# Intermittent issues with transcoding on NVIDIA gpu

**URL:** <https://forums.plex.tv/t/intermittent-issues-with-transcoding-on-nvidia-gpu/825176>\
**Category:** Plex Media Server\
**Tags:** server-linux\
**Created:** [January 2, 2023, 8:27am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/intermittent-issues-with-transcoding-on-nvidia-gpu/825176 "2023-01-02T08:27:30Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 19\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![trex\_7](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/df705f/32.png) [@trex\_7](https://forums.plex.tv/u/trex_7)\
**Post date:** [January 2, 2023, 8:27am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/intermittent-issues-with-transcoding-on-nvidia-gpu/825176/1 "2023-01-02T08:27:30Z")

</div>

Server Version#: 1.30.0.6486 (linuxserver/plex docker)  
Player Version#: All  
Nvidia Driver Version#: 510.108.03  
OS: Debian 12

When transcodes are starting, errors start showing up in the logs. Usually after a 10-30 seconds of errors, playback finally starts. But for some clients, it just ends with a playback or session error. Retrying a few times sometime’s works, but some clients are more affected and have a harder time starting playback. Direct stream always works fine.

I have tried with few different servers and different NVIDIA GPU’s and always same behaviour.

Docker is running in privileged mode, so it sees everything from host’s `/dev` inside the container. Starting container with PUID=0 and PGID=0. All processes inside the container run as root and have as much privilege as is possible to have inside a container.

`nvidia-smi` works and sees the GPU inside the container. Also shows the transcodes when they manage to start after the 10-30 second delay with errors.

There is no intel GPU or another GPU. So the /dev/dri/renderD128 is the correct device. Adding `HardwareDevicePath="/dev/dri/renderD128"` to Preferences.xml has no effect.

Any ideas what could cause this, and how to resolve ?

Here are some examples of logs when the issue is occurring:

```auto
Jan 02, 2023 08:47:32.591 [0x7ff53eb29b38] ERROR - [Req#6566/Transcode] [FFMPEG] - Failed to initialise VAAPI connection: -1 (unknown libva error).
Jan 02, 2023 08:47:33.077 [0x7ff53eb29b38] ERROR - [Req#6566/Transcode] [FFMPEG] - Failed to initialise VAAPI connection: -1 (unknown libva error).
Jan 02, 2023 08:47:33.546 [0x7ff53eb29b38] ERROR - [Req#6566/Transcode] [FFMPEG] - Failed to initialise VAAPI connection: -1 (unknown libva error).
Jan 02, 2023 08:47:34.026 [0x7ff53eb29b38] ERROR - [Req#6566/Transcode] [FFMPEG] - Failed to initialise VAAPI connection: -1 (unknown libva error).
Jan 02, 2023 08:47:34.508 [0x7ff53eb29b38] ERROR - [Req#6566/Transcode] [FFMPEG] - Failed to initialise VAAPI connection: -1 (unknown libva error).
Jan 02, 2023 08:47:34.977 [0x7ff53eb29b38] ERROR - [Req#6566/Transcode] [FFMPEG] - Failed to initialise VAAPI connection: -1 (unknown libva error).
Jan 02, 2023 08:47:35.459 [0x7ff53eb29b38] ERROR - [Req#6566/Transcode] [FFMPEG] - Failed to initialise VAAPI connection: -1 (unknown libva error).
Jan 02, 2023 08:47:36.011 [0x7ff53eb29b38] ERROR - [Req#6566/Transcode] [FFMPEG] - Failed to initialise VAAPI connection: -1 (unknown libva error).
Jan 02, 2023 08:47:36.533 [0x7ff53eb29b38] ERROR - [Req#6566/Transcode] [FFMPEG] - Failed to initialise VAAPI connection: -1 (unknown libva error).
Jan 02, 2023 08:47:37.039 [0x7ff53eb29b38] ERROR - [Req#6566/Transcode] [FFMPEG] - Failed to initialise VAAPI connection: -1 (unknown libva error).
Jan 02, 2023 08:47:37.566 [0x7ff53eb29b38] ERROR - [Req#6566/Transcode] [FFMPEG] - Failed to initialise VAAPI connection: -1 (unknown libva error).
Jan 02, 2023 08:47:38.087 [0x7ff53eb29b38] ERROR - [Req#6566/Transcode] [FFMPEG] - Failed to initialise VAAPI connection: -1 (unknown libva error).

