Endless spinning circle ever since 9.0 Shield update

Plex Players
1

Server Version#: 1.28.1.6104-7000
Player Version#: 9.6.2.34353
Plex Media Server Logs_2022-08-17_19-51-06.zip (4.5 MB)

Hi,

I have an odd issue when playing movies or TV with my Nvidia Shield that started after the big update to 9.0 last year. When I click play, I frequently see an endless spinning orange circle. I’ll hit back on my remote and try to play it again but same result. The only solution I can find is exiting Plex, putting the Shield to sleep, and then immediately waking it back up. The oddest part is, the moment I wake the Shield from sleep, I start hearing the audio from the show or movie. I’m still on the Shield home screen but hearing the audio from the thing I was trying to play. I can then click on Plex, go back to the movie, hit play and the video pops up perfectly in sync with the audio, as if it had been playing fine the whole time.

This happens every night when I first go use the Shield for the day. After I start playing something, I hit exit, put the Shield to sleep, wake it back up, and play the file again. The problem goes away and Plex works normally until the next night. Rinse and repeat.

I have tried completely resetting the shield and doing a fresh update to the latest Shield OS. It worked for the first night I think but then started doing it again soon after.

I’m running a Plex server on a Synology DSM418play with the latest version of DSM 7.1. My Windows Plex client plays everything just fine, as does my iPhone Plex client. This is only an issue on my Shield after the 9.0 update last year. I am attaching logs that I made right after the issue occurred last night. I did the sleep trick, got the movie playing, paused it, and made the log file.

I’ve searched for “spinning circle” and other phrases but can’t seem to find another topic exactly like mine. This plagues me every…single…night…and is SO annoying. I would very much appreciate any help with this.

Thank you!

2

Are you aware Shield Experience 9.1 is out?

It corrects A HUGE amount of problems from 9.0

A Shield Pro 2019 with 9.1 and current Plex app – will play flawless.

I see in your logs where it just disconnects (app terminated)

3

Thanks so much for your reply, Chuck. Yes, I am on 9.1 and just double checked I had the latest version, which I do. So, unfortunately, that did not solve my weird problem.

I’m not a programmer but would be curious to see which file you’re talking about and where you see the app getting terminated. Can you point me to that?

Also, is there any more information I can provide that might help you to see what’s going on?

4

Also, I should note I have the 2017 16GB Shield, aka the small guy.

