Movies Stop after 2 Hours

Plex Players Smart TVs
1

I am wondering if there has been any progress on the apparently long standing issue affecting movies over two hours in length. About 20% of my library is over 2 hrs long, so I am quite concerned that I might not be able to watch the end of any of them.

I first learned of this because my Dad was watching Rio Bravo from my Plex server last night and he told me it just stopped after about 2 hrs. (the movie is 2:21 in length.) He had that happen on a TCL Roku TV and a Roku3. I tried on my Roku3 and when I tried to go beyond the 2 hr point it displays the “33%” spinner for a while and then returns to the movie information screen. I have found several threads about this issue (not all for Roku, either) and none have been resolved:

https://forums.plex.tv/t/playing-movies-past-2-hour-makr/579156
resolution: blame roku firmware

https://forums.plex.tv/t/movies-crash-stop-after-2-hrs-been-happening-for-years-help-please/608492/5
unresolved

https://forums.plex.tv/t/all-compressed-movies-mp4-and-m4v-stop-at-2-hr-mark/211500
unresolved (no responses)

https://forums.plex.tv/t/movies-stop-at-2-hr-mark-mp4-and-m4v-files/212266
unresolved (no responses)

I, too, have verified that the movie plays fine through to the end with VLC and with the current Plex Web App (4.40.1) but not on three different Roku devices – at least one of which (mine) reports that it there are no system updates available, and I rebooted it just to be sure.

If there is some verifiable flaw in the Roku code that prevents the Plex player from doing what all other media players can do (i.e. play media longer than 2 hrs), I would certainly hope that the Plex people are working with Roku to correct the issue.

Oh the other hand, if there is actually a bug in the Plex Roku player, perhaps the Plex folks should consider fixing it instead of just saying, “It’s the Roku Firmware that prevents our app from doing what Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, Disney (and pretty much anything else) can do.” At the very least, we need enough technical jargon to throw at our Roku support folks (if we can find them) to get them looking at the right bug. Just telling us that “It’s Roku’s fault.” and leaving it at that is like saying, “Sorry, we don’t care enough to pursue a fix. You’re on your own.”

If I sound frustrated and upset, well, I am. Plex is adding lots of new features that I will never, ever use, but some basic reasons why I purchased a lifetime Plex Pass seem to be falling apart or being discarded entirely (I still miss plug-ins/channels.)

2

Wow, some of those other posts are ancient. You didn’t mention it, but I assume your Plex Media Server version is newer than 2014?

I’ve never noticed this issue myself on a TCL Roku TV. I’m pretty rabid about making sure my video files are “clean” and can be Direct Played.

If you can reproduce this in your home, are the movies being transcoded for playback? If you force Direct playback, does the behavior change?

Are these all files that you have created or “obtained” from the same sources? I wonder if there’s an encoding issue. 2 hours is a remarkably exact time.

I’ve had trouble when there were multiple audio tracks, and one of them had the wrong duration. Or if the subtitles had the wrong duration, all playback could end when the “shortest” track did. That sort of thing.

If you could share the mediainfo, or even better, one of the problem files, I’d be happy to try to reproduce.

I know that @JuiceWSA has Rokus. Maybe this will summon him. Are you familiar with this as an issue?

3

Never…

I had the FireTV vomit back to the main Amazon menu yesterday.
Rokus are fine.

4

I only owned Rokus myself and never run into that issue. Heck, I just watched Aliens for the billionth time but 4K and no issues there. Guess the point is I have 5-6 copies of this movie and all are different res,bitrate, container, locations, different times(Theatrical/Special Ed) but never did it stop after 2 hours. Not to mention i’ve watched Watchmen, Green Mile, and a few others over the last mouth. Never have I seen this issue.

To better help we need you to reproduce the issue again and grab your logs for us.

On a side note… You may look into what @Volts said. A bad file may give incorrect information that plex reads.
An example,
Capture

Capture2
Capture21040×196 163 KB

The movie is actually 1:30.05 long but Plex and VLC detect it as being almost 10 hours.

