EAC3 transcoding failing on all clients

Plex Media Server Desktops & Laptops
1

Server Version#: 1.13.9.5439
Player Version#: Multiple players - Roku, iOS & Web testedPlex Media Server Logs_2018-10-26_11-22-03.zip (5.5 MB)

I’ve been having issues with EAC3 audio with MKV containers for a while now and can’t find a solution. Here’s what I get:

Oct 26, 2018 11:20:50.001 [0x7ff503ffe700] ERROR - [Transcoder] [eac3_eae @ 0x34d8b00] EAE timeout! EAE not running, or wrong folder? Could not read ‘/tmp/pms-9334c3ae-52e9-4e21-a229-6f58c026458e/EasyAudioEncoder/Convert to WAV (to 8ch or less)/rylm1x0wflm07ss5rjjahnal_30180-0-40.wav’

Oct 26, 2018 11:20:50.002 [0x7ff4f3fff700] ERROR - [Transcoder] [eac3_eae @ 0x34d8b00] error reading output

Oct 26, 2018 11:20:50.004 [0x7ff4f4ffe700] ERROR - [Transcoder] Error while decoding stream #0:1: Input/output error

This happens over & over. I’ve tried deleting the Codecs directory to no avail. This is not on a network share. Temp file is in the default location on the same drive as PMS. I’ve attached logs. Thanks.

2

Please do the following:

  1. Verfy DEBUG logging is enabled (Do not enable Verbose)
  2. Recreate the failure
  3. Wait 30 seconds for logs to flush to disk
  4. Settings - Server - Troubleshoot - Download Logs
  5. Attach ZIP file here.
1 Like
3

Debug logging was enabled & verbose disabled. This is what I did for the logs I just uploaded. Did you want me do this again?

4

oooooo’ kay… That was weird. I didn’t see any attached until now.

Is /tmp network mounted?

Oct 26, 2018 11:02:41.001 [0x7ff4fffff700] ERROR - [Transcoder] [eac3_eae @ 0x1f62b00] EAE timeout! EAE not running, or wrong folder? Could not read '/tmp/pms-9334c3ae-52e9-4e21-a229-6f58c026458e/EasyAudioEncoder/Convert to WAV (to 8ch or less)/dz2ohnt2crphlaipqmcvhj8k_28377-0-141.wav'
Oct 26, 2018 11:02:41.003 [0x7ff4fe7fc700] ERROR - [Transcoder] [eac3_eae @ 0x1f62b00] error reading output
Oct 26, 2018 11:02:41.005 [0x7ff4fdffb700] ERROR - [Transcoder] Error while decoding stream #0:1: Input/output error
Oct 26, 2018 11:02:41.218 [0x7ff51b7fd700] DEBUG - Streaming Resource: Estimated bandwidth for 13E4671C-A9B8-4196-B73E-44C1EDA91731 to be 3179kbps over 10.09s

What’s happening is it thinks the file is there (there is no active lock) and it tries to open it .

If you change the audio selection, does the error cease?

5

/tmp is not network mounted. It’s on the same drive as PMS.

Right, I can tell that’s what’s happening. I don’t have any other audio options for these videos, but it’s only EAC3 audio that triggers this behavior. Everything else plays fine. I’ve tried alternate versions of videos with another audio codec and they play fine as well. It’s just EAC3.

6

I recommend:

  1. Stop PMS
  2. Navigate into the “Codecs” directory under PMS
  3. Delete all you find.
  4. Restart PMS
  5. Allow it to download each codec fresh the first time it’s used (This introduces a small delay the first time while downloading it)

Other than that, I will want to try a sample of that same file myself

7

Ok I did that & still no change. I’d previously deleted the old codecs but hadn’t stopped the server.

8

Can you please carve off a sample of that file for me (approx 5-10MB) ?

dd if=filename.ext  of=filename-snip.ext bs=1M count=10

and let me see it? I will see what happens on my system

9

I get these errors too when plex tries to transcode EAC3, I’m running plex in docker (tried both official and linuxserver) on debian. After restarting or deleting codecs folder it works for some time, but error comes back next day. Happens with multiple files, not just single video.
Logs:

Nov 02, 2018 16:42:32.000 [0x7fb29abf0700] ERROR - [Transcoder] [eac3_eae @ 0x29804c0] EAE timeout! EAE not running, or wrong folder? Could not read '/tmp/pms-540277db-6342-41bf-abcc-0fd7a5b544da/EasyAud$
Nov 02, 2018 16:42:32.001 [0x7fb2a23ff700] ERROR - [Transcoder] [eac3_eae @ 0x29804c0] error reading output
Nov 02, 2018 16:42:32.002 [0x7fb29abf0700] ERROR - [Transcoder] Error while decoding stream #0:2: Input/output error
10

To all reading here…

Without a sample of the file you are using, there is nothing which I can do.
I need to see what you’re seeing first.
Log file fragments are of no help unless it can be reproduced

11

Ok, finally got to this. Thanks for your help.

filename-snip.mkv.zip (9.9 MB)

12

Interesting results.

