After Recent Plex Update, Apple TV Loops "Part1" of Multi-Part Movies

Plex Media Server NAS & Devices
1

Hi -

I’m not sure if anyone else has noticed this issue, but after the recent update, Plex/Apple TV will continuously loop “part1” of multi-part movie files and never advance to the next “part” (e.g. part2). I can confirm that it is only happening when playing to an Apple TV. This includes initiating playback from the Apple TV Plex app and also when using a phone to cast to the Apple TV. The issue seems isolated to the Apple TV, since it works fine and will advance to the next “part” when casting from my phone to my chromecast.

I am using Plex on a Synology NAS (not as a docker container, but as their native app designed for Synology). I have tried about everything, including: 1) stopping the app on Synology and then restarting it, 2) restarting the synology, 3) restarting the Apple TV, 4) re-scanning all Plex media, 5) and re-analyzing all Plex media. I am using the latest Plex Pass release and all applications are updated to the latest version.

Is anyone else having this issue? It did not do this before and playback was perfect before the latest update.

2

Provide the XML of movie

3

Hi @NewPlaza,

Thanks for the reply. I wanted to ask how I would locate the XML for the movie file? Is there a way to find this or pull this information for “part1” and “part2” of the multi-part movies?

4

Ya, take a look here…
https://support.plex.tv/articles/201998867-investigate-media-information-and-formats/

5

Ok, awesome. Thank you for the help. I’ll take a look at it this evening when I get home and report back with the XML data.

6

Hi @NewPlaza -

Sorry for the delay in getting this information over to you. It has been a busy week at the office.

Below is the information from one of the movies having the “looping” issue of the “part1” file of a multi-part movie. This is the movie “Jaws” as an example since it is Shark Week this week on the Discovery Channel.

