Live TV Regularly Fails in Multiple Clients, while Working in Others

[cynicaleagle]

Server Version#: 1.32.8.7639 running on Ubuntu with an AMD A8-6600K and an Nvidia RTX 1070
Player Version#: Web 4.116.1, Xbox 5.76.2
Tuner Make/Model: Hauppage WinTV-QuadHD
Guide/Lineup name: Local Broadcast

Live TV frequently (I would say 80-90% of the time) won’t load in the Xbox client or the Web Client. If I keep backing out and retrying it will eventually work. It works fine in the Android Client.

In the Web Client, I get a playback error:
“An error occurred trying to play “xxxxxxxx”.
Error code: s4002 (Manifest)”
Developer Tools shows: “[Player] A Shaka error occurred: s4002 (Manifest) – DASH Manifest error: empty segments or insufficient segment information; the player will attempt to recover”

In the Xbox Client I get a playback error:
“An unexpected playback problem occurred.”
Console often shows “WARN Failed to send transcode action ping to source” while showing spinning wheel before playback error.

In the Android Client it works fine, can switch back and forth between Direct Play and Transcode with no issues.

Server Logs often show this error:
ERROR - [Req#ad44/Transcode] downloadContainer: expected MediaContainer element, found html
ERROR - [Req#ad44/Transcode] TranscodeUniversalRequest: unable to get container: /livetv/sessions/5d7d82a0-21e5-4932-ad9a-4803a2d62b2d?includeBandwidths=1&offset=-1&X-Plex-Incomplete-Segments=1&X-Plex-Session-Identifier=hp5nuknonxmk2biyf6rrftl2

It’s so strange that it works in the Android Client and the Xbox/Web (and Playstation when I tried it a bit ago) clients always seem to have issues.

I’m a developer, happy to help track down and close out this issue!

[x1ao4]

I tested out several different Stream Channels. I added these channels to Plex using xTeVe and set up xTeVe as the DVR. Here’s what I found from the tests:

Channel A
VIDEO: H264 1080p
AUDIO: MP2

Plex for Mac
STREAM: Direct Stream
CONTAINER: Converting (MPEGTS → MKV)
VIDEO: Direct Stream (H264 1080p)
AUDIO: Direct Stream (MP2 Stereo)

Plex for iOS (MPV)
STREAM: Direct Stream
CONTAINER: Converting (MPEGTS → MPEGTS)
VIDEO: Direct Stream (H264 1080p)
AUDIO: Direct Stream (MP2 Stereo)

Plex for iOS (AVPlayer)
STREAM: Transcode
CONTAINER: Converting (MPEGTS → MPEGTS)
VIDEO: Direct Stream (H264 1080p)
AUDIO: Transcode (MP2 Stereo → AAC Stereo)

Plex Web (Use alternate streaming protocol for video playback Off)
STREAM: Transcode
CONTAINER: Converting (MPEGTS → MP4)
VIDEO: Transcode (H264 (HW) 1080p → H264 (HW) 1080p)
AUDIO: Transcode (MP2 Stereo → AAC Stereo)

Plex Web (Use alternate streaming protocol for video playback On)
STREAM: Transcode
CONTAINER: Converting (MPEGTS → MPEGTS)
VIDEO: Direct Stream (H264 1080p)
AUDIO: Transcode (MP2 Stereo → AAC Stereo)

Channel B
VIDEO: H264 720p
AUDIO: AAC

Plex for Mac
STREAM: Playback Error

Plex for iOS (MPV)
STREAM: Direct Stream
CONTAINER: Converting (MPEGTS → MPEGTS)
VIDEO: Direct Stream (H264 720p)
AUDIO: Direct Stream (AAC Stereo)

Plex for iOS (AVPlayer)
STREAM: Direct Stream
CONTAINER: Converting (MPEGTS → MPEGTS)
VIDEO: Direct Stream (H264 720p)
AUDIO: Direct Stream (AAC Stereo)

