Error in transcoding 4K files

[massenzio23]

Server Version#: Version 1.18.7.2457
Player Version#: same problem on Chrome web player 4.22.2 and LG Smart TV (webOS)
Plex running on a docker container in OMV 5.0

Hello board,
It seems like whenever I try to play most of my 4K files it fails and I get a transcoding error.
No problem with full HD content and a small minority of the other 4K files I have…

This is part of the log file in which I located the error:

Mar 02, 2020 10:02:07.920 [0x7fb483fff700] DEBUG - MDE: Selected protocol dash; container: mp4
Mar 02, 2020 10:02:07.920 [0x7fb483fff700] DEBUG - MDE: analyzing media item 10181
Mar 02, 2020 10:02:07.920 [0x7fb483fff700] DEBUG - MDE: Avengers: Endgame (2019): Direct Play is disabled
Mar 02, 2020 10:02:07.920 [0x7fb483fff700] DEBUG - MDE: Avengers: Endgame (2019): media must be transcoded in order to use the dash protocol
Mar 02, 2020 10:02:07.920 [0x7fb483fff700] DEBUG - MDE: Avengers: Endgame (2019): no direct play video profile exists for http/mkv/hevc
Mar 02, 2020 10:02:07.920 [0x7fb483fff700] DEBUG - MDE: Avengers: Endgame (2019): no direct play video profile exists for http/mkv/hevc/eac3
Mar 02, 2020 10:02:07.920 [0x7fb483fff700] DEBUG - Avengers: Endgame - video.height limitation applies: 2160 > 1280
Mar 02, 2020 10:02:07.920 [0x7fb483fff700] DEBUG - MDE: Avengers: Endgame (2019): no remuxable profile found, so video stream will be transcoded
Mar 02, 2020 10:02:07.920 [0x7fb483fff700] DEBUG - MDE: Cannot direct stream video stream due to profile or setting limitations
Mar 02, 2020 10:02:07.920 [0x7fb483fff700] DEBUG - Scaled up video bitrate to 112846Kbps based on 4.500000x fudge factor.
Mar 02, 2020 10:02:07.920 [0x7fb483fff700] DEBUG - Scaled maximum bitrate for resolution reduction to 39635Kbps.
Mar 02, 2020 10:02:07.920 [0x7fb483fff700] DEBUG - MDE: Cannot direct stream audio stream due to codec eac3 when profile only allows aac
Mar 02, 2020 10:02:07.920 [0x7fb483fff700] DEBUG - MDE: Avengers: Endgame (2019): selected media 0 / 10181
Mar 02, 2020 10:02:07.920 [0x7fb483fff700] DEBUG - Streaming Resource: Adding session 0x7fb41015e960:sg92ue6tm6d0kvwg9ltgjwvs which is using transcoder slot.  Used slots is now 1
Mar 02, 2020 10:02:07.920 [0x7fb483fff700] DEBUG - Streaming Resource: Added session 0x7fb41015e960:sg92ue6tm6d0kvwg9ltgjwvs
Mar 02, 2020 10:02:07.920 [0x7fb483fff700] DEBUG - Streaming Resource: Reached Decision id=10611 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=10181 part=(id=10204 decision=transcode container=mp4 protocol=dash streams=(Video=(id=11817 decision=transcode bitrate=39635 encoder=libx264 width=2276 height=1280) Audio=(id=11818 decision=transcode bitrate=256 encoder=aac channels=2 rate=48000))))
Mar 02, 2020 10:02:07.921 [0x7fb491bd3700] DEBUG - Completed: [192.168.178.29:54741] 200 GET /video/:/transcode/universal/decision?hasMDE=1&path=%2Flibrary%2Fmetadata%2F10611&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=3zp3z0gub7csngpz5w0mlavs&subtitles=burn&Accept-Language=en (7 live) GZIP 9ms 7010 bytes (pipelined: 5)
Mar 02, 2020 10:02:08.000 [0x7fb4913d2700] DEBUG - Auth: authenticated user 1 as massenzio23@gmail.com
Mar 02, 2020 10:02:08.000 [0x7fb4923d4700] DEBUG - Request: [192.168.178.29:54741 (Subnet)] GET /video/:/transcode/universal/start.mpd?hasMDE=1&path=%2Flibrary%2Fmetadata%2F10611&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=3zp3z0gub7csngpz5w0mlavs&subtitles=burn&Accept-Language=en (7 live) GZIP Signed-in Token (massenzio23@gmail.com)
Mar 02, 2020 10:02:08.000 [0x7fb4923d4700] DEBUG - Found session GUID of 3zp3z0gub7csngpz5w0mlavs in session start.
Mar 02, 2020 10:02:08.000 [0x7fb4923d4700] DEBUG - TranscodeUniversalRequest: using augmented profile Web
