Android TV Plex app no longer displays contents of local Plex server

Plex Players Smart TVs
1

Server Version#: 1.23.2.4656-85f0adf5b
Player Version#: 8.18.1.25719

Please recommend a procedure for restoring the previously working scenario where Plex accounts are not required for local streaming to Android TV.

The latest Plex app for Android TV does not display the media on the local Plex server located on the same subnet. The app displays the server name under “More…”. A triangle with exclamation mark appears to the right of the server name, presumably because it is unclaimed. An icon representing a user(?) is displayed to the left of the server name. Selecting the server does not display the contents of the server. Instead, free content from the Plex service is displayed.

The Plex Medis Server is configured to allow clients on the local subnet to connect without authentication as follows:

Settings > Network
List of IP addresses and networks that are allowed without auth
10.1.1.0/255.255.255.0

I tried deleting Android TV Plex app data, deleting app cache, and uninstalling the Android TV Plex client.

Neither the Android TV Plex client or Plex Media Server are signed in to Plex accounts. This was not necessary in the past.

The regular Android client for smartphones connects to the unclaimed Plex server without issues.

VLC Android TV client is able to connect to the Plex Media Server using UPnP protocol.

server: Plex Media Server 1.23.2.4656-85f0adf5b
client: Plex (Android TV) 8.18.1.25719
client device: Sony Bravia X950G (2020) “BRAVIA 4K UR2”
Android 9, Kernel version 4.9.125, Build BRAVIA UR2_4K UC-user 9 PTT1.190515.001.S97 650421 release-keys

When the Android TV app starts, the following messages are written to Plex Media Server.log:

Jun 10, 2021 15:39:40.029 [17780] DEBUG - Request: [10.1.1.102:36318 (Allowed Network (Subnet))] GET /:/websockets/notifications (3 live) GZIP Token ()
Jun 10, 2021 15:39:40.029 [17780] DEBUG - WebSocket: Performing handshake from origin
Jun 10, 2021 15:39:40.029 [17780] DEBUG - Beginning read from WebSocket

The server does not log the “Completed:” message as when the Android TV Plex app connected in the past.