Plex Web (Use alternate streaming protocol for video playback Off)
STREAM: Transcode
CONTAINER: Converting (MPEGTS → MP4)
VIDEO: Transcode (H264 (HW) 720p → H264 (HW) 720p)
AUDIO: Direct Stream (AAC Stereo)

Plex Web (Use alternate streaming protocol for video playback On)
STREAM: Direct Stream
CONTAINER: Converting (MPEGTS → MPEGTS)
VIDEO: Direct Stream (H264 720p)
AUDIO: Direct Stream (AAC Stereo)

Channel C
VIDEO: HEVC 4k
AUDIO: AAC

Plex for Mac
STREAM: Playback Error

Plex for iOS (MPV)
STREAM: Direct Stream
CONTAINER: Converting (MPEGTS → MPEGTS)
VIDEO: Direct Stream (HEVC 4k)
AUDIO: Direct Stream (AAC Stereo)

Plex for iOS (AVPlayer)
STREAM: Direct Stream (Audio present, without visuals)
CONTAINER: Converting (MPEGTS → MPEGTS)
VIDEO: Direct Stream (HEVC 4k)
AUDIO: Direct Stream (AAC Stereo)

Plex Web (Use alternate streaming protocol for video playback Off)
STREAM: Transcode
CONTAINER: Converting (MPEGTS → MP4)
VIDEO: Transcode (HEVC (HW) 4k → H264 (HW) 4k)
AUDIO: Direct Stream (AAC Stereo)

Plex Web (Use alternate streaming protocol for video playback On)
STREAM: Direct Stream (Audio present, without visuals)
CONTAINER: Converting (MPEGTS → MPEGTS)
VIDEO: Direct Stream (HEVC 4k)
AUDIO: Direct Stream (AAC Stereo)

Channel D
VIDEO: H264 4k
AUDIO: AAC

Plex for Mac
STREAM: Playback Error

Plex for iOS (MPV)
STREAM: Direct Stream
CONTAINER: Converting (MPEGTS → MPEGTS)
VIDEO: Direct Stream (H264 4k)
AUDIO: Direct Stream (AAC Stereo)

Plex for iOS (AVPlayer)
STREAM: Direct Stream
CONTAINER: Converting (MPEGTS → MPEGTS)
VIDEO: Direct Stream (H264 4k)
AUDIO: Direct Stream (AAC Stereo)

Plex Web (Use alternate streaming protocol for video playback Off)
STREAM: Transcode
CONTAINER: Converting (MPEGTS → MP4)
VIDEO: Transcode (H264 (HW) 4k → H264 (HW) 4k)
AUDIO: Direct Stream (AAC Stereo)

Plex Web (Use alternate streaming protocol for video playback On)
STREAM: Direct Stream
CONTAINER: Converting (MPEGTS → MPEGTS)
VIDEO: Direct Stream (H264 4k)
AUDIO: Direct Stream (AAC Stereo)

In summary, Plex for Mac’s Live TV & DVR doesn’t support AAC audio (likely the same for Plex for Windows); Plex for iOS (AVPlayer) and Plex Web (with “Use alternate streaming protocol for video playback” enabled) don’t support MPEGTS format HEVC videos.

The main issue lies with AAC audio; while other issues can be addressed through settings, AAC problems need external solutions since Plex can’t transcode AAC audio for Live TV & DVR. I’m not sure why. I’m also puzzled by instances where there’s no transcoding but there’s MPEGTS to MPEGTS container conversion happening. And I don’t understand the Transcode (H264 (HW) 4k → H264 (HW) 4k) issue either.

That’s the situation. Hopefully, the Plex team sees this and provides a response, especially regarding AAC audio support on desktop platforms.

Before that, if you’re managing Stream Channels using xTeVe or another method, you can set FFmpeg as the Stream Buffer in the software. Then, configure the FFmpeg Options as -hide_banner -loglevel error -i [URL] -c:a libmp3lame -vcodec copy -f mpegts pipe:1. This way, FFmpeg will convert the audio of the stream to MP3 format, enabling playback on Plex players that don’t support AAC.