Issue: thumbnail previews don't show when scanning through a show/movie

Hi, this is on my new Apple TV. I am running the GM tvOS code and I also have the latest Plex apps and server installed as of posting date.

I have video thumbnails generated for my shows and movies, I’ve validated they appear properly when I’m scrubbing through episodes via the web app. Works fine there.

However on Apple TV it doesn’t work correctly. When I start scrubbing, only the thumbnail of the CURRENT frame shows; the preview box never updates. OR a thin grey border box appears. No matter how much you scroll around, just an empty thin grey outline of a box is drawn OR the frame you were previously keeps being drawn. It never updates to show the proper thumbnail. I’ve validated this on multiple shows and movies via the Apple TV app.

It clearly seems like a bug because it shows the thin grey outline of where the video thumbnail should be. Getting this fixed would be icing on the cake. Great job on the app so far!

@irfanv We are already looking into displaying “Video Preview Thumbnails” while seeking video in the Apple TV app. Now we have more hardware for testing, we hope to have a solution in the near future! :slight_smile:

Would this take advantage of the existing media index support in PMS, or would this be different? Trying do decide if its worth generating index files.

I was wondering if it is also worth it to generate the video thumbnail files if this is needed (or not) for the ATV.

Since the last Update of PMS it perfectly works for me and i don’t have “Generate video preview thumbnails” enabled!

@Wunderwally said:
Since the last Update of PMS it perfectly works for me and i don’t have “Generate video preview thumbnails” enabled!

@Wunderwally really? It still doesn’t work for me.

@Will Sigmon said:

@Wunderwally said:
Since the last Update of PMS it perfectly works for me and i don’t have “Generate video preview thumbnails” enabled!

@Wunderwally really? It still doesn’t work for me.

Yeah works perfectly with all my media! But i have to add that i process every video with iFlicks so that it’s “Apple-compatible”. So every file is a mp4 with H264 codec (usually High or Main Profile 4.1) , a Stereo Track (AAC), a 5.1 Track (AC3) and TX3G Subtitles.

So i think in this case the thumbnails are generated by the ATV itself as Plex uses the native videoplayer.

I confirm it’s working only with MP4 files, not mkv

Just wanted to find out if there had been any progress in this? At one point this was working on my ATV but it now seems to have stopped.

Bump. I would also like to know if any progress has been made.

I’ve had this problem occur randomly. There’s a simple workaround, but it doesn’t fix itself until the Plex App is force-quit and restarted.

The workaround is to swipe down on the remote (bringing up the Audio/Video/Subtitle pane) while the movie is paused. Immediately swipe that pane back up and the thumbnails will be back. You have to do it each time you try to scrub (until you restart the Plex App).

@chrisallen said:
@irfanv We are already looking into displaying “Video Preview Thumbnails” while seeking video in the Apple TV app. Now we have more hardware for testing, we hope to have a solution in the near future! :slight_smile:
What is your definition of near future?

@VBPLEX said:
I confirm it’s working only with MP4 files, not mkv

Yes, it works only on Direct Play files (the apple tv generates these thumbnails, not plex); for thumbnails to work with transcoded and Direct Streamed files (remuxed), that’s what plex will have to look at.

What is Near Future, I have added thumbs to a few shows just to verify and so far not working with apple TV.

@x64Man said:
What is your definition of near future?

I did say “hope”, and while “near future” might have been a little too enthusiastic, It is not something we have forgotten about.

@Afullmark said:
Yes, it works only on Direct Play files (the apple tv generates these thumbnails, not plex); for thumbnails to work with transcoded and Direct Streamed files (remuxed), that’s what plex will have to look at.

That’s correct, we are still investigating a solid solution for this, as it would require changes to both the Apple TV app, and PMS.

Really hope this is coming sooner rather than later. It’s the biggest point missing for a native feeling app on Apple TV.

2017 and it’s still not there :frowning:

Is it still being worked on ?

I actually noticed today that some of the video thumbnails are now showing when scrubbing. I don’t believe I ever had them before

I lost all hope about getting this essential feature.

@sob86 said:
I actually noticed today that some of the video thumbnails are now showing when scrubbing. I don’t believe I ever had them before

Still doesn’t work. Only with some files as mentioned earlier.