Apple TV Plex App stops playing "Direct Play" videos

General Discussions
1

Hi,

Here’s my setup:

  • Plex PMS 1.0 on Synology (a recent a powerful one)
  • Ethernet 1Gb connection
  • Plex app on Apple TV 4
  • 1080p movie with AC3 5.1 sound, direct play to Apple TV 4

The symptoms:
Every now and then, the video stops streaming in the Plex app on my Apple TV 4. The infamous “network to server is too slow” message appears and it gets stuck for like forever. If I stop the playback (back to the previous screen) and play again (resume to x:xx), it starts playing immediately just fine. And then, a few minutes later, it gets stuck again.

Consequences: it is very frustrating! I makes me look to alternative solutions (i.e. NOT Plex).

I saw many other users post about similar problems with Apple TV 4 in the forums, but I haven’t seen any official response from Plex.

Is this a known problem? Will it be fixed? Is there a workaround?

Thank you for your help!

– Bertrand

2

I have the same problem on all my apple devices waiting for a fix

3

I guess we will have to wait after Independence Day to get an answer? Please… Thank you!

4

I’m having the same issue, I think… (don’t want to hijack the thread if it’s not the same issue though so I can post a new thread if necessary).

I have the Plex PMS a WD My Cloud EX2 and am trying to play through the Plex app on a new Apple TV. Trying to play 1080p movies in original quality - some play fine, some don’t. I have Direct Play and Direct Streaming enabled (so I think an mp4 file should go through Direct Play, right?). For some movies - it hangs at loading for about 10-15 minutes, plays for a minute or two and then gives me the ‘server not powerful enough to convert video’ error’ and then buffers again (repeat cycle). For those movies that are problematic, I’ve tried converting the file in question to multiple formats - mkv, mp4 and avi - no change. I’m running over wifi - got an excellent modem/router so I’m hoping that’s not the issue.

And I don’t think the wifi is an issue because I tried playing the files that wouldn’t play through the Plex app through VLC and they work ok - no initial buffering and it plays smoothly. But it’s a pain to keep switching back and forth and I much prefer the Plex interface.

I also have a new LG Smart TV and it’s even worse on there - even more files are impacted (some won’t play on the TV even when they do play on the Apple TV).

On the Apple TV I’ve tried turning Direct Streaming on/off, optimised the database and done a database rebuild on the NAS - but no change. I’ve recreated the issue for one movie in two file formats and attached a media server log in case it helps.

Is this the same issue you’re having? Or am I looking at something different?

5

Well, it does look similar! The problem is that the Apple TV Plex app doesn’t say what’s happening. When I get the message “your server is not powerful enough”, the CPU on the server is very low and the network traffic too. More frustrating is that if you exit the movie (press the “MENU” button on the remote), and starts “Play” again, then “Resume at x:xx”, it resumes immediately and runs smoothly for a few minutes. Then again: “your server is not powerful enough”… which leads me to the conclusion that there is no problem with the server. It’s the app that badly manages the buffering and tells us that the problem is with the server or the network.
Also disheartening is that once you get the “your server/network is too slow” message, it gets stuck for several minutes before it resumes. This is crazy!

6

@bertrandmartin said:
More frustrating is that if you exit the movie (press the “MENU” button on the remote), and starts “Play” again, then “Resume at x:xx”, it resumes immediately and runs smoothly for a few minutes.

Mine doesn’t do this part…but otherwise seems the same!

7

I routinely get your network is to slow error with direct play on Apple TV 4. I ran a log and started it around 10:18 Central Time Zone in the US. My user name is arobe79. I played a file and got the error between 10:18 and 10:21.

8

Just a bit more info. This issue occurs on a wireless or wired connection. All my videos are m4v files created with Apple TV 3 Handbrake preset. If I turn of direct play and leave direct stream only everything streams fine. Strange network traffic shows when using Direct Play to the Apple TV as well. If I pause playback the buffer stops filling immediately. Other apps on the Apple TV 4 work fine with no buffering.

9

This is frustrating! I purchased a Plex Pass for a one stop shop and I end up using Transmission on my Apple TV as much as Plex!

10

Any one find an answer to this issue? Lots of threads and no solutions.

