EAC3 audio fails to transcode after latest update

Plex Media Server
1

Hello,

After updating Plex Media Server to the latest version on an Ubuntu VM I can no longer play files with EAC3 audio in a web browser. I have tried both Chrome and Opera as well as both Windows 11 and Mac OS. Playing these same files works fine on my iPhone. I have tried clearing out the codecs folder and restarting the service twice now, no change. I have also tried reinstalling the .deb file again, no change. Log messages below. Any thoughts on what I can do to resolve this?

Server Version#: 1.29.2.6364
Player Version#: Various

Nov 10, 2022 09:55:38.711 [0x7f3243834b38] ERROR - [Req#54c6/Transcode/8f66bzdo7v64znpmc3d3n66b/b4996b4f-fd8f-45b1-80a3-96c25e36b9af] [ac3 @ 0x7fc9a2b34ac0] error decoding the audio block
Nov 10, 2022 09:55:38.712 [0x7f32461bfb38] ERROR - [Req#54ca/Transcode/8f66bzdo7v64znpmc3d3n66b/b4996b4f-fd8f-45b1-80a3-96c25e36b9af] Error while decoding stream #0:1: No error information
Nov 10, 2022 09:55:39.088 [0x7f3244c81b38] ERROR - [Req#54cd/Transcode/8f66bzdo7v64znpmc3d3n66b/b4996b4f-fd8f-45b1-80a3-96c25e36b9af] [ac3 @ 0x7fc9a2b34ac0] E-AC-3 support not compiled in
Nov 10, 2022 09:55:39.089 [0x7f3243631b38] ERROR - [Req#54d1/Transcode/8f66bzdo7v64znpmc3d3n66b/b4996b4f-fd8f-45b1-80a3-96c25e36b9af] Error while decoding stream #0:1: Function not implemented
Nov 10, 2022 09:55:39.241 [0x7f3244e84b38] ERROR - [Req#54d4/Transcode/8f66bzdo7v64znpmc3d3n66b/b4996b4f-fd8f-45b1-80a3-96c25e36b9af] [ac3 @ 0x7fc9a2b34ac0] new coupling strategy must be present in block 0
Nov 10, 2022 09:55:39.242 [0x7f3243028b38] ERROR - [Req#54d7/Transcode/8f66bzdo7v64znpmc3d3n66b/b4996b4f-fd8f-45b1-80a3-96c25e36b9af] [ac3 @ 0x7fc9a2b34ac0] error decoding the audio block
Nov 10, 2022 09:55:39.243 [0x7f3242e25b38] ERROR - [Req#54d8/Transcode/8f66bzdo7v64znpmc3d3n66b/b4996b4f-fd8f-45b1-80a3-96c25e36b9af] Error while decoding stream #0:1: No error information
Nov 10, 2022 09:55:39.338 [0x7f3248703b38] ERROR - [Req#54dd/Transcode/8f66bzdo7v64znpmc3d3n66b/b4996b4f-fd8f-45b1-80a3-96c25e36b9af] [ac3 @ 0x7fc9a2b34ac0] invalid coupling range (14 >= 3)
Nov 10, 2022 09:55:39.338 [0x7f324322bb38] ERROR - [Req#54e0/Transcode/8f66bzdo7v64znpmc3d3n66b/b4996b4f-fd8f-45b1-80a3-96c25e36b9af] [ac3 @ 0x7fc9a2b34ac0] error decoding the audio block
Nov 10, 2022 09:55:39.339 [0x7f3243834b38] ERROR - [Req#54e3/Transcode/8f66bzdo7v64znpmc3d3n66b/b4996b4f-fd8f-45b1-80a3-96c25e36b9af] Error while decoding stream #0:1: No error information
Nov 10, 2022 09:55:39.739 [0x7f3244c81b38] ERROR - [Req#54e5/Transcode/8f66bzdo7v64znpmc3d3n66b/b4996b4f-fd8f-45b1-80a3-96c25e36b9af] [ac3 @ 0x7fc9a2b34ac0] invalid coupling range (13 >= 3)
Nov 10, 2022 09:55:39.740 [0x7f3243631b38] ERROR - [Req#54e9/Transcode/8f66bzdo7v64znpmc3d3n66b/b4996b4f-fd8f-45b1-80a3-96c25e36b9af] [ac3 @ 0x7fc9a2b34ac0] error decoding the audio block
Nov 10, 2022 09:55:39.740 [0x7f3244e84b38] ERROR - [Req#54ec/Transcode/8f66bzdo7v64znpmc3d3n66b/b4996b4f-fd8f-45b1-80a3-96c25e36b9af] Error while decoding stream #0:1: No error information
Nov 10, 2022 09:55:40.055 [0x7f3243028b38] ERROR - [Req#54ef/Transcode/8f66bzdo7v64znpmc3d3n66b/b4996b4f-fd8f-45b1-80a3-96c25e36b9af] [ac3 @ 0x7fc9a2b34ac0] new coupling strategy must be present in block 0
Nov 10, 2022 09:55:40.056 [0x7f3242e25b38] ERROR - [Req#54f2/Transcode/8f66bzdo7v64znpmc3d3n66b/b4996b4f-fd8f-45b1-80a3-96c25e36b9af] [ac3 @ 0x7fc9a2b34ac0] error decoding the audio block
Nov 10, 2022 09:55:40.057 [0x7f3248703b38] ERROR - [Req#54f5/Transcode/8f66bzdo7v64znpmc3d3n66b/b4996b4f-fd8f-45b1-80a3-96c25e36b9af] Error while decoding stream #0:1: No error information
Nov 10, 2022 09:55:40.099 [0x7f324322bb38] ERROR - [Req#54f8/Transcode/8f66bzdo7v64znpmc3d3n66b/b4996b4f-fd8f-45b1-80a3-96c25e36b9af] [ac3 @ 0x7fc9a2b34ac0] E-AC-3 support not compiled in
Nov 10, 2022 09:55:40.100 [0x7f3243834b38] ERROR - [Req#54fb/Transcode/8f66bzdo7v64znpmc3d3n66b/b4996b4f-fd8f-45b1-80a3-96c25e36b9af] Error while decoding stream #0:1: Function not implemented
Nov 10, 2022 09:55:40.325 [0x7f32461bfb38] ERROR - [Req#54fd/Transcode/8f66bzdo7v64znpmc3d3n66b/b4996b4f-fd8f-45b1-80a3-96c25e36b9af] [ac3 @ 0x7fc9a2b34ac0] new coupling coordinates must be present in block 0
Nov 10, 2022 09:55:40.325 [0x7f3244c81b38] ERROR - [Req#54ff/Transcode/8f66bzdo7v64znpmc3d3n66b/b4996b4f-fd8f-45b1-80a3-96c25e36b9af] [ac3 @ 0x7fc9a2b34ac0] error decoding the audio block
Nov 10, 2022 09:55:40.326 [0x7f3243631b38] ERROR - [Req#5504/Transcode/8f66bzdo7v64znpmc3d3n66b/b4996b4f-fd8f-45b1-80a3-96c25e36b9af] Error while decoding stream #0:1: No error information
Nov 10, 2022 09:55:40.476 [0x7f3244e84b38] ERROR - [Req#5507/Transcode/8f66bzdo7v64znpmc3d3n66b/b4996b4f-fd8f-45b1-80a3-96c25e36b9af] [ac3 @ 0x7fc9a2b34ac0] E-AC-3 support not compiled in
Nov 10, 2022 09:55:40.476 [0x7f3243028b38] ERROR - [Req#550a/Transcode/8f66bzdo7v64znpmc3d3n66b/b4996b4f-fd8f-45b1-80a3-96c25e36b9af] Error while decoding stream #0:1: Function not implemented
Nov 10, 2022 09:55:40.622 [0x7f3242e25b38] ERROR - [Req#550d/Transcode/8f66bzdo7v64znpmc3d3n66b/b4996b4f-fd8f-45b1-80a3-96c25e36b9af] [ac3 @ 0x7fc9a2b34ac0] delta bit allocation strategy reserved
Nov 10, 2022 09:55:40.622 [0x7f3248703b38] ERROR - [Req#5510/Transcode/8f66bzdo7v64znpmc3d3n66b/b4996b4f-fd8f-45b1-80a3-96c25e36b9af] [ac3 @ 0x7fc9a2b34ac0] error decoding the audio block
Nov 10, 2022 09:55:40.623 [0x7f324322bb38] ERROR - [Req#5513/Transcode/8f66bzdo7v64znpmc3d3n66b/b4996b4f-fd8f-45b1-80a3-96c25e36b9af] Error while decoding stream #0:1: No error information
Nov 10, 2022 09:55:40.698 [0x7f3243834b38] ERROR - [Req#5516/Transcode/8f66bzdo7v64znpmc3d3n66b/b4996b4f-fd8f-45b1-80a3-96c25e36b9af] [ac3 @ 0x7fc9a2b34ac0] new coupling strategy must be present in block 0
Nov 10, 2022 09:55:40.699 [0x7f32461bfb38] ERROR - [Req#5517/Transcode/8f66bzdo7v64znpmc3d3n66b/b4996b4f-fd8f-45b1-80a3-96c25e36b9af] [ac3 @ 0x7fc9a2b34ac0] error decoding the audio block
Nov 10, 2022 09:55:40.699 [0x7f3244c81b38] ERROR - [Req#551b/Transcode/8f66bzdo7v64znpmc3d3n66b/b4996b4f-fd8f-45b1-80a3-96c25e36b9af] Error while decoding stream #0:1: No error information
~
2

