Get rid of Exo Player

Plex Players Player Betas
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41

@FordGuy61

logs from playing via lf tv app- film plays fine.zip (2.6 MB)
logs from when streaming from plex plugin kodi- plays fine.zip (2.5 MB)
may be duplicate.zip (2.0 MB)
logs from playing via chromcast - pauses and buffers.zip (1.8 MB)
Uploading: logging - Chromcast PLex App.txt…
logging - Chromcast PLex App.txt (2.4 MB)

42

@Yammers Thanks for the files.

Play Hotel Transylvania in the Plex app on the Chromecast and force a transcode (change the quality).

Does the file play OK when transcoded?

It appears the file is poorly encoded. The Plex app is continuously seeking through the file. This causes the buffering.

These log entries from the Plex app show the seeking. They repeat continuously during playback (2500+ entries).

03-12 10:27:26.665  i: [FFmpeg] [INFO] [Cache] Seeked forward in the buffer to 4545633 bytes, read position: 152858 bytes.
03-12 10:27:26.666  i: [FFmpeg] [INFO] [Cache] Seeking in the reserve to 120703 bytes, read position was 4578401 bytes.
03-12 10:27:26.667  i: [FFmpeg] [INFO] [Cache] Seeked forward in the buffer to 4545821 bytes, read position: 153471 bytes.
03-12 10:27:26.669  i: [FFmpeg] [INFO] [Cache] Seeking in the reserve to 121300 bytes, read position was 4578589 bytes.

It is also noticeable in Plex Media Server.log, appearing as client disconnects:

Mar 12, 2022 10:27:58.643 [0x7fdf2258ab38] DEBUG - Failed to stream media, client probably disconnected after 983040 bytes: 104 - Connection reset by peer


Some options:

  1. Wait.
    Plex is working on a new demuxer for Android based clients. It should better handle poorly encoded files. It is not yet available in the beta releases. Timeline is unknown.

  2. Obtain a better quality version of the movie.

  3. Remux the movie into a MP4 container.
    Use XMediaRecode, Subler, or similar apps to remux the movie. This will re-order the tracks, hopefully eliminating any buffering. Just copy the tracks. No transcoding required. Be sure and set the option for Fast Start or to Optimize the MP4 container. You should also remove the unnecessary subtitle tracks. The file has 20+ subtitle tracks. This can cause problems with some Plex clients, resulting in unnecessary transcodes.

  4. Remux the movie into a MKV container
    Use MKVToolNix or similar tools to remux the file. As mentioned for MP4s, remove the unnecessary subtitle tracks. There is no fast start option for MKV files.

  5. Transcode the existing file using Handbrake or similar tools
    This will re-order the tracks. It also reduces video quality, so save this for last.

1 Like
43

ok the original file is mp4, and tried changing transcode settings before to know avail i will try the redux thing.

However why is it that the file plays fine on the my lg tv app and via the kodi plugin

44

The other apps are probably better than Exoplayer at handling such files.

Here’s the post about the new Android player. It has info on what is in the works.
Android: New video demuxer for improved playback

Let me know how it goes.

45

Hi I have tried the new demuxer nightly on chromcast and it is playing nicely, however it is transcoding the file in question instead of direct play. Which the Plex APP on both my LG TV and my Dads LG TV plays it without transcoding completely fine and direct play… but im sure the nightly build is a work in progress

46

Thanks for the update.

Good to know the new demuxer helps, even if it is transcoding.

Hopefully the new demuxer will make it into the beta builds soon.

It should be noted in the beta release notes when it is available.

You can subscribe to the thread to be notified of new releases. Scroll to the bottom of the thread and change Normal to Watching (the same as any other thread in the forum).

1 Like
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