Let me know if you see anything that is wrong with the files and what may be causing this to happen now. This didn’t happen until I recently updated the Plex App on my Apple TV. That’s when I started to notice the looping of “part1”. Pretty much makes watching movies through the Plex App on Apple TV useless until this is resolved, so I really appreciate all the help.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<MediaContainer size="1" allowSync="1" identifier="com.plexapp.plugins.library" librarySectionID="1" librarySectionTitle="HD Movies" librarySectionUUID="9c3634d8-9397-47a5-a829-ad5a02ef6b19" mediaTagPrefix="/system/bundle/media/flags/" mediaTagVersion="1532413343">
<Video ratingKey="21490" key="/library/metadata/21490" guid="com.plexapp.agents.imdb://tt0073195?lang=en" librarySectionTitle="HD Movies" librarySectionID="1" librarySectionKey="/library/sections/1" studio="Universal Pictures" type="movie" title="Jaws" contentRating="PG" summary="A local sheriff, a marine biologist and an old seafarer team up to hunt down a great white shark wrecking havoc in a beach resort." rating="8.0" year="1975" tagline="Don&#39;t go in the water." thumb="/library/metadata/21490/thumb/1532668904" art="/library/metadata/21490/art/1532668904" duration="7463766" originallyAvailableAt="1975-06-18" addedAt="1532666494" updatedAt="1532668904" chapterSource="agent" primaryExtraKey="/library/metadata/21495" ratingImage="imdb://image.rating">
<Media videoResolution="1080" id="44745" duration="7463766" bitrate="4153" width="1920" height="816" aspectRatio="2.35" audioChannels="6" audioCodec="ac3" videoCodec="h264" container="mp4" videoFrameRate="24p" optimizedForStreaming="0" has64bitOffsets="0" videoProfile="high">
<Part accessible="1" exists="1" id="44943" key="/library/parts/44943/1528496497/file.mp4" duration="29088" file="/volume1/media/Movies/HD Movies/Jaws (1975) [1080p]/Jaws_1975_1080P-part1.mp4" size="12383923" audioProfile="lc" container="mp4" has64bitOffsets="0" indexes="sd" optimizedForStreaming="0" videoProfile="high">
<Stream id="77459" streamType="1" default="1" codec="h264" index="0" bitrate="3088" language="English" languageCode="eng" bitDepth="8" chromaLocation="left" chromaSubsampling="4:2:0" frameRate="30.000" hasScalingMatrix="0" height="1080" level="40" profile="high" refFrames="3" streamIdentifier="1" width="1920" displayTitle="English (H.264 High)" />
<Stream id="77460" streamType="2" selected="1" default="1" codec="ac3" index="1" channels="6" bitrate="320" language="English" languageCode="eng" audioChannelLayout="5.1(side)" samplingRate="48000" streamIdentifier="2" displayTitle="English (AC3 5.1(side))" />
<Stream id="77429" key="/library/streams/77429" streamType="3" codec="srt" language="English" languageCode="eng" displayTitle="English (SRT)" />
<Stream id="77428" key="/library/streams/77428" streamType="3" codec="srt" language="English" languageCode="eng" displayTitle="English (SRT)" />
</Part>
<Part accessible="1" exists="1" id="44944" key="/library/parts/44944/1532666648/file.mp4" duration="7434678" file="/volume1/media/Movies/HD Movies/Jaws (1975) [1080p]/Jaws_1975_1080P-part2.mp4" size="3859162365" container="mp4" has64bitOffsets="0" optimizedForStreaming="0" videoProfile="high">
<Stream id="77461" streamType="1" default="1" codec="h264" index="0" bitrate="3829" language="English" languageCode="eng" anamorphic="0" bitDepth="8" chromaLocation="left" chromaSubsampling="4:2:0" frameRate="23.976" hasScalingMatrix="0" height="816" level="40" pixelAspectRatio="254:255" profile="high" refFrames="3" streamIdentifier="1" width="1920" displayTitle="English (H.264 High)" />
<Stream id="77462" streamType="2" selected="1" default="1" codec="ac3" index="1" channels="6" bitrate="320" language="English" languageCode="eng" audioChannelLayout="5.1(side)" samplingRate="48000" streamIdentifier="2" displayTitle="English (AC3 5.1(side))" />
<Stream id="77430" key="/library/streams/77430" streamType="3" codec="srt" language="English" languageCode="eng" displayTitle="English (SRT)" />
</Part>
</Media>
<Genre id="223" filter="genre=223" tag="Adventure" />
<Genre id="65" filter="genre=65" tag="Drama" />
<Genre id="64" filter="genre=64" tag="Thriller" />
<Director id="5404" filter="director=5404" tag="Steven Spielberg" />
<Writer id="63091" filter="writer=63091" tag="Carl Gottlieb" />
<Writer id="63066" filter="writer=63066" tag="Peter Benchley" />
<Producer id="1826" filter="producer=1826" tag="David Brown" />
<Producer id="3415" filter="producer=3415" tag="Richard D. Zanuck" />
<Country id="369" filter="country=369" tag="USA" />
<Collection id="63075" filter="collection=63075" tag="The Jaws" />
<Role id="22805" filter="actor=22805" tag="Roy Scheider" role="Chief Martin Brody" />
<Role id="63119" filter="actor=63119" tag="Robert Shaw" role="Quint" />
<Role id="22807" filter="actor=22807" tag="Richard Dreyfuss" role="Matt Hooper" />
<Role id="63071" filter="actor=63071" tag="Lorraine Gary" role="Ellen Brody" />
<Role id="63098" filter="actor=63098" tag="Murray Hamilton" role="Mayor Larry Vaughn" />
<Role id="63117" filter="actor=63117" tag="Carl Gottlieb" role="Meadows" />
<Role id="10780" filter="actor=10780" tag="Jeffrey Kramer" role="Deputy Hendricks" />
<Role id="63120" filter="actor=63120" tag="Susan Backlinie" role="Chrissie Watkins" />
<Role id="63118" filter="actor=63118" tag="Jonathan Filley" role="Cassidy" />