5

OK, I ran Rio Bravo on my Roku3 and as expected, it stopped shortly after the 2hr point. For me, after less than a minute the screen switched to a bull***t message stating that I don’t have enough bandwidth for the movie on my wired 100+ mbps in-house network. Every speed test I can run shows at least 100 mbps, too, even one run directly on the Roku3 and one run directly on the PMS machine. It seems to me like the “you don’t have enough bandwidth” message is the Roku Plex App’s version of giving up because it doesn’t know what went wrong, because I have NEVER seen it where there could be a bandwidth issue.

FWIW: Plex Media Server Logs_2020-08-20_05-45-34.zip (4.8 MB)

When this happened to my Dad, using his TCL Roku TV from his house, he said that, “it just went to 33% and stayed there so I gave up.” I was unable to get any precise time from him beyond “too long.”

As for the ‘bad file’ comment… what part of “the movie plays fine in VLC and even in the Roku web player” made ‘bad file’ a consideration? All of the players show the movie as 2:21 (as does IMDB), so I’m pretty sure that isn’t the issue.

That said, after posting I tried playing Avengers: Age of Ultron (also 2:21, by the way) and it played fine. All my movies are encoded using Handbrake’s Roku 720p setting, so whatever upsets the Plex Roku player gets even more confusing to me.

6

Grab this:
https://mediaarea.net/en/MediaInfo/Download
(if you don’t already have MediaInfo - you need it - everyone does)

Let’s see the Media Info report for that file - I’m curious and someone will (should) certainly ask.

7

Bad file, as in, “the one that exhibits the bad behavior”. Not “the one that kicks puppies”.

Does this only happen for you if you start playback at 00:00, and playback continues for two hours? Or does it also happen if you start at 1:59 and let it play past 2:00?

It is very interesting that you’ve encoded them yourself. Handbrake’s Roku 720p setting is boring and I’ve used similar settings.

Agreed about Handbrake.

8

@JuiceWSA If you (or anyone else) cares, here are the text MediaInfo reports for the two movies I have mentioned. mediainfo.zip (2.6 KB)

@Volts It has happened both ways. When I tested, I fast-forwarded to 1:58 and let it play. The issue is actually at something like 2:04, but that doesn’t show when the “33%” spinner is visible and then I see the screen saver for a while.

Surprised I’ve encoded them myself? There is a place where I could get files pre-encoded for Plex/Roku? Whether I rip with MakeMKV (or even handbrake) or get a video file, I always run them through handbrake on the Roku 720p setting to ensure they will work best with my preferred combination.

Oh, when I checked, I can’t even blame different versions of handbrake, since these two files were done within a few days of each other five years ago. But the original sources were probably encoded differently and that must affect the output somehow.

BUT if it plays correctly in VLC and in the Plex Web App, Phone App and Fire TV App I will not [easily] accept a media issue – it is clearly something to do with the Roku app.

9

Rio Bravo:

General
Complete name                            : O:\Movies-R\Rio Bravo (1959).mp4
Format                                   : MPEG-4
Format profile                           : Apple audio with iTunes info
Codec ID                                 : M4A  (isom/avc1/M4A /mp42)
File size                                : 1.00 GiB
Duration                                 : 2 h 21 min
Overall bit rate mode                    : Variable
Overall bit rate                         : 1 016 kb/s
Encoded date                             : UTC 2011-07-23 19:22:45
Tagged date                              : UTC 2011-07-23 19:22:45

