Audio skipping causing delay

Plex Players Streaming Devices
,
1

Server Version#: 1.21.1.3876
Player Version#: 8.11.0.22186 (I think thats the player version)

Hey guys, I am having a very frustrating issue with audio and could use your help and advice. First a little about my setup:

I have a Denon X1600H AVR
Nvidia Shield TV Pro
Plex Server running locally on a CentOS VM
Library is stored on a large storage array.
All content is DirectPlay to the shield pro then passed through to the AVR which distributes it to my speakers.
Video also passes through my AVR to my receiver and my 4k TV.
Movies are 4k rips full quality MKV format.

Issue:
As I am watching a movie and have verified its directplaying, the audio will randomly cut out for a split second and then resume but when it resumes, its delayed. This happens almost every time I watch a movie. I am watching The Martian and its happening every 5 minutes. At that rate the movies are unwatchable.

Adjusting the audio delay doesn’t work either because the delay keeps changing every time the audio skips. I have turned off auto audio sync on the AVR. Still have issues. Is there another auto audio delay setting i need to find on plex or on the shield?

I restarted the plex service, the plex server, the shield pro, and the AVR. nothing helped.

Seems like plex is not keeping the audio in sync but IDK.

Any suggestions?

EDIT: Interestingly, if I hit the left button on the remote to go back 10 seconds, that sometimes brings the audio back in sync. Also, I let it play for a while without correcting it and the delay got worse and worse with every audio skip.

Edit 2: I switched the audio playback to AC3 5.1 and the issue didnt happen for the second half of the movie. That seemed to fix it I think but this isn’t an acceptable solution because the whole reason I bought the Shield Pro was to be able to play full, uncompressed audio. Not sure if this helps with the troubleshooting though.

EDIT 3: Okay sorry for all the edits but I am attaching some logs from the Shield Pro. I switched the audio playback to TRUEHD 7.1 and enabled network logging while the movie was playing. As soon as the delay issue happened i marked down the time.
I know it happened at 1-24 23:39:?? If you take a look at the logs, it says ‘audiotrackunderrun’ several times. I can post server logs too if its helpful but IDK which file you want.

If someone could help me understand what that means and how to fix it, I’d be appreciative.Shield Pro Network Log Martian 11.24.2021.txt (1.1 MB)

Capture1111.PNG

2

Okay so I did a little more testing.

I re-ripped the 4k Blu-ray and put thee new file on the server under a different name. When I played it I experienced the same issues.
I also disabled the new video player and played both above mentioned files. Same issue happened.

also used the MKVToolNIX app and ran it though that after clicking the ‘fix bitstream timing info’ option as mentioned in this. post but it didn’t fix it

3

Uploading the PlexMediaServer.log

Again the time of an audio incident is 1-24 23:39:44 (ish)

Plex Media Server.log (6.1 MB)

4

At the time of the skip/stutter, the AppleTV was getting data.

If all are wifi, might the data transfer have monoplized the bandwidth? (is the signal strong and on 5 Ghz?)

