Android TV and Android Black Screen upon Playback

Plex Players Streaming Devices
,
1

Server Version#: 1.6.3.1009-57cf57c8
Player Version#: 7.28.0.15501-ba34f115

I seem to have an issue with transcoding certain files on all Android devices. The issue appears to occur on an show which has the following format:
Video: 720p (H.264 High 10)
Audio: Unkown (FLAC 3.0)
Subtitles: Unknown (ASS)

I was able to play back other episodes of this show with the same format a few days ago but no longer can. I attempted to reinstall the server on a new VM in order to determine if a Ubuntu update had caused immediate issues, however, this was fruitless.
I have tested this on plex for windows as well as on the webplayer, forcing transcoding by disabling direct play, and the file transcodes and plays without issue.
It is worth noting that in these cases the player did not seem to transcode the FLAC to a different format of audio, while when run on the Android devices it does.
I additionally attempted to turn off the subtitles, suspecting they may be causing issue, as the transcode reason was listed as subtitle styling. After turning off the subtitles, I received an error asking me to restart the app and the server, stating that the media could not be played. Having seen this error before, I turned off the new player and tried playback again. I once again received a blank black screen, leading me to believe that this is an issue with the audio transcoding.
I then continued debugging, testing a file that was still 720p Hi10p and with ASS styled subtitles, instead with AC3 Stereo audio. The player transcoded as expected with the same reason, however, the video played back as expeced.

Looking at the logs in the FLAC audio case, the transcorder appears to be having issues. I see several

Mar 04, 2020 03:55:56.522 [0x7fcec9fe3700] WARN - Transcode runner appears to have died.

messages. Additionally, looking at the Android TV playback logs, it appears that the player thinks that it is able to play:

03-03 21:35:48.277  i: [PlaybackTimeBehaviour] Initialising
03-03 21:35:48.277  i: [PlaybackTimeBehaviour] Starting stopwatch
03-03 21:35:48.277  i: [VideoAwakeBehaviour] Keep screen awake has been enabled.
03-03 21:35:48.277  i: [AudioFocusBehaviour] Playback started
03-03 21:35:48.278  i: [AudioFocusBehaviour] Gained focus.
03-03 21:35:48.283  i: [TranscodeSession] Media choice updated
03-03 21:35:48.283  i: [PlayQueueProgressBehaviour] Updating PlayQueueManager state, isPlaying: true
03-03 21:35:48.283  i: [PlayQueueBehaviour] Clearing audio PQ because video playback has started.
03-03 21:35:48.283  i: [Player][ExoPlayer] Passing subtitle offset of 0.
03-03 21:35:48.283  i: [DelayedPlayQueueBehaviour] Resolving Play Queue...
03-03 21:35:48.283  i: [DelayedRemotePlayQueue] Resolving delayed Play Queue...
03-03 21:35:48.283  i: [PlayQueueAPIHelperBase] No item path provided, will generate a new one
03-03 21:35:48.283  i: [WiFiLockBehaviour] Aquiring WiFi lock since playback was started.
03-03 21:35:48.283  i: Fetching [method:POST] https://192.168.1.7:32400/playQueues?includeChapters=1&continuous=0&includeLoudnessRamps=1&repeat=0&type=video&shuffle=0&uri=server%3A%2F%2F2f15d06e217d43082269a0a628d34cef7f05cd0f%2Fcom.plexapp.plugins.library%2Flibrary%2Fmetadata%2F271572&key=%2Flibrary%2Fmetadata%2F271589&X-Plex-Token=...pfRn
03-03 21:35:48.288  i: [BatteryMonitorBehaviour] Starting playback with 1931070 µAh (59%).
03-03 21:35:48.290  i: [PictureInPictureBehaviour] Picture-in-picture is available and can be used.
03-03 21:35:48.293  i: [MediaSessionHelper] Releasing media session with tag: music
03-03 21:35:48.294  i: [MediaSessionHelper] Starting media session with tag: video
03-03 21:35:48.294  i: [MediaSessionHelper] Creating media session with tag: video
03-03 21:35:48.304  i: [TranscodeSession] Media choice updated
03-03 21:35:48.304  i: [TranscodeSession] Updating session status
03-03 21:35:48.304  i: [Player] onPlaybackStarted
03-03 21:35:48.310  i: Fetching [method:GET] https://192.168.1.7:32400/transcode/sessions/99c78739051938b5-com-plexapp-android?X-Plex-Token=...pfRn
03-03 21:35:48.314  i: [ServerContentSource] Not able to find media provider from server as provider id is not present
03-03 21:35:48.333  i: [TranscodeSession] Resolution: -1x-1, Video: Transcode, Audio: Transcode, Speed: 5.000000, Throttled: false
03-03 21:35:48.430  i: [ExoPlayer][EventLogger] state [4.24, 0.00, window=0, true, BUFFERING]
03-03 21:35:48.430  i: [EngineEventManager] onBufferingStarted (isSeeking: false)
03-03 21:35:48.536  i: [PlayQueueAPIHelperBase] Result container=<MediaContainer mediaTagPrefix="/system/bundle/media/flags/" identifier="com.plexapp.plugins.library" playQueueVersion="1" playQueueID="5960" size="41" playQueueSourceURI="library://x/item/%2Flibrary%2Fmetadata%2F271572" playQueueShuffled="0" playQueueSelectedItemID="159995" playQueueSelectedMetadataItemID="271589" playQueueTotalCount="52" mediaTagVersion="1582543903" playQueueSelectedItemOffset="28" />
03-03 21:35:48.537  w: [RemotePlayQueue] Couldn't find item with PQ ID=null in current window.
03-03 21:35:48.537  w: [RemotePlayQueue] Couldn't find item with PQ ID=null in current window.
03-03 21:35:48.537  i: [DelayedPlayQueueBehaviour] New Play Queue: 5960
03-03 21:35:48.548  i: [PostPlayHud] Not showing since video did not end naturally
03-03 21:35:48.551  i: [PictureInPictureBehaviour] Picture-in-picture is available and can be used.
03-03 21:35:48.553  i: [MediaSessionBehaviour] Updatating metdata for video, thumb: true
03-03 21:35:48.623  i: [FFmpeg] [INFO] [https @ 0x77cdcf2c00] Opening 'https://192-168-1-7.1919d1b9b3c94d73b6ab8798cebde20e.plex.direct:32400/video/:/transcode/universal/session/99c78739051938b5-com-plexapp-android/base/00003.ts' for reading

