Issues playing series

Plex Media Server
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1

Server Version#: DSM 7.0.1-42218
Player Version#: Any (Android mobile, Roku TV, Samsung TV, etc)

Hello,

I have been trying to look into an issue playing a specific anime series within Plex. I have the files on the Plex server and whenever attempting to play this series from anything but my computer, it will timeout saying there was an unexpected error during playback. I can’t get it to play at all no matter what changes I make to streaming quality, etc. It just doesn’t want to work for whatever reason.

Now on my computer, I can get it to play, but it is EXTREMELY slow and it takes a long, long time to buffer. If it buffers a significant amount and I start playing, eventually I will catch up and have to wait again.

If I attempt to play any other anime series or even regular movies, etc, it seems to have no issue attempting to play them at all. Plays fast and buffers fast.

Looking at the files, I am having a hard time understanding what the difference is. The files themselves are .mkv files, the bitrate of the video is 128 compared to 256 for other videos that play fine, it’s 1080p video, just like others, and it’s about 1GB in size on average per episode (less than many others I have).

I’m not sure what codecs it uses, but it’s just nuts that it is this bad in terms of playback.

I’ve also tried setting it to encode to smaller sizes (like 480p), or direct play, nothing seems to let this run as it should. Even after server reboots, and even an uninstall / reinstall of the Plex server.

Analyzing the series doesn’t seem to help either.

Any thoughts on getting this to work properly?

Thank you.

2

May I please see the DEBUG logs zip which captures the start (trying to start) of one playback session which fails / has problems?

  1. Make sure DEBUG logging is enabled, VERBOSE disabled (Settings - Server - General - Show Advanced) – SAVE if you make changes

  2. Start the playback

  3. Let it try for 20 seconds or fails

  4. Settings - Server - Troubleshooting - Download Logs

  5. Attach the ZIP file it gives you here for me to review.

3

Hi ChuckPa,

I shut the server down, deleted all logs files, then started it and did as you said. Tried to reduce the clutter for you.

Here is the file.

Thank you.
Plex Media Server Logs_2021-12-08_17-48-14.zip (34.8 KB)

4

Based on the log file and the first playback I see –

The video has

Dec 08, 2021 17:47:45.471 [0x7fd0cf008b38] DEBUG - [Transcode] Subtitles: Found a candidate subtitle language [en] for a foreign film

