Three problems have been reported in this thread. This can make debugging problematic. So I have opened this separate thread to handle the situation where the ATV stops buffering when playing a film, it's possible to navigate through the ATV menus, but it's not possible to play any film at all, neither from PlexConnect, nor from YouTube or other channels.
I was lucky to have a file with which I could reproduce the problem, so I have used it in all my tests. Each test was preceeded by the following actions:
Stop PMS and PlexConnect
Delete PMS and PlexConnect logs
Start PMS and PlexConnect
Reboot the ATV
PlexConnect report form
Your ATV model (2 or 3) and firmware version (found under the ATV settings > general > about > Apple TV software): ATV3 Rev.A firmware 7.0.3
The DNS server set on the ATV (found under the ATV settings > general > network > DNS): 192.168.1.100
The local IP address of the device that PlexConnect is installed on: 192.168.1.100
The device and operating system (including version number) that PlexConnect is installed on: Synology DS411slim (armv5 processor), DSM 5.1-5022 Update 2, Python Module 0002 from Synology
The device and operating system (including version number) that the Plex media server (PMS) is installed on: same as PlexConnect
The Plex media server (PMS) version number you are running: 0.9.11.7 for Synology ARM
The local IP address of the device that the Plex media server (PMS) is installed on: same as PlexConnect
The PlexConnect version number. If using Github source then a time and date of download (look at the creation date of the folder) and if you are using any non-standard setup e.g. Plexify or a fork. github Baa Feb/5th 12:00 GMT
The film used for testing has two audio tracks, AC3 and AAC, I've always used the AAC track for the tests (although the ATV always started playing the AC3 track when Dolby Digital was On, so I had to select the AAC track during the initial minutes of play).
So here are the tests:
Using PlexConnect from bwynants installer 0.5-7, and setting Dolby Digital (in the ATV menu) to On - I've played the film 2-3 times to confirm that I could reproduce the problem. The ATV entered in perpetual buffering at varying times (normally on chapter 16 or after). Loglevel was Normal in PlexConnect, and PMS verbose logging was disabled
Then I changed Dolby Digital to Off, and to my great surprise the film played to the end. I've played it twice, and the "perpetual buffering" problem did not appear
Then I changed Dolby Digital back to Off, this time the problem appeared
Willing to create a "clean" testing environment, I made a git clone from Baa's repository on Feb 5th ~12:00 (UK time). I've also set Dolby Digital to On, PlexConnect logs to High, and PMS logs to verbose. After rebooting the ATV I started to play the film, and to my great surprise it played until the end
I was really puzzled with test 4, so I went back to the bwynants 0.5-7 version of PlexConnect, and the problem appeared again
Then I tested again with the version used in test #4, and this time the problem appeared
The fact is that tests #4 and #6 have used exactly the same PlexConnect code, nevertheless one was Ok, and the other showed the problem. I'm attaching the log files for both.
With Dolby Digital Off, both in PMS and ATV, it seems that the problem does not occur. I've already played the test film twice, I'll play it a couple more times just to be sure, earlier tests suggest that turning DD off in the ATV3 alone either do not show the problem, or show it much later than tests with DD on.
I've played the film twice in PHT with no problems. Maybe it's a bit early to jump into conclusions, but this seems to be a PMS problem with DD for the ATV.
did you ever look at the cpu of the syno when playing with DD ?
Thanks for the hint. No, I did not look, but you made me think. My Syno has ARM processor, and (at least in theory) Plex deactivated the transcoder. And the DD parameter in PMS belongs to transcoder parameters. So I have deactivated it now.
So I ran another test, this time with DD On in the ATV, and Off in PMS. The buffering problem showed up. I am repeating it with the activity monitor on.
I did not know that even with DD off in PMS the ATV would still be able to play DD. Yes, it is, I can select either the AAC or the AC3 track in the ATV provided that DD is on in the ATV.
Thanks again. In the meantime I´ve setup iTunes to play the file, and I´m making several play tests to see if the buffering error occurs also in a “pure” Apple environment.
Edit - 4 tests in a row using iTunes as server, 2x with AAC-Stereo audio, 2x with AC3-5.1 audio. Buffering was never observed, the test film played ok until the end. This seems to rule out the possibility of the problem being caused by an ATV bug.
One thing that I saw in the PMS logs of test #6 was that the ATV is informing PMS every 5 seconds (approx.) of the play progress and ATV status, and each of these “pings” is followed by an error message. Is there a way to modigy this “ping cycle” to one minute instead of 5 seconds ?
Test #8 - I've removed PMS 0.9.11.7, deleted the Plex folder, installed PMS 0.9.9.7, created the PMS libraries, set DD on in the ATV (off in PMS). The first play was Ok, but I made a 2nd play shortly after, without rebooting the ATV. The buffering problem appeared. The main difference with Test #6 (made with PMS 0.9.11.7) is that the PMS log does not contain "Error writing media: 32 - Broken pipe".
