performance? Those sound like the advertized "up to" numbers, not real world throughput. Most DSL customers are lucky to get 1/5 of that. And large DSL suppliers are notorious for intentionally degrading service to get you to switch to a higher priced product. If you haven't done so, try measuring your bandwidth at home with http://speedtest.net. Try several different servers within ~100 miles of your home. And at different times of day.

If your files are encoded with bitrates low enough for your connection's typical upstream speed, about all you can do is look for cache/buffer size settings in the client player software.

I have lowered it down to below 100 and it still buffers.

Also beware that some software reports megabytes per second, not megabits per second. 100 megabits per second would be atrociously low for a DVD encoded to h.264.

[rfm223]

faster connection at home isn't going to happen, our little back in the country town just got dsl 2 years ago, still doesn't have anything above 4 basic network over the air tv you can hardly get unless you get directv/dish.. but thanks for the suggestion...

I would think that a 2mb up would work since I'm using a verizon mifi to receive, it's only 3g/4g if I'm lucky, and if I can receive netflix on their lowest setting with little to no buffering then I should be able to do this..

think my biggest problem/difference between netflix software and other streaming software is that (on android) netflix handles it's own buffering and all the android apps I have found to stream use androids default buffering..

with doing my playing and research, etc (I am one to do as much on my own before asking questions since many answers are available with a google search)... it looks like netflix will delay the start of a movie until it buffers so many minutes and then it receives the stream at an adjustable rate that tries to prevent buffering (if that makes sense)

[rfm223]

The internet connection at home is dsl avg 5meg down and 2meg up

Have you actually measured your DSL performance? Those sound like the advertized "up to" numbers, not real world throughput. Most DSL customers are lucky to get 1/5 of that. And large DSL suppliers are notorious for intentionally degrading service to get you to switch to a higher priced product. If you haven't done so, try measuring your bandwidth at home with http://speedtest.net. Try several different servers within ~100 miles of your home. And at different times of day.

Otherwise, about all you can do is look for cache/buffer size settings in the client player software.

those are actual speedtest.net figures, our provider (frontier, which use to be verizon in our area) gave me a great rate ($60/month for a dual dsl giving upto 24 down and 5 up (I believe)

[jagabo]

I believe plex has some buffer size settings. Increasing those may help.

[rfm223]

I believe plex has some buffer size settings. Increasing those may help.

I've increased the default from (if I recall right) 1 minute to 5 minutes in the plex server, but it's on the client/player side that I need to also increase..

I'm using the web access for the plex server so I can use a 3rd party player cause plex doesn't play nice with chromecast

thanks