Please do the following:

  1. Verify DEBUG server logging is enabled again (SAVE after changing the setting)
  2. Restart PMS and wait 3 minutes for init (I would like to check something)
  3. Now recreate the playback failure.
  4. When failed, Download the server logs zip file
  5. Attach the ZIP file here.
3

Thanks, I have followed your steps. Logs attached.
Plex Media Server Logs_2022-11-10_10-46-52.zip (3.9 MB)

4

Can you cut me off about 30 seconds (using dd) of that file, ZIP it, and put it here for me to test / recreate with ?

I ask because PMS is expecting AC3.
It encounters EAC-3

One of two things are possible:

  1. The file changed since originally scanned without being reanalyzed
    -or-
  2. The transcoder bump has a deficiency with the Dolby interface.
5

I actually can answer that offhand. I did in fact replace the file myself. I have re-ran library scans, emptied the trash, etc but haven’t been able to get the file to play after it was replaced. I was having issues with other files originally but clearing the codec folder seemed to fix it for all but this one file.

6

Did you click “Analyze” ? That’s the important part

Plex won’t do anything by scan , refresh once the file is known and media info determined

7

I thought I had but I went ahead and did it again and that seemed to fix it. Thanks!

8

For all reading here –

Clearing the codecs directory is almost never necessary.

  1. It deleted your codec licence – causing more delay on first playback to get one.
  2. PMS will automatically update codecs at first use each new version.
9

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