10996.xml.txt (3.9 KB)
Well, the file has three subs. 2 SRT and 1 SRT (External). I’m always using the External one for all my files. And I can recreate this issue on other files.
Ok, that makes sense. The automatic subtitle selection feature will pick the first subtitle track matching your preferred language. In this example, it will pick the internal one since that is also English. The app doesn’t like that subtitle for some reason. Once you select a subtitle, it will use that selected one from then on, but if it’s the first time you’ve accessed that file and did not pick the external one it will try to use the internal.
I’m able to use embedded subtitle fine so I’m not sure why it doesn’t like about your subtitle. Do you know how to extract subtitles to make them external? Curious if your subtitles are bad/corrupted somehow and that’s what’s causing the issue.
I’m not sure I understand. When I enabled automatic subtitle selection, it always picks the external SRT one (for any of my clients) which I do prefer. For this specific file, when I enable auto subtitle selection it chooses the external SRT and when I play the file it’ll have the issue wherein it transcodes with unending buffering. Here’s what it looks like in Tautulli:
As a test, while the issue is happening I switched to the internal SRT and the issue went away and it direct played. I then switched back to the external SRT and it still continued direct playing. So the Firestick Plex client does like both subtitles but is somehow bugging out if I have either of the subs selected before playback.
To further prove my point that this is not file-specific and is affecting all media, I tested another file with the same exact test scenario as explained in this post. And it did the same exact thing. Transcode with buffering at first and direct play when switch to another subtitle (whatever subtitle that is as long as you do a switch).
Here are the logs for both tests:
Fear The Walking Dead S06E14 at 7:03AM 5/25
The Neighborhood S2 E10 at 7:20AM 5/25
FireStick.log (1.2 MB)
Plex Media Server.log (4.2 MB)
Another playback issue from a Firestick on my other house playing Army of the Dead from the local Plex server:
Plex Media Server.log (5.4 MB)
FireStick.log (1.1 MB)
The playback was started at around 2:55PM 5/26. This is without subs and with auto adjust disabled.
I tried to play the same file from MY Firestick locally and it worked just fine. I also trying the file that’s on the remote PMS from me and it plays just fine too.
EDIT: Nevermind, it looks like the same “subtitle before playback” issue. I’m curious though, my sister’s account is set to show subs for foreign audio and in the PMS logs I see that this is considered as a “foreign film”. How does PMS consider if it’s foreign or not?
Your logs show that a subtitle was selected. It’s showing a similar error as your other logs. I’m not sure what’s going on as I can’t reproduce that error on my end. The only thing I see is that you also have the option enabled to Automatically Adjust the Refresh Rate. It’s possible there is an issue with that. Can you try turning that off and see if that helps?
Are you trying to reproduce from a Firestick 4K as well? I’ll try turning off automatic refresh rate adjust and report back.
Yup. I have other Fire TV devices too and I can’t reproduce this problem.
Ok, there’s got to be a setting that differ between our setup as I can reproduce it with 4 firesticks. 3 firesticks on 1 PMS and the remaining one on another PMS. I’m assuming you’re also playing on a 4K HDR TV with the latest beta for PMS?
Disabling auto adjust refresh rate didn’t do anything to solve the issue. Do you have any more ideas for this subtitle issue?
If it’s happening with multiple clients and multiple servers, my guess is some sort of network issue. These won’t show up in your logs. Does you router have a logging feature? If so, turn that on and see if using Plex causes errors to show up.
The other option we can try is if you share you server with me. I will try playing and see if I can diagnose the issue from my end. Send the invite to my username.
Not sure how it can be a network issue if it’s happening on two different networks and is only happening on one type of Plex client (Firestick) and only happening with subtitles enabled pre-playback. It’s not the bandwidth as I tested with iperf between the client and the server. But at this point I agree that anything is possible. Communication between the client and server on the same subnet do not make use of the router/gateway/pfsense. If you’re referring to router as the loosely-used term for router/AP/switch all in one and you really meant wifi AP (for Firestick wifi), then I don’t think my AP’s in both houses (Ubiquiti AC-AP’s and ASUS RT-AC66U) have logging specific for wifi packets. I’m sure we can install some kind of packet capture software in the Firestick though, if we really need to come to that point.
I added you as a Friend to one of my PMS that can be access remotely. Can you check?
I meant router. “Router” is a specific type of device. APs, switches, modems, repeaters and extenders are all different things. Can you provide more details on your actual setup?
What type of device do you have from your ISP? What’s connected to what, exactly?
Yes, we have the same understanding regarding a router but like I said if the communication between a client and a server is on the same subnet the router is NEVER used. Your router interface IP is usually set as your gateway for your clients and the only time a client sends a packet to your gateway is when the communication is between different subnets.
Let’s concentrate with the simpler flat network, my home. It’s super simple:
ISP → Fiber ONU → pfsense (router/gateway/firewall/DHCP server) → RT-AC66U (router function disable and is only acting as a switch/AP) → clients
This is as flat as it can get. No VLAN/subnetting, etc. After the clients get their IP’s from pfsense, the communication will all be through the RT-AC66U switch through layer 2 (MAC addresses) because the server and the clients are on the same subnet.
Where’s the WiFi?
That’s not true. All network traffic goes through your router. Devices do not talk to each other directly.
Sorry, I forgot. The RT-AC66U is a switch and an AP for wifi.
Ohhh no no. I am 100% sure on this as I’m a CCNA 
This is basic networking knowledge. The gateway is not used for intra-network communication. You can Google this claim easily but I’ll post some references here in a while.
A router’s purpose is to “route” between two different subnets.
Here’s a quick one: [SOLVED] How Does LAN Traffic Get Routed On A Router? - Networking - Spiceworks
This is a common misconception in networking. Clients that are in the same subnet can even communicate with each other without a router. Try this for yourself if you’re curious:
Plug client1 to a switch and plug client2 to the same switch. Assign them an IP manually on the same subnet (because you don’t have a DHCP server to serve them their IP’s at this point). Do not plug any router. Ping the client2’s IP address from client 1 and vice versa. This will work.
Also, you’re right that devices do not talk to each other directly but for same subnet communications they go through the switch, not the router. In a simple single subnet network, the router is only ever used when routing Internet traffic. If I need to transfer files between two clients, for example, I only need the switch because the switch has its own ARP table and learns the MAC addresses of the clients.
I just want to make sure that we’re on the same page though. A router is different from a switch. For consumer devices like those Netgear, Linksys, D-Link, etc. devices they call their stuff “routers” which is only “partially correct” in the networking world. This is what I’ve been saying about “loosely” used term. Their devices are router/switch/AP all in one. I think this is what you’ve been trying to point out, no? I think you’re referring to your router at home being the all in one device I was talking about. If so, then yes, the clients go through the “router” for communication but the correct term is that they’re going through the “switch” part inside the so-called consumer router when communicating.
In networking especially in enterprises, a router, a switch, and an AP are all separate devices and they all exist in the network. My network is an example of a mini enterprise network where the router is just that, a router. The switch and access point are in one device (the RT-AC66U).
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