Certain WMV Files on Server Will Only Play audio after file is optimized

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1

This is happening on all of my updated and unupdated Nvidia’s Shield TV devices. It’s possible that it started after I restored my Plex server after backing up my plex folder in the %localappdata% folder and Plex registry settings and then restoring the backup data after replacing my motherboard and reinstalling Windows 10.

If I navigate to an old WMV file from the Plex client on my Shield Devices or my Android Phone, the video will play with no sound. If I go into the server and optimize the WMV file, it will then play as expected with sound and video.

Any help would be appreciated because I definitely won’t be spending time optimizing all of the old WMV files I have.

1 Like
2

Could you provide some technical details of those files?
e.g. copy the Media element from ⋮ > Get Info → View XML

3

I also have a few hundred WMV files… and while MANY of them are working fine on both PC and Samsung TV clients… I can identify 3 that won’t playback on the Samsung client (but work fine on the PC).

------------------------------------------------ First one:

<Media id="13992" duration="1847210" bitrate="4121" width="720" height="480" aspectRatio="1.33" audioChannels="2" audioCodec="wmav2" videoCodec="vc1" videoResolution="480" container="asf" videoFrameRate="NTSC" videoProfile="advanced">

<Part accessible="1" exists="1" id="13995" key="/library/parts/13995/643618800/file.wmv" duration="1847210" file="\\joebserver\videos\zMisc - The Game, Stanford, etc\Stanford (Joe)\1990-05-25 Stanford Video Yearbook.wmv" size="960738718" container="asf" deepAnalysisVersion="6" requiredBandwidths="4113,4113,4113,4113,4113,4113,4113,4113" videoProfile="advanced">

<Stream id="28707" streamType="1" codec="vc1" index="1" bitrate="3993" anamorphic="1" bitDepth="8" chromaLocation="left" chromaSubsampling="4:2:0" codedHeight="480" codedWidth="720" frameRate="29.970" height="480" level="1" pixelAspectRatio="8:9" profile="advanced" refFrames="1" requiredBandwidths="3985,3985,3985,3985,3985,3985,3985,3985" streamIdentifier="2" width="720" displayTitle="480p (VC1)" extendedDisplayTitle="480p (VC1)"> </Stream>

<Stream id="28706" streamType="2" selected="1" codec="wmav2" index="0" channels="2" bitrate="128" requiredBandwidths="128,128,128,128,128,128,128,128" samplingRate="48000" streamIdentifier="1" displayTitle="Unknown (WMAV2 Stereo)" extendedDisplayTitle="Unknown (WMAV2 Stereo)"> </Stream>
</Part>
</Media>

------------------------------------------------ 2nd one:

<Media id="13843" duration="780260" bitrate="4092" width="720" height="480" aspectRatio="1.33" audioChannels="2" audioCodec="wmav2" videoCodec="vc1" videoResolution="480" container="asf" videoFrameRate="NTSC" videoProfile="advanced">

<Part accessible="1" exists="1" id="13846" key="/library/parts/13846/709974000/file.wmv" duration="780260" file="\\joebserver\videos\zMisc - The Game, Stanford, etc\MSFT related\1992-07-01, Inside Windows NT (promo video - no joeb).wmv" size="402885802" container="asf" deepAnalysisVersion="6" requiredBandwidths="4099,4099,4099,4099,4099,4099,4099,4099" videoProfile="advanced">

<Stream id="28409" streamType="1" codec="vc1" index="1" bitrate="3964" anamorphic="1" bitDepth="8" chromaLocation="left" chromaSubsampling="4:2:0" codedHeight="480" codedWidth="720" frameRate="29.970" height="480" level="1" pixelAspectRatio="8:9" profile="advanced" refFrames="1" requiredBandwidths="3972,3972,3972,3972,3972,3972,3972,3972" streamIdentifier="2" width="720" displayTitle="480p (VC1)" extendedDisplayTitle="480p (VC1)"> </Stream>

<Stream id="28408" streamType="2" selected="1" codec="wmav2" index="0" channels="2" bitrate="128" requiredBandwidths="128,128,128,128,128,128,128,128" samplingRate="48000" streamIdentifier="1" displayTitle="Unknown (WMAV2 Stereo)" extendedDisplayTitle="Unknown (WMAV2 Stereo)"> </Stream>
</Part>
</Media>

------------------------------------------------ 3rd one:

<Media id="13991" duration="8460160" bitrate="4121" width="720" height="480" aspectRatio="1.33" audioChannels="2" audioCodec="wmav2" videoCodec="vc1" videoResolution="480" container="asf" videoFrameRate="NTSC" videoProfile="advanced">

<Part accessible="1" exists="1" id="13994" key="/library/parts/13994/624870000/file.wmv" duration="8460160" file="\\joebserver\videos\zMisc - The Game, Stanford, etc\Stanford (Joe)\1989-10-20, Stanford Gaieties - 'Don of the Dead'.wmv" size="4397635036" container="asf" deepAnalysisVersion="6" requiredBandwidths="4123,4123,4123,4123,4123,4123,4123,4123" videoProfile="advanced">