Dec 08, 2021 17:47:45.491 [0x7fd0cf008b38] DEBUG - [Transcode] MDE: E9 - Attack of the Ogres: Direct Play is disabled
Dec 08, 2021 17:47:45.491 [0x7fd0cf008b38] DEBUG - [Transcode] MDE: E9 - Attack of the Ogres: media must be transcoded in order to use the dash protocol
Dec 08, 2021 17:47:45.491 [0x7fd0cf008b38] DEBUG - [Transcode] MDE: E9 - Attack of the Ogres: selected subtitle cannot be converted to a compatible format, burning into video stream
Dec 08, 2021 17:47:45.491 [0x7fd0cf008b38] DEBUG - [Transcode] MDE: E9 - Attack of the Ogres: avoiding video remux due to burned subtitle stream
Dec 08, 2021 17:47:45.491 [0x7fd0cf008b38] DEBUG - [Transcode] MDE: E9 - Attack of the Ogres: no remuxable profile found, so video stream will be transcoded
Dec 08, 2021 17:47:45.491 [0x7fd0cf008b38] DEBUG - [Transcode] MDE: Cannot direct stream video stream due to profile or setting limitations
Dec 08, 2021 17:47:45.491 [0x7fd0cf008b38] DEBUG - [Transcode] Codecs: testing h264 (decoder) with hwdevice vaapi
Dec 08, 2021 17:47:45.491 [0x7fd0cf008b38] DEBUG - [Transcode] Codecs: hardware transcoding: testing API vaapi
Dec 08, 2021 17:47:45.492 [0x7fd0cf008b38] DEBUG - [Transcode] [FFMPEG] - Format 0x41524742 -> bgra.
Dec 08, 2021 17:47:45.492 [0x7fd0cf008b38] DEBUG - [Transcode] [FFMPEG] - Format 0x42475241 -> argb.
Dec 08, 2021 17:47:45.492 [0x7fd0cf008b38] DEBUG - [Transcode] [FFMPEG] - Format 0x41424752 -> rgba.
Dec 08, 2021 17:47:45.492 [0x7fd0cf008b38] DEBUG - [Transcode] [FFMPEG] - Format 0x52474241 -> abgr.
Dec 08, 2021 17:47:45.492 [0x7fd0cf008b38] DEBUG - [Transcode] [FFMPEG] - Format 0x58524742 -> bgr0.
Dec 08, 2021 17:47:45.492 [0x7fd0cf008b38] DEBUG - [Transcode] [FFMPEG] - Format 0x42475258 -> 0rgb.
Dec 08, 2021 17:47:45.492 [0x7fd0cf008b38] DEBUG - [Transcode] [FFMPEG] - Format 0x58424752 -> rgb0.
Dec 08, 2021 17:47:45.492 [0x7fd0cf008b38] DEBUG - [Transcode] [FFMPEG] - Format 0x52474258 -> 0bgr.
Dec 08, 2021 17:47:45.492 [0x7fd0cf008b38] DEBUG - [Transcode] [FFMPEG] - Format 0x30335241 -> unknown.
Dec 08, 2021 17:47:45.492 [0x7fd0cf008b38] DEBUG - [Transcode] [FFMPEG] - Format 0x30334241 -> unknown.
Dec 08, 2021 17:47:45.492 [0x7fd0cf008b38] DEBUG - [Transcode] [FFMPEG] - Format 0x30335258 -> x2rgb10le.
Dec 08, 2021 17:47:45.492 [0x7fd0cf008b38] DEBUG - [Transcode] [FFMPEG] - Format 0x30334258 -> unknown.
Dec 08, 2021 17:47:45.492 [0x7fd0cf008b38] DEBUG - [Transcode] [FFMPEG] - Format 0x36314752 -> unknown.
Dec 08, 2021 17:47:45.492 [0x7fd0cf008b38] DEBUG - [Transcode] [FFMPEG] - Format 0x50424752 -> unknown.
Dec 08, 2021 17:47:45.492 [0x7fd0cf008b38] DEBUG - [Transcode] [FFMPEG] - Format 0x50524742 -> unknown.
Dec 08, 2021 17:47:45.492 [0x7fd0cf008b38] DEBUG - [Transcode] [FFMPEG] - Format 0x56555941 -> unknown.
Dec 08, 2021 17:47:45.492 [0x7fd0cf008b38] DEBUG - [Transcode] [FFMPEG] - Format 0x30303859 -> gray.
Dec 08, 2021 17:47:45.492 [0x7fd0cf008b38] DEBUG - [Transcode] [FFMPEG] - Format 0x3231564e -> nv12.
Dec 08, 2021 17:47:45.492 [0x7fd0cf008b38] DEBUG - [Transcode] [FFMPEG] - Format 0x3132564e -> unknown.
Dec 08, 2021 17:47:45.492 [0x7fd0cf008b38] DEBUG - [Transcode] [FFMPEG] - Format 0x32595559 -> yuyv422.
Dec 08, 2021 17:47:45.492 [0x7fd0cf008b38] DEBUG - [Transcode] [FFMPEG] - Format 0x59565955 -> uyvy422.
Dec 08, 2021 17:47:45.492 [0x7fd0cf008b38] DEBUG - [Transcode] [FFMPEG] - Format 0x32315659 -> yuv420p.
Dec 08, 2021 17:47:45.492 [0x7fd0cf008b38] DEBUG - [Transcode] [FFMPEG] - Format 0x30323449 -> yuv420p.
Dec 08, 2021 17:47:45.492 [0x7fd0cf008b38] DEBUG - [Transcode] [FFMPEG] - Format 0x50313134 -> yuv411p.
Dec 08, 2021 17:47:45.492 [0x7fd0cf008b38] DEBUG - [Transcode] [FFMPEG] - Format 0x48323234 -> yuv422p.
Dec 08, 2021 17:47:45.492 [0x7fd0cf008b38] DEBUG - [Transcode] [FFMPEG] - Format 0x56323234 -> yuv440p.
Dec 08, 2021 17:47:45.492 [0x7fd0cf008b38] DEBUG - [Transcode] [FFMPEG] - Format 0x50343434 -> yuv444p.
Dec 08, 2021 17:47:45.492 [0x7fd0cf008b38] DEBUG - [Transcode] [FFMPEG] - Format 0x33434d49 -> unknown.
Dec 08, 2021 17:47:45.492 [0x7fd0cf008b38] DEBUG - [Transcode] [FFMPEG] - Format 0x30313050 -> p010le.
Dec 08, 2021 17:47:45.492 [0x7fd0cf008b38] DEBUG - [Transcode] Codecs: Testing with profile 'High'
Dec 08, 2021 17:47:45.493 [0x7fd0cf008b38] DEBUG - [Transcode] Scaled up video bitrate to 14109Kbps based on 1.500000x fudge factor.
Dec 08, 2021 17:47:45.493 [0x7fd0cf008b38] DEBUG - [Transcode] MDE: Tensei Shitara Slime Datta Ken - S1 E9 - Attack of the Ogres: selected media 0 / 4670
Dec 08, 2021 17:47:45.493 [0x7fd0cf008b38] DEBUG - [Transcode] Streaming Resource: Adding session 0x7fd0cf67a168:t7orjry9rrqme5nu9jkycfh3 which is using transcoder slot.  Used slots is now 1
Dec 08, 2021 17:47:45.493 [0x7fd0cf008b38] DEBUG - [Transcode] Streaming Resource: Added session 0x7fd0cf67a168:t7orjry9rrqme5nu9jkycfh3
Dec 08, 2021 17:47:45.493 [0x7fd0cf008b38] DEBUG - [Transcode] Streaming Resource: Reached Decision id=4984 codes=(General=1001,Direct play not available; Conversion OK. Direct Play=3000,App cannot direct play this item. Direct play is disabled. Transcode=1001,Direct play not available; Conversion OK.) media=(id=4670 part=(id=4671 decision=transcode container=mp4 protocol=dash streams=(Video=(id=15830 decision=transcode bitrate=14109 encoder=h264_vaapi width=1920 height=1080) Audio=(id=15831 decision=copy channels=2 rate=48000) Subtitle=(id=15832 decision=burn languageCode=eng location=embedded))))