```

```auto
Jan 02, 2023 07:34:35.273 [0x7ff55ebe2b38] ERROR - [Req#570/Transcode/hdyr99lf3qff5j5zmrnnfnm1/c760839c-e8b8-45e0-995f-f4134032f262] [mp4 @ 0x7f960d023980] failed to rename file chunk-stream0-00008.m4s.tmp to chunk-stream0-00008.m4s: No such file or directory
Jan 02, 2023 07:34:35.273 [0x7ff560317b38] ERROR - [Req#57d/Transcode/hdyr99lf3qff5j5zmrnnfnm1/c760839c-e8b8-45e0-995f-f4134032f262] av_interleaved_write_frame(): No such file or directory
Jan 02, 2023 07:34:35.378 [0x7ff55ebe2b38] ERROR - [Req#580/Transcode/hdyr99lf3qff5j5zmrnnfnm1/c760839c-e8b8-45e0-995f-f4134032f262] [mp4 @ 0x7f960d023d00] failed to rename file chunk-stream1-00008.m4s.tmp to chunk-stream1-00008.m4s: No such file or directory
Jan 02, 2023 07:34:49.010 [0x7ff560d72b38] INFO - [Req#72e/Transcode] CodecManager: starting EAE at "/tmp/pms-a362c36d-0d93-466f-b54a-588d298af179/EasyAudioEncoder"
Jan 02, 2023 07:34:54.573 [0x7ff55c96db38] ERROR - [Req#7fb/Transcode/4e4epov2euux75mhbb1xxfy7/757e6f46-8b55-45de-9db9-ae722d6db1cc] [mp4 @ 0x7f4060b826c0] failed to rename file chunk-stream0-00054.m4s.tmp to chunk-stream0-00054.m4s: No such file or directory
Jan 02, 2023 07:34:54.574 [0x7ff560d72b38] ERROR - [Req#818/Transcode/4e4epov2euux75mhbb1xxfy7/757e6f46-8b55-45de-9db9-ae722d6db1cc] av_interleaved_write_frame(): No such file or directory
Jan 02, 2023 07:34:54.580 [0x7ff55d540b38] ERROR - [Req#81d/Transcode/4e4epov2euux75mhbb1xxfy7/757e6f46-8b55-45de-9db9-ae722d6db1cc] [mp4 @ 0x7f4060b829c0] failed to rename file chunk-stream1-00054.m4s.tmp to chunk-stream1-00054.m4s: No such file or directory
Jan 02, 2023 07:34:56.274 [0x7ff55febcb38] ERROR - [Req#837/Transcode] [FFMPEG] - Failed to initialise VAAPI connection: -1 (unknown libva error).
Jan 02, 2023 07:34:56.550 [0x7ff55febcb38] ERROR - [Req#837/Transcode] [FFMPEG] - Failed to initialise VAAPI connection: -1 (unknown libva error).
Jan 02, 2023 07:34:56.990 [0x7ff55febcb38] ERROR - [Req#837/Transcode] [FFMPEG] - Failed to initialise VAAPI connection: -1 (unknown libva error).
Jan 02, 2023 07:34:57.567 [0x7ff55febcb38] ERROR - [Req#837/Transcode] [FFMPEG] - Failed to initialise VAAPI connection: -1 (unknown libva error).
Jan 02, 2023 07:34:58.007 [0x7ff55febcb38] ERROR - [Req#837/Transcode] [FFMPEG] - Failed to initialise VAAPI connection: -1 (unknown libva error).
Jan 02, 2023 07:34:58.440 [0x7ff55febcb38] ERROR - [Req#837/Transcode] [FFMPEG] - Failed to initialise VAAPI connection: -1 (unknown libva error).
Jan 02, 2023 07:34:58.884 [0x7ff55febcb38] ERROR - [Req#837/Transcode] [FFMPEG] - Failed to initialise VAAPI connection: -1 (unknown libva error).
Jan 02, 2023 07:34:59.166 [0x7ff55c96db38] WARN - [Req#8ac/Transcode/oh1tyw2kwa0nxg9osd13q1ir] Transcode runner appears to have died.
Jan 02, 2023 07:35:01.000 [0x7ff55d540b38] ERROR - [Req#855/Transcode/xcbvy251hdmzwlytjwcowrv8/bf01e098-de8b-4d11-ac13-d949ed28954d] [eac3_eae @ 0x7f403d872640] EAE timeout! EAE not running, or wrong folder? Could not read '/tmp/pms-a362c36d-0d93-466f-b54a-588d298af179/EasyAudioEncoder/Convert to WAV (to 8ch or less)/xcbvy251hdmzwlytjwcowrv8_562-0-314.wav'
Jan 02, 2023 07:35:01.001 [0x7ff55febcb38] ERROR - [Req#8f0/Transcode/xcbvy251hdmzwlytjwcowrv8/bf01e098-de8b-4d11-ac13-d949ed28954d] [eac3_eae @ 0x7f403d872640] error reading output: -5 (I/O error)
Jan 02, 2023 07:35:01.001 [0x7ff56137bb38] ERROR - [Req#8f3/Transcode/xcbvy251hdmzwlytjwcowrv8/bf01e098-de8b-4d11-ac13-d949ed28954d] Error while decoding stream #0:1: I/O error
Jan 02, 2023 07:35:01.183 [0x7ff55c96db38] INFO - [Req#8d0] AutoUpdate: no updates available
Jan 02, 2023 07:35:02.000 [0x7ff56137bb38] ERROR - [Req#8ab/Transcode/oh1tyw2kwa0nxg9osd13q1ir/87363d49-9427-45e8-a35c-737cf188c21b] [eac3_eae @ 0x7fc9bfc1d640] EAE timeout! EAE not running, or wrong folder? Could not read '/tmp/pms-a362c36d-0d93-466f-b54a-588d298af179/EasyAudioEncoder/Convert to WAV (to 8ch or less)/oh1tyw2kwa0nxg9osd13q1ir_630-0-21.wav'
Jan 02, 2023 07:35:02.001 [0x7ff560317b38] ERROR - [Req#915/Transcode/oh1tyw2kwa0nxg9osd13q1ir/87363d49-9427-45e8-a35c-737cf188c21b] [eac3_eae @ 0x7fc9bfc1d640] error reading output: -5 (I/O error)