Jan 24, 2021 23:39:38.914 [0x7f82b27fc700] DEBUG - [Now] User is jmhinson@me.com (ID: 1)
Jan 24, 2021 23:39:38.914 [0x7f82b27fc700] DEBUG - [Now] Device is tvOS (Master bedroom Apple TV).
Jan 24, 2021 23:39:38.915 [0x7f82b27fc700] DEBUG - [Now] Profile is tvOS
Jan 24, 2021 23:39:38.915 [0x7f82b27fc700] DEBUG - [Now] Updated play state for /library/metadata/2114.
Jan 24, 2021 23:39:38.915 [0x7f82b27fc700] DEBUG - Statistics: (1BDAEB97-A122-456E-8F67-6165AAEFAE5D) Reporting active playback in state 0 of type 4 (scrobble: 0) for account 1
Jan 24, 2021 23:39:38.917 [0x7f832b7fe700] DEBUG - Completed: [192.168.1.85:59220] 200 GET /:/timeline?bufferedTime=148&duration=1298362&key=%2Flibrary%2Fmetadata%2F2114&location=lan&playQueueItemID=14776&playbackTime=794784&ratingKey=2114&state=playing&time=794827 (12 live) TLS GZIP 3ms 498 bytes (pipelined: 231)
Jan 24, 2021 23:39:44.240 [0x7f832bfff700] DEBUG - Auth: authenticated user 1 as jmhinson@me.com
Jan 24, 2021 23:39:44.240 [0x7f82b27fc700] DEBUG - Request: [192.168.1.85:59220 (Subnet)] GET /:/timeline?bufferedTime=148&duration=1298362&key=%2Flibrary%2Fmetadata%2F2114&location=lan&playQueueItemID=14776&playbackTime=800119&ratingKey=2114&state=playing&time=800165 (12 live) TLS GZIP Signed-in Token (jmhinson@me.com)
Jan 24, 2021 23:39:44.241 [0x7f82b27fc700] DEBUG - Client [1BDAEB97-A122-456E-8F67-6165AAEFAE5D] reporting timeline state playing, progress of 800165/1298362ms for guid=, playbackTime=800119ms ratingKey=2114 url=, key=/library/metadata/2114, containerKey=, metadataId=2114, source=
Jan 24, 2021 23:39:44.241 [0x7f82b27fc700] DEBUG - Play progress on 2114 'Local Ad' - got played 800165 ms by account 1!
Jan 24, 2021 23:39:44.241 [0x7f82b27fc700] DEBUG - [Now] User is jmhinson@me.com (ID: 1)
Jan 24, 2021 23:39:44.241 [0x7f82b27fc700] DEBUG - [Now] Device is tvOS (Master bedroom Apple TV).
Jan 24, 2021 23:39:44.242 [0x7f82b27fc700] DEBUG - [Now] Profile is tvOS
Jan 24, 2021 23:39:44.242 [0x7f82b27fc700] DEBUG - [Now] Updated play state for /library/metadata/2114.
Jan 24, 2021 23:39:44.242 [0x7f82b27fc700] DEBUG - Statistics: (1BDAEB97-A122-456E-8F67-6165AAEFAE5D) Reporting active playback in state 0 of type 4 (scrobble: 0) for account 1
Jan 24, 2021 23:39:44.243 [0x7f832bfff700] DEBUG - Completed: [192.168.1.85:59220] 200 GET /:/timeline?bufferedTime=148&duration=1298362&key=%2Flibrary%2Fmetadata%2F2114&location=lan&playQueueItemID=14776&playbackTime=800119&ratingKey=2114&state=playing&time=800165 (12 live) TLS GZIP 2ms 496 bytes (pipelined: 232)
Jan 24, 2021 23:39:48.881 [0x7f832b7fe700] DEBUG - Auth: authenticated user 1 as jmhinson@me.com
Jan 24, 2021 23:39:48.881 [0x7f82b27fc700] DEBUG - Request: [192.168.1.246:58552 (Subnet)] GET /:/timeline?audioStreamID=12467&bufferedTime=18078&duration=9080672&guid=com.plexapp.agents.imdb%3A%2F%2Ftt3659388%3Flang%3Den&key=%2Flibrary%2Fmetadata%2F3712&playbackTime=348311&playQueueItemID=14876&ratingKey=3712&state=playing&time=4394747&token=xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (12 live) TLS GZIP Signed-in Token (jmhinson@me.com)
Jan 24, 2021 23:39:48.881 [0x7f82b27fc700] DEBUG - Client [04bf23f1255726c5-com-plexapp-android] reporting timeline state playing, progress of 4394747/9080672ms for guid=com.plexapp.agents.imdb://tt3659388?lang=en, playbackTime=348311ms ratingKey=3712 url=, key=/library/metadata/3712, containerKey=, metadataId=3712, source=
Jan 24, 2021 23:39:48.882 [0x7f82b27fc700] DEBUG - Play progress on 3712 'The Martian' - got played 4394747 ms by account 1!
Jan 24, 2021 23:39:48.882 [0x7f82b27fc700] DEBUG - [Now] User is jmhinson@me.com (ID: 1)
Jan 24, 2021 23:39:48.882 [0x7f82b27fc700] DEBUG - [Now] Device is Android (SHIELD Android TV).
Jan 24, 2021 23:39:48.882 [0x7f82b27fc700] DEBUG - [Now] Profile is Android
Jan 24, 2021 23:39:48.882 [0x7f82b27fc700] DEBUG - [Now] Updated play state for /library/metadata/3712.
