ErsatzTV not streaming TV channels when it works ok on vlc

Live TV & DVR
1

Server Version: 1.32.5.7349

I’m using ErsatzTV and the new shared libraries feature. Basically set up a stream with content on a shared server. The channel I set up works totally fine in Tivimate and VLC (m3u8). However in Plex I can’t seem to get it to work.

When I hit play, I can see “Recording: Live TV - Session” but nothing actually plays. I don’t see much in the logs. From console, I see stuff like:

[Req#306df2/Grabber/41.etv-6fuumvf3518btfhskhkxopuj] Activity: updated activity c632b52e-e72c-4673-aa0e-9d40373b7470 - completed 38.0% - Refreshing Sub

The way Etv works is it pulls files form the Plex server, then locally transcodes them based on configured ffmpeg profile.

Same result with HLS and MPEG-TS streams.

Latest Plex Transcoder Statistics.log:
Plex Transcoder Statistics.log (56.1 KB)

In PMS logs, I see the following:

Aug 23, 2023 11:30:33.297 [23313762741048] DEBUG - [Req#307dfa/Transcode/06e73abc-b4de-40b8-8d16-d8e704eddff9/2a6ab62a-64bd-4a70-9e08-e4ad547bd3f1] Transcoder segment range: 0 - 161 (161)
Aug 23, 2023 11:30:33.298 [23313722207032] DEBUG - [Req#307e0b/Transcode/06e73abc-b4de-40b8-8d16-d8e704eddff9/2a6ab62a-64bd-4a70-9e08-e4ad547bd3f1] Transcoder segment range: 0 - 162 (161)
Aug 23, 2023 11:30:34.264 [23313722207032] DEBUG - [Req#307e15/Transcode/06e73abc-b4de-40b8-8d16-d8e704eddff9/2a6ab62a-64bd-4a70-9e08-e4ad547bd3f1] Transcoder segment range: 0 - 163 (162)
Aug 23, 2023 11:30:34.264 [23313762741048] DEBUG - [Req#307e0c/Transcode/06e73abc-b4de-40b8-8d16-d8e704eddff9/2a6ab62a-64bd-4a70-9e08-e4ad547bd3f1] Transcoder segment range: 0 - 163 (162)
Aug 23, 2023 11:30:34.307 [23313842883384] DEBUG - Shutting down idle session 06e73abc-b4de-40b8-8d16-d8e704eddff9 (idle time is 180 seconds)
Aug 23, 2023 11:30:34.307 [23313842883384] DEBUG - Killing job.
Aug 23, 2023 11:30:34.307 [23313842883384] DEBUG - Signalling job ID 9069 with 9
Aug 23, 2023 11:30:34.307 [23313842883384] DEBUG - Job was already killed, not killing again.
Aug 23, 2023 11:30:34.307 [23313842883384] DEBUG - Stopping transcode session 06e73abc-b4de-40b8-8d16-d8e704eddff9
Aug 23, 2023 11:30:34.320 [23313638492984] DEBUG - Cleaning directory for session 06e73abc-b4de-40b8-8d16-d8e704eddff9 (/transcode/Transcode/Sessions/plex-transcode-06e73abc-b4de-40b8-8d16-d8e704eddff9)

Corresponding PMS logs:
Plex Media Server.log (190.9 KB)

Because this works flawlessly in VLC and Tivimate, this looks to be very much a Plex issue.

Help appreciated.

2

You have given me a heavily edited log file - and only a portion of the log - it does not even include the tune request coming to the server

The only thing that it stands out is that it took 19 seconds to tune - which is not normal and very close to timeout periods.

If the client app had a 15 second timeout on this it would give an error - is this what happened ? an error after 15 seconds from starting the tune ? What plex client app was in use - could you provide client app logs as well as server logs - see relevant client app section for how to get logs / logging enabled - Support Articles | Plex Support

There should be no security issue with leaving local LAN IP addresses in the logs

I am going to move your post and my response to a new forum topic as this is not related to what was on this forum topic - and I do not believe we returned the error text that is the subject of this topic

3

@plexgio the above posts were moved into this new topic from unrelated topic Could not tune channel. Please check your tuner or antenna - Live TV & DVR - Plex Forum

4

Thanks for looking into this @sa2000.

I’ve been using plex.tv hosted Web UI and the Android app. For below I’m using the hosted web app:

I go to Live TV and click play on a channel. After about 7 seconds I get “Join Session in Progress”, I click “Watch live”

Then Recording goes on for about 3 minutes but UI doesn’t show an error, the recording just stops.

Here’s the logs from the Console screen:
console.log (198.5 KB)

And PMS logs:
Plex Media Server.log (5.4 MB)
Plex Transcoder Statistics.log (60.4 KB)

5

That does not sound right for a fresh launch of Plex Media Server and a fresh launch of the Plex Web app. There should not be any session in progress - unless you are using multiple browsers / PCs

The logs show the tune request completing but there is nothing further from the Plex Web app to start the streaming - The only request that is being repeatedly sent to the server relating to the tune is GET /status/sessions/background

To have a clue as to why Plex Web is not progressing with the next set of requests to start the stream, could you capture the Plex Web packets using the Web Dev Console diagnostics (with F12) and selecting Preserve Log and then see what the requests and responses returned to the /tune request and what follows it

You can right click in the browser dev console network logging area and select Save All as har file and save into har file and send it to me (zipped) by private message - together with the debug server logs - please again start with a fresh launch of Plex Media Server and fresh launch of the https://app.plex.tv session and ensure no other sessions running

What is happening is that the tune is starting and the server is killing it after 3 minutes due to non activity

6

As I was getting ready to grab these logs, I updated PMS to 1.32.5.7349 and the stream is now working. Verified on web and Android!

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

7

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