03-03 21:35:48.635  i: [ExoPlayer][EventLogger] state [4.44, 0.00, window=0, true, READY]
03-03 21:35:48.636  i: [EngineEventManager] onBufferingEnded
03-03 21:35:48.636  i: [EngineEventManager] onPlaybackResumed
03-03 21:35:48.637  i: [PlaybackTimeBehaviour] Time: 359 IsStarted: true
03-03 21:35:48.638  i: [PlaybackTimeBehaviour] Resuming stopwatch

Has anybody else seen any issues like this? What befuddles me is that this was working only a couple days ago and since has ceased proper functionality. If required, I can produce additional logs. Please let me know what logging level would be preferred.

EDIT: taking another look at the logs, this line seems relatively concerning to me, though I don’t know enough about the plex internals to be able to confirm this:

03-03 21:35:48.314  i: [ServerContentSource] Not able to find media provider from server as provider id is not present

EDIT: To clarify the hardware/operating systems being used:
Server (old): Ubuntu 16.04 LTS
Server (new): Ubuntu 18.04 LTS
Streaming Device 1: Android TV (NVidia Shield)
Streaming Device 2: Android (Galaxy S10)

2

Looking at this more, the video seems to successfully play back on my phone when on mobile data but not when on the same network. In addition, when on the same network, I am able to skip around the video without issue, seeing all of the still frames, but hitting the play and pause button causes no change.
I have purged my plex server, hoping that redoing all libraries and settings will help with this, however, this did nothing at all.

I am now bouncing around old android app versions hoping that I can find one that works…

3

I have rolled back to android app 7.25.3.1435 and am seeing no change. I would greatly appreciate any assistance in debugging this issue.

4

Server version in OP was incorrect, version being used is 1.18.7.2457. I have also tried 1.18.8.2468-5d395aa9d. Is there any way to download old versions so that I can verify that this isn’t a server problem?

6

Attached are logs from a playback attempt on the Android TV and Ubuntu 16.04 server.
Server: v1.18.7.2457-77cb9455c
App: 7.28.0.15501
nvidia_shield_jojo_playback_fail.log (211.4 KB) server_jojo_playback_fail.log (362.0 KB)

Note that in these logs I let the video hang for ~10 seconds prior to stopping the player. When I allow the player to continue to sit open the transcoder will eventually Throttle and go into sloth mode.

7

BUMP. This issue has not fixed itself.

8

Please STOP changing this issue to server-nvidia-shield. I have stated multiple times in the posts that the server used is LINUX based off UBUNTU. Please spend the time to read the posts before changing the tags. I am no longer able to change them back to the correct ones.

