Sorry, exams wiped me out. I’m, still seeing these errors, unfortunately.
Sorry about taking so long. I have the logs, XML media info, and sample file ready. I put the XML media info in the logging folder. Here’s the sample file. Please let me know if there’s anything else you need, or if I messed up while following those instructions. I’ve finally got time, and would love to have Plex working on my ATV 4K again. logging.zip (249.3 KB)
The newly added enhanced player beta only solves the problem partially for me. It starts playback but the ATV app crashes every 5 to 6 minutes after playback started. Disabling the enhanced player makes the app get stuck buffering but not actually doing anything. Same applies for iOS Apps. Pretty unsatisfying experience currently… The only way to actually play anything is by using the web interface from which i can’t air play, so I have to watch everything on my computer.
Server: 1.14.1.5488
iOS Client: 5.9.1
ATV Client: 1.37 (1)
What kind of media are you playing? Encode, resolution, and container would be useful information (or copy/paste the XML info from the media file).
(See about halfway down this page: https://support.plex.tv/articles/201998867-investigate-media-information-and-formats/ for more info)
Direct streamable video files of the following format:
Container: mp4
Video Codec: h264 (High Profile)
Audio Codec: AAC (effect also applies for AC3 direct stream and DTS transcode stream)
Video Resolution: 1080p@24
Bandwidth: including audio around 14 MBit/s.
If using ATV, all devices are connected via Ethernet. Also WiFi is ac, so this should clearly have enough bandwidth when streaming to iOS devices.
The problem does not appear when playing in web browser or playing audio.
Here are three samples of files that are known to have issues:
media_investigated.zip (14.8 KB)
I think I have a similar issue (with Direct play enabled).
Can you ask to reboot the Apple TV when the issue happens and then try to play again the movie to see if it works?
Tried it myself. Rebooting the apple TV does not help. The “old” player won’t load anything an the new player will crash the complete app. The iPad runs the “enhanced” player and does not crash, although the “old” player still won’t load anything.
I figured out a workaround until this problem is fixed:
- Enable DLNA support at server side
- Download VLC Player onto an iOS device or your Apple TV
- In VLC player under “local network” your server should appear shortly after enabling
- access your plex server using VLC player
- Use the folder navigation to find what you are looking for on the server
- AirPlay it to your AppleTV or watch directly in VLC on your Apple TV
Works for me so far. The support for AirPlay broke with the enhanced player on iOS unfortunately, so this workaround is the only way I found.
If some developers come across this post: Can anybody confirm that the closing ATV App is caused by excessive buffering of the enhanced player? I feel like the OS is killing the app, because it runs out of memory. I had the app closing after playback was paused a few seconds into playback. I saw traffic still being generated after 5 minutes of pause and the app was killed immediately after I wanted to continue playback. I’ll hook up my ATV and read the logs next days.
Hi @ThePianomanJu - Have you created a new thread with this issue? This is quite a bit different than the original issue I listed here, which the new player resolves. Since you’re having problems with more than just the ATV - I suggest a new thread and provide all the logs you can so Plex support can review.
Alternatively - try the Infuse player for ATV and report any success you may or may not have.
Hey guys! I’ve been digging into this issue with @darcilicious’ help (thank you!! 
) and it seems a weird issue with AVPlayer (Apple’s video player) or tvOS.
If you check this thread: Apple TV 4K content playback error seems like enabling Match Frame Rate in tvOS settings causes AVPlayer to download insanely slow for some reason. I’m unable to reproduce it, I always have high download rates, but @darcilicious provided me several logs with different settings and these were the results:
- With Match Frame Rate enabled, AVPlayer would download at ~44 KB/s
- With Match Frame Rate disabled it would go up to ~3 MB/s, which makes a huge difference.
@darcilicious tested then with the Enhanced video player and it worked perfectly, so it has to be something inside tvOS / AVPlayer when Match Frame Rate is enabled.
TLDR; if you have this issue 1) try to use the Enhanced video player if possible, and if not 2) disable Match Frame Rate from your tvOS settings.
Let me know if any of that helps!
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@ThePianomanJu could you reproduce the AirPlay issue and share the app logs with me?
Yes, you were right, that issue is fixed now. It wasn’t obvious because it only happens if your router has DNS Rebinding Protection, so it was a very specific issue that has been fixed in the upcoming release. I also think DNS Rebinding Protection (source of many problems 
) is partially the reason why AirPlay doesn’t work for you, but I would need to check the logs.
Aside from the logs, there is some testing you can do: either disable DNS Rebinding Protection in your router (if you can), or just go to your server settings → Network → Secure Connections → Disabled. Then try AirPlay again 
Hi 
So first of all thank you for investigating on this issue. Debugging network solutions can be very painful.
I recorded a log a few minutes ago where I try to AirPlay from my iPad using the enhanced player. See file attached. Unfortunately I cannot disable rebinding in my router but I’ll try disabling secure connections temporarily. Also I’ll try playback with disabled “match frame rate” setting. Which is strange but what isn’t strange in apple’s state of software quality currently. 
I can also offer to provide some wiresharks, if this would be helpful for your investigations.
Update:
I tested your suggestions:
Switching of “match frame rate” makes the enhanced player work!
Disabling secure connections at server side makes AirPlay work. But I decided to leave secured connections enabled, because audio works with TLS enabled and I don’t stream video via AirPlay now that your workaround does the trick.
Glad to see some things work now!
But I’m very surprised about this 
In theory “Match frame rate” shouldn’t affect the enhanced player, only the old player 
Disabling secure connections is what should make a difference for both AirPlay and the enhanced player 
That’s strange indeed. Could that have something to do with the fact that my AppleTV is a 4th Gen and not a 4k? The “match frame rate” feature came a couple dot-releases later, so they maybe made the feature happen by doing strange tricks under the hood which makes it behave in a different way when it come to such bugs?
None the less will I have a look at the constellation again, that made it work for me. Maybe I did some switching that still had effect although I already disabled it. An open insecure connection won’t be closed, when switching back to “prefer secure”, if I got the manual correctly.
Update:
Tried playback on my AppleTV again. With “match frame rate” off and preferred secured connections at the server side, the enhanced player works on ATV 4th Gen without crashing. Really nice! I tried a variety of resolutions in order to test whether some of them makes it crash. But neither the really bandwidth intensive videos (which lately crashed after a few seconds) nor SD content caused the app the be killed.
Just use the Infuse player instead. I have NEVER had a problem. Plays everything without transcoding. Download and connect to your Plex server. Infuse 6.0 is coming soon so sign up for the subscription.
Turning off direct play in plex settings fixes the spinning wheel of death issue for my remote clients but enhanced player is only available for plex pass members
Is there going to be a fix for this direct play issue that doesn’t involve using enhanced player ?
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@PleXtvOS have you tried disabling Match Frame Rate in tvOS’ settings and see if that helps?
yes they have this off and video will only play when direct play is off, this is for a remote client who has no Plex Pass so they can’t use the new enhanced player , I’m using the public server option not the beta
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I have the exact same problem. Remote user without Plex pass connected to my server cannot start playing anything. Direct play must be turned off because spinning wheel of death. Match frame rate is disabled.
By the way I have always had problems with Direct play on ATV. I automatically turn it off by habit, find out direct stream more reliable, no buffering, and quicker when starting . I notice that it takes more bandwidth though.
I have to say that the enhanced video player direct plays FINE remotely on ATV
