Movies pause then buffer repeatedly

Plex Players Desktop Players
1

Server Version#: 1.18.4.2171
Player Version#: 4.18.1
Windows 10 Pro - Chrome Plex Player

This only happens with movies, never with TV shows

When I leave a movie paused for around 5 minutes and attempt to play it again, it will show the buffer icon for about a second then disappear then repeat. Closing the session and starting a new one does not solve the issue. If I were to pick a different movie it will play just fine.

The only solution I have found for it so far is to force it to transcode to a resolution lower than the original.

In the transcoder statistics log I found this:

</SegmentList>
<PlaybackReports>
<Playback startTime="3896" endTime="4489" state="buffering" progress="4809000" />
<Playback startTime="4489" endTime="4967" state="playing" progress="4809000" />
<Playback startTime="4967" endTime="5688" state="buffering" progress="4809000" />
<Playback startTime="5688" endTime="6206" state="playing" progress="4809000" />
<Playback startTime="6206" endTime="6686" state="buffering" progress="4809000" />
<Playback startTime="6686" endTime="7206" state="playing" progress="4809000" />
<Playback startTime="7206" endTime="7967" state="buffering" progress="4809000" />
<Playback startTime="7967" endTime="8502" state="playing" progress="4809000" />
<Playback startTime="8502" endTime="9213" state="buffering" progress="4809000" />
<Playback startTime="9213" endTime="9727" state="playing" progress="4809000" />
<Playback startTime="9727" endTime="10446" state="buffering" progress="4809000" />
<Playback startTime="10446" endTime="10935" state="playing" progress="4809000" />
<Playback startTime="10935" endTime="10936" state="stopped" progress="4809000" />
</PlaybackReports>

It seems to accurately reflect what I am experiencing. I also found this in the main server log:

Jan 02, 2020 19:43:41.003 [0x1532fefc6700] DEBUG - We're going to try to auto-select an audio stream for account 1.
Jan 02, 2020 19:43:41.003 [0x1532fefc6700] DEBUG - Selecting best audio stream for part ID 350586 (autoselect: 0 language: en)
Jan 02, 2020 19:43:41.003 [0x1532fefc6700] DEBUG - Audio Stream: 784725, Subtitle Stream: -1
Jan 02, 2020 19:43:41.004 [0x1532fefc6700] DEBUG - We're going to try to auto-select an audio stream for account 1.
Jan 02, 2020 19:43:41.004 [0x1532fefc6700] DEBUG - Selecting best audio stream for part ID 350580 (autoselect: 0 language: en)
Jan 02, 2020 19:43:41.004 [0x1532fefc6700] DEBUG - Audio Stream: 784708, Subtitle Stream: -1
Jan 02, 2020 19:43:41.004 [0x1532fefc6700] DEBUG - We're going to try to auto-select an audio stream for account 1.
Jan 02, 2020 19:43:41.004 [0x1532fefc6700] DEBUG - Selecting best audio stream for part ID 350578 (autoselect: 0 language: en)
Jan 02, 2020 19:43:41.004 [0x1532fefc6700] DEBUG - Audio Stream: 784702, Subtitle Stream: -1
Jan 02, 2020 19:43:41.004 [0x1532fefc6700] DEBUG - We're going to try to auto-select an audio stream for account 1.
Jan 02, 2020 19:43:41.004 [0x1532fefc6700] DEBUG - Selecting best audio stream for part ID 350579 (autoselect: 0 language: en)
Jan 02, 2020 19:43:41.004 [0x1532fefc6700] DEBUG - Audio Stream: 784705, Subtitle Stream: -1
Jan 02, 2020 19:43:41.004 [0x1532fefc6700] DEBUG - We're going to try to auto-select an audio stream for account 1.
Jan 02, 2020 19:43:41.005 [0x1532fefc6700] DEBUG - Selecting best audio stream for part ID 350536 (autoselect: 0 language: en)
Jan 02, 2020 19:43:41.005 [0x1532fefc6700] DEBUG - Audio Stream: 784538, Subtitle Stream: -1
Jan 02, 2020 19:43:41.005 [0x1532fefc6700] DEBUG - We're going to try to auto-select an audio stream for account 1.
Jan 02, 2020 19:43:41.005 [0x1532fefc6700] DEBUG - Selecting best audio stream for part ID 350535 (autoselect: 0 language: en)
Jan 02, 2020 19:43:41.005 [0x1532fefc6700] DEBUG - Audio Stream: 784498, Subtitle Stream: -1
Jan 02, 2020 19:43:41.006 [0x1532fefc6700] DEBUG - We're going to try to auto-select an audio stream for account 1.
Jan 02, 2020 19:43:41.006 [0x1532fefc6700] DEBUG - Selecting best audio stream for part ID 350534 (autoselect: 0 language: en)
Jan 02, 2020 19:43:41.006 [0x1532fefc6700] DEBUG - Audio Stream: 784456, Subtitle Stream: -1

It looks like this may be the issue? Although the media in question here only has one audio track so I am not sure. Any ideas? Plex Media Server Logs_2020-01-02_19-43-43.zip (9.3 MB)

2

I don’t have a solution however I am experiencing the same frustrating issue since I upgraded to the new Version 4.18.1. Interested to see if there is an answer to why this is occurring or a quick upgrade to address this issue.

3

I’m not sure if you have this enabled but I enabled the feature that automatically stops a stream after it has been paused for x amount of time. I don’t recall the issue occurring anymore with that enabled. But I have been watching more tv shows lately due to how annoying the issue was.

4

The movie stops at random times, then just starts buffering and playing for maybe 5 seconds then buffers again. I am watching a movie when this happens, sometimes halfway through the movie then it starts. Another thing that messes up the stream is going back or forward on the movie. it freezes after that.

5

Are you by chance using Windows and Stablebit Drivepool with duplication turned on? I’ve been having hella problems with things the past 2 weeks. Finally I think solved it by disabling read striping in Drivepool. (Read Striping = it will try to load from both the duplicated drives to improve performance instead of just one).

Won’t really slow things down; media can read from a single drive with no issues.

6

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