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Plex remote access - low quality even with gigabit fiber (lemmy.world)

submitted 4 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Hey all, I'm very new to self-hosting and have no background in anything computer-related. I'll explain in as much detail as I can. I'm running Plex on a Synology DS220+. I'm using the Plex app, i.e. not using Docker (see note below).

The issue: I can watch Plex on my local network in 4K, but outside my local network it barely makes it to 720p. I thought it was an issue with my upload speed, but I got gigabit last week and it hasn't fixed the issue. I have remote access enabled in Plex through a manually-specified port. The issue persists with my own account and any friends who have access to my library.

I appreciate any advice, links or questions you can offer!

NOTE: I understand the benefits of Docker and I promise to transition in the future. I spent many hours learning and troubleshooting, and it was even functional at times, but eventually I needed something that just worked.

EDIT: You all have been so helpful and supportive. Thanks for meeting me where I'm at and sharing some potential issues.

EDIT2: I found the culprit by accident. I had UPnP enabled on my router. I turned it off and my local speeds increased significantly, and my Plex library is available remotely. I don't know how or why UPnP is related, but that's what the solution was for me. Thanks again for all your input and support.

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Sounds like you don't have port forwarding setup.

I highly recommend setting up Nginx Proxy Manager and using it as a reverse proxy.

I have lots of services, but using a reverse proxy means I only have to expose 2 ports (80 & 443) and then I can serve whatever I want, like Plex, over https without a relay.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago (1 children)

How do you set this up to forward properly? Do you use different domains for different services? like plex.example.com?

I currently have nginx set up to forward based on port, which is fine for me, but it could be a little better.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

Yes, I use subdomains.

I pay for one domain name in Cloudflare (e.g. awesomedomain.com), and have a single "A" record pointing to the public IP of my server, and a single "CNAME" record with a value of * that points to awesomedomain.com.

That way, any subdomain gets directed to the server, and then you setup Nginx Proxy Manager to listen for certain subdomains and where to proxy them. No need to manage any further DNS records in Cloudflare, and any changes made on the proxy don't need any wait time for DNS records to propagate.

Nginx Proxy Manager also handles automatic SSL certs through Let's Encrypt - I really can't recommend it enough.