9

bump.

10

I’m not the one that changed them, but I’ve changed the tag back to linux. I removed the mobile tag since this is about the NVidia Shield player, which is Android TV. Let’s stick to 1 client at a time.

Can you update the Plex app on the Shield and try again? Please provide new logs from the updated app and PMS if this still doesn’t work. Also provide the XML information for that video you are testing with.

11

Sorry for the delay. Here are updated logs. All versions were verified up to date (via play store/plex web ui). Logs follow.

Server: Ubuntu 16.04, 1.18.9.2578: jojo_plex_ubuntu_16_04_2020_14_07_public_ips_pruned.log (656.2 KB)
Player: NVidia Shield, 7.30.1.16475: jojo_shield_android_tv_2020_04_07_public_ips_pruned.log (187.0 KB)
XML (extension changed to .txt, upload rules): 271592.txt (4.7 KB)

I misnamed the ubuntu log as 14_04 initially, renamed to 16_04, and reuploaded, however, the forums seem to maintain 14_04 as the name. Rest assured that they are the correct logs.

12

There are no errors being shown so it must be something internally within the Shield. A few possibilities I can think of.

Your Shield output is set to

04-07 17:34:15.379 i: [DisplayBehaviour] Current mode detected as 3840x2160 @ 59.9401Hz (19).

1 - Your TV doesn’t like that setting.
2 - Your video has a frame rate of 23.976. The Shield could be having trouble doing the correct pull down.

Turn on refresh rate switching and see if that helps.

I also noticed that you have the new player disabled. Have you tried with the new player?

13

Another possibility is the audio. Your file appears to have 3.0 FLAC. The Shield does not support this so PMS has to transcode the audio to AAC. It looks like PMS is converting to 2.1 AAC. There could be an issue there. Have you noticed if this issue happens with other files that might have a different type of audio?

Having a bad audio track can prevent the video from playing.

14

Interesting that the shield is listing that the old player is being used. Settings in the UI indicates to me that new player is on and the video playback screen appears to be the new player as well. Player info there indicates ExoPlayer. I’ve toggled that to off, verified the old player is in use, and toggled it back to on, verifying ExoPlayer is once again being used.

Refresh rate switching also is not resolving the issue, though it does appear to be properly changing the refresh rate.

As far as I can tell, I do not have this issue with other files, though there are some that do not play in the new player (found other thread on that issue so ignoring it). I’ve found a comparable file that also has non-FLAC 2.0, in this case FLAC 6.0. Here is some information and a playback log snippet indicating the transcode.
Settings: New player, no resolution switching
H264, 720p, 23.976 FPS; 48 kHz 16 bit 6.0 FLAC.
XML (.txt): 1_clannad.txt (4.1 KB)
Result: Success, video was transcoded (H264->H264, FLAC->AAC)

FFMPEG Player Log Snippet 
04-08 15:11:40.160  i: [FFmpeg] [INFO] Input #0, hls, from '':

04-08 15:11:40.160  i: [FFmpeg] [INFO]   Duration: 
04-08 15:11:40.160  i: [FFmpeg] [INFO] 00:21:10.00
04-08 15:11:40.160  i: [FFmpeg] [INFO] , start: 
04-08 15:11:40.161  w: [FF] AVC configuration parser failed, falling back to using the original initialisation data.
04-08 15:11:40.161  i: [FFmpeg] [INFO] 10.062089
04-08 15:11:40.161  i: [FFmpeg] [INFO] , bitrate: 
04-08 15:11:40.161  i: [FFmpeg] [INFO] 0 kb/s
04-08 15:11:40.162  i: [FFmpeg] [INFO] 

04-08 15:11:40.162  i: [FFmpeg] [INFO]   Program 0 

04-08 15:11:40.162  i: [FF] Container[hls] No Title - 0 kbps, 21 mins [CT: 0us, ST: 10062089us, SRT: -9223372036854775808us].
04-08 15:11:40.163  i: [FFmpeg] [INFO]     Metadata:

04-08 15:11:40.163  i: [FFmpeg] [INFO]       variant_bitrate : 
04-08 15:11:40.164  i: [FFmpeg] [INFO] 3262000
04-08 15:11:40.165  i: [FFmpeg] [INFO] 