Jan 02, 2023 07:35:02.001 [0x7ff560d72b38] ERROR - [Req#919/Transcode/oh1tyw2kwa0nxg9osd13q1ir/87363d49-9427-45e8-a35c-737cf188c21b] Error while decoding stream #0:1: I/O error
Jan 02, 2023 07:35:06.000 [0x7ff55febcb38] ERROR - [Req#92d/Transcode/xcbvy251hdmzwlytjwcowrv8/bf01e098-de8b-4d11-ac13-d949ed28954d] [eac3_eae @ 0x7f403d872640] EAE timeout! EAE not running, or wrong folder? Could not read '/tmp/pms-a362c36d-0d93-466f-b54a-588d298af179/EasyAudioEncoder/Convert to WAV (to 8ch or less)/xcbvy251hdmzwlytjwcowrv8_562-0-315.wav'
Jan 02, 2023 07:35:06.001 [0x7ff56137bb38] ERROR - [Req#93a/Transcode/xcbvy251hdmzwlytjwcowrv8/bf01e098-de8b-4d11-ac13-d949ed28954d] [eac3_eae @ 0x7f403d872640] error reading output: -5 (I/O error)
Jan 02, 2023 07:35:06.001 [0x7ff560317b38] ERROR - [Req#93d/Transcode/xcbvy251hdmzwlytjwcowrv8/bf01e098-de8b-4d11-ac13-d949ed28954d] Error while decoding stream #0:1: I/O error
Jan 02, 2023 07:35:06.689 [0x7ff55ebe2b38] INFO - [Req#910] AutoUpdate: no updates available
Jan 02, 2023 07:35:08.000 [0x7ff560317b38] ERROR - [Req#935/Transcode/oh1tyw2kwa0nxg9osd13q1ir/87363d49-9427-45e8-a35c-737cf188c21b] [eac3_eae @ 0x7fc9bfc1d640] EAE timeout! EAE not running, or wrong folder? Could not read '/tmp/pms-a362c36d-0d93-466f-b54a-588d298af179/EasyAudioEncoder/Convert to WAV (to 8ch or less)/oh1tyw2kwa0nxg9osd13q1ir_630-0-22.wav'
Jan 02, 2023 07:35:08.001 [0x7ff560d72b38] ERROR - [Req#962/Transcode/oh1tyw2kwa0nxg9osd13q1ir/87363d49-9427-45e8-a35c-737cf188c21b] [eac3_eae @ 0x7fc9bfc1d640] error reading output: -5 (I/O error)
Jan 02, 2023 07:35:08.001 [0x7ff561178b38] ERROR - [Req#966/Transcode/oh1tyw2kwa0nxg9osd13q1ir/87363d49-9427-45e8-a35c-737cf188c21b] Error while decoding stream #0:1: I/O error
Jan 02, 2023 07:35:09.641 [0x7ff56137bb38] ERROR - [Req#983/Transcode/xcbvy251hdmzwlytjwcowrv8/bf01e098-de8b-4d11-ac13-d949ed28954d] [mp4 @ 0x7f403ec2a340] failed to rename file chunk-stream0-00038.m4s.tmp to chunk-stream0-00038.m4s: No such file or directory
Jan 02, 2023 07:35:09.642 [0x7ff560317b38] ERROR - [Req#986/Transcode/xcbvy251hdmzwlytjwcowrv8/bf01e098-de8b-4d11-ac13-d949ed28954d] av_interleaved_write_frame(): No such file or directory
Jan 02, 2023 07:35:09.643 [0x7ff560d72b38] ERROR - [Req#989/Transcode/xcbvy251hdmzwlytjwcowrv8/bf01e098-de8b-4d11-ac13-d949ed28954d] [dash @ 0x7f403ec2a6c0] Unable to open chunk-stream0-00038.m4s.tmp for writing: No such file or directory
Jan 02, 2023 07:35:09.644 [0x7ff561178b38] ERROR - [Req#98b/Transcode/xcbvy251hdmzwlytjwcowrv8/bf01e098-de8b-4d11-ac13-d949ed28954d] [mp4 @ 0x7f403ec2a340] failed to rename file chunk-stream0-00038.m4s.tmp to chunk-stream0-00038.m4s: No such file or directory
Jan 02, 2023 07:35:09.646 [0x7ff55c96db38] ERROR - [Req#98e/Transcode/xcbvy251hdmzwlytjwcowrv8/bf01e098-de8b-4d11-ac13-d949ed28954d] Error writing trailer of dash: No such file or directory
Jan 02, 2023 07:35:11.432 [0x7ff561178b38] ERROR - [Req#99e/Transcode/oh1tyw2kwa0nxg9osd13q1ir/87363d49-9427-45e8-a35c-737cf188c21b] [mp4 @ 0x7fc9c0fd5340] failed to rename file chunk-stream0-00002.m4s.tmp to chunk-stream0-00002.m4s: No such file or directory
Jan 02, 2023 07:35:11.432 [0x7ff55c96db38] ERROR - [Req#9a0/Transcode/oh1tyw2kwa0nxg9osd13q1ir/87363d49-9427-45e8-a35c-737cf188c21b] av_interleaved_write_frame(): No such file or directory
Jan 02, 2023 07:35:11.435 [0x7ff55d540b38] ERROR - [Req#9a4/Transcode/oh1tyw2kwa0nxg9osd13q1ir/87363d49-9427-45e8-a35c-737cf188c21b] [dash @ 0x7fc9c0fd56c0] Unable to open chunk-stream0-00002.m4s.tmp for writing: No such file or directory
Jan 02, 2023 07:35:11.435 [0x7ff55ebe2b38] ERROR - [Req#9a7/Transcode/oh1tyw2kwa0nxg9osd13q1ir/87363d49-9427-45e8-a35c-737cf188c21b] [mp4 @ 0x7fc9c0fd5340] failed to rename file chunk-stream0-00002.m4s.tmp to chunk-stream0-00002.m4s: No such file or directory
Jan 02, 2023 07:35:11.436 [0x7ff55febcb38] ERROR - [Req#9aa/Transcode/oh1tyw2kwa0nxg9osd13q1ir/87363d49-9427-45e8-a35c-737cf188c21b] Error writing trailer of dash: No such file or directory