$ grep "10.1.1.102" Plex\ Media\ Server.log
Jun 09, 2021 19:32:14.586 [15664] DEBUG - NetworkService: Replacing an old server at index 0 and address 10.1.1.113 (we just got packet from 10.1.1.102, index 0)
Jun 09, 2021 19:32:14.586 [15664] DEBUG - NetworkServiceBrowser: PLAYER updated: 10.1.1.102
Jun 09, 2021 19:32:15.840 [15664] DEBUG - NetworkServiceBrowser: Parsing SSDP schema for http://10.1.1.102:8008/ssdp/device-desc.xml
Jun 09, 2021 19:32:15.841 [15664] DEBUG - HTTP requesting GET http://10.1.1.102:8008/ssdp/device-desc.xml
Jun 09, 2021 19:32:15.883 [15664] DEBUG - HTTP/1.1 (0.0s) 200 response from GET http://10.1.1.102:8008/ssdp/device-desc.xml
Jun 09, 2021 19:32:15.883 [15664] DEBUG - NetworkServiceBrowser: found 1 SSDP devices via http://10.1.1.102:8008/ssdp/device-desc.xml
Jun 09, 2021 19:32:15.883 [15664] DEBUG - NetworkServiceBrowser: SSDP arrived: 10.1.1.102 (Living Room TV)
Jun 09, 2021 19:32:42.690 [19104] DEBUG - Request: [10.1.1.102:53864 (Allowed Network (Subnet))] GET /media/providers?includePreferences=1 (6 live) GZIP
Jun 09, 2021 19:32:42.700 [15124] DEBUG - Completed: [10.1.1.102:53864] 200 GET /media/providers?includePreferences=1 (6 live) GZIP 10ms 7286 bytes (pipelined: 1)
Jun 09, 2021 19:32:43.273 [19104] DEBUG - Request: [10.1.1.102:53870 (Allowed Network (Subnet))] GET /:/websockets/notifications (7 live) GZIP Token ()
Jun 09, 2021 19:32:46.914 [19104] DEBUG - Request: [10.1.1.102:53896 (Allowed Network (Subnet))] GET /:/websockets/notifications (7 live) GZIP Token ()
Jun 09, 2021 19:33:24.548 [15124] DEBUG - Completed after connection close: [10.1.1.102:53870] -3 GET /:/websockets/notifications (6 live) GZIP 41275ms 16 bytes
Jun 09, 2021 19:33:46.971 [15124] DEBUG - Completed after connection close: [10.1.1.102:53896] -3 GET /:/websockets/notifications (5 live) GZIP 60057ms 18 bytes
Jun 09, 2021 19:33:47.419 [19104] DEBUG - Request: [10.1.1.102:54074 (Allowed Network (Subnet))] GET /:/websockets/notifications (5 live) GZIP Token ()
Jun 09, 2021 19:34:10.611 [15124] DEBUG - Completed after connection close: [10.1.1.102:54074] -3 GET /:/websockets/notifications (5 live) GZIP 23191ms 6 bytes
Jun 09, 2021 19:36:46.110 [15564] DEBUG - NetworkServiceBrowser: SSDP departed after not being seen for 20.292996 seconds: 10.1.1.102 (Living Room TV)
Jun 09, 2021 19:37:12.106 [15564] DEBUG - NetworkServiceBrowser: PLAYER departed after not being seen for 182.263718 seconds: 10.1.1.102
Jun 09, 2021 19:37:35.841 [15664] DEBUG - NetworkServiceBrowser: Parsing SSDP schema for http://10.1.1.102:8008/ssdp/device-desc.xml
Jun 09, 2021 19:37:35.841 [15664] DEBUG - HTTP requesting GET http://10.1.1.102:8008/ssdp/device-desc.xml
Jun 09, 2021 19:37:35.871 [15664] DEBUG - HTTP/1.1 (0.0s) 200 response from GET http://10.1.1.102:8008/ssdp/device-desc.xml
Jun 09, 2021 19:37:35.872 [15664] DEBUG - NetworkServiceBrowser: found 1 SSDP devices via http://10.1.1.102:8008/ssdp/device-desc.xml
Jun 09, 2021 19:37:35.872 [15664] DEBUG - NetworkServiceBrowser: SSDP arrived: 10.1.1.102 (Living Room TV)
Jun 09, 2021 19:38:46.203 [15560] DEBUG - NetworkServiceBrowser: SSDP departed after not being seen for 28.302134 seconds: 10.1.1.102 (Living Room TV)
Jun 09, 2021 19:39:14.391 [15664] DEBUG - NetworkServiceBrowser: Parsing SSDP schema for http://10.1.1.102:52096/sony/webapi/ssdp/dd.xml
Jun 09, 2021 19:39:14.391 [15664] DEBUG - HTTP requesting GET http://10.1.1.102:52096/sony/webapi/ssdp/dd.xml
Jun 09, 2021 19:39:14.406 [15664] DEBUG - HTTP/1.1 (0.0s) 200 response from GET http://10.1.1.102:52096/sony/webapi/ssdp/dd.xml