04-08 15:11:40.165  i: [FFmpeg] [INFO]     Stream #0:0
04-08 15:11:40.165  i: [FFmpeg] [INFO] : Video: h264 (Main), 1 reference frame ([27][0][0][0] / 0x001B), none(progressive), 1280x720 (0x0) [SAR 1:1 DAR 16:9], 0/1
04-08 15:11:40.165  i: [FF] VideoStream[0-h264] 1280x720 [SAR 1:1, DAR 16:9]. H.264 / AVC / MPEG-4 AVC / MPEG-4 part 10 - Unknown Profile (video/avc), 3.3 Mbps -54 secs 23.98fps, No Title / Unknown (null), 1 / 36 bytes, .
04-08 15:11:40.165  i: [FFmpeg] [INFO] , 
04-08 15:11:40.165  i: [FFmpeg] [INFO] 23.98 fps, 
04-08 15:11:40.166  i: [FFmpeg] [INFO] 23.98 tbr, 
04-08 15:11:40.166  i: [FFmpeg] [INFO] 90k tbn, 
04-08 15:11:40.166  i: [FFmpeg] [INFO] 90k tbc
04-08 15:11:40.166  i: [FFmpeg] [INFO] 

04-08 15:11:40.166  i: [FFmpeg] [INFO]     Metadata:

04-08 15:11:40.166  i: [FFmpeg] [INFO]       variant_bitrate : 
04-08 15:11:40.166  i: [FFmpeg] [INFO] 3262000
04-08 15:11:40.166  i: [FFmpeg] [INFO] 

04-08 15:11:40.166  i: [FFmpeg] [INFO]     Stream #0:1
04-08 15:11:40.166  i: [FFmpeg] [INFO] (jpn)
04-08 15:11:40.166  i: [FFmpeg] [INFO] : Audio: aac (LC) ([15][0][0][0] / 0x000F), 48000 Hz, 5.1
04-08 15:11:40.166  i: [FFmpeg] [INFO] 

04-08 15:11:40.166  i: [FFmpeg] [INFO]     Metadata:

04-08 15:11:40.166  i: [FFmpeg] [INFO]       variant_bitrate : 
04-08 15:11:40.166  i: [FFmpeg] [INFO] 3262000
04-08 15:11:40.166  i: [FFmpeg] [INFO] 