<Stream id="28705" streamType="1" codec="vc1" index="1" bitrate="3993" anamorphic="1" bitDepth="8" chromaLocation="left" chromaSubsampling="4:2:0" codedHeight="480" codedWidth="720" frameRate="29.970" height="480" level="1" pixelAspectRatio="8:9" profile="advanced" refFrames="1" requiredBandwidths="3995,3995,3995,3995,3995,3995,3995,3995" streamIdentifier="2" width="720" displayTitle="480p (VC1)" extendedDisplayTitle="480p (VC1)"> </Stream>

<Stream id="28704" streamType="2" selected="1" codec="wmav2" index="0" channels="2" bitrate="128" requiredBandwidths="128,128,128,128,128,128,128,128" samplingRate="48000" streamIdentifier="1" displayTitle="Unknown (WMAV2 Stereo)" extendedDisplayTitle="Unknown (WMAV2 Stereo)"> </Stream>
</Part>
</Media>

LMK if it’s useful to get some media info on ones that DO playback all right…

Mod-Edit: tagged those XML snippets for proper display

4

Hmm… are you able to see the XML? It’s embedded in my comment, but I don’t see it showing up in the post. LMK if you need me to save/post in some different format.

thx

5

How do those 3 fail to play?
Do you get an error message or some endless-spinner/loading situation?

6
  1. spinner spins for a second or so … then …
  2. black screen. no audio. If i hit arrow-button to see the playback counter, the cursor is NOT progressing… it’s just sitting there doing nothing. HOWEVER … if I go back… Plex “thinks” the video was playing and shows a resume time that’s seconds-into the video.

If i let it play long enough … it gives a playback error.

7

Thanks for the reply. And just so you know, the video from these files do play. There just isn’t any audio on android devices using the Plex App.

However, if I goto my Plex server through the Chrome browser on my Android phone, audio and video plays fine. Problem only seems to occur in the Plex apps for Android. However, the optimized versions play audio just fine. Here is the XML from one of the files…

<MediaContainer size="1" allowSync="1" identifier="com.plexapp.plugins.library" librarySectionID="11" librarySectionTitle="Home Movies" librarySectionUUID="1438a5d6-1605-4d46-873f-68a4ad721814" mediaTagPrefix="/system/bundle/media/flags/" mediaTagVersion="1642004622">
<Video ratingKey="117061" key="/library/metadata/117061" guid="com.plexapp.agents.none://29f8ed4da7539ed843ac7edbe01c96df594f6457?lang=xn" type="movie" title="6thDayhome" librarySectionTitle="Home Movies" librarySectionID="11" librarySectionKey="/library/sections/11" subtype="clip" summary="" viewOffset="106028" skipCount="2" lastViewedAt="1642339078" year="2005" thumb="/library/metadata/117061/thumb/1642314094" art="/library/metadata/117061/art/1642314094" duration="205972" originallyAvailableAt="2005-12-03" addedAt="1460337325" updatedAt="1642314094" createdAtAccuracy="epoch" createdAtTZOffset="-21600">
<Media id="175890" duration="205972" bitrate="2066" width="720" height="480" aspectRatio="1.33" audioChannels="2" audioCodec="wmav2" videoCodec="wmv3" videoResolution="480" container="asf" videoFrameRate="NTSC" videoProfile="main">
<Part accessible="1" exists="1" id="176503" key="/library/parts/176503/1133646128/file.wmv" duration="205972" file="V:\Camcorder\Jordyn\6thDayhome.wmv" size="53198866" container="asf" deepAnalysisVersion="6" requiredBandwidths="2010,2010,2010,2010,2010,2010,2010,2010" videoProfile="main">
<Stream id="302491" streamType="1" codec="wmv3" index="1" bitrate="1900" language="English" languageTag="en" languageCode="eng" anamorphic="1" bitDepth="8" chromaLocation="left" chromaSubsampling="4:2:0" codedHeight="480" codedWidth="720" frameRate="29.970" height="480" pixelAspectRatio="8:9" profile="main" refFrames="1" requiredBandwidths="1853,1853,1853,1853,1853,1853,1853,1853" streamIdentifier="2" width="720" displayTitle="480p (WMV3)" extendedDisplayTitle="480p (WMV3)"> </Stream>
<Stream id="302490" streamType="2" selected="1" codec="wmav2" index="0" channels="2" bitrate="160" language="English" languageTag="en" languageCode="eng" requiredBandwidths="158,158,158,158,158,158,158,158" samplingRate="44100" streamIdentifier="1" displayTitle="English (WMAV2 Stereo)" extendedDisplayTitle="English (WMAV2 Stereo)"> </Stream>
</Part>
</Media>
<Extras size="0"> </Extras>
<Related> </Related>
</Video>
</MediaContainer>
8

Also, my Plex app shows a little more information.

Transcode reason = unable to direct play as WMV3 is not supported on this device

Not sure if that has something to do with it.

9

Would you be able to provide samples of the WMV files that won’t play?

10

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