Video
ID                                       : 2
Format                                   : AVC
Format/Info                              : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile                           : High@L4.1
Format settings                          : CABAC / 4 Ref Frames
Format settings, CABAC                   : Yes
Format settings, Reference frames        : 4 frames
Codec ID                                 : avc1
Codec ID/Info                            : Advanced Video Coding
Duration                                 : 2 h 21 min
Bit rate                                 : 956 kb/s
Maximum bit rate                         : 2 680 kb/s
Width                                    : 848 pixels
Height                                   : 480 pixels
Display aspect ratio                     : 16:9
Frame rate mode                          : Constant
Frame rate                               : 23.976 (24000/1001) FPS
Color space                              : YUV
Chroma subsampling                       : 4:2:0
Bit depth                                : 8 bits
Scan type                                : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)                       : 0.098
Stream size                              : 964 MiB (94%)
Writing library                          : x264 core 114 r1924 08d04a4
Encoding settings                        : cabac=1 / ref=5 / deblock=1:1:1 / analyse=0x3:0x133 / me=umh / subme=9 / psy=0 / mixed_ref=1 / me_range=16 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=1 / 8x8dct=1 / cqm=2 / deadzone=21,11 / fast_pskip=0 / chroma_qp_offset=0 / threads=12 / sliced_threads=0 / nr=0 / decimate=0 / interlaced=0 / constrained_intra=0 / bframes=3 / b_pyramid=1 / b_adapt=2 / b_bias=0 / direct=1 / weightb=1 / open_gop=0 / weightp=0 / keyint=250 / keyint_min=23 / scenecut=40 / intra_refresh=0 / rc_lookahead=0 / rc=2pass / mbtree=0 / bitrate=956 / ratetol=1.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=0 / qpmax=65 / qpstep=4 / cplxblur=20.0 / qblur=0.5 / vbv_maxrate=62500 / vbv_bufsize=62500 / nal_hrd=none / ip_ratio=1.40 / pb_ratio=1.30 / aq=0
Encoded date                             : UTC 2011-07-23 19:22:50
Tagged date                              : UTC 2011-07-23 19:23:36
Codec configuration box                  : avcC

Audio
ID                                       : 1
Format                                   : AAC LC
Format/Info                              : Advanced Audio Codec Low Complexity
Codec ID                                 : mp4a-40-2
Duration                                 : 2 h 21 min
Bit rate mode                            : Variable
Bit rate                                 : 56.3 kb/s
Maximum bit rate                         : 62.0 kb/s
Channel(s)                               : 2 channels
Channel layout                           : L R
Sampling rate                            : 48.0 kHz
Frame rate                               : 46.875 FPS (1024 SPF)
Compression mode                         : Lossy
Stream size                              : 56.8 MiB (6%)
Encoded date                             : UTC 2011-07-23 19:22:45
Tagged date                              : UTC 2011-07-23 19:23:36

Age of Ultron:

General
Complete name                            : U:\Movies-A\Avengers Age of Ultron (2015).mp4
Format                                   : MPEG-4
Format profile                           : Base Media
Codec ID                                 : isom (isom/avc1)
File size                                : 751 MiB
Duration                                 : 2 h 21 min
Overall bit rate mode                    : Variable
Overall bit rate                         : 741 kb/s
Encoded date                             : UTC 2015-08-20 15:26:55
Tagged date                              : UTC 2015-08-20 15:26:55

Video
ID                                       : 2
Format                                   : AVC
Format/Info                              : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile                           : High@L4.1
Format settings                          : CABAC / 5 Ref Frames
Format settings, CABAC                   : Yes
Format settings, Reference frames        : 5 frames
Format settings, GOP                     : M=1, N=3
Codec ID                                 : avc1
Codec ID/Info                            : Advanced Video Coding
Duration                                 : 2 h 21 min
Bit rate                                 : 673 kb/s
Maximum bit rate                         : 4 704 kb/s
Width                                    : 720 pixels
Height                                   : 304 pixels
Display aspect ratio                     : 2.35:1
Frame rate mode                          : Constant
Frame rate                               : 23.976 (24000/1001) FPS
Original frame rate                      : 23.976 (23976/1000) FPS
Color space                              : YUV
Chroma subsampling                       : 4:2:0
Bit depth                                : 8 bits
Scan type                                : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)                       : 0.128
Stream size                              : 681 MiB (91%)
Title                                    : 264@GPAC0.5.1-DEV-rev5243M
Writing library                          : x264 core 142 r2479M.bare.by.20-40 dd79a61
Encoding settings                        : cabac=1 / ref=5 / deblock=1:1:1 / analyse=0x3:0x133 / me=umh / subme=8 / psy=0 / mixed_ref=1 / me_range=16 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=1 / 8x8dct=1 / cqm=2 / deadzone=21,11 / fast_pskip=0 / chroma_qp_offset=0 / threads=12 / lookahead_threads=2 / sliced_threads=0 / nr=0 / decimate=0 / interlaced=0 / bluray_compat=0 / constrained_intra=0 / bframes=3 / b_pyramid=2 / b_adapt=1 / b_bias=0 / direct=2 / weightb=1 / open_gop=0 / weightp=2 / keyint=250 / keyint_min=23 / scenecut=40 / intra_refresh=0 / rc_lookahead=40 / rc=crf / mbtree=0 / crf=22.1 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=0 / qpmax=69 / qpstep=4 / vbv_maxrate=62500 / vbv_bufsize=62500 / crf_max=0.0 / nal_hrd=none / filler=0 / ip_ratio=1.40 / pb_ratio=1.30 / aq=0
Encoded date                             : UTC 2015-08-20 15:26:57
Tagged date                              : UTC 2015-08-20 15:27:03
Codec configuration box                  : avcC