```

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ChuckPa](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/chuckpa/32/79710_2.png) [@ChuckPa](https://forums.plex.tv/u/ChuckPa)\
**Post date:** [January 2, 2023, 4:00pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/intermittent-issues-with-transcoding-on-nvidia-gpu/825176/2 "2023-01-02T16:00:46Z")

</div>

First up. STOP with the way you’re doing all this; it’s not working and it’s making a mess

You’re using a sledgehammer to fix something which isn’t broken.  
It is MISCONFIGURED 🙂

1. When you have an Intel GPU in the CPU, it becomes `renderD128`
2. When you add an Nvidia GPU, it becomes `renderD129`
3. This type of error message:

```auto
Jan 02, 2023 07:34:49.010 [0x7ff560d72b38] INFO - [Req#72e/Transcode] CodecManager: starting EAE at "/tmp/pms-a362c36d-0d93-466f-b54a-588d298af179/EasyAudioEncoder"
Jan 02, 2023 07:34:54.573 [0x7ff55c96db38] ERROR - [Req#7fb/Transcode/4e4epov2euux75mhbb1xxfy7/757e6f46-8b55-45de-9db9-ae722d6db1cc] [mp4 @ 0x7f4060b826c0] failed to rename file chunk-stream0-00054.m4s.tmp to chunk-stream0-00054.m4s: No such file or directory
Jan 02, 2023 07:34:54.574 [0x7ff560d72b38] ERROR - [Req#818/Transcode/4e4epov2euux75mhbb1xxfy7/757e6f46-8b55-45de-9db9-ae722d6db1cc] av_interleaved_write_frame(): No such file or directory
Jan 02, 2023 07:34:54.580 [0x7ff55d540b38] ERROR - [Req#81d/Transcode/4e4epov2euux75mhbb1xxfy7/757e6f46-8b55-45de-9db9-ae722d6db1cc] [mp4 @ 0x7f4060b829c0] failed to rename file chunk-stream1-00054.m4s.tmp to chunk-stream1-00054.m4s: No such file or directory
Jan 02, 2023 07:34:56.274 [0x7ff55febcb38] ERROR - [Req#837/Transcode] [FFMPEG] - Failed to initialise VAAPI connection: -1 (unknown libva error).
Jan 02, 2023 07:34:56.550 [0x7ff55febcb38] ERROR - [Req#837/Transcode] [FFMPEG] - Failed to initialise VAAPI connection: -1 (unknown libva error).

```

I ask:

1. Where is the transcoder temporary directory - local or on a network location?
2. Where is the `/config` stored - local device or network location?
3. How many media items are indexed?

Please do the following:

1. Verify DEBUG logging is enabled , VERBOSE disabled. SAVE if changed
2. Restart PMS
3. Wait 5 full minutes of no activity
4. Download the logs ZIP file from PMS

Attach here please

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![trex\_7](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/df705f/32.png) [@trex\_7](https://forums.plex.tv/u/trex_7)\
**Post date:** [January 8, 2023, 9:03pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/intermittent-issues-with-transcoding-on-nvidia-gpu/825176/3 "2023-01-08T21:03:31Z")

</div>

1. The behaviour is always the same, no matter if I transcode to tmpfs/ramdisk, local intel optane, local nvme.
2. From plex server point of view the /config drive is local, but it’s running in a virtual infrastructure backed by multiple enterprise NVMe drives, 1 million IOPS each.
3. Around 30-40k items.