5 
Aug 17, 2022 19:48:52.027 [0x7f953fbddb00] DEBUG - Request: [192.168.29.172:37354 (Subnet)] GET /video/:/transcode/universal/decision?audioBoost=100&autoAdjustQuality=0&directPlay=1&directStream=1&directStreamAudio=1&fastSeek=1&hasMDE=1&location=lan&maxVideoBitrate=200000&mediaBufferSize=209664&mediaIndex=0&partIndex=0&path=%2Flibrary%2Fmetadata%2F30574&protocol=*&session=0665eb23c804f487-com-plexapp-android&subtitleSize=100&videoBitrate=200000&videoQuality=100&videoResolution=3840x2160 (8 live) #d95 TLS GZIP Signed-in Token (KevBri) (SHIELD Android TV)
Aug 17, 2022 19:48:52.028 [0x7f953fbddb00] DEBUG - [Req#d95/Transcode] Found session GUID of 0665eb23c804f487-com-plexapp-android in session start.
Aug 17, 2022 19:48:52.044 [0x7f953fbddb00] DEBUG - [Req#d95/Transcode] TranscodeUniversalRequest: adapting profile with augmentation data: add-limitation(scope=videoCodec&scopeName=h264&type=upperBound&name=video.level&value=52)+add-limitation(scope=videoCodec&scopeName=*&type=upperBound&name=video.width&value=3840&replace=true)+add-limitation(scope=videoCodec&scopeName=*&type=upperBound&name=video.height&value=2160&replace=true)+add-limitation(scope=videoCodec&scopeName=hevc&type=notMatch&name=video.DOVIProfile&value=5)+add-transcode-target(type=videoProfile&context=streaming&protocol=hls&container=mkv&videoCodec=h264,hevc,mpeg2video&audioCodec=aac_latm,aac,aac,ac3,alac,dca,dca,dca,dca,eac3,flac,mp1,mp2,mp3,opus,vorbis,wmav1,wmav2,wmalossless,wmapro,wmavoice&subtitleCodec=ass,pgs,subrip,dvd_subtitle,mov_text,vtt,dvb_subtitle&replace=true)+add-transcode-target-settings(type=videoProfile&context=streaming&protocol=hls&CopyMatroskaAttachments=true)+add-limitation(scope=videoAudioCodec&scopeName=aac&type=upperBound&name=audio.channels&value=8&replace=true)+add-transcode-target-audio-codec(type=videoProfile&context=streaming&protocol=hls&audioCodec=mp3)+add-transcode-target-audio-codec(type=videoProfile&context=streaming&protocol=hls&audioCodec=ac3)+add-transcode-target-audio-codec(type=videoProfile&context=streaming&protocol=hls&audioCodec=eac3)+add-transcode-target-audio-codec(type=videoProfile&context=streaming&protocol=hls&audioCodec=dca)+add-transcode-target-audio-codec(type=videoProfile&context=streaming&protocol=hls&audioCodec=opus)+add-limitation(scope=videoCodec&scopeName=*&type=NotMatch&name=video.anamorphic&value=999&replace=true)+add-transcode-target(type=subtitleProfile&context=streaming&protocol=http&container=mkv&subtitleCodec=srt)+append-transcode-target-codec(type=videoProfile&context=streaming&protocol=hls&videoCodec=mpeg2video)+append-transcode-target-codec(type=videoProfile&context=streaming&protocol=hls&videoCodec=hevc)+add-limitation(scope=videoCodec&scopeName=hevc&type=Match&name=video.profile&list=main|main 10)+add-limitation(scope=videoTranscodeTarget&scopeName=hevc&scopeType=videoCodec&context=streaming&protocol=hls&type=match&name=video.colorTrc&list=bt709|bt470m|smpte240m|smpte170m|bt470bg|bt2020-10&isRequired=false)
Aug 17, 2022 19:48:52.045 [0x7f953fbddb00] DEBUG - [Req#d95/Transcode] TranscodeUniversalRequest: using augmented profile Android
Aug 17, 2022 19:48:52.045 [0x7f953fbddb00] DEBUG - [Req#d95/Transcode] Downloading document http://127.0.0.1:32400/library/metadata/30574?includeBandwidths=1&offset=-1&X-Plex-Incomplete-Segments=1&X-Plex-Session-Identifier=0665eb23c804f487-com-plexapp-android
Aug 17, 2022 19:48:52.056 [0x7f953fbddb00] DEBUG - [Req#d95/Transcode/Req#d97] It took 20.000000 ms to retrieve 233 items.
Aug 17, 2022 19:48:52.069 [0x7f953fbddb00] DEBUG - [Req#d95/Transcode/Req#d97] It took 10.000000 ms to retrieve 233 items.
Aug 17, 2022 19:48:52.071 [0x7f953fbddb00] DEBUG - [Req#d95/Transcode/Req#d97] We're going to try to auto-select an audio stream for account 1.
Aug 17, 2022 19:48:52.071 [0x7f953fbddb00] DEBUG - [Req#d95/Transcode/Req#d97] Selecting best audio stream for part ID 55965 (autoselect: 1 language: en)
Aug 17, 2022 19:48:52.071 [0x7f953fbddb00] DEBUG - [Req#d95/Transcode/Req#d97] We're going to try to auto-select a subtitle.
Aug 17, 2022 19:48:52.071 [0x7f953fbddb00] DEBUG - [Req#d95/Transcode/Req#d97] Audio Stream: 164020, Subtitle Stream: -1
Aug 17, 2022 19:48:52.075 [0x7f953fbddb00] DEBUG - [Req#d95/Transcode] Streaming Resource: Added session 0x7f9541c2c9a8:0665eb23c804f487-com-plexapp-android
