OSMC for RPI and Plex add on

Hello all,
I have a RPI3 running OSMC with the Plex addon installed. It connects to a Plex server running on a RPI4 on the same network.
If it works, it works fine. I can browse the media files, and play movies without problems.
However, very often (daily!), when I start the Plex add on, it takes a while to start, after which it tells me that it cannot find any server.
Network connection is OK, and I can see both RPI’s on my network (ping, ssh).
Also, I can connect to the Plex server using my browser on my desktop PC and play media files from there.
After I reset the server, it is usually working again (for some time). But next day the same problem occurs.
Anyone an idea how to fix this? This is quite annoying. Not sure if this is a problem with OSMC or my plexserver, but as my other devices connect to my plex server without issues I guess it is an OSMC glitch.

Regards,
Peter

Does the Plex server have a static IP Address?

No, should it?

Ideally yes. Otherwise you’ll have to rely on hostname resolution which isn’t ideal.

I have no reason to suspect that my router changes IP addresses at random. As far as I can see it maintains the same addresses once issued.

I would be rather surprised if it is a OSMC issue as my Plex server only gets rebooted with Windows updates (probably once a month) and i’ve never had the issue you describe on my RPi3. You might try setting (on the RPi3) allow Insecure connections on same network and on the server network settings Secure connections to prefered.

It would also be a good idea to make the server a static IP and then in the settings on the player insert this ip under the “manual servers” section so you don’t have to rely on discovery.

If that doesn’t take care of the issue then you would need to provide some debug logs of it messing up for us to get any insight into the cause, although the Plex forum may be more advantageous.

Hi
Thanks for the suggestions. In the mean time, I did some more tests, and I think it is related to my Wifi network. I updated and rearanged a wifi repeater, and now it works much more stable. Haven’t seen the behavior described before after that, although starting a movie is sometimes slow, and sometimes fails. I will add another repeater on a better location, hopefully that will solve the issue.

Wifi repeaters should always be a last resort option as they have a tendency to have both terrible performance and reliability. If a cable can’t be run a wireless bridge would probably be the better route.

As to your last post your “more tests” does not run counter to the suggestions I made. It ‘sometimes’ being slow to start a video and that ‘sometimes’ failing is likely because it ‘sometimes’ can’t find the plex server via local discovery so it must route the stream over the internet instead of your LAN.

Hi,
Routing over the internet has been switched off, so I don’t believe this can be the problem.
Anyway, cable is a last resort in my case.
As my router is on the ground floor, and my client in the bedroom on the 2nd floor (top floor), it means I have to drill through 2 concrete floors. This is something I want to avoid.
Besides, it works fine on one end of the top floor, but not so well on the other side, so I believe adding an additional repeater should enhance the situation.
By the way, not sure were you can specify ‘manual server address’. I can’t find that on the plex client. As far as I am aware, the whole selecting of server is somewhat hidden from direct control by the user, and is done by logging in to your plex account.

If you need two different wireless access points on the same floor it is much better to run a wire between them instead of using an extra hop over wifi. Even better is if you can run a cable between the first AP and your OSMC device as well so it only ever goes over one wireless connection.

As for the setting in the plex add-on you click on where it shows your username/email address in the upper right and that will drop down a menu with a “settings” option. In those settings you will find a “Manual Servers” section.

No, it’s not like that. Main (wifi) modem is on the ground floor - north side. There is a wifi repeater on the ground floor - south side, serving the garden en garden house.
On the top floor, north side - office, the signal from the main wifi modem is strong enough, but on the south side (bedroom) it is too weak. The signal from the repeater is a bit stronger, but still on the edge. I plan to add a repeater on the 1st floor, reasonably close to the main wifi router, to cover the south side of the top floor. Alternatively, if that doesn’t work, I can place the repeater on the top floor (office) and use it as a Wlan bridge (Fritz!repeater 1200 has that option) and run a cable from the office to the bedroom.
Thanks for pointing me to the manual server section. I will try that later.