Server Version#: 1.20.2.3370, Win 10 x64
Player Version#: 4.34.4
I’ve started to have problems when using external subtitle files. Every time I try to use an external subtitle, I get the error message “Conversion failed. The transcoder failed to start up.”.
Internal subtitles work.
After checking the logs, I notice the following. However, I have no clue what the root cause might be other than that it seems stange that the local path to the subtitle file is missing \\ in the beginning of the local path, which is something that the video file has. Is there anyone who can help regarding this? Link to server logs
Oct 01, 2020 15:17:28.708 [12620] DEBUG - [Transcode] [Universal] Using local file path instead of URL: \\10.0.0.48\usbshare1\Media\Video\TV\Series\The_Boys\Season 2\The.Boys.S02E06.The.Bloody.Doors.Off.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DDP5.1.H.264-NTb.mkv
Oct 01, 2020 15:17:28.708 [12620] DEBUG - [Transcode] HTTP requesting GET http://127.0.0.1:32400/library/streams/335067?X-Plex-Token=xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Oct 01, 2020 15:17:28.709 [11444] DEBUG - Request: [127.0.0.1:64088 (Loopback)] GET /library/streams/335067 (36 live) GZIP Signed-in Token (PolliSoft)
Oct 01, 2020 15:17:28.717 [11444] DEBUG - Calculated media file path for path [file://10.0.0.48/usbshare1/Media/Video/TV/Series/The_Boys/Season%202/The.Boys.S02E06.The.Bloody.Doors.Off.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DDP5.1.H.264-NTb.en.srt]: [“10.0.0.48/usbshare1/Media/Video/TV/Series/The_Boys/Season 2/The.Boys.S02E06.The.Bloody.Doors.Off.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DDP5.1.H.264-NTb.en.srt”]
Oct 01, 2020 15:17:28.717 [11444] ERROR - Couldn’t find the file to stream: 10.0.0.48\usbshare1\Media\Video\TV\Series\The_Boys\Season 2\The.Boys.S02E06.The.Bloody.Doors.Off.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DDP5.1.H.264-NTb.en.srt
Oct 01, 2020 15:17:28.717 [12620] DEBUG - [Transcode] HTTP 404 response from GET http://127.0.0.1:32400/library/streams/335067?X-Plex-Token=xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Oct 01, 2020 15:17:28.717 [4488] DEBUG - Completed: [127.0.0.1:64088] 404 GET /library/streams/335067 (36 live) GZIP 8ms 331 bytes
Oct 01, 2020 15:17:28.720 [12620] ERROR - [Transcode] Error configuring transcoder: TPU: Failed to download sub-stream to temporary file
Oct 01, 2020 15:17:28.720 [12620] DEBUG - [Transcode] Streaming Resource: Terminating session 0x8807c18:i56hwdu2si8qkdhzlswg0p4z which is using transcoder slot. Used slots is now 0
Oct 01, 2020 15:17:28.720 [12620] DEBUG - [Transcode] Streaming Resource: Terminated session 0x8807c18:i56hwdu2si8qkdhzlswg0p4z with reason Conversion failed. The transcoder failed to start up.
Oct 01, 2020 15:17:28.720 [13872] DEBUG - [Transcode] Killing job.
Oct 01, 2020 15:17:28.720 [13872] DEBUG - [Transcode] Job was already killed, not killing again.
Oct 01, 2020 15:17:28.720 [13872] DEBUG - [Transcode] Stopping transcode session 2erz2kfxaqw1h18zauysmzuz
I tried a movie with working subtitles from a share from the same NAS, and there I can see the \\ in the local path. Am I doing something wrong, or is this a bug?
42:13.299 [8164] DEBUG - [Transcode] [Universal] Using local file path instead of URL: \\10.0.0.48\Media\Video\Movies\HD\The Lodge (2019)\The.Lodge.2019.1080p.BluRay.x264-DRONES.mkv
Oct 01, 2020 15:42:13.300 [8164] DEBUG - [Transcode] HTTP requesting GET http://127.0.0.1:32400/library/streams/182949?X-Plex-Token=xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Oct 01, 2020 15:42:13.313 [2488] DEBUG - Request: [127.0.0.1:58858 (Loopback)] GET /library/streams/182949 (40 live) GZIP Signed-in Token (PolliSoft)
Oct 01, 2020 15:42:13.318 [2488] DEBUG - Calculated media file path for path [file://\\10.0.0.48\Media\Video\Movies\HD\The Lodge (2019)\The.Lodge.2019.1080p.BluRay.x264-DRONES.en.srt]: [“\\10.0.0.48\Media\Video\Movies\HD\The Lodge (2019)\The.Lodge.2019.1080p.BluRay.x264-DRONES.en.srt”]
Oct 01, 2020 15:42:13.320 [2488] DEBUG - Content-Length of \\10.0.0.48\Media\Video\Movies\HD\The Lodge (2019)\The.Lodge.2019.1080p.BluRay.x264-DRONES.en.srt is 55704 (of total: 55704).
Oct 01, 2020 15:42:13.341 [4488] DEBUG - Completed: [127.0.0.1:58858] 200 GET /library/streams/182949 (40 live) GZIP 28ms 55704 bytes
Oct 01, 2020 15:42:13.341 [8164] DEBUG - [Transcode] HTTP 200 response from GET http://127.0.0.1:32400/library/streams/182949?X-Plex-Token=xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Oct 01, 2020 15:42:13.342 [8164] DEBUG - [Transcode] Detected character set of UTF-8.