Aug 17, 2022 19:48:52.075 [0x7f953fbddb00] DEBUG - [Req#d95/Transcode] Streaming Resource: Reached Decision id=30574 codes=(MDE=1000,Direct play OK.) media=(id=54494 part=(id=55965 decision=direct play protocol=* streams=(Video=(id=164019 decision= width=1920 height=802) Audio=(id=164020 decision= channels=0 rate=0))))
Aug 17, 2022 19:48:52.076 [0x7f954224db00] DEBUG - Completed: [192.168.29.172:37354] 200 GET /video/:/transcode/universal/decision?audioBoost=100&autoAdjustQuality=0&directPlay=1&directStream=1&directStreamAudio=1&fastSeek=1&hasMDE=1&location=lan&maxVideoBitrate=200000&mediaBufferSize=209664&mediaIndex=0&partIndex=0&path=%2Flibrary%2Fmetadata%2F30574&protocol=*&session=0665eb23c804f487-com-plexapp-android&subtitleSize=100&videoBitrate=200000&videoQuality=100&videoResolution=3840x2160 (8 live) TLS GZIP 49ms 4422 bytes (pipelined: 2)
Aug 17, 2022 19:48:53.362 [0x7f954224db00] DEBUG - Completed: [192.168.29.172:37358] 200 GET /library/metadata/30574?includeChapters=1&includeLoudnessRamps=1&includeMarkers=1&includeRelated=1 (8 live) TLS GZIP 1435ms 10591 bytes (pipelined: 1)
Aug 17, 2022 19:48:59.949 [0x7f9542270b00] DEBUG - WebSocket: client initiated close
Aug 17, 2022 19:48:59.949 [0x7f9542270b00] DEBUG - NotificationStream: Removing because of close
Aug 17, 2022 19:48:59.950 [0x7f9542270b00] DEBUG - handleStreamRead code 2: End of file
Aug 17, 2022 19:48:59.950 [0x7f9542270b00] DEBUG - Completed after connection close: [192.168.29.172:37274] -3 GET /:/websockets/notifications (8 live) TLS GZIP 139497ms 43 bytes
Aug 17, 2022 19:49:03.309 [0x7f953fb27b00] DEBUG - NetworkServiceBrowser: SSDP departed after not being seen for 21.379018 seconds: 192.168.29.119 (Ping Lights)
Aug 17, 2022 19:49:11.364 [0x7f95419a9b00] DEBUG - NetworkServiceBrowser: Parsing SSDP schema for http://192.168.29.119:49152/setup.xml
Aug 17, 2022 19:49:11.364 [0x7f95419a9b00] DEBUG - [HCl#1d8] HTTP requesting GET http://192.168.29.119:49152/setup.xml
Aug 17, 2022 19:49:11.422 [0x7f954213fb00] DEBUG - [HttpClient/HCl#1d8] HTTP/1.1 (0.1s) 200 response from GET http://192.168.29.119:49152/setup.xml
Aug 17, 2022 19:49:11.423 [0x7f95419a9b00] DEBUG - NetworkServiceBrowser: found 1 SSDP devices via http://192.168.29.119:49152/setup.xml
Aug 17, 2022 19:49:11.423 [0x7f95419a9b00] DEBUG - NetworkServiceBrowser: SSDP arrived: 192.168.29.119 (Ping Lights)
Aug 17, 2022 19:49:15.959 [0x7f953fb82b00] DEBUG - Request: [192.168.29.172:37358 (Subnet)] GET /library/parts/55965/1655213747/file.mkv?autoAdjustQuality=0&hasMDE=1&location=lan&mediaBufferSize=209664 (3 live) #db2 TLS Signed-in Token (KevBri) (SHIELD Android TV)
Aug 17, 2022 19:49:15.962 [0x7f953fb82b00] DEBUG - Content-Length of /volume1/Big Red 1/Movies & TV/Movies/Downloaded Movies/Fantastic Beasts - The Secrets of Dumbledore.mkv is 16286740621 (of total: 16286740621).
Aug 17, 2022 19:49:15.962 [0x7f953fb82b00] ERROR - Caught exception trying to stream file: /volume1/Big Red 1/Movies & TV/Movies/Downloaded Movies/Fantastic Beasts - The Secrets of Dumbledore.mkv: write: protocol is shutdown
Aug 17, 2022 19:49:15.962 [0x7f9542270b00] DEBUG - Completed after connection close: [192.168.29.172:37358] 500 GET /library/parts/55965/1655213747/file.mkv?autoAdjustQuality=0&hasMDE=1&location=lan&mediaBufferSize=209664 (3 live) TLS 3ms 0 bytes (pipelined: 2)
Aug 17, 2022 19:49:15.969 [0x7f953fb82b00] DEBUG - Request: [192.168.29.172:37372 (Subnet)] GET /library/parts/55965/1655213747/file.mkv?autoAdjustQuality=0&hasMDE=1&location=lan&mediaBufferSize=209664 (3 live) #d91 TLS Signed-in Token (KevBri) (SHIELD Android TV)
Aug 17, 2022 19:49:15.971 [0x7f953fb82b00] DEBUG - Content-Length of /volume1/Big Red 1/Movies & TV/Movies/Downloaded Movies/Fantastic Beasts - The Secrets of Dumbledore.mkv is 16286740621 (of total: 16286740621).
Aug 17, 2022 19:49:16.161 [0x7f954224db00] DEBUG - Failed to stream media, client probably disconnected after 4014080 bytes: 104 - Connection reset by peer
Aug 17, 2022 19:49:16.162 [0x7f954224db00] DEBUG - Completed after connection close: [192.168.29.172:37372] 200 GET /library/parts/55965/1655213747/file.mkv?autoAdjustQuality=0&hasMDE=1&location=lan&mediaBufferSize=209664 (3 live) TLS 192ms 4014080 bytes (pipelined: 1)