Audio
ID                                       : 1
Format                                   : AAC LC
Format/Info                              : Advanced Audio Codec Low Complexity
Codec ID                                 : mp4a-40-2
Duration                                 : 2 h 21 min
Bit rate mode                            : Variable
Bit rate                                 : 64.5 kb/s
Maximum bit rate                         : 119 kb/s
Channel(s)                               : 2 channels
Channel layout                           : L R
Sampling rate                            : 48.0 kHz
Frame rate                               : 46.875 FPS (1024 SPF)
Compression mode                         : Lossy
Stream size                              : 65.2 MiB (9%)
Encoded date                             : UTC 2015-08-20 15:19:12
Tagged date                              : UTC 2015-08-20 15:27:03

Shame about Ultron only being 304p and this proves there are encodes bit-rate-starved more than mine…

…but I don’t see anything that should stop those files just past the 2 hour mark.

10

Clarification:

  • Age of Ultron plays to the end.
  • Rio Bravo stops just over 2 hours on Roku ONLY (it plays to the end on Web, Android and FireTV.)
11

A few weeks ago, @NewPlaza asked for logs after this issue was duplicated. I have provided logs and more. I’m mentioning by name just in case this thread has been forgotten.

For me, my only other user is my Dad and he will no longer bother even TRYING to watching anything over two hours because he keeps running into this. And so far, EVERY time he has reported it, the movie plays perfectly, all the way to the end in the Plex Web player, Plex for Android and Plex for FireTV (as well as playing the file directly in VLC.) The Roku player ABSOLUTELY HAS A PROBLEM – or Plex Media Server has a problem with the Roku player. Period.

12

I know this isn’t any help to you, but I run a Roku 3, and a Roku Ultra (2017 Edition) and neither have ever had this 2-hour problem with any version of Plex Roku Player or Plex Server (hosted on Synology NAS) in the last 3 years.

I hope whatever the issue may be, that someone can come up with a solution. Maybe something as simple as an uninstall and reinstall of Plex on the Roku, or perhaps a factory reset of the Roku? :man_shrugging:

13

My comment was intended as “If you ripped and encoded these using Handbrake’s Roku 720p preset, I’m confused that they aren’t playing through. Because that preset is very simple and should be widely compatible. And many random internet-sourced files are a disaster.”

Looking at the XML, though … can you confirm that you ripped and encoded these?

Neither of those files match what I would expect from a Handbrake Roku 720p encode.

Rio Bravo is exactly 1.00 GiB. That’s highly unlikely unless you made additional settings changes. Plus it’s High 4.1 and I don’t think the Roku 720p preset ever matched that.

Similarly …Ultron looks like a scene rip, for similar reasons. Plus the GPAC tag and somewhat odd x264 version. Plus it implies you have a time machine.

I don’t give a ■■■■ where they came from, and I don’t have a strong belief that the encoding is causing your playback issues.

But it might be worth re-encoding to test, or encoding something fresh and clean to test.

14

I am having the same issue on a TCL ROKU tv. Movies stop playing after around 2 hours. If I re-start the movie and fast forward to the 2 hour point, it then plays until the end. Has happened twice to me recently.

15

My movies are often stopping within 5 minutes of playing. I have enough bandwidth and computer power – these files have played just fine before.

For ■■■■■ and giggles, I played the same files on the TV’s Roku Media Player just fine – pure 4K rips!

Plex Version 1.20.3.3437
Win10
TCL 55R617 Roku-TV

16

When this happens, look at the Status/Dashboard on your Plex server. Is it using a consistent ridiculous amount of bandwidth? I’ve seen my Roku TV do that a few times.

But it has only happened a few times, and not consistently, and I don’t know how to reproduce it. It only happens on files I haven’t remuxed myself, too.

17

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