04-08 15:11:40.166  i: [FFmpeg] [INFO] Container metadata entries found: 0.
04-08 15:11:40.166  i: [FFmpeg] [INFO] Stream metadata entries found: 1.
04-08 15:11:40.167  i: [FFmpeg] [INFO] Stream metadata entries found: 2.
04-08 15:11:40.167  i: [FF] AudioStream[1-aac] 6 channels over 63 (5.1), 48000 Hz, 0,0 padding. AAC (Advanced Audio Coding) - Unknown Profile (audio/mp4a-latm), 3.3 Mbps -54 secs 0.00fps, No Title / Japanese (jpn), 1 / 2 bytes, .
04-08 15:11:40.167  i: [FF] Video decoder doesn't support aac (audio/mp4a-latm).
04-08 15:11:40.167  i: [FF] Audio decoder doesn't support aac (audio/mp4a-latm).
04-08 15:11:40.167  i: [FF] Video decoder doesn't support h264 (video/avc).
04-08 15:11:40.167  i: [FF][MediaPeriod] Selecting tracks.
04-08 15:11:40.167  i: [LoadControl] Assumed Bitrate: 400000, Segment Count: 46875
04-08 15:11:40.167  i: [LoadControl] Detected memory pressure, reducing segment count to fit available memory: 512 MB
04-08 15:11:40.168  i: [LoadControl] Final Segment count: 1638 (102 MB / 4 Seconds)
04-08 15:11:40.168  i: [ExoPlayer][EventLogger] decoderEnabled [2.62, 0.00, window=0, video]
04-08 15:11:40.168  i: [ExoPlayer][EventLogger] decoderEnabled [2.62, 0.00, window=0, audio]
04-08 15:11:40.169  i: [ExoPlayer][EventLogger] tracksChanged [2.62, 0.00, window=0, 
04-08 15:11:40.169  i: [ExoPlayer][EventLogger]   Renderer:1 [
04-08 15:11:40.169  i: [ExoPlayer][EventLogger]     Group:0, adaptive_supported=N/A [
04-08 15:11:40.169  i: [ExoPlayer][EventLogger]       [X] Track:0, id=0, mimeType=video/avc, bitrate=3262000, codecs=h264, res=1280x720, fps=23.976025, supported=YES
04-08 15:11:40.169  i: [ExoPlayer][EventLogger]     ]
04-08 15:11:40.169  i: [ExoPlayer][EventLogger]     Metadata [
04-08 15:11:40.169  i: [ExoPlayer][EventLogger]       original_init_data: (Value: 0 Buffer: 36 bytes)
04-08 15:11:40.169  i: [ExoPlayer][EventLogger]       scantype_progressive: (Value: 1 Buffer: 0 bytes)
04-08 15:11:40.169  i: [ExoPlayer][EventLogger]     ]
04-08 15:11:40.170  i: [ExoPlayer][EventLogger]   ]
04-08 15:11:40.170  i: [ExoPlayer][EventLogger]   Renderer:3 [
04-08 15:11:40.170  i: [ExoPlayer][EventLogger]     Group:0, adaptive_supported=N/A [
04-08 15:11:40.170  i: [ExoPlayer][EventLogger]       [X] Track:0, id=1, mimeType=audio/mp4a-latm, bitrate=3262000, codecs=aac, channels=6, sample_rate=48000, language=jpn, supported=YES
04-08 15:11:40.170  i: [ExoPlayer][EventLogger]     ]
04-08 15:11:40.170  i: [ExoPlayer][EventLogger]     Metadata [
04-08 15:11:40.170  i: [ExoPlayer][EventLogger]       block_align: (Value: 0 Buffer: 0 bytes)
04-08 15:11:40.170  i: [ExoPlayer][EventLogger]       channel_layout: (Value: 63 Buffer: 0 bytes)
04-08 15:11:40.170  i: [ExoPlayer][EventLogger]       original_init_data: (Value: 0 Buffer: 0 bytes)
04-08 15:11:40.171  i: [ExoPlayer][EventLogger]     ]
04-08 15:11:40.171  i: [ExoPlayer][EventLogger]   ]
04-08 15:11:40.171  i: [ExoPlayer][EventLogger] ]
04-08 15:11:40.171  i: [Player][ExoPlayer] Setting initial track selection...
04-08 15:11:40.172  i: [Player][ExoPlayer] Switching video surface to use MediaCodec surface.
04-08 15:11:40.172  i: [FF] Video decoder doesn't support aac (audio/mp4a-latm).
04-08 15:11:40.172  i: [Player] onSurfaceChangeRequested
04-08 15:11:40.172  i: [FF] Audio decoder doesn't support aac (audio/mp4a-latm).
04-08 15:11:40.172  i: [FF] Video decoder doesn't support h264 (video/avc).
04-08 15:11:40.172  i: [FF] Video decoder doesn't support aac (audio/mp4a-latm).
04-08 15:11:40.173  i: [FF] Audio decoder doesn't support aac (audio/mp4a-latm).
04-08 15:11:40.173  i: [FF] Video decoder doesn't support h264 (video/avc).
04-08 15:11:40.173  i: [FF] Video decoder doesn't support aac (audio/mp4a-latm).
04-08 15:11:40.173  i: [FF] Audio decoder doesn't support aac (audio/mp4a-latm).
04-08 15:11:40.173  i: [FF] Video decoder doesn't support h264 (video/avc).
04-08 15:11:40.174  i: [ExoPlayer][EventLogger] surfaceSizeChanged [2.62, 0.00, window=0, 0, 0]
04-08 15:11:40.175  i: [ExoPlayer][EventLogger] timelineChanged [2.63, 0.00, window=0, periodCount=1, windowCount=1, reason=DYNAMIC
04-08 15:11:40.175  i: [ExoPlayer][EventLogger]   period [1270.00]
04-08 15:11:40.176  i: [ExoPlayer][EventLogger]   window [1270.00, true, false]
04-08 15:11:40.176  i: [ExoPlayer][EventLogger] ]
04-08 15:11:40.176  i: [Player][ExoPlayer] onTimelineChanged (Position: 0 ms)
04-08 15:11:40.197  i: [ExoPlayer][EventLogger] surfaceSizeChanged [2.65, 0.00, window=0, 1920, 1080]
04-08 15:11:40.240  i: [ExoPlayer][EventLogger] decoderInitialized [2.69, 0.00, window=0, video, OMX.Nvidia.h264.decode]
04-08 15:11:40.241  i: [ExoPlayer][EventLogger] decoderInputFormatChanged [2.69, 0.00, window=0, video, id=0, mimeType=video/avc, bitrate=3262000, codecs=h264, res=1280x720, fps=23.976025]
04-08 15:11:40.288  i: [ExoPlayer][EventLogger] decoderInitialized [2.74, 0.00, window=0, audio, OMX.google.aac.decoder]
04-08 15:11:40.288  i: [ExoPlayer][EventLogger] decoderInputFormatChanged [2.74, 0.00, window=0, audio, id=1, mimeType=audio/mp4a-latm, bitrate=3262000, codecs=aac, channels=6, sample_rate=48000, language=jpn]
04-08 15:11:40.288  i: [TranscodeSession] Updating session status
04-08 15:11:40.291  i: [TranscodeSession] Direct Play
04-08 15:11:40.306  i: [Player] onDisplaySizeChanged(1280x720 at 0x0)
04-08 15:11:40.306  i: [Player][DimensionsLayout] Resizing: 1920 x 1080
04-08 15:11:40.313  i: [ExoPlayer][EventLogger] videoSizeChanged [2.76, 0.00, window=0, 1280, 720]
04-08 15:11:40.313  i: [ExoPlayer][EventLogger] renderedFirstFrame [2.76, 0.00, window=0, Surface(name=null)/@0xd17fe6b]
04-08 15:11:40.321  i: [ExoPlayer][EventLogger] audioSessionId [2.77, 0.00, window=0, 1201]
04-08 15:11:40.342  i: [FFmpeg] [INFO] [https @ 0x2214dcac00] Opening 'https://10-0-0-7.fb4b9ac47511492f8f4847c1b85b5fcf.plex.direct:32400/video/:/transcode/universal/session/d25f9d16c34250ac-com-plexapp-android/base/00002.ts' for reading