<Role id="21023" filter="actor=21023" tag="Ted Grossman" role="Estuary Victim" />
<Similar id="727" filter="similar=727" tag="Close Encounters of the Third Kind" />
<Similar id="17922" filter="similar=17922" tag="Jaws 2" />
<Similar id="3585" filter="similar=3585" tag="Predator" />
<Similar id="8743" filter="similar=8743" tag="Rocky" />
<Similar id="1189" filter="similar=1189" tag="RoboCop" />
<Similar id="63145" filter="similar=63145" tag="The Exorcist" />
<Similar id="14224" filter="similar=14224" tag="Gremlins" />
<Similar id="17904" filter="similar=17904" tag="Poltergeist" />
<Similar id="6393" filter="similar=6393" tag="Ghostbusters" />
<Similar id="731" filter="similar=731" tag="The Thing" />
<Similar id="5048" filter="similar=5048" tag="Speed" />
<Similar id="1855" filter="similar=1855" tag="The Fugitive" />
<Similar id="1977" filter="similar=1977" tag="Total Recall" />
<Similar id="3699" filter="similar=3699" tag="Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" />
<Similar id="22853" filter="similar=22853" tag="Carrie" />
<Similar id="30488" filter="similar=30488" tag="First Blood" />
<Similar id="22854" filter="similar=22854" tag="A Nightmare on Elm Street" />
<Similar id="17903" filter="similar=17903" tag="The Fly" />
<Similar id="3003" filter="similar=3003" tag="True Lies" />
<Similar id="22852" filter="similar=22852" tag="Halloween" />
<Extras size="4">
<Video ratingKey="21495" key="/library/metadata/21495" guid="iva://api.internetvideoarchive.com/2.0/DataService/VideoAssets(384742)?lang=en&amp;bitrates=80,212,450,750,1500,8000&amp;duration=169&amp;adaptive=1&amp;dts=0" type="clip" title="Jaws (Clean Trailer)" summary="" index="1" year="2018" thumb="/library/metadata/21495/thumb/1532666539" subtype="trailer" duration="169000" originallyAvailableAt="2018-02-14" addedAt="1532666539" extraType="1">
<Media videoResolution="720" id="44754" duration="169000" bitrate="1500" width="1280" height="720" aspectRatio="1.78" audioCodec="aac" videoCodec="h264" container="mp4" premium="1">
<Part id="44954" duration="169000" container="mp4" key="/services/iva/assets/384742/video.mp4?bitrate=1500" optimizedForStreaming="1">
<Stream id="77404" streamType="1" codec="h264" index="0" bitrate="1500" height="720" width="1280" displayTitle="Unknown (H.264)" />
<Stream id="77405" streamType="2" selected="1" codec="aac" index="1" channels="2" language="English" languageCode="eng" displayTitle="English (AAC Stereo)" />
</Part>
</Media>
<Media videoResolution="480" id="44755" duration="169000" bitrate="750" width="640" height="480" aspectRatio="1.33" audioCodec="aac" videoCodec="h264" container="mp4" premium="1">
<Part id="44955" duration="169000" container="mp4" key="/services/iva/assets/384742/video.mp4?bitrate=750" optimizedForStreaming="1">
<Stream id="77406" streamType="1" codec="h264" index="0" bitrate="750" height="480" width="640" displayTitle="Unknown (H.264)" />
<Stream id="77407" streamType="2" selected="1" codec="aac" index="1" channels="2" language="English" languageCode="eng" displayTitle="English (AAC Stereo)" />
</Part>
</Media>
<Media videoResolution="480" id="44756" duration="169000" bitrate="450" width="640" height="480" aspectRatio="1.33" audioCodec="aac" videoCodec="h264" container="mp4" premium="1">
<Part id="44956" duration="169000" container="mp4" key="/services/iva/assets/384742/video.mp4?bitrate=450" optimizedForStreaming="1">
<Stream id="77408" streamType="1" codec="h264" index="0" bitrate="450" height="480" width="640" displayTitle="Unknown (H.264)" />
<Stream id="77409" streamType="2" selected="1" codec="aac" index="1" channels="2" language="English" languageCode="eng" displayTitle="English (AAC Stereo)" />
</Part>
</Media>
</Video>
<Video ratingKey="21496" key="/library/metadata/21496" guid="iva://api.internetvideoarchive.com/2.0/DataService/VideoAssets(702749)?lang=en&amp;bitrates=80,212,450,750,1500,8000&amp;duration=101&amp;adaptive=1&amp;dts=0" type="clip" title="Jaws: Animatronics (UK)" summary="" index="2" year="2012" thumb="/library/metadata/21496/thumb/1532666539" subtype="behindTheScenes" duration="101000" originallyAvailableAt="2012-10-11" addedAt="1532666539" extraType="5">
<Media videoResolution="720" id="44757" duration="101000" bitrate="1500" width="1280" height="720" aspectRatio="1.78" audioCodec="aac" videoCodec="h264" container="mp4" premium="1">
<Part id="44957" duration="101000" container="mp4" key="/services/iva/assets/702749/video.mp4?bitrate=1500" optimizedForStreaming="1">
<Stream id="77410" streamType="1" codec="h264" index="0" bitrate="1500" height="720" width="1280" displayTitle="Unknown (H.264)" />
<Stream id="77411" streamType="2" selected="1" codec="aac" index="1" channels="2" language="English" languageCode="eng" displayTitle="English (AAC Stereo)" />
</Part>
</Media>
<Media videoResolution="480" id="44758" duration="101000" bitrate="750" width="640" height="480" aspectRatio="1.33" audioCodec="aac" videoCodec="h264" container="mp4" premium="1">
<Part id="44958" duration="101000" container="mp4" key="/services/iva/assets/702749/video.mp4?bitrate=750" optimizedForStreaming="1">
<Stream id="77412" streamType="1" codec="h264" index="0" bitrate="750" height="480" width="640" displayTitle="Unknown (H.264)" />
<Stream id="77413" streamType="2" selected="1" codec="aac" index="1" channels="2" language="English" languageCode="eng" displayTitle="English (AAC Stereo)" />