The error messages you quoted, might not be related, but I’m seeing those messages when playback is stopped and the transcoding is terminated.

The issues never ever happen when the system is idle, or has low activity.

I have noticed when the issues start occurring, that there are multiple “Plex Media Server” processes hogging the GPU, some of them using more and more GPU memory.

```auto
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| NVIDIA-SMI 510.108.03 Driver Version: 510.108.03 CUDA Version: 11.6 |
|-------------------------------+----------------------+----------------------+
| GPU Name Persistence-M| Bus-Id Disp.A | Volatile Uncorr. ECC |
| Fan Temp Perf Pwr:Usage/Cap| Memory-Usage | GPU-Util Compute M. |
| | | MIG M. |
|===============================+======================+======================|
| 0 NVIDIA RTX A5000 On | 00000000:06:10.0 Off | Off |
| 30% 50C P2 73W / 230W | 18823MiB / 24564MiB | 1% Default |
| | | N/A |
+-------------------------------+----------------------+----------------------+
        
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Processes: |
| GPU GI CI PID Type Process name GPU Memory |
| ID ID Usage |
|=============================================================================|
| 0 N/A N/A 280538 C ...aserver/Plex Media Server 549MiB |
| 0 N/A N/A 409228 C ...aserver/Plex Media Server 213MiB |
| 0 N/A N/A 515089 C ...aserver/Plex Media Server 15MiB |
| 0 N/A N/A 650790 C ...aserver/Plex Media Server 1542MiB |
| 0 N/A N/A 811892 C ...aserver/Plex Media Server 163MiB |
| 0 N/A N/A 819623 C ...aserver/Plex Media Server 183MiB |
| 0 N/A N/A 848945 C ...aserver/Plex Media Server 201MiB |
| 0 N/A N/A 865079 C ...aserver/Plex Media Server 209MiB |
| 0 N/A N/A 865682 C ...aserver/Plex Media Server 336MiB |
| 0 N/A N/A 876097 C ...aserver/Plex Media Server 169MiB |
| 0 N/A N/A 879949 C ...aserver/Plex Media Server 777MiB |
| 0 N/A N/A 888291 C ...aserver/Plex Media Server 1576MiB |
| 0 N/A N/A 890678 C ...aserver/Plex Media Server 3260MiB |
| 0 N/A N/A 891919 C ...aserver/Plex Media Server 2675MiB |
| 0 N/A N/A 892632 C ...aserver/Plex Media Server 17MiB |
| 0 N/A N/A 893457 C ...aserver/Plex Media Server 4024MiB |
| 0 N/A N/A 893477 C ...aserver/Plex Media Server 809MiB |
| 0 N/A N/A 894611 C ...aserver/Plex Media Server 943MiB |
| 0 N/A N/A 895677 C ...aserver/Plex Media Server 205MiB |
| 0 N/A N/A 2333941 C ...aserver/Plex Media Server 20MiB |
| 0 N/A N/A 898232 C ...diaserver/Plex Transcoder 250MiB |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+

```

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ChuckPa](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/chuckpa/32/79710_2.png) [@ChuckPa](https://forums.plex.tv/u/ChuckPa)\
**Post date:** [January 8, 2023, 9:27pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/intermittent-issues-with-transcoding-on-nvidia-gpu/825176/4 "2023-01-08T21:27:59Z")

</div>

Which PMS version are you running in the container?

Without seeing logs, there’s little to go on but this:

```auto
Jan 02, 2023 07:35:01.000 [0x7ff55d540b38] ERROR - [Req#855/Transcode/xcbvy251hdmzwlytjwcowrv8/bf01e098-de8b-4d11-ac13-d949ed28954d] [eac3_eae @ 0x7f403d872640] EAE timeout! EAE not running, or wrong folder? Could not read '/tmp/pms-a362c36d-0d93-466f-b54a-588d298af179/EasyAudioEncoder/Convert to WAV (to 8ch or less)/xcbvy251hdmzwlytjwcowrv8_562-0-314.wav'
Jan 02, 2023 07:35:01.001 [0x7ff55febcb38] ERROR - [Req#8f0/Transcode/xcbvy251hdmzwlytjwcowrv8/bf01e098-de8b-4d11-ac13-d949ed28954d] [eac3_eae @ 0x7f403d872640] error reading output: -5 (I/O error)
Jan 02, 2023 07:35:01.001 [0x7ff56137bb38] ERROR - [Req#8f3/Transcode/xcbvy251hdmzwlytjwcowrv8/bf01e098-de8b-4d11-ac13-d949ed28954d] Error while decoding stream #0:1: I/O error

```

Has a few causes:

1. Transcoder temp directory (Where EAE write) is on a network (non-block i/o) connection and absolute file locks are not supported

