@mdusing please do - send me a Private Message
So please sample file, logs for the failure and indication of time
Sent you a link. It’s finishing uploading to dropbox.
@mdusing
Can you please create a small sample file (just a few minutes long, ideally - as short as possible to reliably reproduce the issue) from a video that exhibits the behavior, verify that the sample itself reproduces the issue, and then share a link to that sample after uploading to Google Drive, Dropbox, or similar? Small sample files are much easier to work with for investigation than full videos.
@“Chris C” I do not think it will happen with a smaller file only a few minutes long as it plays 3 minutes sometimes then fails. I can try. A few probably means at least 10 minutes.
@“Chris C” @sa2000 i do not think this is a reliable method to discover the issue. I have tried 2 shorter files. However:
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I do not have video editing software so i have to use iMovie
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When shortened in iMovie I have to then reexport and encode the file changing it from the original. The result is much crappier quality and plays fine.
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The only reliable way to reproduce the issue is to use the original files. The issue arises when the longer file is transcoding. Per @sa2000 “The transcoding for some reason got stuck at 46.9% and the Apple TV Plex app gave up at 19:59:55” So to reliably reproduce the file must be at least 20 minutes.
How would you like to proceed? Trimming and exporting a new file inherently test a new lower quality file that works. I want to keep the file quality the same.
These exact files worked for years before the July Apple TV release. That is my main issue here. I am finding that files I had in the past no longer work with Plex on Apple TV.
@mdusing said:
@“Chris C” @sa2000 i do not think this is a reliable method to discover the issue. I have tried 2 shorter files. However:
- I do not have video editing software so i have to use iMovie
Did you try the methods outlined in the linked support article? For instance, using the dd command or the Plex Media Transcoder itself via the command line (both of which will be available to you on OS X). Using iMovie is unlikely to be a good path since you don’t want to re-encode the content, just “snip out” a short piece of it.
@“Chris C” My apologies I was reading the replies in email on my phone. No links carry over.
I can created a new file for you in the same location as the others. I will PM you the link.
@“Chris C” @sa2000 Was that last file helpful?
Apologies for the delay; vacation and other work got in the way.
I tested with the sample file that was provided and I had no issue with it. The sample Direct Played the full 7m15s without any issues for me. This was with the current public version of the Apple TV app against the current PMS preview release (OS X). The Apple TV app was set to Original quality and to allow both Direct Play and Direct Stream and the device output the AAC 2.0 audio as PCM to my receiver (as expected).
To be clear, did you verify that the sample file itself (not just the original) exhibited the behavior for you, @mdusing ?
That all said, I think I may have sort of lost track of the actual issue here. The original report was for Direct Play content, but the most recent information says “The issue arises when the longer file is transcoding”, so I’m kind of confused.
Okay so, just tried the same file again. Apple TV on current production build as there is no build available through TestFlight.
Stops playing and buffers forever at about 5:50 this time.
That’s the user perceived problem. Any of the files I have for this show and this show only all have the same issue. Is it the files? Is it the Apple TV? is it the Drobo 5N that hosts them? Is it the Plex library? I have no idea. Been this way since mid June. And I have been trying to figure it out since. I even changed every single files from 1080 to 720 hoping that would help. Nope same thing.
Any insight you can provide would be greatly appreciated. I have had these same files on Plex for years and never had issues playing them. Then boom min June it all went to crap. It was when everyone started reporting Direct Play issues so I figured it was related. It may not be at all.
@mdusing
You previously mentioned using iMovie, so could you perhaps install Plex Media Server on your OS X computer for testing? Just create a simple library there and point to a local copy of a problematic file, then try playing from that test server instead of your Drobo to see if there’s a difference.
I can try this. Are you trying to figure out if the Drobo is the issue? As previously stated my entire Plex library runs off the Drobo and I have not experienced issues with any other files except these. I personally think there is an issue with the Plex index of them. However deleting the files scanning and then adding them has no effect. I also have deleted the 1080 and added the 720 same issues. The fact that it’s always these files makes me think Plex is indexing them in some way that causes this issue. Created optimized versions of these from PMM did not help either and in fact often errors out.
I guess I am trying to figure out what the test you mentioned will determine?