What are you playing the file on? I play to the browser (PLex/web) which is aac only, and it plays

Nov 03, 2018 02:36:04.035 [0x7fb43a7fc700] DEBUG - Auth: authenticated user 1 as ChuckPA
Nov 03, 2018 02:36:04.038 [0x7fb43a7fc700] DEBUG - We're going to try to auto-select an audio stream for account 1.
Nov 03, 2018 02:36:04.038 [0x7fb43a7fc700] DEBUG - Selecting best audio stream for part ID 3297 (autoselect: 1 language: en)
Nov 03, 2018 02:36:04.038 [0x7fb43a7fc700] DEBUG - Audio Stream: 7943, Subtitle Stream: -1
Nov 03, 2018 02:36:04.039 [0x7fb43a7fc700] DEBUG - MDE: Selected protocol dash; container: mp4
Nov 03, 2018 02:36:04.039 [0x7fb43a7fc700] DEBUG - MDE: analyzing media item 3292
Nov 03, 2018 02:36:04.039 [0x7fb43a7fc700] DEBUG - MDE: filename-snip (2018): Direct Play is disabled
Nov 03, 2018 02:36:04.039 [0x7fb43a7fc700] DEBUG - MDE: filename-snip (2018): media must be transcoded in order to use the dash protocol
Nov 03, 2018 02:36:04.039 [0x7fb43a7fc700] DEBUG - MDE: filename-snip (2018): no direct play video profile exists for http/mkv/h264
Nov 03, 2018 02:36:04.039 [0x7fb43a7fc700] DEBUG - MDE: filename-snip (2018): no direct play video profile exists for http/mkv/h264/eac3
Nov 03, 2018 02:36:04.039 [0x7fb43a7fc700] DEBUG - MDE: Cannot direct stream audio stream due to codec eac3 when profile only allows aac
Nov 03, 2018 02:36:04.039 [0x7fb43a7fc700] DEBUG - MDE: filename-snip (2018): selected media 0 / 3292
Nov 03, 2018 02:36:04.039 [0x7fb43a7fc700] DEBUG - Streaming Resource: Added session 0x7fb4040f0610:laq325q1eucotg4e49s7tg5f
Nov 03, 2018 02:36:04.040 [0x7fb43a7fc700] DEBUG - Streaming Resource: Reached Decision id=1637 codes=(General=1001,Direct play not available; Conversion OK. Direct Play=3000,App cannot direct play this item. Direct play is disabled. Transcode=1001,Direct play not available; Conversion OK.) media=(id=3292 part=(id=3297 decision=transcode container=mp4 protocol=dash streams=(Video=(id=7942 decision=copy width=1280 height=720) Audio=(id=7943 decision=transcode bitrate=256 encoder=aac channels=2 rate=48000))))
Nov 03, 2018 02:36:04.040 [0x7fb477fff700] DEBUG - Completed: [127.0.0.1:59886] 200 GET /video/:/transcode/universal/decision?hasMDE=1&path=%2Flibrary%2Fmetadata%2F1637&mediaIndex=0&partIndex=0&protocol=dash&fastSeek=1&directPlay=0&directStream=1&subtitleSize=100&audioBoost=100&location=lan&addDebugOverlay=0&autoAdjustQuality=0&directStreamAudio=1&mediaBufferSize=102400&session=t409dwzfkofd29y8ob1j4t2j&subtitles=burn&Accept-Language=en (7 live) GZIP 6ms 1224 bytes (pipelined: 13)
Nov 03, 2018 02:36:04.102 [0x7fb47c919700] DEBUG - Auth: authenticated user 1 as ChuckPA
Nov 03, 2018 02:36:04.103 [0x7fb4397fa700] DEBUG - Request: [127.0.0.1:59886 (Loopback)] GET /video/:/transcode/universal/start.mpd?hasMDE=1&path=%2Flibrary%2Fmetadata%2F1637&mediaIndex=0&partIndex=0&protocol=dash&fastSeek=1&directPlay=0&directStream=1&subtitleSize=100&audioBoost=100&location=lan&addDebugOverlay=0&autoAdjustQuality=0&directStreamAudio=1&mediaBufferSize=102400&session=t409dwzfkofd29y8ob1j4t2j&subtitles=burn&Accept-Language=en (7 live) GZIP Signed-in Token (ChuckPA)
Nov 03, 2018 02:36:04.103 [0x7fb4397fa700] DEBUG - Found session GUID of t409dwzfkofd29y8ob1j4t2j in session start.
Nov 03, 2018 02:36:04.103 [0x7fb4397fa700] DEBUG - TranscodeUniversalRequest: using augmented profile Web
Nov 03, 2018 02:36:04.103 [0x7fb4397fa700] DEBUG - Downloading document http://127.0.0.1:32400/library/metadata/1637?checkFiles=1&includeBandwidths=1&offset=-1&X-Plex-Session-Identifier=laq325q1eucotg4e49s7tg5f
Nov 03, 2018 02:36:04.103 [0x7fb4397fa700] DEBUG - Auth: authenticated user 1 as ChuckPA
Nov 03, 2018 02:36:04.105 [0x7fb4397fa700] DEBUG - We're going to try to auto-select an audio stream for account 1.
Nov 03, 2018 02:36:04.105 [0x7fb4397fa700] DEBUG - Selecting best audio stream for part ID 3297 (autoselect: 1 language: en)
Nov 03, 2018 02:36:04.105 [0x7fb4397fa700] DEBUG - Audio Stream: 7943, Subtitle Stream: -1
Nov 03, 2018 02:36:04.106 [0x7fb4397fa700] DEBUG - Found session GUID of t409dwzfkofd29y8ob1j4t2j in session start.
Nov 03, 2018 02:36:04.106 [0x7fb4397fa700] DEBUG - Cleaning directory for session t409dwzfkofd29y8ob1j4t2j ()
Nov 03, 2018 02:36:04.106 [0x7fb4397fa700] DEBUG - Starting a transcode session t409dwzfkofd29y8ob1j4t2j at offset -1.0 (state=3)
Nov 03, 2018 02:36:04.107 [0x7fb4397fa700] INFO - CodecManager: obtaining EAE
Nov 03, 2018 02:36:04.107 [0x7fb4397fa700] DEBUG - HTTP requesting GET https://plex.tv/api/codecs/easyaudioencoder?build=linux-x86_64-standard&deviceId=62fdbbc5-e9ea-4f35-b70c-509d690e73bb&oldestPreviousVersion=1%2E13%2E6%2E5339-115f087d6&version=eae-69c1de6-14