2. inotify table full (max\_user\_watches) . This is the most common

3. PMS 1.30.x has a regression with EAE.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![trex\_7](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/df705f/32.png) [@trex\_7](https://forums.plex.tv/u/trex_7)\
**Post date:** [January 8, 2023, 9:30pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/intermittent-issues-with-transcoding-on-nvidia-gpu/825176/5 "2023-01-08T21:30:22Z")

</div>

Currently I’m using the linuxserver/plex:1.30.0 docker image

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ChuckPa](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/chuckpa/32/79710_2.png) [@ChuckPa](https://forums.plex.tv/u/ChuckPa)\
**Post date:** [January 8, 2023, 9:31pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/intermittent-issues-with-transcoding-on-nvidia-gpu/825176/6 "2023-01-08T21:31:08Z")

</div>

Back down to

```auto
plexinc/pms-docker:1.29.2.6364-6d72b0cf6

```

(or LSIO)

and retest

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![trex\_7](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/df705f/32.png) [@trex\_7](https://forums.plex.tv/u/trex_7)\
**Post date:** [January 8, 2023, 9:33pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/intermittent-issues-with-transcoding-on-nvidia-gpu/825176/7 "2023-01-08T21:33:30Z")

</div>

Ok will give that a try, and increase the max\_user\_watches.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ChuckPa](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/chuckpa/32/79710_2.png) [@ChuckPa](https://forums.plex.tv/u/ChuckPa)\
**Post date:** [January 8, 2023, 9:33pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/intermittent-issues-with-transcoding-on-nvidia-gpu/825176/8 "2023-01-08T21:33:55Z")

</div>

Don’t increase it blindly. Each slot consumes non-paged kernel memory.

> [@Linux Tips](https://forums.plex.tv/t/linux-tips/276247/9):
>
> Increase the number of directories Linux can monitor (inotify) for PMS The default size of the Linux inotify table is 8192 directories (\*1). When PMS is configured to update automatically when media is added, with properly organized media, especially music, this table rapidly fills and exceeds the default allocation requiring you to increase it. The solution to this is straight forward. Increasing the table size is easy. The first step is to determine how many directories to alloca…

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![trex\_7](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/df705f/32.png) [@trex\_7](https://forums.plex.tv/u/trex_7)\
**Post date:** [January 9, 2023, 10:08pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/intermittent-issues-with-transcoding-on-nvidia-gpu/825176/9 "2023-01-09T22:08:49Z")

</div>

Issue persists when running `1.29.2.6364-6d72b0cf6` and previous versions.

The server was already configured for high inotify waches.

```auto
fs.inotify.max_queued_events = 16777216
fs.inotify.max_user_instances = 16777216
fs.inotify.max_user_watches = 16777216
user.max_inotify_instances = 16777216
user.max_inotify_watches = 16777216

```

I have assigned 384GB memory to the server, so not worrying about memory.

The thing that is very consistent, the issue **NEVER** happens when there’s low/medium load on the server, say only 20-30 transcodes. Also if I see `Plex Media Server` show up in `nvidia-smi`. The processes only use a low amount of GPU memory, less than 512MB, and disappear from `nvidia-smi` soon after.

Then suddenly on higher load, the issues start, and `Plex Media Server` processes start showing up in `nvidia-smi` using huge amount of GPU memory, which keeps increasing every time i rerun `nvidia-smi`. What could cause the `Plex Media Server` process to consume so much GPU memory ?

The `Plex Transcoder` processes only ever consumes ~200-400MB GPU memory, weather the issue is occurring or not.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![trex\_7](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/df705f/32.png) [@trex\_7](https://forums.plex.tv/u/trex_7)\
**Post date:** [January 9, 2023, 10:41pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/intermittent-issues-with-transcoding-on-nvidia-gpu/825176/10 "2023-01-09T22:41:46Z")

</div>

Right now the issue is occurring and I am checking `nvidia-smi` periodically.

```auto
Mon Jan 9 22:30:28 2023
...
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Processes: |
| GPU GI CI PID Type Process name GPU Memory |
| ID ID Usage |
|=============================================================================|
| 0 N/A N/A 357285 C ...aserver/Plex Media Server 1613MiB |
| 0 N/A N/A 534934 C ...aserver/Plex Media Server 2068MiB |

```

```auto
Mon Jan 9 22:30:38 2023       
| 0 N/A N/A 357285 C ...aserver/Plex Media Server 1723MiB |
| 0 N/A N/A 534934 C ...aserver/Plex Media Server 2739MiB |

```

```auto
Mon Jan 9 22:30:46 2023
| 0 N/A N/A 357285 C ...aserver/Plex Media Server 2288MiB |
| 0 N/A N/A 534934 C ...aserver/Plex Media Server 3283MiB |

```

```auto
Mon Jan 9 22:31:15 2023
| 0 N/A N/A 357285 C ...aserver/Plex Media Server 3731MiB |
| 0 N/A N/A 534934 C ...aserver/Plex Media Server 4024MiB |

```

```auto
Mon Jan 9 22:31:49 2023
| 0 N/A N/A 357285 C ...aserver/Plex Media Server 5806MiB |
| 0 N/A N/A 534934 C ...aserver/Plex Media Server 4756MiB |