</Part>
</Media>
<Media videoResolution="480" id="44759" duration="101000" bitrate="450" width="640" height="480" aspectRatio="1.33" audioCodec="aac" videoCodec="h264" container="mp4" premium="1">
<Part id="44959" duration="101000" container="mp4" key="/services/iva/assets/702749/video.mp4?bitrate=450" optimizedForStreaming="1">
<Stream id="77414" streamType="1" codec="h264" index="0" bitrate="450" height="480" width="640" displayTitle="Unknown (H.264)" />
<Stream id="77415" streamType="2" selected="1" codec="aac" index="1" channels="2" language="English" languageCode="eng" displayTitle="English (AAC Stereo)" />
</Part>
</Media>
</Video>
<Video ratingKey="21497" key="/library/metadata/21497" guid="iva://api.internetvideoarchive.com/2.0/DataService/VideoAssets(852745)?lang=en&amp;bitrates=80,212,450,750,1500,8000&amp;duration=89&amp;adaptive=1&amp;dts=0" type="clip" title="Jaws: The Theme (UK)" summary="" index="3" year="2012" thumb="/library/metadata/21497/thumb/1532666539" subtype="behindTheScenes" duration="89000" originallyAvailableAt="2012-10-11" addedAt="1532666539" extraType="5">
<Media videoResolution="720" id="44760" duration="89000" bitrate="1500" width="1280" height="720" aspectRatio="1.78" audioCodec="aac" videoCodec="h264" container="mp4" premium="1">
<Part id="44960" duration="89000" container="mp4" key="/services/iva/assets/852745/video.mp4?bitrate=1500" optimizedForStreaming="1">
<Stream id="77416" streamType="1" codec="h264" index="0" bitrate="1500" height="720" width="1280" displayTitle="Unknown (H.264)" />
<Stream id="77417" streamType="2" selected="1" codec="aac" index="1" channels="2" language="English" languageCode="eng" displayTitle="English (AAC Stereo)" />
</Part>
</Media>
<Media videoResolution="480" id="44761" duration="89000" bitrate="750" width="640" height="480" aspectRatio="1.33" audioCodec="aac" videoCodec="h264" container="mp4" premium="1">
<Part id="44961" duration="89000" container="mp4" key="/services/iva/assets/852745/video.mp4?bitrate=750" optimizedForStreaming="1">
<Stream id="77418" streamType="1" codec="h264" index="0" bitrate="750" height="480" width="640" displayTitle="Unknown (H.264)" />
<Stream id="77419" streamType="2" selected="1" codec="aac" index="1" channels="2" language="English" languageCode="eng" displayTitle="English (AAC Stereo)" />
</Part>
</Media>
<Media videoResolution="480" id="44762" duration="89000" bitrate="450" width="640" height="480" aspectRatio="1.33" audioCodec="aac" videoCodec="h264" container="mp4" premium="1">
<Part id="44962" duration="89000" container="mp4" key="/services/iva/assets/852745/video.mp4?bitrate=450" optimizedForStreaming="1">
<Stream id="77420" streamType="1" codec="h264" index="0" bitrate="450" height="480" width="640" displayTitle="Unknown (H.264)" />
<Stream id="77421" streamType="2" selected="1" codec="aac" index="1" channels="2" language="English" languageCode="eng" displayTitle="English (AAC Stereo)" />
</Part>
</Media>
</Video>
<Video ratingKey="21498" key="/library/metadata/21498" guid="iva://api.internetvideoarchive.com/2.0/DataService/VideoAssets(376234)?lang=en&amp;bitrates=80,212,450,750,1500,2500,5000,8000&amp;duration=507&amp;adaptive=1&amp;dts=0" type="clip" title="Jaws: Film Restoration (Featurette)" summary="" index="4" year="2012" thumb="/library/metadata/21498/thumb/1532666539" subtype="behindTheScenes" duration="507000" originallyAvailableAt="2012-04-13" addedAt="1532666539" extraType="5">
<Media videoResolution="1080" id="44763" duration="507000" bitrate="2500" width="1920" height="1080" aspectRatio="1.78" audioCodec="aac" videoCodec="h264" container="mp4" premium="1">
<Part id="44963" duration="507000" container="mp4" key="/services/iva/assets/376234/video.mp4?bitrate=2500" optimizedForStreaming="1">
<Stream id="77422" streamType="1" codec="h264" index="0" bitrate="2500" height="1080" width="1920" displayTitle="Unknown (H.264)" />
<Stream id="77423" streamType="2" selected="1" codec="aac" index="1" channels="2" language="English" languageCode="eng" displayTitle="English (AAC Stereo)" />
</Part>
</Media>
<Media videoResolution="720" id="44764" duration="507000" bitrate="1500" width="1280" height="720" aspectRatio="1.78" audioCodec="aac" videoCodec="h264" container="mp4" premium="1">
<Part id="44964" duration="507000" container="mp4" key="/services/iva/assets/376234/video.mp4?bitrate=1500" optimizedForStreaming="1">
<Stream id="77424" streamType="1" codec="h264" index="0" bitrate="1500" height="720" width="1280" displayTitle="Unknown (H.264)" />
<Stream id="77425" streamType="2" selected="1" codec="aac" index="1" channels="2" language="English" languageCode="eng" displayTitle="English (AAC Stereo)" />
</Part>
</Media>
<Media videoResolution="480" id="44765" duration="507000" bitrate="450" width="640" height="480" aspectRatio="1.33" audioCodec="aac" videoCodec="h264" container="mp4" premium="1">
<Part id="44965" duration="507000" container="mp4" key="/services/iva/assets/376234/video.mp4?bitrate=450" optimizedForStreaming="1">
<Stream id="77426" streamType="1" codec="h264" index="0" bitrate="450" height="480" width="640" displayTitle="Unknown (H.264)" />
<Stream id="77427" streamType="2" selected="1" codec="aac" index="1" channels="2" language="English" languageCode="eng" displayTitle="English (AAC Stereo)" />
</Part>
</Media>
</Video>
</Extras>
</Video>
</MediaContainer>
7

