Server Version#: 1.40.5.8921
Player Version#: Plex Web 4.137.1
When I playback some media it will start fine but when I change the video quality, it gets stuck on a black screen.
I did some troubleshooting and this is what I found
The issue is present on H265 media only. Tested on H264 media and the quality changes as expected, no issues.
Only happens when using hardware transcoding. Turning off hardware acceleration in the server settings fixes the issue. However this defeats the purpose of having a GPU in my server in the first place.
Checking the logs reveals the following lines that is most likley related to this issue:
[Req#5a06/Transcode] Transcoder: Failed to delete session directory (boost::filesystem::remove: Directory not empty [system:39]: "/config/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Cache/Transcode/Sessions/plex-transcode-ghf9xidqh1e7pg7uwo9ep8k9-e722aadd-5588-4d5c-870c-5a066382dae8")
...
Jobs: '/usr/lib/plexmediaserver/Plex Transcoder' exit code for process 2710 is -9 (signal: Killed)
[Req#6086/Transcode/ghf9xidqh1e7pg7uwo9ep8k9] Transcode runner appears to have died.
I have also changed the transcoder temporary directory to somewhere else (outside the docker container) which does not make a difference. Same log messages show up.
I also tried using /dev/shm as the transcoder temporary directory which also fails however the transcoder process simply dies without any error message such as the one described earlier.
Checking the directory indicated in the log entry is empty.
Changing the quality on the Plex Desktop App yields a playback error - An unknown error occurred (4294967283), Error code: 4294967283. However after clicking retry it will start playing again at the requested quality and transcoding works again.
Changing the quality on the Plex iOS app does not have this issue.
Using NVIDIA driver 560.35.03 with GTX 1050 Ti running under unraid 6.12.11.
I am having this same issue and CANNOT figure it out for the life of me. I though for a long time it was just the drivers getting outdated or using the incorrect version, but after clearing all that away and getting a fresh driver installed it’s still occurring.
Does it work fine on an Android/iOS device? Cause for me it only happens on the web player (as far as I have been able to test). It’s been this way for years. I just tell my users to pick the correct quality before starting the stream in the Plex settings when they use web. That works fine, but changing the quality always stops the stream in different ways. Sometimes a black screen, sometimes an error.
I’m also having this issue. Playback intermittently fails when switching quality in the web player and on the macOS app but always works in the iOS app. This only happens with hardware transcoding.
This will be fixed in the rewrite of the web player (which is happening now)
As stated, the minimal viable workaround is to set quality prior to starting playback.
I have explained what’s happening.
I know why it’s happening (looking at all the logs)
The decision made was to address it with the rewrite.
( The amount of work needed to fix it is as much as the fresh new web client )
I am using (testing) the new client and the problem does not exist.
You can change to anything you want (up or down or back up or back down again) without failure.