  1. It’s transcoding – On a Shield Pro it should NEVER transcode. Don’t think a 2017 will either but I might be wrong there. Either way, App settings are critical.

  2. The disconnected by the player is the last few lines “connection reset by peer” (shield is the peer)

  3. With the wrong app settings, the Syno will have a meltdown (not strong enough)

6

Ok, so if I understand this right, you’re saying the settings on my Shield Plex client are probably causing this?

Can you see why audio starts playing when I wake the Shield from sleep and why the video starts working (after I open Plex back up)? Is it Direct Playing at that point?

Sorry–having a hard time understanding the log. Thank you again!

7

I just tried playing a movie. It gave me the endless circle and while that was happening, I clicked the 3 dots and looked at Playback Settings. It showed “Playing Original Quality.”

In the Shield’s Plex app settings, under Video, Home Streaming is set to Maximum Quality. I have the option to adjust video quality automatically turned off. Am I missing something with the settings you think?

8

Do you have subtitles in the video?

On the shield app settings – Subtitles either OFF or Automatic.
Anything else is ‘subtitle burning’ prone and buries it.

In your server settings - Transcoder - Show advanced.

  1. HDR tone mapping off
  2. Turn the other hardware buttons on.
  3. SAVE if you make changes
9

@kevin.brian_hotmail.com

Do you have a 4K UHD TV?

If so, I have a few samples for you

If not, I have some other samples for you too :wink:

10

In the Shield settings, under Video, there is a setting called Burn Subtitles. Under that you can choose Automatic, Only image formats, and Always. I have it on Automatic.

For the other settings, I’m attaching photos to show what I had and what I changed them to.

OLD:

Old Settings
Old Settings763×656 69.1 KB

NEW:

New Settings
New Settings765×654 79.8 KB

Tone mapping was on because I have an old Panasonic plasma and a few 4K HDR titles that look muted unless I have that on.

I stopped the Plex server and started it again, tried to play a movie, and still got the spinning circle.

11

Guess I’ll take the 1080p samples since I have an old-ass plasma! Are the samples used as like a baseline for testing?

12

So I was combing through forums again and found someone talking about refresh rate switching being a problem for them. In my Plex app settings, under Advanced, I had that turned on. As soon as I turned it off, voila! I turned it back on, tried to play the movie, and got the spinning circle again. Turned it back off, and movie plays fine, so that must be the culprit!

Only problem is, I feel like that should be turned on, right? My Panasonic VT30 can switch its refresh rate to 96Hz for 24p content to decrease artifacts. That was one of its selling points. Is that what this setting turns off?

13

Refresh rate switching? Not required.

I don’t use it.

New TVs are ok with it.
OLD stuff doesn’t like it.
Don’t use anything fancy in the settings. Let the shield do it in the hardware

14

Interesting. My friend just recommended replacing my 2012 HDMI cables to see if faster cables helps. The weird thing is, the Refresh Rate Switching works sometimes, like when I put the Shield to sleep and then wake it back up.

I was able to look at my receiver (Yamaha RX-A810 from 2012) output with RRS turned on and off. When ON (and working) it shows:

IMG_1089
IMG_1089816×612 51.1 KB

When RRS is OFF, it shows:

IMG_1091
IMG_1091816×612 50.8 KB

However, I can’t really see a difference. I suppose this is just a matter of old hardware and not much Plex can do about it?

15

No, there’s really not much which can be done to support hardware that old.

All you can do is fuss with it until you find the best settings.
If, like me, you can’t find a good setting, replace it.

(I replaced a 2010 Vizio 47" for a 2021 LG 4K UHD OLED 48")
The new OLED handles ALL the “fancy options” without a fuss but I did need the best 48 Ghz HDMI cabling for it too.

16

Haha, might be time to finally part with my plasma baby. I suppose 10.5 years was a good run :(.

Thank you SO much for all your help and quick replies! Can’t believe I finally nailed down the culprit (after months and months of dealing with this) and that it was something so simple as the RRS setting. Doh!

You are the best!