AppleTV hangs on "Accessing Trailers" (XML_ExpandNode

Dev Community Apps & Creations
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Your ATV model (2 or 3) and firmware version (found under the ATV settings > general > about > Apple TV software):
ATV3 6.0.1 (6646.80.1)
 
The DNS server set on the ATV (found under the ATV settings > general > network > DNS):
192.168.1.82 (this is set up as the static IP of my Mac Mini)
 
The device and operating system (including version number) that PlexConnect is installed on:
2011 Mac Mini, OSX 10.9 w/ OSX Server
 
The local IP address of the device that PlexConnect is installed on:
192.168.1.82
 
The device and operating system (including version number) that the Plex media server (PMS) is installed on:
2011 Mac Mini, OSX 10.9 w/ OSX Server
 
The Plex media server (PMS) version number you are running (do not put 'latest'):
Version 0.9.8.13
 
The local IP address of the device that the Plex media server (PMS) is installed on:
192.168.1.82
 
The PlexConnect version number:
Tuesday, Nov. 26 from Github
 
---
 
I had an issue getting PlexConnect to work ever since upgrading to OSX 10.9 and Server 3.0.  I started the entire install process over again and it's very close to working.  When I go to the Trailers channel I can see the main menu ("Library", "Channels", "MyPlex", "Settings"), but the channel hangs on "Accessing Trailers".
 
Here's a copy of my Settings.cfg.  My PlexConnect.log is attached.  Any ideas??  This is driving me nuts.
 
Settings.cfg
[PlexConnect]
port_pms = 32400
port_webserver = 9999
ip_plexconnect = 192.168.1.82
certfile = /Users/Dust/Library/Application Support/Plexify/assets/certificates/trailers.pem
ip_dnsmaster = 192.168.1.82
loglevel = High
enable_dnsserver = False
logpath = .
ip_pms = 192.168.1.82
enable_plexgdm = False
hosttointercept = trailers.apple.com
port_ssl = 443
enable_webserver_ssl = True
prevent_atv_update = True
port_dnsserver = 53
enable_plexconnect_autodetect = False

 

2

Can you just install a new plexconnect and leave the settings.cfg stock? Let it generate the settings.cfg file on the first run of:

sudo ./plexconnect.py

then copy your trailers.pem over from your old plexconnect folder to /assets/certificates. Your dnsserver is disabled as well, not sure if that would be an issue or not.

3

He cannot run it stock as he is running OSX server (unless he disables the OSX DNS server and Apache, the config of which is probably the issue).

4

Unfortunately he log is not complete. At the time of copying, there must have been some amount in some caches...

Please redo, then close down PlexConnect (CTRL-C), then grab the log... shutting down will make sure all the write-chaches get flushed.

5

Ah I didnt see the server portion. Here is a tut maybe that will help you:

https://forums.plexapp.com/index.php/topic/71085-a-guide-to-how-i-got-plexconnect-running-on-os-x-server-107/

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Ah I didnt see the server portion. Here is a tut maybe that will help you:

https://forums.plexapp.com/index.php/topic/71085-a-guide-to-how-i-got-plexconnect-running-on-os-x-server-107/

Yes, I've followed that to a tee and I've had it working fine until the recent upgrade to Mavericks and Server 3.0.  I'm a Web developer by trade and have a decent understanding of the machinations of Apache and DNS.  It should be working.  I started that whole tutorial from scratch, but no dice.  I've tried seeking out help in that thread for weeks but no one has been responding.  It doesn't seem like an Apache/DNS issue because as you can see from the log, PlexConnect is connecting with PMS just fine.  It looks like Plex is returning some XML and then PlexConnect is failing to parse it correctly?

For what it's worth, I'm using the Plexify app with my own custom Settings.cfg file: https://forums.plexapp.com/index.php/topic/85156-plexify-os-x-application.  That app is simply a GUI for starting/stopping PlexConnect though, so I don't think it has any bearing on this (to test, I've tried starting PlexConnect via CLI and got the same results).

Attached is another log from another attempt at first starting PlexConnect and then accessing the Trailers app.  This time there were no XML parsing errors but the end result is the same.  I can see the main menu for Plex ("Library", "Channels", etc.), but it hangs on "Accessing Trailers".

Any other thoughts would be really appreciated.  Thanks in advance to anyone that can offer any advice.

7

Worth taking a look at this?:
https://forums.plexapp.com/index.php?/topic/85747-Working-PlexConnect-broke-with-one-of-the-newer-commits

8

Houdini2558 I think I may of solved your problem!..

I have pretty much exactly the same setup, same versions of everything. My PMS & PlexConnect are running on the server, mail & DNS is handled by Server 3.0 (so the trailers.apple.com & atv.plexconnect DNS zones are being hosted using OS X Mavericks built in DNS server).

However I have MAMP running a fully separate, self contained version of the latest Apache, PHP & SQL.. The OS X Mavericks Server version of these are turned off. 

MAMP runs identical to the internal Apache, so the config I am about to post, should be able to be added to your internal Apple Apache, verbatim...

So, after installing the latest build from github of plexconnect (November 2013) I experienced EXACTLY the same problem as you... Trailers app would work, you can see the Library, Channels, MyPlex & Settings menus.. However when selecting Library, it just sits there spinning the wheel with "updating trailers".. You can see your Channel Plug ins, but selecting one of them produces the same "updating trailers" or "no response from server" issues...

After a lot of soul searching and googling, it was the hint from f00b4r in the post above this one which solved the problem...

turns out that apache is trying to read "/"'s as a literal character and not as a python "command" 

In my virtual host file (in MAMP) i had set up the ORIGINAL string as per the "setting up OS X 10.7 server for plexconnect" post.

So mine looked like this:- (I use port 9998 instead of the recommended 9999)

RequestHeader set User-Agent AppleTV
ProxyRequests off
ProxyPass / http://trailers.apple.com:9998/ 
ProxyPassReverse / http://trailers.apple.com:9998/
 
Up until the November builds of Plex Connect, this virtual host customisation worked.. 
 
however Baa must of changed something and made "/" not be recognised by Apache or Python (I dont know which) and makes the above script fail.
 
the fix is this: - (the exact same script but with a few commands added)
 
RequestHeader set User-Agent AppleTV
ProxyRequests off
AllowEncodedSlashes NoDecode
 
Just add "AllowEncodedSlashes NoDecode" and put "nocanon" at the end of your ProxyPass request and your done!
 
this works! 
 
Also, dont forget to add the same commands to your "atv.plexconnect" Virtual host as well..
 
Hope this helps... It did me
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When I get to my desktop I will edit the OSX server thread op with the updated config.
Thanks for confirming the proper fix :slight_smile:

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techdag - THANK YOU! This works! I was on the right track and tried a configuration very similar to that but I never quite nailed it.

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