Fire Stick Resets Plex After 2 Seconds Starting Movie [WORKAROUND;still needs FIX]

Plex Players Streaming Devices
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1

Plex Server: 1.25.3.5385
Player Version: 8.28.0.30077 (241173d0)

This doesn’t happen on any other devices. (iOS, other Android devices, Samsung TV, Roku, worked without issue)

I’ve had my Fire TV Stick 4K for a while now, with no problems. It was given to me from a friend who didn’t need it. After nearly a year of no issues, when starting a movie, it gets about 2-5 seconds in and then resets the Plex app. It only did this with movies. I played with the Fire TV for a few hours wondering what the problem was, often thinking it was the Stick that had the problem. Uninstalling, re-installing, Factory reset Fire TV Stick, etc. I even tried several online methods to disable, enable all various sorts of settings (including the debugging mode, audio passthrough, etc.)

I was even trying to sideload an old version of Plex. That was a fiasco in itself. Downloader wasn’t working, and because I wasn’t going to pay for the use of any other apps that I’d basically use once on something that may or may not have a problem with it.

I then noticed that sometimes the movie would start for a second or 2 and then jump to a PreRoll, and crash the Plex app. I remembered Plex was having PreRoll issues after a Server update. Not thinking it was related, but willing to try anything. I removed the PreRoll list in the Dashboard>Settings/Extras. THIS WORKED!!

Not sure if it’s the Firestick or the Plex app that is getting confused because PreRolls aren’t being accessed in a proper order?!? Maybe it’s the bandwidth stream causing a fault because it’s grabbing 2 files simultaneously?!? Maybe it’s a bad Plex app version. Regardless, the bigger problem now is that I disable PreRolls altogether, or I have to remove it temporarily when I want to watch a movie on the Fire TV Stick, and add them back after the movie starts. Overall, this sounds like a Plex developer issue, and not a Fire TV issue.

[EDIT 2022/01/14]: The Issue still persists, however, another workaround (instead of totally disabling your PreRolls just for this type of device) is to start the movie on another device for about 3 minutes>pause or stop the movie on that device>then resume the movie on the Fire-TV. You just need to bypass the PreRoll injection, and make sure the movie has played long enough to where Plex recognizes it and will allow a Resume. Everything is pointing to a problem with how PreRolls are being injected on the Fire-TV.

[EDIT 2022/01/21]: Issue still persists after Server Update 1.25.4.5426 and Fire-TV version is still the same.

[EDIT 2022/01/31]: Issue still persists after Server Update 1.25.4.5468 and FIre-TV version is still the same. On the Fire-TV device settings, changing the number of Trailers to play to 1 is a temporary workaround.

[EDIT 2022/02/10]: Server updated to 1.25.5.5492, and Fire-TV shows no updates and same version. No change.

3 Likes
2

Yes! I can also confirm this is happening on Plex Server: 1.25.3.5385 and removing the preroll resolvea it.

Can anyone from Plex try this out?

Thanks

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I would recommend anyone that is having this problem, post the Server Version as well as the Fire-TV app version. I think there is a problem with the app, itself.

Again, it’s definitely an issue with how the PreRolls are coming over. From a cold start with the Fire-TV, I can open a movie, the actual Movie starts, for a few seconds, and then a buffer circle comes up. On a couple occasions I was able to hit the ‘select’ button on the remote, and it showed the title of one of my PreRolls just before the screen goes black and the Plex logo appears in the middle indicating that the app just restarted. By seeing this, and remembering a PreRoll issue in the Summer of 2021, I decided to disable PreRolls, and this is how I’ve been able to workaround the issue. I have also gotten reports now that some of my remote users with Samsung TVs, using the Samsung TV Plex app are also starting to have issues where the movies won’t play. Not sure if this is related, but I’m working on getting more feedback.

4

The whole Android app is a bug.

5

Which version are you using and on what device? And is it this same issue you are having?

6

My point is that this is one out of 1,000 other issues with the Android app that will never get fixed.

7

That’s understandable, but developers have to weed through a lot of unrelated and unnecessary comments. Please, keep your replies directly related to the topic, for now. Thank you.

8

Same issue here on Firestick. My server version is Version 1.25.2.5319.

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I just tested this again and it is now working locally and says, “talking to server” just before it plays. But the pre roll and the movie are playing again. I will confirm if remote play is working soon.

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I just tested this locally and it works but remote streaming doesnt. Plex will crash when playing a movie with a preroll remotely. Player version on plex: 8.28.0.30077 and server version Version 1.25.3.5409

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If you start a movie on another device or computer and get about 3-5 minutes in, you can then ‘Resume’ on the Fire-TV, and it’ll work. Something is out of sequence with the PreRolls going to the Fire-TV and causing this issue.

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Are you saying that If I start a movie on another device for 3 to 5 minutes, then resume the movie on the firestick, all other movies after that will work correctly? Meaning all other movies I start will play preroll correctly, then movie and not crash at all? Just confirming what you are saying…

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Just the movie for the time you are viewing it. You have to bypass the PreRoll. We started a movie on an iPad, and after 3 minutes we paused it, and then did the Resume on the Fire-TV where it played fine. You’d have to do this for each movie you play on the Fire-TV.

14

Server updated to 1.25.3.5409, and still having the issue. Installed older server version 1.24.0.4897, and issue still persisted. This doesn’t seem to be a Server issue. Updated back to 1.25.3.5409 as current server version.

15

Server Version: 1.25.3.5409

I can confirm disabling prerolls resolves the movie issue.

A similar issue occurs on fire-tv with TV Shows when I select an episode that is “near complete” (the progress bar far enough to trigger next episode auto-play). Choosing this episode causes the Plex app to crash and restart just like the preroll issue.

1 Like
16

Ran into the same issue with TV shows. Again, I see it is trying to trigger 2x shows simultaneously and it’s crashing the app. Once again, this further seems to confirm it is an issue with the app on the Fire-TV itself.

1 Like
18

I am SO glad someone else can confirm this behavior. I’ve got a 1st gen Fire Cube. Same behavior on prerolls, same behavior on TV shows in same status as described. Also - occasional playing at 2X speed after subtitles change status on/off. Have to stop content, back out of the app, and then relaunch app to get it to stop. I’m fine with the slow interface, the bad cache clearing on Fire devices, but the app crashing itself because of a small network delay - I’m assuming the wait time to select pre-roll path or cue episode position - is just beyond frustrating.

19

Keeping this thread going as this needs a fix.

20

CCwGTV version 8.28.0.30077, Android version 8.0.29.0.30300, PMS version 1.25.3.5409 also experiencing this.
Disabling pre-rolls, or changing settings>experience>cinema trailers to play to anything other than 0 resolves.

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@crpntr changing the setting for cinema trailers on the actual firestick or the server setting?