Previous tests showed that the problem was not with the ATV, since its during playback they can't be a PlexConnect problem either, so it must be something in PMS that is causing the problem.
My first tests had the objective to identify what is the "guilty" component. Now that I'm convinced that it is PMS I will give them a try.
Maybe this helps you in the right direction. (decrypted iTunes Store purchases)
I have not acquired this video from iTunes. I've ripped it from my DVD collection. But based on your suggestion I've checked the media info, and there are no "strange tracks" like the OP of that post says, so I think that this is not a similar problem to mine. The "Error writing media: 32 - Broken pipe" problem is being handled here
Trying the same file (for test purposes) now on iOS 6.2 atv3. Different PMS host platform obviously with a lot more horsepower so I'm not sure how much this will help with debugging it outside the iOS difference :unsure: 15 minutes in so far rock solid. I will update after I play it a few times all the way thru. 2-1/2 hour long test file so it will take a bit.
Thanks for testing. I'm running out of testing scenarios myself. In my tests the buffering always started after chapter 16, which is ~90 minutes into the video, and sometimes as late as chapter 24, which is almost at the end of it. I suggest that you mute your TV, otherwise you will be tired of Pink Floyd for years after hearing them so many times...
This happened to me last night, while watching MP4 movie (ATV 3, IOS 7.0.3). I lost (embedded) subtitles during playback and after stopping the player and trying to play the movie again I got into endless spinning wheel problem.
Only thing that changed recently in my setup PMS which I upgraded to latest stable release. I was using 0.9.9.14 previously and did not encounter problem with it. I'll try downgrading PMS and playing the same MP4.
Round 1 complete 576P AAC. No issues at all using the latest PMS 0.9.11.7 & latest PlexConnect commit using the test file on aTV3 iOS 6.2 set to 1080P using my PlexConnect host platform. Will post again after I test a few more times.
@Pecinko would you be willing to upload the file in question to a dropbox or similar hosting site and PM me the link? Also can you provide what platform (CPU/OS/Memory etc) you are using for PlexConnect?
Thanks for your report. I did not say earlier, but my ATV3 is setup for 720p, my TV does not support 1080p :( (it supports 1080i but the ATV3 does not). But I think that this does not matter, being the test video 576p.
Also, only two consecutive non-problematic tests can assure that the problem does not exist, I had one situation where the problem only showed during the 2nd play (it only happened to me only once so far).
Since we are using different PMS versions (I'm using ARM, you are using OSX), I will setup PMS on my Windows PC and repeat some tests.
Edit - buffering problem shows up with PMS installed in Windows PC (at chapter 14), I will attach logs as soon as possible. Repeated test with log high / verbose and this time problem appeared at chapter 24. PMS 0.9.11.7 for Windows, Win7, Intel i5
@Pecinko would you be willing to upload the file in question to a dropbox or similar hosting site and PM me the link? Also can you provide what platform (CPU/OS/Memory etc) you are using for PlexConnect?
I have ATV2 running iOS 6.2 to test on as well. I just don't have time to do it now. I'll get to it eventually but it will depend on how frequent problem will be:) Except for that one glitch - all working well so far. I'll keep you informed.
Instead of activity monitor, open a terminal directly to your nas and type: top -d 1
start playing content and watch the processes in the terminal and especially the cpu/usr/sys/nic
When you see "Plex New Transcoder" in the process-list you know it is transcoding.
(ctrl+c to stop the top command)
btw - the transcoder is not "deactivated", it is just slower on certain systems and therefore not recommended for transcoding full movies.
I do not see any process "Plex New Transcoder" during video play. The CPU utilization is very small (no process uses more than 6%), and the Plex process that appears on top most often is /var/packages/Plex Media Server/target/Plex Media Server
One more test (test #10) with some variants of the above. Basically I repeated Test #6 above, but when the film started buffering I went to YouTube, and could watch a video in YouTube. No problem at all. I then returned to my test video and it did not play (when I selected "resume play" I had a black screen with a spinning wheel, and when I select "play from start" I also had the black screen with spinning wheel).
Then I rebooted the ATV, I've gone to my test film, and selected "resume playing". The film continued from the position (+/- chapter 14) where buffering had started initially. In otherwords, my 2nd attempt to play the video did not change the playback position.
I've got the same error last night, but this time near the end of another file, a TV Show, after approx. one hour. PMS did not remember the play position so, after rebooting the Atv3 and selecting the same episode, PMS started at the beggining and I had to navigate until the the interrupted position, and then played until the end with no problem.
In previous tests PMS always remembered the play position when "perpetual buffering" started.