Mar 02, 2020 10:02:08.000 [0x7fb4923d4700] DEBUG - Downloading document http://127.0.0.1:32400/library/metadata/10611?checkFiles=1&includeBandwidths=1&offset=-1&X-Plex-Incomplete-Segments=1&X-Plex-Session-Identifier=sg92ue6tm6d0kvwg9ltgjwvs
Mar 02, 2020 10:02:08.000 [0x7fb4923d4700] DEBUG - Auth: authenticated user 1 as massenzio23@gmail.com
Mar 02, 2020 10:02:08.008 [0x7fb4923d4700] DEBUG - It took 10.000000 ms to retrieve 172 items.
Mar 02, 2020 10:02:08.009 [0x7fb4923d4700] DEBUG - We're going to try to auto-select an audio stream for account 1.
Mar 02, 2020 10:02:08.009 [0x7fb4923d4700] DEBUG - Selecting best audio stream for part ID 10204 (autoselect: 1 language: it)
Mar 02, 2020 10:02:08.009 [0x7fb4923d4700] DEBUG - Audio Stream: 11818, Subtitle Stream: -1
Mar 02, 2020 10:02:08.011 [0x7fb4923d4700] DEBUG - Found session GUID of 3zp3z0gub7csngpz5w0mlavs in session start.
Mar 02, 2020 10:02:08.011 [0x7fb4923d4700] DEBUG - Cleaning directory for session 3zp3z0gub7csngpz5w0mlavs ()
Mar 02, 2020 10:02:08.011 [0x7fb4923d4700] DEBUG - Starting a transcode session 3zp3z0gub7csngpz5w0mlavs at offset -1.0 (state=3)
Mar 02, 2020 10:02:08.012 [0x7fb4923d4700] WARN - CodecManager: EAE exited with code 13. Restarting.
Mar 02, 2020 10:02:08.012 [0x7fb4923d4700] INFO - CodecManager: starting EAE at "/tmp/pms-e205a294-8fed-4d50-afda-705c0491325d/EasyAudioEncoder"
Mar 02, 2020 10:02:08.012 [0x7fb4923d4700] DEBUG - Job running: '/config/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Codecs/EasyAudioEncoder-527-linux-x86_64/EasyAudioEncoder/EasyAudioEncoder'
Mar 02, 2020 10:02:08.012 [0x7fb4923d4700] DEBUG - Jobs: Starting child process with pid 495
Mar 02, 2020 10:02:08.012 [0x7fb492bd5700] DEBUG - Jobs: '/config/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Codecs/EasyAudioEncoder-527-linux-x86_64/EasyAudioEncoder/EasyAudioEncoder' exit code for process 495 is 13 (failure)
Mar 02, 2020 10:02:08.012 [0x7fb4923d4700] DEBUG - [Universal] Using local file path instead of URL: /movies/Avengers.Endgame.2019.INTERNAL.HDR.2160p.WEB.H265-DEFLATE/Avengers.Endgame.2019.INTERNAL.HDR.2160p.WEB.H265-DEFLATE.mkv
Mar 02, 2020 10:02:08.012 [0x7fb4923d4700] DEBUG - TPU: hardware transcoding: zero-copy support not present
Mar 02, 2020 10:02:08.013 [0x7fb4923d4700] DEBUG - Job running: EAE_ROOT='/tmp/pms-e205a294-8fed-4d50-afda-705c0491325d/EasyAudioEncoder' FFMPEG_EXTERNAL_LIBS='/config/Library/Application\ Support/Plex\ Media\ Server/Codecs/0bc617e-2965-linux-x86_64/' XDG_CACHE_HOME='/config/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Cache' XDG_DATA_HOME='/usr/lib/plexmediaserver/Resources' X_PLEX_TOKEN='xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx' '/usr/lib/plexmediaserver/Plex Transcoder' '-codec:0' 'hevc' '-codec:1' 'eac3_eae' '-eae_prefix:1' '3zp3z0gub7csngpz5w0mlavs_' '-analyzeduration' '20000000' '-probesize' '20000000' '-i' '/movies/Avengers.Endgame.2019.INTERNAL.HDR.2160p.WEB.H265-DEFLATE/Avengers.Endgame.2019.INTERNAL.HDR.2160p.WEB.H265-DEFLATE.mkv' '-filter_complex' '[0:0]scale=w=2276:h=1280[0];[0]format=pix_fmts=yuv420p|nv12[1]' '-filter_complex' '[0:1] aresample=async=1:ocl='\''stereo'\'':osr=48000[2]' '-map' '[1]' '-metadata:s:0' 'language=eng' '-codec:0' 'libx264' '-crf:0' '16' '-maxrate:0' '39635k' '-bufsize:0' '79270k' '-r:0' '23.975999999999999' '-preset:0' 'veryfast' '-x264opts:0' 'subme=2:me_range=4:rc_lookahead=10:me=hex:8x8dct=1' '-force_key_frames:0' 'expr:gte(t,0+n_forced*1)' '-map' '[2]' '-metadata:s:1' 'language=eng' '-codec:1' 'aac' '-b:1' '256k' '-f' 'dash' '-seg_duration' '1' '-init_seg_name' 'init-stream$RepresentationID$.m4s' '-media_seg_name' 'chunk-stream$RepresentationID$-$Number%05d$.m4s' '-window_size' '5' '-delete_removed' 'false' '-skip_to_segment' '1' '-time_delta' '0.0625' '-manifest_name' 'http://127.0.0.1:32400/video/:/transcode/session/3zp3z0gub7csngpz5w0mlavs/cc74093e-de6a-432a-92ce-f80cb14f7c03/manifest?X-Plex-Http-Pipeline=infinite' '-avoid_negative_ts' 'disabled' '-map_metadata' '-1' '-map_chapters' '-1' 'dash' '-start_at_zero' '-copyts' '-vsync' 'cfr' '-y' '-nostats' '-loglevel' 'quiet' '-loglevel_plex' 'error' '-progressurl' 'http://127.0.0.1:32400/video/:/transcode/session/3zp3z0gub7csngpz5w0mlavs/cc74093e-de6a-432a-92ce-f80cb14f7c03/progress'