Fascinatingly, there is a way to get the JoJo episode that is failing to play back to play on the shield. Doing some additional debugging, I noticed that if I force all content to transcode it will transcode and play back properly.
Settings: New player, no resolution switching, all media transcoded to 720p 2 mbps
Same file as JoJo episode earlier
Result: Success, video was transcoded (H264->H264, FLAC->AAC)

FFMPEG Player Log Snippet 
04-08 15:30:52.952  i: [FFmpeg] [INFO] Input #0, hls, from '':

04-08 15:30:52.952  i: [FFmpeg] [INFO]   Duration: 
04-08 15:30:52.952  i: [FFmpeg] [INFO] 00:23:44.00
04-08 15:30:52.952  i: [FF] Container[hls] No Title - 0 kbps, 23 mins [CT: 0us, ST: 10062089us, SRT: -9223372036854775808us].
04-08 15:30:52.952  i: [FFmpeg] [INFO] , start: 
04-08 15:30:52.952  i: [FFmpeg] [INFO] 10.062089
04-08 15:30:52.952  i: [FFmpeg] [INFO] , bitrate: 
04-08 15:30:52.952  i: [FFmpeg] [INFO] 0 kb/s
04-08 15:30:52.952  i: [FFmpeg] [INFO] 

04-08 15:30:52.952  i: [FFmpeg] [INFO]   Program 0 

04-08 15:30:52.952  i: [FFmpeg] [INFO]     Metadata:

04-08 15:30:52.953  i: [FFmpeg] [INFO]       variant_bitrate : 
04-08 15:30:52.953  i: [FFmpeg] [INFO] 1689000
04-08 15:30:52.953  i: [FF] VideoStream[0-h264] 720x406 [SAR 1:1, DAR 720:406]. H.264 / AVC / MPEG-4 AVC / MPEG-4 part 10 - Unknown Profile (video/avc), 1.7 Mbps -54 secs 23.98fps, No Title / Unknown (null), 1 / 41 bytes, .
04-08 15:30:52.953  i: [FFmpeg] [INFO] 

04-08 15:30:52.953  i: [FFmpeg] [INFO]     Stream #0:0
04-08 15:30:52.953  i: [FFmpeg] [INFO] : Video: h264 (High), 1 reference frame ([27][0][0][0] / 0x001B), none(progressive), 720x406 (0x0), 0/1
04-08 15:30:52.953  i: [FFmpeg] [INFO] , 
04-08 15:30:52.954  i: [FFmpeg] [INFO] 23.98 fps, 
04-08 15:30:52.954  i: [FFmpeg] [INFO] 23.98 tbr, 
04-08 15:30:52.954  i: [FFmpeg] [INFO] 90k tbn, 
04-08 15:30:52.954  i: [FFmpeg] [INFO] 90k tbc
04-08 15:30:52.954  i: [FFmpeg] [INFO] 

04-08 15:30:52.954  i: [FFmpeg] [INFO]     Metadata:

04-08 15:30:52.954  i: [FFmpeg] [INFO]       variant_bitrate : 
04-08 15:30:52.954  i: [FFmpeg] [INFO] 1689000
04-08 15:30:52.954  i: [FFmpeg] [INFO] 

