BUG? Samsung Android (Phone) App RARELY works for years on end!

Plex Players Mobile Devices
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@ChuckPa I know you are very knowledgable (from the DSM7 upgrade) I hope with your or your colleagues expertise we could solve this issue or bug!

Server Version#:
Synology DS918+
Plex Version 1.25.0.5220 (Latest as of 15-11-2021)
Not in Docker but via Synology Packages on the website

Player Version#:
8.25.1.28703 (7bcafd43) (Latest as of 15-11-2021)

Explanation:
So to start, I’ve been running a Plex server for years now (first on a small windows pc, but moved to a Synology DS918+ for a couple years now). My girlfriend has been having issues since day 1 with her samsung phones (read multiple samsung phones over the years but now the s21).

All other apps: iPhone / Apple TV / Chromecast / Web / even 7 year old tv plex apps run fine! Except for her Android phone.

Issue process:
She starts a serie/movie and after a second of loading gets the error, which rougly translates to: Something went wrong playing this video. Check your connection and try again.

Plex App error - Samsung
Plex App error - Samsung1199×417 59.6 KB

This issue happens wether we’re in the same house and on the same network (same ip range as server) or outside on 4G, 5G or a different wifi network. The error the server shows is:

(Last 2 errors mainly I believe)

Plex Server error - Samsung
Plex Server error - Samsung1445×223 167 KB

Attempts to solve:
I’ve tried change the required secure connection type server based or client based in any way possible but still no connection option (secured, auto or unsecured) seems to work.

Important to note:
Very rarely the app works, by coincidence I tried a different user on her phone: I logged her out, logged me in, logged her back in and suddenly the same video works. But then a day later, same issue and this changing used doesn’t work anymore.

I am thinking it has something to do with the transcoding of video/audio for some reason (can’t explain why I think this), but whatever media she plays same issue happens.

I wanted to share some details as well, so below are the log data from the server as well as client. asked her if she could run the app and play something to get a timestamp for investigation:

11-15 19:48:51.966 - Around this time she started to play something and got the same error.

[Removed Logs]

Bug? Samsung Android (Phone) App broken again after going strong for couple of months
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I am not great at reading logs but it looks like her device is requesting the server to transcode the file to 2Mbps 720p which leads me to believe that her quality settings in the app are set at the lowest value. If you do not have any data limits I would max out the quality settings to prevent transcoding and see if that alleviates the issue.

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Thanks for pinging me.

Yes, the player is limiting the quality.

Nov 15, 2021 14:50:28.948 [0x7f43926acb38] DEBUG - [Transcode] MDE: E3 - The Mathematician’s Ghost: no direct play video profile exists for http/mkv/h264/eac3
Nov 15, 2021 14:50:28.948 [0x7f43926acb38] DEBUG - [Transcode] The Mathematician’s Ghost - video.width limitation applies: 1920 > 720
Nov 15, 2021 14:50:28.948 [0x7f43926acb38] DEBUG - [Transcode] The Mathematician’s Ghost - audio.channels limitation applies: 6 > 2
Nov 15, 2021 14:50:28.948 [0x7f43926acb38] DEBUG - [Transcode] MDE: E3 - The Mathematician’s Ghost: Direct Streaming is disabled, so video stream will be transcoded
Nov 15, 2021 14:50:28.948 [0x7f43926acb38] DEBUG - [Transcode] MDE: E3 - The Mathematician’s Ghost: no remuxable profile found, so video stream will be transcoded
Nov 15, 2021 14:50:28.948 [0x7f43926acb38] DEBUG - [Transcode] MDE: Cannot direct stream video stream due to profile or setting limitations
Nov 15, 2021 14:50:28.948 [0x7f43926acb38] DEBUG - [Transcode] Codecs: testing h264 (decoder) with hwdevice vaapi
Nov 15, 2021 14:50:28.949 [0x7f43926acb38] DEBUG - [Transcode] Codecs: hardware transcoding: testing API vaapi
Nov 15, 2021 14:50:28.950 [0x7f43926acb38] DEBUG - [Transcode] [FFMPEG] - Format 0x32315659 -> yuv420p.
Nov 15, 2021 14:50:28.950 [0x7f43926acb38] DEBUG - [Transcode] [FFMPEG] - Format 0x30323449 -> yuv420p.
Nov 15, 2021 14:50:28.950 [0x7f43926acb38] DEBUG - [Transcode] [FFMPEG] - Format 0x3231564e -> nv12.
Nov 15, 2021 14:50:28.950 [0x7f43926acb38] DEBUG - [Transcode] [FFMPEG] - Format 0x32595559 -> yuyv422.
Nov 15, 2021 14:50:28.950 [0x7f43926acb38] DEBUG - [Transcode] [FFMPEG] - Format 0x59565955 -> uyvy422.
Nov 15, 2021 14:50:28.950 [0x7f43926acb38] DEBUG - [Transcode] [FFMPEG] - Format 0x48323234 -> yuv422p.
Nov 15, 2021 14:50:28.950 [0x7f43926acb38] DEBUG - [Transcode] [FFMPEG] - Format 0x58424752 -> rgb0.
Nov 15, 2021 14:50:28.950 [0x7f43926acb38] DEBUG - [Transcode] [FFMPEG] - Format 0x58524742 -> bgr0.
Nov 15, 2021 14:50:28.950 [0x7f43926acb38] DEBUG - [Transcode] [FFMPEG] - Format 0x30313050 -> p010le.
Nov 15, 2021 14:50:28.950 [0x7f43926acb38] DEBUG - [Transcode] Codecs: Testing with profile 'High'
Nov 15, 2021 14:50:28.951 [0x7f43926acb38] DEBUG - [Transcode] Scaled up video bitrate to 15408Kbps based on 1.500000x fudge factor.
Nov 15, 2021 14:50:28.951 [0x7f43926acb38] DEBUG - [Transcode] Scaled maximum bitrate for resolution reduction to 2166Kbps.
Nov 15, 2021 14:50:28.951 [0x7f43926acb38] DEBUG - [Transcode] MDE: E3 - The Mathematician’s Ghost: Audio Direct Streaming is d

Notice 2166kbps which is 2 Mbps video + the audio (bitrate=178)
Further notice it’s selecting 720p resolution. This is the resolution of the lowest setting in the player.

The player quality settings need to be increased.

Take care to set Local playback AND Remote playback quality.

2 Likes
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So far so good, it seems to be working! Thanks a lot so far @ChuckPa .I’ll monitor for the coming week to double check and be sure.

Again thanks Chuck!

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Damnit @ChuckPa always stealing my thunder! :rofl: I appreciate you confirming that I read those logs right. I’m starting to understand them better.

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Want a job?

:rofl:

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Don’t tease me with a good time!

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Who said I was teasing? :smiling_imp:

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I’m listening…

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Here’s the official schtick

We also have support staff , like myself, in the forums. supporting ANY/ ALL the platforms Plex runs on.

We have both part time / volunteer and full time.

There are those, like myself, who also wear a development hat.

Lots of choices.

Does support seem more your thing? (helping people get answers / teaching / championing bugs through to get fixed)

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