Jun 09, 2021 19:39:14.407 [15664] DEBUG - NetworkServiceBrowser: found 1 SSDP devices via http://10.1.1.102:52096/sony/webapi/ssdp/dd.xml
Jun 09, 2021 19:39:14.407 [15664] DEBUG - NetworkServiceBrowser: SSDP arrived: 10.1.1.102 (Living Room TV)
Jun 09, 2021 21:02:03.035 [7360] DEBUG - Request: [10.1.1.102:39676 (Allowed Network (Subnet))] GET /media/providers?includePreferences=1 (7 live) GZIP
Jun 09, 2021 21:02:03.042 [15124] DEBUG - Completed: [10.1.1.102:39676] 200 GET /media/providers?includePreferences=1 (7 live) GZIP 7ms 7286 bytes (pipelined: 1)
Jun 09, 2021 21:02:03.562 [15664] DEBUG - NetworkServiceBrowser: PLAYER arrived: 10.1.1.102
Jun 09, 2021 21:02:04.753 [7360] DEBUG - Request: [10.1.1.102:39678 (Allowed Network (Subnet))] GET /:/websockets/notifications (8 live) GZIP Token ()
Jun 09, 2021 21:04:10.304 [7360] DEBUG - Request: [10.1.1.102:39940 (Allowed Network (Subnet))] GET /:/websockets/notifications (8 live) GZIP Token ()
Jun 09, 2021 21:17:19.293 [15124] DEBUG - Completed after connection close: [10.1.1.102:39678] -3 GET /:/websockets/notifications (6 live) GZIP 914540ms 277 bytes
Jun 09, 2021 21:17:41.593 [15124] DEBUG - Completed after connection close: [10.1.1.102:39940] -3 GET /:/websockets/notifications (5 live) GZIP 811288ms 243 bytes
Jun 09, 2021 21:18:02.150 [7360] DEBUG - Request: [10.1.1.102:41434 (Allowed Network (Subnet))] GET /media/providers?includePreferences=1 (5 live) GZIP
Jun 09, 2021 21:18:02.156 [15124] DEBUG - Completed: [10.1.1.102:41434] 200 GET /media/providers?includePreferences=1 (5 live) GZIP 5ms 7286 bytes (pipelined: 1)
Jun 09, 2021 21:18:02.550 [7360] DEBUG - Request: [10.1.1.102:41448 (Allowed Network (Subnet))] GET /:/websockets/notifications (6 live) GZIP Token ()
Jun 09, 2021 21:18:02.556 [7360] DEBUG - Request: [10.1.1.102:41450 (Allowed Network (Subnet))] GET /:/websockets/notifications (7 live) GZIP Token ()
Jun 09, 2021 22:04:09.563 [15124] DEBUG - Completed after connection close: [10.1.1.102:41450] -3 GET /:/websockets/notifications (6 live) GZIP 2767006ms 832 bytes
Jun 10, 2021 14:39:56.693 [4588] DEBUG - Request: [10.1.1.102:58282 (Allowed Network (Subnet))] GET /:/websockets/notifications (3 live) GZIP Token ()
Jun 10, 2021 14:40:50.942 [15124] DEBUG - Completed after connection close: [10.1.1.102:58282] -3 GET /:/websockets/notifications (3 live) GZIP 54249ms 19 bytes
Jun 10, 2021 14:42:41.809 [15124] DEBUG - Completed after connection close: [10.1.1.102:41448] -3 GET /:/websockets/notifications (2 live) GZIP 62678424ms 18786 bytes
Jun 10, 2021 14:43:31.158 [4588] DEBUG - Request: [10.1.1.102:58830 (Allowed Network (Subnet))] GET /media/providers?includePreferences=1 (2 live) GZIP
Jun 10, 2021 14:43:31.170 [15124] DEBUG - Completed: [10.1.1.102:58830] 200 GET /media/providers?includePreferences=1 (2 live) GZIP 11ms 7286 bytes (pipelined: 1)
Jun 10, 2021 14:43:31.289 [4588] DEBUG - Request: [10.1.1.102:58834 (Allowed Network (Subnet))] GET /:/websockets/notifications (3 live) GZIP Token ()
Jun 10, 2021 14:43:37.588 [4588] DEBUG - Request: [10.1.1.102:58860 (Allowed Network (Subnet))] GET /:/websockets/notifications (4 live) GZIP Token ()
Jun 10, 2021 14:45:15.966 [15124] DEBUG - Completed after connection close: [10.1.1.102:58834] -3 GET /:/websockets/notifications (3 live) GZIP 104675ms 34 bytes
Jun 10, 2021 15:39:40.029 [17780] DEBUG - Request: [10.1.1.102:36318 (Allowed Network (Subnet))] GET /:/websockets/notifications (3 live) GZIP Token ()