@mdusing
Yes, largely testing to see if the PMS hardware/device might be at issue here. If playback still has problems on another server platform, that doesn’t really say anything, but if your playback was fine from a Windows or OS X server (but not your Drobo), that would at least suggest an issue isolated to that device. (Which might be hardware or something in the server build for the platform.)
I’m unable to reproduce the reported issue with the provided sample file, though, so at minimum there isn’t a universal problem with either the server, app, or the media file.
The server doesn’t “index” files like you describe, but if you’re concerned that maybe there’s somehow old info stuck around interfering, then you can get fresh info and analysis by:
- Move the media file out of your content location
- Update the library so the file is detected as removed
- Do an
Empty Trashfollowed byClean Bundleslibrary action on the server - Put the media file back in the content location
- Update the library so it’s found, analyzed, and matched
You were also kind of ambiguous in your earlier reply about whether you tested with the actual sample file or just tested the original source file.
Chris,
Thank you for clarifying. A couple answers for you.
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My setup is as follows:
PMM is run on a MBPr on OSX 10.11.6, the files are kept on a Drobo 5N, I do not run PMM off the Drobo. I am streaming to Apple TV via wifi. -
Yes I am testing with the test file I provided: Game_of_Thrones-S01E07_1m.mp4 (Would the fact that their is an accompanying subtitle file make any difference?)
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I followed the process as you described and only re-added the test file to the Drobo. Same issue, this time at 1:50 sec.
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I removed Season 1 entirely from my Drobo and added a local TV_SHOWS folder on my MBPr with GoT and Season 1 using only the test file. I followed the same process you described earlier. It played all the way through the 7:16 mark. So what does that mean?
NOTE: When I deleted from Drobo and added as a local library folder Plex did ask if I wanted to resume where I left off. I find this odd as I deleted the files, rescanned, emptied the trash and cleaned the bundles. How did it remember the file? especially in a new location.
Ah. Okay, so you experience no issue when playing the file when local to the server, but you do when playing from the Drobo that is used as network storage. That would kind of suggest there’s an issue with that network storage or the connection to it. Maybe the network transfer craps out after a while for some reason. That sort of thing is unusual, but not unheard of in situations where the transfer is more “slow and steady” (which is what the Plex streaming would be) vs “just transfer it as fast as you can”.
Depending on what network protocol you’re using for that connection (SMB, NFS, CIFS, AFP, etc.) it might be interesting to see if you can instead connect using a different protocol and (if so) whether you get the same behavior when connected differently.
EDIT: And the reason your viewstate/progress was remembered is because the server intentionally remembers viewstate info for the item’s GUID - which is basically just the specific metadata match for that item (e.g. the movie “Avatar” when matched using the “Plex Movie” agent). That’s specifically so that the viewstate gets restored if you add an old item back to the library.
Chris,
I would agree wth you if everything on the Drobo had this issue. Again this is 1 Show 1 Season 1 set of files. That worked just fine before mid June. I can play much larger much higher quality files fine on Apple TV from the Drobo. It is just this one show. That’s why I do not understand what the issue is.
Any other ideas?
Hi @sa2000
Thank you for your replies, I appreciate it. Sorry for the lack of response, I didn’t get the notifications!
Were you able to move forward with @mdusing’s logs? Did you find anything conclusive?
The issue is still present in my setup. Let me know if you need the debug logs as well.
Thank you!
@bertrandmartin said:
Hi @sa2000
Thank you for your replies, I appreciate it. Sorry for the lack of response, I didn’t get the notifications!
Were you able to move forward with @mdusing’s logs? Did you find anything conclusive?
The issue is still present in my setup. Let me know if you need the debug logs as well.
Thank you!
If you have a problem please provide sample file and logs
But do re-analyze the media files first in case that resolves the problem
See https://support.plex.tv/hc/en-us/articles/200289336-Analyze-Media
For logs
See https://support.plex.tv/hc/en-us/articles/212639598-Apple-TV-Logs
https://support.plex.tv/hc/en-us/articles/201643703-Reporting-issues-with-Plex-Media-Server
https://support.plex.tv/hc/en-us/articles/200250417-Plex-Media-Server-Log-Files
For Sample file
See https://support.plex.tv/hc/en-us/articles/201035968-Generating-Sample-Files-from-Media