Oct 01, 2020 15:42:13.413 [8164] DEBUG - [Transcode] Downloaded stream from [http://127.0.0.1:32400/library/streams/182949?X-Plex-Token=xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] (codec: srt) to temporary file [D:\PlexMediaServer\Transcode\Sessions\plex-transcode-c27tluh7m5ctrvj67rexvozs-5b42bc88-78ef-4d32-848a-6e21db01f757\temp-0.srt]
Until someone comes in with a better tip or a full solution, I decided to use the boring workaround of mapping my NAS to Z:. After a change of all library paths and full metadata updates, it works.
I have exactly the same problem, same missing \\
this appeared suddenly about 3-4 weeks ago
plex server on windows 10 is updated to the latest patch (09.10.20)
Libraries are on a synology nas (if that info helps anyone at Plex to reproduce)
Thank you for the suggestion to change the libraries path to a mapping, subtitles work again!
Cheers
The error with external SRT files not being found and crashing the transcoder has started popping up in other posts. Best I can figure out is the common thread is “Couldn’t find the file to stream” in the log file and it seems to be related to one of the recent updates. There have been ‘try this setting, check file name, Plex dance, and map this drive’ suggestions, with limited success, but none are getting at the the root cause. It looks like Plex still has yet to acknowledge the problem.
I just experienced the same problem “Conversion failed. The transcoder failed to start up.” with movies that previously played fine. I disabled the subtitles and played just fine. The native "English (SRT External) file may be missing (or something, I’m unsure how it works) however, I searched new subtitle from OpenSubtitles.org, downloaded new subtitles for the movie and it played fine. I guess there is an issue with Plex trying to find/convert the included subtitle which is causing the crash.
If the subtitle is removed and you don’t update the metadata, you’re correct. However, in my scenario all subtitles were in the correct location and the metadata updated correctly.
The solution worked for me also. Switched “\\” network location path to “C:\”.
Had to reload all the metadata to get the subtitle files to detect again.
Thanks, for the workaround tip.
Woow! I was looking for a solution for ages.
I’m afraid to update my PMS to the newest versions because of this. I had to downgrade to figure out what is was. Thanks for the post.
So for my knowledge;
My PMS is on a windows 10 machine (all windows updates are turned off) and my HDD’s (media) are on my Synology NAS DS918+
I need to go to the windows machine and map a new network drive to my NAS right?
So my windows is C:\ and my internal HDD is D:.
My NAS drives need to be (as an example) E:\ , F:\ and so on?
Does this fix the subtitle/transcode issue? Or do I need to achieve a new Plex dance? Metadata refresh etc
I’m running the same setup as you, Win 10 + Synology NAS. It does fix the subtitle/transcode issue.
What you have to do is:
Mount your media share as a drive (e.g. Z:)
Change your libraries to use this path instead
Scan your libraries to pick up the “new” media
Update all metadata on all libraries
I also set up a small batch script to automatically mount the share to Z:\ when the computer starts, otherwise PMS complained that the drive was not available after a reboot.
net use Z: /delete
net use Z: \\10.0.1.35\Media /user:<user> "<pass>" /persistent:yes
Though I appreciate the workaround by @PolliSoft it would be best if Plex could fix it.
@OttoKerner, any chance Plex devs could look into this issue?
In short, when there are external subs and the transcoder has to kick in, it fails to start up. I had also previously pinned it down to the subs path missing the two backslashes when using UNC paths.
Oct 26, 2020 10:49:42.379 [1884] INFO - [Transcode] [FFMPEG] - MFT name: 'Microsoft AAC Audio Encoder MFT'
Oct 26, 2020 10:49:42.387 [1884] INFO - [Transcode] [FFMPEG] - MFT name: 'Microsoft AAC Audio Encoder MFT'
Oct 26, 2020 10:49:42.525 [10884] ERROR - Couldn't find the file to stream: mycloudpr2100\TVShows\Alfred Hitchcock Presents\Season 1\S01E03.en.srt
Oct 26, 2020 10:49:42.526 [1884] ERROR - [Transcode] Error configuring transcoder: TPU: Failed to download sub-stream to temporary file
Oct 26, 2020 10:49:43.087 [3464] WARN - [Transcode] Denying access to transcode of key /library/metadata/23659 due to terminated session
Note the missing \\ in Oct 26, 2020 10:49:42.525 [10884] ERROR - Couldn't find the file to stream: mycloudpr2100\TVShows\Alfred Hitchcock Presents\Season 1\S01E03.en.srt
The right path is \\mycloudpr2100\TVShows\Alfred Hitchcock Presents\Season 1\S01E03.en.srt
I could be wrong but it looks like it’s a combination of the following
I was renaming subtitles files to .pt.srt insted of only .srt to not apperaring “unknown” here like this .
If i disabled the subtiles, yes i can play the video.
The file is there with that name how couldn’t find it?!
Couldn’t find the file to stream: X-Men.Days.Of.Future.Past.2014.720p.WEBRip.AC3.x264-LEGi0N\X-Men.Days.Of.Future.Past.2014.720p.WEBRip.AC3.x264-LEGi0N.pt.srt
However, there is a new PMS beta build out that is supposed to fix this issue, v.1.20.4.3517. I haven’t tried it myself.
Feel free to test and come back with your results.
.