11

The only log provided in this thread is from a user that is having issues with transcoding media for the Apple TV and not relevant to this Direct Play issues topic

Investigations for another forum topic where samples and logs were provided is indicating now that the issue may get resolved in the next tvOS release. Some limited testing has been done with tvOS 10 beta and still need to confirm that the issue being investigated is resolved with that version of tvOS

Your problems may be similar

12

Thank you for the reply. I do have a dev account and access to tvOS 10. I will see if I can find time to install and test this week. Does the current Plex production app run on tvOS 10?

13

@mdusing said:
Thank you for the reply. I do have a dev account and access to tvOS 10. I will see if I can find time to install and test this week. Does the current Plex production app run on tvOS 10?

There have been changes for tvOS 10 - so you might have other issues trying out the beta - might not be show stopper though

14

@sa2000 said:
The only log provided in this thread is from a user that is having issues with transcoding media for the Apple TV and not relevant to this Direct Play issues topic

Hi there - this is obviously mine. Forgive my naivety, but can I ask why it’s transcoding - I tried both mkv and mp4 versions in that log and wouldn’t they direct stream?

For me (and I recognise now that this is probably a different issue), this happens to only a handful of my mkv and mp4 files - I’m talking maybe 1 in 20. Do you happen to know why? They all seem to seem the same to me (i.e. all 1080p), so I can’t figure out why some have such issues.

15

@kishlette said:

@sa2000 said:
The only log provided in this thread is from a user that is having issues with transcoding media for the Apple TV and not relevant to this Direct Play issues topic

Hi there - this is obviously mine. Forgive my naivety, but can I ask why it’s transcoding - I tried both mkv and mp4 versions in that log and wouldn’t they direct stream?

For me (and I recognise now that this is probably a different issue), this happens to only a handful of my mkv and mp4 files - I’m talking maybe 1 in 20. Do you happen to know why? They all seem to seem the same to me (i.e. all 1080p), so I can’t figure out why some have such issues.

Direct Play is the only one that does not transcode. Direct Stream does transcode.
Log shows

Jul 06, 2016 02:26:42.416 [0xae60f400] DEBUG - MDE: Memoirs of a Geisha (2005): Direct Play is disabled
Jul 06, 2016 02:26:42.417 [0xae60f400] DEBUG - MDE: Memoirs of a Geisha (2005): media must be transcoded in order to use the hls protocol
Jul 06, 2016 02:26:42.424 [0xae60f400] DEBUG - MDE: Memoirs of a Geisha (2005): no direct play video profile exists for http/mkv/h264
Jul 06, 2016 02:26:42.424 [0xae60f400] DEBUG - MDE: Memoirs of a Geisha (2005): no direct play video profile exists for http/mkv/h264/ac3
Jul 06, 2016 02:26:42.425 [0xae60f400] DEBUG - Memoirs of a Geisha - video.bitDepth limitation applies: 10 > 8

But please this has nothing to do with this forum topic. I suggest you raise your own forum topic if you need help

Info on direct play, direct stream here
https://support.plex.tv/hc/en-us/articles/200250387-Streaming-Media-Direct-Play-and-Direct-Stream
https://support.plex.tv/hc/en-us/articles/201566396-How-are-Direct-Play-Direct-Stream-and-Transcoding-different-

16

@sa2000 said:

@mdusing said:
Thank you for the reply. I do have a dev account and access to tvOS 10. I will see if I can find time to install and test this week. Does the current Plex production app run on tvOS 10?

There have been changes for tvOS 10 - so you might have other issues trying out the beta - might not be show stopper though

I am running the official tvOS10 release by Apple and the latest beta from Plex via TestFlight. No such luck with them working. Worked for 24 hours then back to no direct play of 1080p content. Please help.

New set of logs: https://forums.plex.tv/discussion/225481/streaming-issue-with-apple-tv-4-on-latest-plex-server-update#latest

17

Still having issues. I was asked by Twitter support to post the latest log files from PMS 1.2.2 So here they are:

I thought this was due to mp4 files with aac audio being 1080. I re-encoded a tv shows entirely to 720 and it made no different in playback. Even if I set the ATV to the lowest quality stream I experience the same error.

I am running PMS 1.2.2.2857 on Mac OSX 10.11.6 with the Plex Apple TV TestFlight build 1.4

18

@mdusing said:
Still having issues. I was asked by Twitter support to post the latest log files from PMS 1.2.2 So here they are:

Dropbox - File Deleted - Simplify your life

I thought this was due to mp4 files with aac audio being 1080. I re-encoded a tv shows entirely to 720 and it made no different in playback. Even if I set the ATV to the lowest quality stream I experience the same error.

