Using the latest version of both PMS (1.15.4.919) on my Synology and the Android app (7.1.14.1.9954) on both my Nvidia Shield and a couple mobile devices, at least some videos will not play when subtitles are enabled for said videos. I found through trial and error that turning off the subtitles for those videos allows them to play as expected. The same videos work perfectly as-is on our Roku 4 devices. I tried with both built-in and external subtitles and all have the same results (see attached screenshot). I don’t see anything at all unusual (i.e. nothing that to me indicates playback failed) in the Plex server log, even with verbose and debug logging enabled. If I enable subtitles after the video starts playing, they work as expected as long as I don’t stop (not just pause) playback and try to start it again.
What can I do to help troubleshoot this? It’s very frustrating as I really need the captions most of the time. At least I’ve finally found the cause and a workaround (after weeks if not months of frustration, thinking it was just me since others said theirs worked fine, but they probably weren’t using closed captions).
FYI, I got really excited to see that the first thing listed in the 7.15.0.10030 beta was a fix for the app crashing when starting playback with subtitles. Sadly, after updating my Android devices to this version (and restarting the devices after clearing the Plex app cache), along with updating PMS to the latest version just released (1.15.4.993), nothing has changed. Exactly the same error as shown previously.
I’ll generate a sample and send logs tonight. The same videos that give problems at home transcode when playing to my office (I’m at work) and play without issue.
I have had the same issue and as long as I only pause and don’t stop the movie/show it’s fine, as soon as I try to play if it has been closed I receive the message you receive and the only way to get it to play again is if I turn off subtitle and then turn back on once the movie/show resumed…
I’m running on a Western Digital PR2100 NAS and version 1.14.1.5488 of the software. I had to rollback to this version a couple weeks ago because several videos, etc would not play on 1.15.3.876 version that is marked “Stable” which it is clearly not.
@CMAC, I think the issue is likely with the client rather than the server (or maybe a combination; can’t be all server because the same videos play perfectly with captions turned on from the start on my Roku 4 devices). It’s only the Android clients that have the issue. It’s plagued my Nvidia Shield for months, and I blamed the device, especially because everything plays perfectly on my Rokus, even though other Shield users swear they’re the best possible client. I’m now assuming those Shield zealots aren’t using closed captioning. I just wish I’d done some testing on my phone (which I never use as a Plex client) before blaming the Shield; that would have immediately confirmed it’s the client software rather than the device itself.
This has been happening for me too, for a while. It is so pervasive that even my girlfriend has figured out that if it fails, you turn off subtitles for the media, and it starts working again.
Shield Android client: 7.14.1.9554 (859ddaa3)
Plex Media Server: 1.15.5.994
You can apply for the beta programm or sideload it.
I still have problems with subtitles on my Shield TV. Latest beta of the Plex app and PMS (on a Mac Mini; Shield TV is only the player not server). It starts playing fine, after about a minute or two i always get the same error “An error occurred while attempting to parse the specified subtitles”.
Pretty annoying. All subtitles are tx3g and direct play on any other app i’ve used other than my Android Tv device.
Honestly i hope they release UNO on Android TV asap and these problems are going away with the shiny new interface.
