Error Occurred - A server with the specified hostname could not be found

Plex Experience Preview
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1

Hi there,
after trying to use die Experience Preview some time ago, i gave it a try again. But it still won’t work.
Evertime i try to play a movie i get the error “Error Occurred - A server with the specified hostname could not be found”. The old app is working fine, desktop working fine, iphone working fine. Only the Preview can’t play. Anyone with the same problem?

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Really? No one got this problem? :frowning:

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Hi @johnlamox I haven’t seen reports similar to this here in the forums or in our bug reporting. If you would like to provide a bit more information we might be able to help more. What version of the app are you running? I see a AppleTV label on here, but please re-confirm that you are looking at the testflight AppleTV experience preview. When it comes to attempting to play a movie are you playing back one form a PMS library? If so, what version is that PMS on? If there is any additional context or steps you are taking here that you could provide it could help us help you here. Thanks for the report!

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Hi!

I’m using the App-Version 2025.22.0 (1195), the latent version in TestFlight available. I’m trying to play movies or shows from my computer, running Windows 11 24h2 and die Plex Media Server in version 1.41.9.9961-46083195d. The old App and Plex in my Desktop working completely fine. Only the Beta-App won’t play anything from my library.

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Thanks for the info. When you say it won’t play anything form your library, are you able to successfully see and browse your library (or libraries)? At what point does it not work? Does the player come up? Is it a blank screen when attempting to play? Where are you initiating playback from in the app?

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i’m able to browse all my libraries. I try to play a movie or an episode of a show, and the error directly comes up. It’s just an error message screen. I’m initiating the playback from the detail page of the movie or the page with all episodes of a show.

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Does the error screen here have any messaging or information? That would potentially help quite a bit here!

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Just “Error Occurred - A server with the specified hostname could not be found”. That’s my problem. I can’t figure out, what to do with just this error message and what i can do to solve it.

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@McWanke I’ve started having this problem recently on iOS and iPadOS clients. Apple TVs work. Oddly enough, a PlexAmp iPad client also works, while the Plex app on the same device does not.

Server version: 1.42.2.10102

iPad version: 2025.24.0 (1235)

plex
plex1301×463 31.5 KB

The error message is as unhelpful as @johnlamox expressed it to be. I’ve attached a screenshot.

I run my own Unbound server for DNS. Looking through the logs, I can see the client is requesting 192-168-[redacted].[redacted].plex.direct, for which my server returns NODATA.

Changing my DNS to 1.1.1.1, this resolves the issue and I’m able to stream again. Looks like my Unbound config needed the following added to the configuration:

server:
    private-domain: "plex.direct"

I’m now able to use my private DNS and stream.

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i am having this same issue, i changed my dns to 1.1.1.1 at my router level but still having this problem

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Their are two actions required, changing the DNS to 1.1.1.1 AND white-listing plex.direct . Some routers only allow turning off DNS-rebinding.

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