Mar 02, 2020 10:02:08.013 [0x7fb4923d4700] DEBUG - Jobs: Starting child process with pid 496
Mar 02, 2020 10:02:08.016 [0x7fb44f7fe700] DEBUG - Request: [127.0.0.1:50562 (Loopback)] PUT /video/:/transcode/session/3zp3z0gub7csngpz5w0mlavs/cc74093e-de6a-432a-92ce-f80cb14f7c03/progress?status=startup (8 live) Signed-in Token (massenzio23@gmail.com) (range: bytes=0-) 
Mar 02, 2020 10:02:08.016 [0x7fb4913d2700] DEBUG - Completed: [127.0.0.1:50562] 204 PUT /video/:/transcode/session/3zp3z0gub7csngpz5w0mlavs/cc74093e-de6a-432a-92ce-f80cb14f7c03/progress?status=startup (8 live) 0ms 203 bytes (pipelined: 1) (range: bytes=0-) 
Mar 02, 2020 10:02:08.017 [0x7fb483fff700] ERROR - [Transcoder] Unrecognized option 'crf:0'.
Mar 02, 2020 10:02:08.017 [0x7fb44f7fe700] ERROR - [Transcoder] Error splitting the argument list: Option not found
Mar 02, 2020 10:02:08.017 [0x7fb492bd5700] DEBUG - Jobs: '/usr/lib/plexmediaserver/Plex Transcoder' exit code for process 496 is 1 (failure)
Mar 02, 2020 10:02:08.018 [0x7fb490bd1700] DEBUG - Streaming Resource: Terminating session 0x7fb41015e960:sg92ue6tm6d0kvwg9ltgjwvs which is using transcoder slot.  Used slots is now 0
Mar 02, 2020 10:02:08.018 [0x7fb4923d4700] DEBUG - Using default transcode duration of 120 minutes
Mar 02, 2020 10:02:08.018 [0x7fb490bd1700] DEBUG - Streaming Resource: Terminated session 0x7fb41015e960:sg92ue6tm6d0kvwg9ltgjwvs with reason Conversion failed. The transcoder exited due to an error.
Mar 02, 2020 10:02:08.018 [0x7fb4923d4700] DEBUG - Started session successfully: 3zp3z0gub7csngpz5w0mlavs
Mar 02, 2020 10:02:08.018 [0x7fb490bd1700] DEBUG - Killing job.
Mar 02, 2020 10:02:08.018 [0x7fb490bd1700] DEBUG - Signalling job ID 496 with 9
Mar 02, 2020 10:02:08.018 [0x7fb490bd1700] DEBUG - Job was already killed, not killing again.
Mar 02, 2020 10:02:08.018 [0x7fb490bd1700] DEBUG - Stopping transcode session 3zp3z0gub7csngpz5w0mlavs
Mar 02, 2020 10:02:08.018 [0x7fb490bd1700] DEBUG - Transcoder: Cleaning old transcode directories.

Do you have any idea on how to solve this?
Thanks in advance!

[Flanders]

In short, don’t try and transcode 4K files.

Start here:

[INFO] Plex, 4k, transcoding, and you - aka the rules of 4k

NOTE: for 2022 – Plex has come a long way since this FAQ was originally written, HW transcoding has become more available and more stable, and tone mapping was recently added to address the hdr/sdr color conversion issues. The first 4 ‘rules’ generally are no longer as important as they once were, but may still be a good thing to bear in mind. Dolby Vision, is an entirely other mess. THIS thread/FAQ is NOT about DV. DV work is still in progress, and there are no perfect TV’s or external devic…

[massenzio23]

“Don’t try to transcode 4K files” was not the answer I was looking for, but thanks for the quick feedback.

Is it known the reason why some 4k files work and some don’t? is it a HEVC problem?

From the log I added, what is causing the issue? I thought it might be a folder permission problem…

What are my options now? Pay for the Plex Pass and direct stream? Not playing the files from Plex but using another player?

[Flanders]

We would need more information in order to start dissecting what is going on. Specs of your server and XML examples from a working and non-working file.

But in reality, you really don’t want to be transcoding 4K files. There is a lot of good information in the thread I linked to, I highly recommend reading through it.