Jan 24, 2021 23:39:48.882 [0x7f82b27fc700] DEBUG - Statistics: (04bf23f1255726c5-com-plexapp-android) Reporting active playback in state 0 of type 1 (scrobble: 0) for account 1
Jan 24, 2021 23:39:48.883 [0x7f832b7fe700] DEBUG - Completed: [192.168.1.246:58552] 200 GET /:/timeline?audioStreamID=12467&bufferedTime=18078&duration=9080672&guid=com.plexapp.agents.imdb%3A%2F%2Ftt3659388%3Flang%3Den&key=%2Flibrary%2Fmetadata%2F3712&playbackTime=348311&playQueueItemID=14876&ratingKey=3712&state=playing&time=4394747&token=xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (12 live) TLS GZIP 1ms 495 bytes (pipelined: 42)
Jan 24, 2021 23:39:49.255 [0x7f832bfff700] DEBUG - Auth: authenticated user 1 as jmhinson@me.com
Jan 24, 2021 23:39:49.255 [0x7f82b27fc700] DEBUG - Request: [192.168.1.85:59220 (Subnet)] GET /:/timeline?bufferedTime=148&duration=1298362&key=%2Flibrary%2Fmetadata%2F2114&location=lan&playQueueItemID=14776&playbackTime=805127&ratingKey=2114&state=playing&time=805170 (12 live) TLS GZIP Signed-in Token (jmhinson@me.com)
Jan 24, 2021 23:39:49.256 [0x7f82b27fc700] DEBUG - Client [1BDAEB97-A122-456E-8F67-6165AAEFAE5D] reporting timeline state playing, progress of 805170/1298362ms for guid=, playbackTime=805127ms ratingKey=2114 url=, key=/library/metadata/2114, containerKey=, metadataId=2114, source=
Jan 24, 2021 23:39:49.256 [0x7f82b27fc700] DEBUG - Play progress on 2114 'Local Ad' - got played 805170 ms by account 1!
Jan 24, 2021 23:39:49.301 [0x7f82b27fc700] DEBUG - [Now] User is jmhinson@me.com (ID: 1)
Jan 24, 2021 23:39:49.301 [0x7f82b27fc700] DEBUG - [Now] Device is tvOS (Master bedroom Apple TV).
Jan 24, 2021 23:39:49.301 [0x7f82b27fc700] DEBUG - [Now] Profile is tvOS
Jan 24, 2021 23:39:49.301 [0x7f82b27fc700] DEBUG - [Now] Updated play state for /library/metadata/2114.
Jan 24, 2021 23:39:49.301 [0x7f82b27fc700] DEBUG - Statistics: (1BDAEB97-A122-456E-8F67-6165AAEFAE5D) Reporting active playback in state 0 of type 4 (scrobble: 0) for account 1
Jan 24, 2021 23:39:49.302 [0x7f832b7fe700] DEBUG - Completed: [192.168.1.85:59220] 200 GET /:/timeline?bufferedTime=148&duration=1298362&key=%2Flibrary%2Fmetadata%2F2114&location=lan&playQueueItemID=14776&playbackTime=805127&ratingKey=2114&state=playing&time=805170 (12 live) TLS GZIP 46ms 496 bytes (pipelined: 233)
Jan 24, 2021 23:39:54.250 [0x7f832b7fe700] DEBUG - Auth: authenticated user 1 as jmhinson@me.com
Jan 24, 2021 23:39:54.250 [0x7f82b27fc700] DEBUG - Request: [192.168.1.85:59220 (Subnet)] GET /:/timeline?bufferedTime=150&duration=1298362&key=%2Flibrary%2Fmetadata%2F2114&location=lan&playQueueItemID=14776&playbackTime=810127&ratingKey=2114&state=playing&time=810175 (12 live) TLS GZIP Signed-in Token (jmhinson@me.com)
Jan 24, 2021 23:39:54.250 [0x7f82b27fc700] DEBUG - Client [1BDAEB97-A122-456E-8F67-6165AAEFAE5D] reporting timeline state playing, progress of 810175/1298362ms for guid=, playbackTime=810127ms ratingKey=2114 url=, key=/library/metadata/2114, containerKey=, metadataId=2114, source=
Jan 24, 2021 23:39:54.263 [0x7f82b27fc700] DEBUG - Play progress on 2114 'Local Ad' - got played 810175 ms by account 1!
Jan 24, 2021 23:39:54.263 [0x7f82b27fc700] DEBUG - [Now] User is jmhinson@me.com (ID: 1)
Jan 24, 2021 23:39:54.263 [0x7f82b27fc700] DEBUG - [Now] Device is tvOS (Master bedroom Apple TV).
Jan 24, 2021 23:39:54.263 [0x7f82b27fc700] DEBUG - [Now] Profile is tvOS
Jan 24, 2021 23:39:54.263 [0x7f82b27fc700] DEBUG - [Now] Updated play state for /library/metadata/2114.
Jan 24, 2021 23:39:54.263 [0x7f82b27fc700] DEBUG - Statistics: (1BDAEB97-A122-456E-8F67-6165AAEFAE5D) Reporting active playback in state 0 of type 4 (scrobble: 0) for account 1
Jan 24, 2021 23:39:54.266 [0x7f832bfff700] DEBUG - Completed: [192.168.1.85:59220] 200 GET /:/timeline?bufferedTime=150&duration=1298362&key=%2Flibrary%2Fmetadata%2F2114&location=lan&playQueueItemI