```

```auto
Mon Jan 9 22:35:16 2023
| 0 N/A N/A 357285 C ...aserver/Plex Media Server 6070MiB |
| 0 N/A N/A 534934 C ...aserver/Plex Media Server 9671MiB |

```

It keeps going, until the GPU has no memory left. And then the logs start flooding with:

```auto
Jan 09, 2023 22:34:42.457 [0x7f0eb6c93b38] ERROR - [Req#2c89f/Transcode] [FFMPEG] - cu->cuCtxCreate(&hwctx->cuda_ctx, desired_flags, hwctx->internal->cuda_device) failed
Jan 09, 2023 22:34:42.457 [0x7f0eb6c93b38] ERROR - [Req#2c89f/Transcode] [FFMPEG] - -> CUDA_ERROR_OUT_OF_MEMORY: out of memory
Jan 09, 2023 22:34:42.457 [0x7f0eb6c93b38] ERROR - [Req#2c89f/Transcode] [FFMPEG] - 
Jan 09, 2023 22:34:44.930 [0x7f0d52f4fb38] ERROR - [Req#2e54a/Transcode] [FFMPEG] - cu->cuCtxCreate(&hwctx->cuda_ctx, desired_flags, hwctx->internal->cuda_device) failed
Jan 09, 2023 22:34:44.930 [0x7f0d52f4fb38] ERROR - [Req#2e54a/Transcode] [FFMPEG] - -> CUDA_ERROR_OUT_OF_MEMORY: out of memory
Jan 09, 2023 22:34:44.930 [0x7f0d52f4fb38] ERROR - [Req#2e54a/Transcode] [FFMPEG] - 
Jan 09, 2023 22:34:47.208 [0x7f0d97345b38] ERROR - [Req#2e347/Transcode] [FFMPEG] - cu->cuCtxCreate(&hwctx->cuda_ctx, desired_flags, hwctx->internal->cuda_device) failed
Jan 09, 2023 22:34:47.208 [0x7f0d97345b38] ERROR - [Req#2e347/Transcode] [FFMPEG] - -> CUDA_ERROR_OUT_OF_MEMORY: out of memory
Jan 09, 2023 22:34:47.208 [0x7f0d97345b38] ERROR - [Req#2e347/Transcode] [FFMPEG] - 
Jan 09, 2023 22:34:53.678 [0x7f0d53152b38] ERROR - [Req#2f2ac/Transcode] [FFMPEG] - cu->cuCtxCreate(&hwctx->cuda_ctx, desired_flags, hwctx->internal->cuda_device) failed
Jan 09, 2023 22:34:53.678 [0x7f0d53152b38] ERROR - [Req#2f2ac/Transcode] [FFMPEG] - -> CUDA_ERROR_OUT_OF_MEMORY: out of memory
Jan 09, 2023 22:34:53.678 [0x7f0d53152b38] ERROR - [Req#2f2ac/Transcode] [FFMPEG] - 

```

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ChuckPa](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/chuckpa/32/79710_2.png) [@ChuckPa](https://forums.plex.tv/u/ChuckPa)\
**Post date:** [January 9, 2023, 10:59pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/intermittent-issues-with-transcoding-on-nvidia-gpu/825176/11 "2023-01-09T22:59:21Z")

</div>

How far into the movie does this occur ?

Can you use `dd` to cut me that chunk (upload to cloud) that I can reproduce with ?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ChuckPa](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/chuckpa/32/79710_2.png) [@ChuckPa](https://forums.plex.tv/u/ChuckPa)\
**Post date:** [January 9, 2023, 11:09pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/intermittent-issues-with-transcoding-on-nvidia-gpu/825176/12 "2023-01-09T23:09:20Z")

</div>

> [@trex\_7](#):
>
> ```auto
> fs.inotify.max_queued_events = 16777216
> fs.inotify.max_user_instances = 16777216
> fs.inotify.max_user_watches = 16777216
> user.max_inotify_instances = 16777216
> user.max_inotify_watches = 16777216
> 
> ```

These are insane. (Each slot needs 540 + Pathname length bytes)

I need this. (adjust fs.inotify.max\_user\_watches only for your media DIRECTORY count).

```auto
[chuck@lizum ~.2002]$ sudo !!
sudo sysctl -a | grep inotify
fs.inotify.max_queued_events = 16384
fs.inotify.max_user_instances = 128
fs.inotify.max_user_watches = 262144
user.max_inotify_instances = 128
user.max_inotify_watches = 262144
[chuck@lizum ~.2003]$

```

You’re expecting 30 transcodes of _WHAT_ ? (HEVC HDR) ?  
Please share some of these details ; we need do the math

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![trex\_7](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/df705f/32.png) [@trex\_7](https://forums.plex.tv/u/trex_7)\
**Post date:** [January 9, 2023, 11:44pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/intermittent-issues-with-transcoding-on-nvidia-gpu/825176/13 "2023-01-09T23:44:56Z")

</div>

If the inotify slots are using 540 + pathname. Let’s say all pathname are 1K (probably less in reality).

```auto
(540+1024) * 16777216= 26239565824

26239565824/1024^3
24.4375

```

So would use maximum of 24GB to fill all slots if I understand correctly ? Should not be a problem then ? Right now there’s ~330GB free memory.