When the Plex Android TV app is closed, the following message is logged on the server:

Jun 10, 2021 16:01:56.348 [15124] DEBUG - Completed after connection close: [10.1.1.102:36318] -3 GET /:/websockets/notifications (5 live) GZIP 1336318ms 403 bytes
2

The Plex Android app has a setting to allow insecure connections. You need to enable that when accessing an unclaimed server.

3

Thank you. I also suspected this setting and had already tried it yesterday without success.

I don’t think I had this setting enabled before yesterday. However, I don’t know which version of the app was installed before the most recent update.

Network Logging in the Android TV Plex app reveals the following messages related to the Plex server. The last message is repeated many times.

06-11 00:01:08.093  i: [GDM] Sending packet via /10.1.1.255
06-11 00:01:08.095  i: [GDM] Got browse reply from: /10.1.1.151
06-11 00:01:08.098  i: [ServerManager] Added a new device mieses with 1 connections.
...
06-11 00:01:09.343  i: [ServerTests] Scheduling job to test mieses. Reason: selectPinnedSources.
...
06-11 00:01:10.466  i: Fetching [method:GET] http://10.1.1.151:32400/media/providers?includePreferences=1&X-Plex-Language=en-us
...
06-11 00:01:10.553  i: [PlexDevice] mieses Setting http://10.1.1.151:32400 token: false types: [discovered] state: Reachable as the new active connection.
06-11 00:01:10.553  i: [WebSocketApplicationBehaviour] Connecting to: mieses
...
06-11 00:19:25.188  i: [NetworkServiceBrowserManager] Starting Server discovery
06-11 00:19:25.189  i: [GDM] Sending packet via /10.1.1.255
06-11 00:19:25.190  i: [GDM] Got browse reply from: /10.1.1.151
06-11 00:19:25.855  i: [PlexTV] Discovered 0 servers
...
06-11 00:01:27.678  i: [device] Setting selected server to mieses version: 1.23.2.4656-85f0adf5b owned: true home: false videoTranscode: true audioTranscode: true deletion: true class: null, presence false

Entire client log: 2021-06-11 plex android tv client log - Pastebin.com

I had to rename one of the Plex film recommendations because it did not pass pastebin’s filter for offensive content.

4

Can you restart PMS and get me the new log from it? Your TV sees the server but it isn’t responding when it is pinged so it might be something wrong on that end.

Edit - No need to use pastebin. Just attach the file directly to your comment.

5

Log is attached. I restarted PMS, waited a few minutes, started Plex app on Android TV, selected “More…”, and then tried to select the local server. Nothing happens when the local server is highlighted or clicked. The content area continues to display the previous content from one of the the subcategories of the “Plex” item listed immediately below the local server hostname.

Server is 10.1.1.151. Client is 10.1.1.102.

Is there a more thorough procedure to reset the Plex Android TV app than delete cache, delete data, uninstall and reinstall the app?

Plex Media Server.log (57.3 KB)

6

Jun 11, 2021 13:28:25.605 [26244] DEBUG - Request: [10.1.1.102:53332 (Allowed Network (Subnet))] GET /media/providers?includePreferences=1 (2 live) GZIP
Jun 11, 2021 13:28:25.624 [23980] DEBUG - Completed: [10.1.1.102:53332] 200 GET /media/providers?includePreferences=1 (2 live) GZIP 19ms 7286 bytes (pipelined: 1)

That indicates the server did see and respond to the client. However, this is 0.5 second before the end of the log so I can’t tell what is really going on.

In the Android app, have you tried putting your server’s IP as a manual connection. It just be having trouble detecting your server on the network. If that doesn’t help, go ahead and get me new logs from both the client and server. For the server, please provide me the entire zipped log file.

7

The option to manually add a server is purposely hidden in the Android TV client. There is another discussion on this topic in the forums

I waited a few minutes before saving and sending the previous server log. I will send a new set of corresponding client and server logs later today.

8

I set up a fresh PMS install on a local Ubuntu 18.04 laptop. PMS contains just one “Music” library with 4 music files. No firewall is running on the laptop.

There is no difference. Android TV Plex app does not display or list any content or any libraries from the local Ubuntu PMS just as with the local Windows PMS. Only the name of the PMS server is listed in the Android TV app. There are no options to do anything else. You can’t add, remove, or edit servers. You can’t list the contents of the server.

Logs of both client and server are attached. Prefernces.xml is also attached.

Plex Media Server.log (77.0 KB)
plex-androidtv-app-network.log (135.9 KB)
Preferences.xml.txt (403 Bytes)

plexmediaserver_1.23.2.4656-85f0adf5b_amd64
Ubuntu PMS IP address is 10.1.1.107.
Android TV IP address is still 10.1.1.102.

9

Should we assume that Android TV requires login now?

There is no change in App version: 8.18.2 or 8.19.2.

10

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