Server Version: 1.18.5.2260 (Running in docker on unRaid)
Player Version: 7.27.0.15018 (57fc93ee) (Android Tv)
Tv: Philips 40PFK5500
I am able to play a very small percentage of my content using the old player on my Android TV (Other content also has the audio only issue). However the new exoplayer based player is unable to play any of my content.
Whenever I play something, the screen goes black and just the audio is being played.
I’ve installed Tautulli in order to see if the content is being transcoded. See findings below.
https://puu.sh/F3YZ6/5c5c6127ff.png
https://puu.sh/F3YZB/4a7a6a3499.png
https://puu.sh/F3YZX/38f332b76c.png
https://puu.sh/F3YYI/7be2d06606.png
https://puu.sh/F3Z0e/a757fb5694.png
https://puu.sh/F3Z0E/3025b66696.png
Android TV Logs
Also can I safely include the Plex Media Server Logs or do these contain sensitive information?
Is there any other way I can get in touch with Plex? It just seems wrong that such a serieus issue needs to be handled by the community.
Did you try with the most recent version of the Android TV app?
As tautulli tells you it’s direct playing, did you try to force transcoding by reducing the bitrate in the player below the bitrate of the original file?
Does Plex web (dashboard) also say it’s direct playing?
Server logs do not contain senstive data, it is ok to post them.
I that case here are the Server logs from January 26th: Plex Media Server.1.log (10.0 MB)
Pretty sure I already tried to force it to encode, but will verify right now and report back in a minute.
I don’t see any Android playback in the log, seems to be the wrong time frame (05:00 to 12:11 on Jan 26).
Best is to
- update both client and server to the recent version
- restart client and server and wait for 3 minutes
- play the file aka recreate the issue
- get the client and server logs and post them here.
The “.1” log is always the second most recent, the most recent doesn’t have any number. If you still have the right one, you can post it anyway.
Doing it now.
Also I just tested the transcoding and even when transcoding the same issue occurs.
Updated to new client/server version
New logs: Plex Media Server Logs_2020-03-05_15-05-21.zip (3.6 MB)
Played 1 episode of The 100.
First Transcoding to 720p
Then set to “Maximum quality” when homestreaming (but still shows as transcoding, possibly because of H265)
Client log? I am not an expert, but I don’t see unusual activity in the server log. It just stops at one point since you stop it. I also don’t see why Direct Play doesn’t seem to be available, client log might help there.
Did you have subtitles selected? If yes, try to disable them upfront.
And xml info of the file would be nice.
I have to say I am not an expert, but I’ll do my very best 
My bad, forgot about the client log. Here it is: Client_Network_Log.txt (1.1 MB)
Thanks for the help so far, I really appreciate it!
03-05 14:47:43.260 i: [MediaDecisionEngine] Unable to direct play; Dolby Digital Plus (EAC3) audio wordt niet ondersteund door dit apparaat.
As you already noticed in your other thread, your device isn’t able to play E-AC3, that is the reason why it is not Direct Playing. Transcoding then seems to fail somehow (I don’t know why) and that is why you are where you are.
First I would test if the files runs without the subtitles. Is the new player really off in settings? People report that this fixed their issues. Nvidia Shield EAC3 audio stopped working
Secondly, you could reencode your files to get rid of the E-AC3 audio track (yes it’s a pain).
But if the audio is not supported, how on earth does it play the audio just fine, but doesn’t play the video…
The previous logs were with the new player. The new player doesn’t play any of my content. The old player only rejects the EAC3 audio content.
I see. Then you have problems transcoding the video, maybe due to subtitle burn-in, or due to issues with hardware transcoding, which your unraid machine is obviously doing according to the logs.
Stick to the old player and try the file without subtitles.
What type of hw transcoding are you using? iGPU? Is the device forwarded to the docker container correctly?
There is no GPU in my server. Just an I7-8700.
If I disable the subtitles the problem remains.
Does it work if you disable hw transcoding in plex settings?
What does ls -l /dev/dri say on your unraid machine?
I currently have it set like this:
If I uncheck the checked box, there is no difference.
I have no “dri” directory inside /dev. Not on the unraid system aswell as inside the plex docker.
I see, so you use software transcoding. I misread the log on this part then. An I7-8700 should be able to handle a single stream in software with no issues, so it is not a hardware/low power issue.
Does the very video run in Plex web? Does transcoding work with other videos that don’t have e-ac3 audio tracks?
You should btw enable hw transcoding using your intel cpu on your unraid machine, makes things much more powerful with plex. Instructions can be found in the unraid forums.
I can run everything just fine using the Plex Desktop app. Using the plex app I can instantly transcode to any quality without any delay.
On the web player there is a slight buffering delay when playing a file, but they all play fine even when being transcoded.
I tried a couple of other files and they all have the same issue. When there is EAC3 audio it just doesn’t play the video. I did manage to get it to display a single frozen frame now. I’m not sure why it does suddenly does this.
Also when playing a file with EAC3 audio on the tv the UI gets incredibly choppy. I cannot pause, if I do the audio just stutters a lot but continues to play and when I press back it takes a few seconds to take me back to the series overview.
Ok, so the player “freaks out”. In your logs I also saw low memory warnings, which would explain the choppy playback.
Long story short:
Get a new client, like the nvidia Shield 
So basically you are saying my TV does not have enough memory? But what does it need the memory for? Plex should convert it to the right format so the client can play it right?