The hardware transcoding does the video transcoding with ease.

The CPU is going to struggle burning the subtitle into the video.

5

Good Morning ChuckPa,

So I get where you’re going with that, but I would expect it to happen with many of the anime shows I have in there since they all deal with subtitles. And I doubt that all of the ones I have on here all use different subtitles than the one I’m attempting.

I attached some logs from a different anime. Would you be able to take a look and see how it is doing it in that?

I also attached a screenshot of the server CPU/RAM attempting to transcode the original anime. It doesn’t seem to be trying hard?

CPU during playback
CPU during playback825×606 34 KB

Thank you.
Plex Media Server Logs_2021-12-09_11-09-32.zip (41.7 KB)

6

Just wanted to note that the logs attached in the last post are from another anime that runs without issue. I didn’t specify that.

7

Since the other one was closed, I’ll just ask here. Where can I download older versions of PMS so I can see if it resolves this issue?

Thank you.

8

I see the logs above. these are the good logs?

If so, may I now see the failing logs ?

Asking because I see this:

Signed-in
Dec 09, 2021 11:09:02.696 [0x7f45d465fb38] DEBUG - [Transcode/un4r6jauysozyq85hkht5lnb] Asked for segment 0 from session.
Dec 09, 2021 11:09:02.751 [0x7f45d4512b38] DEBUG - [Transcode] Transcoder: session un4r6jauysozyq85hkht5lnb indicated fallback to software decoding
Dec 09, 2021 11:09:03.301 [0x7f45d3f1db38] DEBUG - [Transcode] Transcoder segment range: 0 - 0 (0)
Dec 09, 2021 11:09:03.386 [0x7f45d4535b38] DEBUG - [Transcode/un4r6jauysozyq85hkht5lnb] Returning segment 0 from session
Dec 09, 2021 11:09:03.386 [0x7f45d4535b38] DEBUG - Content-Length of /var/packages/PlexMediaServer/shares/PlexMediaServer/App

It’s failing back to SW decoding. That means a problem with the file it doesn’t like.

9

So the second logs that I provided are from a different anime that works fine on web browsing. So the interesting thing is it works absolutely fine via the web, but I actually tried that series on my Samsung TV the other night and it gave me the “Unexpected error during playback” error message. Which is a different behavior than the first anime series.

Now, when I attempt to play the first series via the web (I don’t have control of the Samsung TV right now), it acts the same (stutters hard and takes forever for buffering) and I don’t see much pressure on the CPU. I know you said the burn-in of the subtitles would kill the CPU, but I am just not seeing that.

image

I did try something different and used Handbrake to encode the video with burn-in subtitles, but this process takes a Long time. But, it does seem to work; Because of that I think you may be onto something, but I’m still not understanding why it’s working for some series without issues and some others aren’t working at all, or web works but not the Samsung TV for one of them even.

Could it be the Type of subtitle file that is in these MKV files? Why is it struggling so hard for some when others it’s working beautifully.

10

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