Well, I don’t have any Apple products so I can’t really test this… But your names for Jaws is not the “Plex Standard”
Jaws_1975_1080P-part1.mp4
Jaws_1975_1080P-part2.mp4

Should be similar to
Jaws (1975) [1080P] - Part1.mp4
Jaws (1975) [1080P] - Part2.mp4

I would at least start there.

8

How odd. Comparing the two parts
Jaws_1975_1080P-part1.mp4 size=“12383923” duration=“29088”
Jaws_1975_1080P-part2.mp4 size=“3859162365” duration=“7434678”

One would think these values would be more closer together.

9

Thank you @NewPlaza for all the help and insight.

I’ll definitely give the file naming structure a try. For some reason, I thought that was how I was supposed to name them, but guess I messed that up somewhere along the way - LOL.

Also, the reason the durations are so different is because the “part1” of the file is my little intro trailer I made for fun. Since Plex will not allow users (or even Plex Pass subscribers) to enforce trailers, I set it up this way to have it play prior to the movie. It’s a work around and kind of a pain to have to do every time, but it works and looks cool. The “part2” of the movie file is the actual movie. So, with the Apple TV, that’s the issue I am seeing where my into trailer keeps looping and I never get to the actual movie - LOL.

I was thinking it may be the audio format messing it up or something, but I tried different versions of my intro trailer to see if that would fix it, but it didn’t make any difference. I think it may be something specific to the Apple TV Plex app and something that changed after the most recent update.

10

As far as I know the two parts must be the same quality both in video and audio. If I’m not mistaken trailers can be added with LMA enabled
https://support.plex.tv/articles/200220677-local-media-assets-movies/

https://support.plex.tv/articles/200264966-naming-multi-file-movies/

11

Hi @NewPlaza -

I wanted to report back that after trying about everything I can think of, the issue still remains when streaming multipart movies through the Plex app on a 4K Apple TV appliance. Wonder if anyone else on here would know or be able to test using their Apple TV to see if they can replicate the issue?

12

Notes from the above link… If it helps…

Notes:

Not all Plex Apps support playback of stacked media
All parts must be of the same file format (e.g. all MP4 or all MKV)
All parts should have identical audio and subtitle streams in the same order
Only stacks up to 8 parts are supported
“Other Videos” libraries or those using the “Plex Video Files Scanner” do not support stacked content.

13

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