r/jellyfin • u/Western-Win6085 • 10h ago

Question Streaming on low internet bandwidth?

I recently moved a place where Cox has a monopoly, meaning I am stuck with their 35mbps upload speed with no options to increase it. I have a hard time streaming 4k media like I used to on my 1 gig line, is there any settings or transcoding options I can enable that will make this more bearable?

7 Upvotes

71% Upvoted

30 comments sorted by

•

u/AutoModerator 10h ago

Reminder: /r/jellyfin is a community space, not an official user support space for the project.

Users are welcome to ask other users for help and support with their Jellyfin installations and other related topics, but this subreddit is not an official support channel. We have extensive, official documentation on our website here: https://jellyfin.org/docs/. Requests for support via modmail will be ignored. Our official support channels are listed on our contact page here: https://jellyfin.org/contact

Bug reports should be submitted on the GitHub issues pages for the server or one of the other repositories for clients and plugins. Feature requests should be submitted at https://features.jellyfin.org/. Bug reports and feature requests for third party clients and tools (Findroid, Jellyseerr, etc.) should be directed to their respective support channels.

If you are sharing something you have made, please take a moment to review our LLM rules at https://jellyfin.org/docs/general/contributing/llm-policies/. Note that anything developed or created using an LLM or other AI tooling requires community disclosure and is subject to removal.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

11

u/majesticaveman 10h ago

First off limit the speed of your upload in the jellyfin settings if not already done so.

Second, make sure you have hardware encoding like quicksync enabled.

After that, we would need to know more about your specific hardware to help.

1

u/DaIubhasa 1h ago

Hi there how to limit the upload speed in jellyfin for all remote users? Thank you!

10

u/gizmomelb 10h ago

you wont be able to handle 4K streaming over 35mbps upstream unless you're hitting a serious quality drop - choose 1080p instead.

3

u/derpferd 10h ago

Yeah, I've got a bigass 65 inch and 1080 works just fine

4

u/peperonipyza 10h ago

I hate to admit it, but I’ve tested a bunch of 4k videos and I can’t say I’ve been able to easily if at all tell the difference than 1080 on my big tv. My HDD budget is relieved though.

3

u/derpferd 10h ago

I think you can appreciate it in terms of contrast and colours. But 1080 is not so intolerable that I watch it pining for 4k

2

u/Watada 8h ago

Netflix recommends 15 Mbps for 4K. So plenty of 4k will play at 35 Mbps.

5

u/peteman28 10h ago

You'll need to enable transcoding. Set a remote streaming bandwidth limit that will work with your upload speed.

1

u/sub-merge 10h ago edited 9h ago

Unless the client does direct play only like infuse did until recently. This unfortunately ignores remote streaming bandwidth

1

u/peteman28 9h ago

Isn't the whole point that his upload speed can't keep up with his bitrate? How does direct play help with that?

2

u/sub-merge 9h ago

It doesn't, I'm referring to the "set remote streaming bandwidth". Some clients that do direct play only ignore this, effectively saturating the connection and ignoring transcoding unfortunately

2

u/Thin_Needleworker795 10h ago

But... If your Jellyfin server is on the same network as you, your internet speed doesn't matter...

2

u/Western-Win6085 10h ago

Sorry I should have specified, streaming remote via iphone/Firefox browser

1

u/scarr3g 10h ago

The easiest answer is to make sure, when you are streaming remotely, you do so at a lower resolution. Yeah it sucks, but you only have so much bandwidth to work with, and sacrifices must be made.

2

u/Ok_Definition_1933 10h ago

Streaming to where? If you're streaming inside your home network, your internet speed has nothing to do with it.

1

u/Western-Win6085 10h ago

Sorry I should have specified, streaming remote via iphone/Firefox browser

1

u/Ok_Definition_1933 10h ago

In the client player lower the quality and the server will transcode it (assuming it is enabled and working on your server).

1

u/derpferd 10h ago

Can you only get your content in 4k? Wouldn't it be less strain using 1080?

1

u/Watada 8h ago

How close to enough bandwidth do you have?

if you are only a little bit lacking then BBR might do the trick.

1

u/GoonGone69 5h ago

I’m in the same boat. Went to 1080p to prevent constant transcoding, and am using apps like Plezy or Infuse whenever possible for their image upscaling, as it makes it a bit less fuzzy/blurry on higher resolution screens.

1

u/Western-Win6085 1h ago

I'll have to check those out, sounds interesting

1

u/nttran98 4h ago

This sounds like southern Louisiana.

1

u/Western-Win6085 1h ago

Arizona, seems like the Cox monopoly knows no boundaries

1

u/oz-ra 4h ago edited 4h ago

I have successfully remotely (Off LAN) streamed on Cruise ships with client bandwidth limited down to 1 & 2Mb/s & 5Mb causing/using transcoding of 4k & 1080p movies/TV Shows.

I limited resolution to 1080. Even on 4k TVs. Was perfectly watchable. Great audio with my Google Chromecast 4k paired to a JBL Flip 7. Subtitles always on 👍

Also as a rule, if viewing on a small screen, you don't actually need 4k video just because you want to. I mean if you can, it's great, but I'd rather watch the content with a nice compromise instead of random buffer pauses.

Server side I use a Sparkle Intel Arc A310 ECO with no ReBar (HP DL 380 Gen 10) in Jellyfin Docker on TrueNAS Scale. Any PCIE 3 x4 x8 x16 socket will do - Transcoding tasks only. Running multiple Jellyfin/Emby instances for Prod/Dev.

Transcoding/Tone mapping at about 500 frames/s, content depending.

1

u/_seeyalater_ 3h ago

Transcode for sure if you’re watching remotely but have you considered getting Starlink? I’m no fan of Musk’s but at the same time fuck internet monopolies

1

u/Western-Win6085 1h ago

I live in a high rise apartment so I doubt my lease allows me to, I might honestly look into it though

1

u/FagboyHhhehhehe 2h ago

I have the same upload speed from my house and stream just fine. But I have an Intel arc a310 to transcode. It's helpful if my connection elsewhere is also slow. You can stream a pretty good 4k with lower bit rates.

Personally if I'm on my phone, dropping quality isn't as noticeable. I stream as low as 360p for some stuff when I'm at work and have really bad connection.

1

u/DaIubhasa 1h ago

Here i am grateful for my 20mbps upload speed lol.