Notice the gap of several seconds?

5

Hey Chuck,

I apologize for the confusion. My wife was watching something in the bedroom from Plex on an Apple TV while I was watching the movie on my Shield Pro but all connections are wired…should have mentioned that in the OP!

6

Not a problem now that I know it’s wired :+1:

Is this the shield pro 2019 with shield experiences 8.2 firmware?

Also, and perhaps a moot question, is the Denon an older model or a newer one.
One of the Ninjas had a similar issue with his 2010 model year unit. He replaced it this year since they are no longer updating firmware for it.

7

My receiver is an x1600h. Just bought it in the last year thought it might be a model-year older (2019 maybe)

I am running shield version 8.2.2 (32.6.509.0) <— not sure what those numbers mean

8

Those are version and build number.

For the next piece of magic; can you grab the MediaInfo for the file you were playing that blipped ?

I’m asking all these questions because I have a Shield Pro 2019 (same software and firmware as you) which is connected to my Onkyo RZ series. It never blips, drops, or anything. Everything is always directplay from PMS. The Shield is one of those top-shielf players which can handle 96 Khz audio and 59.94 Hz 4K, downconverting in its own hardware without blinking.

9

here you go. let me know if you need it in another format.

TheMartian4krip.txt (17.0 KB)

10

TrueHD 7.1 is native supported by the Denon.
It’s also passed through (if you have that enabled) by the Shield.

Do you have passthrough enabled in the App settings?

Settings - (at the bottom) Advaned - HDMI - Passthrough.

11

Okay so IDK if this helps you but just to help troubleshoot, i downloaded and installed Kodi on my Shield Pro. After installing the Plex add-on to Kodi and doing a little configuration, I was able to get the same file to directplay and pass audio through to the AVR just as plex was.

I need to do more testing to confirm but after playing the movie for about 30 minutes, i didn’t see a single time that it did that audio skip. It played perfectly.

I then went back and played it from plex and again saw the same issues.

Interestingly i noticed that the skips are happening in the same places as i go back and re watch the movie several times. One spot I see it happening is at 00:58:08 when Bruce NG is asking Vincent Kapoor what a Fe***** is. It happens everytime i watch the movie in that spot

12

While Kodi is an entirely different animal,

If it stutters in the same place, then either:

a. Feed from the NAS / server
b. Damaged media.

13

I should have passthrough enabled everywhere because when i watch content, my receiver will say the audio type (DD+, Atmos, etc). Can you tell me which settings I should specifically be looking at?

14

If you’re seeing it on the AVR then it’s already set. I believe it is enabled by default.

My Onkyo lights up the same way.

15

Ya i knew that kodi was very different. i have never used it until today. Just wanted to test for the items you mentioned.

16

yep. when i click play on the movie, it switches from stereo (on the menu) to Atmos.

17

good. so this is coming down to what looks like damaged media.

18

it played fine on Kodi. only issue is plex

19

If you start Plex, seek forward, does Plex still burp at the exact same spot?

20

yes. everytime i have played the file from plex it burps at 00:58:08. i am sure there are several other places but that is just one.

Kodi does not burp at that place. played right through it fine.