This shows it obtaining the codec for decoding.

This being the case, I would like you to:

  1. Stop PMS
  2. cd "/var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Codecs"
  3. Remove everything you see there with *eae*, including the directory.
  4. Start PMS
  5. Play it again (letting the codec download again).

My suspicion is, given I’m running the next version of PMS in testing, is your codec somehow didn’t download correctly.

Deleting the files and letting them be fetched again will resolve that.

13

I’m thinking it’s not a problem with a file. As I have deleted codecs to let them redownload few times. But also simple container restart helps. And then it starts playing same files it didn’t before. But next day problem comes back.
I guess EAE hangs or something. People say mounting tmp folder outside docker helps, but I’m not sure it’s good long term solution.

@fraggle_1 are you running PMS in docker too?

14

I have tried playing with web, iOS & Roku - all with the same results. I have problems with all EAC3 videos, not just this one. I am not running in docker.

15

I’ve experienced failures to play EAC3 for many months, perhaps more than a year, now. My samsung TV, a samsung bluray remotely and I can’t recall what the third device was. Often the video plays and the sound is silent. Sometimes you got a message about an unsupported format. I’ll try the deletion of decoders. I’ve just assumed either the plex client or the server was handling the new format poorly. I’ve had to re-encode all EAC3 content so we could watch it. I’d love it if I could stop re-encoding EAC3s.

16

I am uncertain how to continue with this one.

  1. Plays on Plex/Web Chrome and Safari, Roku 3, Apple TV, iOS app
  2. Fedora, QNAP, and Synology hosts
17

Judging from all of these posts there’s definitely some kind of bug with EAC3 transcoding. A lot of us have been having problems with it for many months (myself included). It’s a server side issue as I can’t play with Plex/Web Chome, Safari or Firefox (latest MacOS hosts), Roku 2/3, and iOS. We’ve also seen Samsung TV in this thread. My server is Ubuntu 18.04 (just realized it’s already time to upgrade.) What are you running on? Maybe it’s specific to a certain Linux flavor.

18

I use Fedora 27. I didn’t test this in Ubuntu. I’ll do that now for all distros and report back.

19

I’ll be upgrading to 18.10 next week so I’ll be able to see if that behaves the same for me.

20

I have been away most of this weekend (family obligations).
I did manage to verify Ubuntu 16 LTS is fine for me on web, roku 3 and atv 4k