I am running PMS 1.2.2.2857 on Mac OSX 10.11.6 with the Plex Apple TV TestFlight build 1.4

Thanks for the logs. I can see the Apple TV on local IP 192.168.86.191 getting to a point when a request for a transcode segment hung and the Apple TV stopped the session two minutes later

This request completed ok (for transcode segment 146)

Oct 06, 2016 19:57:58.715 [0x700000de2000] DEBUG - Request: [192.168.86.191:50937 (Subnet)] GET /video/:/transcode/universal/session/86025FDF-F22F-4167-B229-CD446139A1FF/vtt-base/00147.vtt (16 live) TLS Signed-in Token (mdusing)
Oct 06, 2016 19:57:58.715 [0x700000de2000] DEBUG - Asked for segment 147 from session.
Oct 06, 2016 19:57:58.715 [0x700000de2000] DEBUG - HLS segment range: 0 - 12; average bitrate: 1.47 Mbps (segment size min/avg/max: 0.4/1.8/8.0)
Oct 06, 2016 19:57:58.715 [0x700000de2000] DEBUG - Returning segment 147 from session: /Users/mdusing/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/TempTranscoder/plex-transcode-86025FDF-F22F-4167-B229-CD446139A1FF-37d1fcf4-2830-445d-b8b5-530d91cbf815/media-00147.vtt
Oct 06, 2016 19:57:58.716 [0x700000de2000] DEBUG - Content-Length of /Users/mdusing/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/TempTranscoder/plex-transcode-86025FDF-F22F-4167-B229-CD446139A1FF-37d1fcf4-2830-445d-b8b5-530d91cbf815/media-00147.vtt is 53.
Oct 06, 2016 19:57:58.717 [0x7000008c4000] DEBUG - Completed: [192.168.86.191:50937] 200 GET /video/:/transcode/universal/session/86025FDF-F22F-4167-B229-CD446139A1FF/vtt-base/00147.vtt (16 live) TLS 1ms 53 bytes

and the one after it hung at the server end

Oct 06, 2016 19:57:58.785 [0x7000002a0000] DEBUG - Request: [192.168.86.191:50939 (Subnet)] GET /video/:/transcode/universal/session/86025FDF-F22F-4167-B229-CD446139A1FF/vtt-base/00148.vtt (16 live) TLS Signed-in Token (mdusing)
Oct 06, 2016 19:57:58.785 [0x7000002a0000] DEBUG - Asked for segment 148 from session.

The transcoding for some reason got stuck at 46.9%
and the Apple TV Plex app gave up at 19:59:55

Oct 06, 2016 19:59:55.338 [0x700001c36000] DEBUG - Request: [192.168.86.191:50623 (Subnet)] GET /video/:/transcode/universal/stop?fastSeek=1&includeKeyframePlaylist=1&location=lan&partIndex=0&path=/library/metadata/22883&protocol=hls&session=86025FDF-F22F-4167-B229-CD446139A1FF (33 live) TLS GZIP Signed-in Token (mdusing)
Oct 06, 2016 19:59:55.338 [0x700001cb9000] DEBUG - Found session GUID of 86025FDF-F22F-4167-B229-CD446139A1FF in session start.

Oct 06, 2016 19:59:55.338 [0x700001cb9000] DEBUG - Killing job.

Are you able to provide the media file ? or get it to fail in the same way with a smaller sample file and provide the file plus the logs for the failure?

19

I can provide multiple sample files. A few things:

  1. On another thread (http://forums.plex.tv/discussion/233735/still-have-playback-issue-with-newest-1-3-2-update#latest) I noted I set Apple TV to send network logs at 7:30 am MST today. Same username.

  2. On the user end what I see is the video play fine for 1:30 - 3:00ish it stops at one of those two numbers. Then never recovers.

  3. Multiple other 1080 mp4/aac files work just fine. When I sent the network logging I did 2 files that failed and 2 files that work fine.

  4. Note all of these files worked fine in June the July Plex Apple TV update was the initial change that caused them to stop.

20

@sa2000 Can I email you a link to the files? I do not want to post them in a public forum.