DVR fails due to transcoder error

General Discussions Plex Features
1

On a couple of occasions I’ve had DVR fail because of a transcoder error. The status page/schedule page gives no more information than that. I was watching another movie at the same time as the recording. Would that have made a difference? If someone would like to provide assistance I can provide full logs. In the meantime here’s a snipit at the time of failure.

#13335 Jul 26, 2017 23:00:31.119 [0x7f467f77d700] DEBUG - Using default transcode duration of 120 minutes
#13336 Jul 26, 2017 23:00:31.119 [0x7f467f77d700] DEBUG - Started session successfully: 021f1ce4-dd71-4924-8109-f1c18547ffb9
#13337 Jul 26, 2017 23:00:31.119 [0x7f467f77d700] DEBUG - DVR:Recorder: It took 30.0 sec to start the session for http://192.168.1.112:5004/auto/v62
#13338 Jul 26, 2017 23:00:31.120 [0x7f467f77d700] ERROR - DVR:Recorder: No part because session isn’t reporting one.
#13339 Jul 26, 2017 23:00:31.120 [0x7f467f77d700] ERROR - DVR:Recorder: Couldn’t obtain a part, something went wrong.
#13340 Jul 26, 2017 23:00:31.120 [0x7f467f77d700] ERROR - DVR:Recorder: Error 12 (There was a transcoder error) starting the record, shutting things down.
#13341 Jul 26, 2017 23:00:31.121 [0x7f467f77d700] DEBUG - DVR:Recorder: Asked to stop recording ‘The Good Mistress (2014)’.
#13342 Jul 26, 2017 23:00:31.121 [0x7f467f77d700] DEBUG - DVR:Recorder: Stopping transcode session.
#13343 Jul 26, 2017 23:00:31.121 [0x7f467f77d700] DEBUG - Killing job.
#13344 Jul 26, 2017 23:00:31.121 [0x7f467f77d700] DEBUG - Signalling job ID 2635 with 9
#13345 Jul 26, 2017 23:00:31.121 [0x7f467f77d700] DEBUG - Job was already killed, not killing again.
#13346 Jul 26, 2017 23:00:31.121 [0x7f467f77d700] DEBUG - Stopping transcode session 021f1ce4-dd71-4924-8109-f1c18547ffb9
#13347 Jul 26, 2017 23:00:31.122 [0x7f4685fff700] DEBUG - JobManager: child process killed by signal: 9 (Killed)
#13348 Jul 26, 2017 23:00:31.123 [0x7f467f77d700] DEBUG - DVR:Grabber: Freed a tuner (now 2 available)
#13349 Jul 26, 2017 23:00:31.123 [0x7f467f77d700] DEBUG - DVR:Grabber: Operation for The Good Mistress (2014) completed with status error (There was a transcoder error)
#13350 Jul 26, 2017 23:00:31.139 [0x7f467f77d700] DEBUG - Activity: Ended activity 3545463b-68d8-4c06-9c8c-a81f598ce228.
#13351 Jul 26, 2017 23:00:31.140 [0x7f467f77d700] ERROR - DVR:Grabber: Starting media grab failed.
#13352 Jul 26, 2017 23:00:31.160 [0x7f4687911700] DEBUG - Auth: We found auth token (xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx), enabling token-based authentication.
#13353 Jul 26, 2017 23:00:31.160 [0x7f4687911700] DEBUG - Auth: Came in with the master token, authorization succeeded.
#13354 Jul 26, 2017 23:00:31.160 [0x7f4675c47700] DEBUG - Request: [127.0.0.1:57292 (Loopback)] PUT /video/:/transcode/session/bdcbbejvy26io/2d877efa-b397-4b68-b68f-9589299077ac/progress?

2

Wow! Sorry about the huge font in the log extract.

3

Having this same problem. I am using the latest PMS on Windows 10 x64 and an Avermedia Volar(?) USB tuner for OTA.

4

same here wintv-dual usb about 45 minutes into AGT. I would say that it seems to occur for two reasons for me. The first is poor quality channels (15-19 SNR). the other seems to happen if I am watching a DVR show via transcode while recording two shows. I haven’t had a lot of instances of either and not enough to correlate anything though.

5

This problem has been around for a long time.
Absolutely no apparent interest taken by Plex for this issue in all this time.
Has ANYONE heard of the possibility Plex is looking into this??

1 Like
6

Transcode error message in the scheduler. Transcode error trying to view any recording in .TS format since the change back to TS.

7

Yup that is what is happening.
However, This error has been around a lot longer than the recent change back to TS recordings.

Since this customer support system does not have an easy way to correlate issues, has anyone seen a response from Plex to this DVR issue in all similar posts reporting this issue??

Any ideas would be appreciated…

Thanks

8

@interweb-tech said:
Transcode error message in the scheduler. Transcode error trying to view any recording in .TS format since the change back to TS.

Need to amend my complaint. Pilot error.

Got a call from a remote user telling me he was getting the “transcoder error” on his Roku trying to watch a movie. I fired up Chrome and found I was getting it too. Tried various older versions, all with the same result. Tried the Shield TV in living room and it played fine (direct play). Hmm… On a whim, I went into server Transcoder settings and found I had magically acquired a path in the “Transcoder temporary directory” pointing to a folder that does not exist. I have used this setting in the past but not for at least a year (Plex nerfed it on smaller drives by doing an arbitrary disk space check that exceeded the free space so it would fail). How that got back in there is a mystery. I had tried a custom docker w/comskip in it recently. Perhaps that had it set in it? Dunno but once I cleared that field (as is the default) it fixed remote client transcoding, DVR recording & viewing, and trying to view in any client that requires transcoding.

PS. I still get a transcoding warning in Shield TV for DVR recordings regarding MPEG in a TS container being incompatible with Android TV.