04-08 15:30:52.955  i: [FFmpeg] [INFO]     Stream #0:1
04-08 15:30:52.955  i: [FFmpeg] [INFO] : Audio: aac (LC) ([15][0][0][0] / 0x000F), 48000 Hz, stereo
04-08 15:30:52.955  i: [FFmpeg] [INFO] 

04-08 15:30:52.955  i: [FFmpeg] [INFO]     Metadata:

04-08 15:30:52.955  i: [FFmpeg] [INFO]       variant_bitrate : 
04-08 15:30:52.955  i: [FFmpeg] [INFO] 1689000
04-08 15:30:52.955  i: [FF] AudioStream[1-aac] 2 channels over 3 (stereo), 48000 Hz, 0,0 padding. AAC (Advanced Audio Coding) - Unknown Profile (audio/mp4a-latm), 1.7 Mbps -54 secs 0.00fps, No Title / Unknown (null), 1 / 2 bytes, .
04-08 15:30:52.955  i: [FFmpeg] [INFO] 

04-08 15:30:52.955  i: [FFmpeg] [INFO] Container metadata entries found: 0.
04-08 15:30:52.955  i: [FFmpeg] [INFO] Stream metadata entries found: 1.
04-08 15:30:52.955  i: [FFmpeg] [INFO] Stream metadata entries found: 1.
04-08 15:30:52.955  i: [FF] Video decoder doesn't support aac (audio/mp4a-latm).
04-08 15:30:52.955  i: [FF] Audio decoder doesn't support aac (audio/mp4a-latm).
04-08 15:30:52.956  i: [FF] Video decoder doesn't support h264 (video/avc).
04-08 15:30:52.957  i: [FF][MediaPeriod] Selecting tracks.
04-08 15:30:52.958  i: [LoadControl] Assumed Bitrate: 10000, Segment Count: 1171
04-08 15:30:52.960  i: [LoadControl] Final Segment count: 1171 (73 MB / 299 Seconds)
04-08 15:30:52.962  i: [ExoPlayer][EventLogger] decoderEnabled [4.41, 0.00, window=0, video]
04-08 15:30:52.964  i: [ExoPlayer][EventLogger] decoderEnabled [4.42, 0.00, window=0, audio]
04-08 15:30:52.965  i: [ExoPlayer][EventLogger] tracksChanged [4.42, 0.00, window=0, 
04-08 15:30:52.965  i: [ExoPlayer][EventLogger]   Renderer:1 [
04-08 15:30:52.968  i: [ExoPlayer][EventLogger]     Group:0, adaptive_supported=N/A [
04-08 15:30:52.968  i: [ExoPlayer][EventLogger]       [X] Track:0, id=0, mimeType=video/avc, bitrate=1689000, codecs=h264, res=720x406, fps=23.976025, supported=YES
04-08 15:30:52.969  i: [ExoPlayer][EventLogger]     ]
04-08 15:30:52.969  i: [ExoPlayer][EventLogger]     Metadata [
04-08 15:30:52.969  i: [ExoPlayer][EventLogger]       original_init_data: (Value: 0 Buffer: 41 bytes)
04-08 15:30:52.969  i: [ExoPlayer][EventLogger]       scantype_progressive: (Value: 1 Buffer: 0 bytes)
04-08 15:30:52.969  i: [ExoPlayer][EventLogger]     ]
04-08 15:30:52.969  i: [ExoPlayer][EventLogger]   ]
04-08 15:30:52.969  i: [ExoPlayer][EventLogger]   Renderer:3 [
04-08 15:30:52.969  i: [ExoPlayer][EventLogger]     Group:0, adaptive_supported=N/A [
04-08 15:30:52.969  i: [ExoPlayer][EventLogger]       [X] Track:0, id=1, mimeType=audio/mp4a-latm, bitrate=1689000, codecs=aac, channels=2, sample_rate=48000, supported=YES
04-08 15:30:52.969  i: [ExoPlayer][EventLogger]     ]
04-08 15:30:52.969  i: [ExoPlayer][EventLogger]     Metadata [
04-08 15:30:52.969  i: [ExoPlayer][EventLogger]       block_align: (Value: 0 Buffer: 0 bytes)
04-08 15:30:52.969  i: [ExoPlayer][EventLogger]       channel_layout: (Value: 3 Buffer: 0 bytes)
04-08 15:30:52.969  i: [ExoPlayer][EventLogger]       original_init_data: (Value: 0 Buffer: 0 bytes)
04-08 15:30:52.970  i: [ExoPlayer][EventLogger]     ]
04-08 15:30:52.970  i: [ExoPlayer][EventLogger]   ]
04-08 15:30:52.970  i: [ExoPlayer][EventLogger] ]
04-08 15:30:52.970  i: [Player][ExoPlayer] Setting initial track selection...
04-08 15:30:52.970  i: [Player][ExoPlayer] Switching video surface to use MediaCodec surface.
04-08 15:30:52.970  i: [Player] onSurfaceChangeRequested
