Server Version#: 1.20.1.x, 1.20.2.3443
Player Version#: 7.6
When using Shuffle to play a TV season, eventually Plex will force playback to stop. (That’s annoying, but a different issue.)
When playback is forced to stop, the UI on the ATV is left in a broken state.
It looks like the post-play auto-play screen, except no “Just Played” or “Up Next” labels are shown. Only the last watched episode of the current show is visible. “On Deck” and several episodes are displayed at the bottom.
I can navigate between those items. But Menu on the remote has no effect. It doesn’t go “up” a level. I see the ATV light blink when I push Menu but nothing happens.
All I can do is choose one of the episodes on screen. It will start playing. After that, everything works normally again. I can use Menu to exit.
I think this ALSO depends on the Terminate Sessions Paused for Longer Than server feature. When that is disabled the problem doesn’t occur.
To reproduce:
Enable Terminate Sessions Paused for Longer Than on the server.
I tested with 61 minutes.
Play multiple episodes - either Play or Shuffle a season.
Wait for playback to be stopped because of no user input.
(2 hours & completing the active episode.)
The “Post Play” screen will display. Don’t interact yet.
Continue to wait for the Terminate Sessions Paused ... time.
The server will log: Terminated session … with reason Playback has been paused for too long.
Now the Apple TV UI is “stuck”, and Menu on the remote doesn’t behave as expected. You can quit the app, or can Play (and then exit) the next episode.
(Edit: I couldn’t reproduce this during the day, because it takes a combination of elements. See below. Post-play screen + ATV screensaver + terminated session messages.)
Thanks!
I couldn’t reproduce it during the day, but it happened reliably overnight. I think I wasn’t waiting long enough for Terminate Sessions Paused ... to kick in.
I notice a difference between Apple TV and Roku clients.
On Roku, when a show finishes and the player is at the Post Play screen, it no longer appears on the server status dashboard.
On ATV, when a show finishes and the player is at the Post Play screen, the show is still in the Now Playing dashboard. It shows as Paused.
Kinda weird that it’s Paused, and seems relevant maybe.
I cannot reproduce that weird behavior: when playback is stopped by the server, the post play screen is closed and an alert presented explaining why it stopped.
It works normally if you force-stop a playing or paused session from the server. The expected message is displayed.
It also behaves if you set a short Terminate Sessions Paused ... value and Pause video playback. When it is terminated the expected message is displayed.
Or with a short Terminate Sessions Paused ... value, and post-play auto-play disabled. When the Apple TV is on the post-play screen after finishing a show, the server thinks the session is Paused. And when it is terminated the expected message is displayed.
The problem only happens if post-play auto-play is enabled, has played for 2+ hours and thus been stopped, and THEN the session is terminated by Terminate Sessions Paused .... No message is displayed on the ATV about the terminated session, and that’s when the Menu button on the remote doesn’t do anything.
I think. I’ll reproduce again and gather logs.
(Edit - I was incorrect. It’s not about post-play auto-play. It does need to be on the post-play screen, but the “waiting” that needs to happen is for the ATV screensaver to activate.)
Update - no logs or video yet. I still need to do that!
But I narrowed it down. It isn’t related to post-play auto-play. There are a multiple conditions but it’s easy to reproduce.
If Plex is on the post-play screen, AND the ATV screensaver has activated, AND playback is stopped with a message, that’s when this happens. (!)
Short version:
Plex on the post-play screen
ATV screensaver activates
Session stopped from server with a message
Profit!
Step by step:
Configure the ATV screensaver to activate in 2 minutes
Have multiple users in your Plex Home
Play a Movie or TV Show in Plex
(Disable post-play Auto Play if you use a TV Show)
Seek to the end, so it finishes and stays on the post-play screen
PMS sees the session as Paused (Why? It’s over!)
Don’t touch the remote. Wait for the ATV screensaver to activate.
Wait an extra minute so you’ll be prompted to choose a user when you return.
In PMS, Stop playback and Send a message - any text will do.
Return to the Plex app as the same user.
Press Menu. Now it’s nonresponsive. The message text isn’t displayed.
This will happen whether you stop playback manually, or if Terminate Sessions Paused ... stops playback. As long as there’s a message included. It doesn’t happen if you terminate the session without sending a message.
This also only happens from the post-play screen + ATV screensaver. It doesn’t happen if you pause during playback and allow the screensaver to activate.
I’ll reproduce again and gather logs.