Also I have `Run a partial scan when changes are detected` and every other auto library scan settings disabled. I can lower inotify, if you still think it makes a difference ?

All content on all servers should be 720p/1080p h264. I’m 99.9% certain there’s no HEVC or 4K anywhere.

I am not sure the issue is related to some specific content being played. Because I’m getting the exact same behaviour on multiple servers on different hardware with different non-overlapping content.

I just noticed an interesting message that’s flooding quite heavily in `Plex Media Scanner Deep Analysis.log` while the issue is happening.

```auto
Jan 09, 2023 05:04:11.589 [0x7f5bd0d74140] DEBUG - [FFMPEG] - ct_type:0 pic_struct:0
Jan 09, 2023 05:04:11.590 [0x7f5bd0d74140] DEBUG - [FFMPEG] - ct_type:0 pic_struct:0
Jan 09, 2023 05:04:11.590 [0x7f5bd0d74140] DEBUG - [FFMPEG] - ct_type:0 pic_struct:0
Jan 09, 2023 05:04:11.590 [0x7f5bd0d74140] DEBUG - [FFMPEG] - ct_type:0 pic_struct:0
Jan 09, 2023 05:04:11.590 [0x7f5bd0d74140] DEBUG - [FFMPEG] - ct_type:0 pic_struct:0
Jan 09, 2023 05:04:11.590 [0x7f5bd0d74140] DEBUG - [FFMPEG] - ct_type:0 pic_struct:0

```

```auto
# cat Plex\ Media\ Scanner\ Deep\ Analysis.*.log | grep ct_type | wc -l
381680

```

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![trex\_7](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/df705f/32.png) [@trex\_7](https://forums.plex.tv/u/trex_7)\
**Post date:** [January 9, 2023, 11:58pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/intermittent-issues-with-transcoding-on-nvidia-gpu/825176/14 "2023-01-09T23:58:37Z")

</div>

Um, actually on second thought. These logs are actually from a different time. So maybe not related.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ChuckPa](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/chuckpa/32/79710_2.png) [@ChuckPa](https://forums.plex.tv/u/ChuckPa)\
**Post date:** [January 10, 2023, 12:01am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/intermittent-issues-with-transcoding-on-nvidia-gpu/825176/15 "2023-01-10T00:01:32Z")

</div>

> [@trex\_7](#):
>
> So would use maximum of 24GB to fill all slots if I understand correctly ?

That’s 24, round up to 25 GB of kernel memory locked for just the inotify.max\_user\_watches.

Kernel usage increases even higher as you add 16M events (which isn’t how it’s done. There aren’t going to be 16M files modified within 5 seconds, are there? ). Let the kernel manage the queue depth. This isn’t a real-time financial processing system that needs a preset queue.

When deep analysis runs, it generates both an audio and video bitrate profile.  
This shows up in the XML. It will show you ‘bitrates’ fields.

This is for when automatic bitrate is enabled at the player

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![trex\_7](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/df705f/32.png) [@trex\_7](https://forums.plex.tv/u/trex_7)\
**Post date:** [January 10, 2023, 12:42am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/intermittent-issues-with-transcoding-on-nvidia-gpu/825176/16 "2023-01-10T00:42:32Z")

</div>

```auto
# sysctl -a | grep inotify     
fs.inotify.max_queued_events = 16384
fs.inotify.max_user_instances = 65536
fs.inotify.max_user_watches = 262144
user.max_inotify_instances = 65536
user.max_inotify_watches = 262144

```

Running with those values now.

GPU RAM issue has not occurred for the last 2 hours. Will notify here next time it happens.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ChuckPa](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/chuckpa/32/79710_2.png) [@ChuckPa](https://forums.plex.tv/u/ChuckPa)\
**Post date:** [January 10, 2023, 3:11am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/intermittent-issues-with-transcoding-on-nvidia-gpu/825176/17 "2023-01-10T03:11:56Z")

</div>

check your PM.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ChuckPa](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/chuckpa/32/79710_2.png) [@ChuckPa](https://forums.plex.tv/u/ChuckPa)\
**Post date:** [January 11, 2023, 7:22am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/intermittent-issues-with-transcoding-on-nvidia-gpu/825176/18 "2023-01-11T07:22:26Z")

</div>

@trex_7

I’m having trouble finding our discussion on this topic in my PMs.

Would you ping me please ?

Thanks.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/plex/original/3X/2/a/2acb9765406f63293d357b4ec509ec39aa28f2ad.png) [@system](https://forums.plex.tv/u/system)\
**Post date:** [April 11, 2023, 7:23am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/intermittent-issues-with-transcoding-on-nvidia-gpu/825176/19 "2023-04-11T07:23:02Z")

</div>

This topic was automatically closed 90 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.