04-08 15:30:53.023  i: [FF] Video decoder doesn't support aac (audio/mp4a-latm).
04-08 15:30:53.024  i: [FF] Audio decoder doesn't support aac (audio/mp4a-latm).
04-08 15:30:53.024  i: [FF] Video decoder doesn't support h264 (video/avc).
04-08 15:30:53.025  i: [FF] Video decoder doesn't support aac (audio/mp4a-latm).
04-08 15:30:53.026  i: [FF] Audio decoder doesn't support aac (audio/mp4a-latm).
04-08 15:30:53.027  i: [FF] Video decoder doesn't support h264 (video/avc).
04-08 15:30:53.028  i: [FF] Video decoder doesn't support aac (audio/mp4a-latm).
04-08 15:30:53.028  i: [FF] Audio decoder doesn't support aac (audio/mp4a-latm).
04-08 15:30:53.029  i: [FF] Video decoder doesn't support h264 (video/avc).
04-08 15:30:53.051  i: [ExoPlayer][EventLogger] surfaceSizeChanged [4.50, 0.00, window=0, 0, 0]
04-08 15:30:53.052  i: [ExoPlayer][EventLogger] timelineChanged [4.51, 0.00, window=0, periodCount=1, windowCount=1, reason=DYNAMIC
04-08 15:30:53.052  i: [ExoPlayer][EventLogger]   period [1424.00]
04-08 15:30:53.053  i: [ExoPlayer][EventLogger]   window [1424.00, true, false]
04-08 15:30:53.053  i: [ExoPlayer][EventLogger] ]
04-08 15:30:53.053  i: [Player][ExoPlayer] onTimelineChanged (Position: 0 ms)
04-08 15:30:53.053  i: [ExoPlayer][EventLogger] decoderInitialized [4.51, 0.00, window=0, video, OMX.Nvidia.h264.decode]
04-08 15:30:53.053  i: [ExoPlayer][EventLogger] decoderInputFormatChanged [4.51, 0.00, window=0, video, id=0, mimeType=video/avc, bitrate=1689000, codecs=h264, res=720x406, fps=23.976025]
04-08 15:30:53.054  i: [ExoPlayer][EventLogger] decoderInitialized [4.51, 0.00, window=0, audio, OMX.google.aac.decoder]
04-08 15:30:53.054  i: [ExoPlayer][EventLogger] decoderInputFormatChanged [4.51, 0.00, window=0, audio, id=1, mimeType=audio/mp4a-latm, bitrate=1689000, codecs=aac, channels=2, sample_rate=48000]
04-08 15:30:53.055  i: [TranscodeSession] Updating session status
04-08 15:30:53.071  i: [ExoPlayer][EventLogger] surfaceSizeChanged [4.52, 0.00, window=0, 1920, 1080]
04-08 15:30:53.072  i: [TranscodeSession] Direct Play

Looking at the logs, it appears in this case the audio is being transcoded to 2.0 AAC. This makes me suspect that something is going wrong with the transcoding or playback of the FLAC 3.0 to AAC 2.1 which is not happening when a similar transcode, FLAC 6.0 to AAC 5.1 is being done. It is also possible that there was a bug introduced for AAC 2.1 playback, though if that were the case I imagine there would be a large number of bug reports whether that was a Plex player issue or an Android issue.

Though the focus here is the Shield Android TV player, I decided to quickly try this on an Android tablet, a Tab S6, as well. The playback hung when using normal settings. After changing to 720p 2 mbps forced transcode, the video played back correctly.

EDIT: This is likely what I was seeing earlier when attempting to play back over mobile data, as the defaults for mobile data playback force transcoding to 720p 2 mbps.

15

Yeah, looks to me like an issue with 2.1 AAC audio. I’ll have to test this scenario and see.

16

Have you had any luck replicating the issue?

17

It appears that things are working correctly again. I am able to watch the TV show once again. I will have to double check the logs at some point to ensure that it is transcoding to the same format it was before, however, on a qualitative level things seem to be better.

18

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