Since the update I cannot play any mp4 or avi files… can Plex please advise.
WebOS tv uh620v
Software version 05.30.85
Maybe it’s time to introduce you to
MKVToolnix, it’s free and fast, remux to mkv and many other tools.
Not a helpful answer! I have over 1000 mp4 files! Surely this can be sorted by plex?
It should work, unfortunately I only use mkv so I can’t check at present
Can somebody from plex please acknowledge this issue. It’s a pretty big issue if the app doesn’t support these common file types!
AVI files must transcode - your device doesn’t support them.
MP4/MKV files might transcode - depends what the streams are in them. The container doesn’t matter… mostly.
Nothing will transcode if the transcoder is disabled - and in that event what you describe is exactly what happens.
Server/Settings/Transcoder:
Make sure it’s not OFF.
If the transcoder is ON - and you get no relief - you got a problem, or the app does - 'cause the idea Plex was built on, is to transcode what won’t play on your device so it will play on your device and if that’s not happening Plex is broken.
mp4 and avi files are both supported on webOS 3 and I’m able to play both on a webOS 3.5 device.
Logs of the issue (and possibly sample files) would be helpful. You can enable logging to PMS in Settings: Advanced.
Client: LG OLED55B7P-U, v5.1 preview, WebOS 3.8.0
Server: PMS 1.20.0.3133 on Synology DS918+
I’m also seeing issues with some MP4 files. Some play, some do not. No issues with MKV files.
Example: Blu-ray rip of Airplane in MKV immediately begins playing. MP4 (M4V) via Handbrake of same movie just buffers on my B7, but immediately plays via Plex Web.
Other MP4/M4V files are hit & miss. Some play, some just buffer. No correlation to bitrate or resolution. All are H.264 High@4.0 or lower, AC3 & AAC audio.
I’ll snag some log files & samples & add to thread later today.
Here’s the XML for Airplane. MKV is Blu-ray rip via MakeMKV. M4V is same file processed via Handbrake. It has .m4v extension as it is part of my iTunes library.
Airplane m4v xml.txt (40.1 KB)
Airplane rip XML.txt (46.7 KB)
Edit:
TV connected to network via Ethernet cable. Airplane! MKV is 42 Mbps, so 100 Mbps Ethernet port not an issue. WiFi signal not the best at TV location, so cabled Ethernet is much more reliable network connection.
Here’s some PMS log files. LG set to log to server.
- Restarted PMS.
- Played Airplane! Blu-ray rip (MKV) for ~1 minute. Playback w/o issue.
- Played Airplane! M4V. Playback never started. Buffering, w/ spinning orange circle, on screen for 2 minutes, then LG screensaver kicked in. Pressed Back button on remote to clear screensaver. Plex displaying “Playback Error. An unexpected playback problem occurred” on screen.
- Played Secret Life of Pets 2 (M4V) for ~1 minute (to show that some MP4 files do play). Movie buffered for a few seconds (less than 10) before playback started. Played with no issue. This is a Handbraked version of a Blu-ray rip.
Plex Media Server Logs_2020-08-04_12-17-42.zip (73.3 KB)
Secret Life of Pets 2 m4v xml.txt (95.0 KB)
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Those required bandwidths values seem a bit high (2.1 million Mbps?) for the re-encode:
requiredBandwidths="2147483647,2147483647,2147483647,2147483647,2147483647,2147483647,2147483647,2147483647"
The rip seems reasonable:
requiredBandwidths="37979,37675,37112,36895,36890,36890,36890,36890"
Either HandBrake is doing something really odd or deep analysis is really, really confused. That value being the largest signed, 32-bit number (in base 2) seems telling.
Perhaps this is confusing the player?
[Edit]
The required bandwidths for Secret Life of Pets 2 look off as well:
requiredBandwidths="14144,2147483647,2147483647,2147483647,2147483647,2147483647,2147483647,2147483647"
Do you have the XML for a working M4V file to compare?
…that’s a little larger than my network plumbing…
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Transcoder is on.
The problem has only happened since the terrible update on LG devices. It doesn’t happen on any other platform.
Surely this is an app bug? Nothing else has changed!
Yep, I suspect a couple of tebibits per second exceeds most folks available network bandwidth.
Not sure why it has those numbers. The Get Info window and MediaInfo show the bandwidth as 7.2 Mbps.
Airplane! M4V (doesn’t play):
requiredBandwidths="2147483647,2147483647,2147483647,2147483647,2147483647,2147483647,2147483647,2147483647" videoProfile="high">
Secret Life of Pets 2 (plays):
requiredBandwidths="14144,2147483647,2147483647,2147483647,2147483647,2147483647,2147483647,2147483647" videoProfile="high">
Not sure how Plex calculates / uses those numbers.
Looked at other movies in my library that have exactly the same requiredBandwidth line as Airplane! re-encode. Some play. Some don’t.
Ah, I completely missed that this was an example of a movie which played.
You didn’t miss it. I added that after your post. Both editing at the same time. 
One other difference in the two examples provided is the bandwidth requirement for the 5 MB buffer size (the first position). In the working video it’s “normal” (14 Mbps) while in the non-working it’s extremely large. Do any of your other working/non-working examples follow this pattern?
Do we know if 2^31-1 is a placeholder, a special value, or if it indicates an analysis failure? (Or a coded message sent via Mersenne primes? I read Contact …)
If it’s an analysis failure, there might be other problems with the file itself. I agree with @pshanew’s last question.
I didn’t think the bandwidth requirements were even considered if Maximum/Original/Direct Play/Stream were enabled.
If you Plex Dance (and then Analyze) that file does it get different values and/or change behavior?
I’m not seeing a pattern. Here’s a few more samples. The Doobie Bros concert has the same numbers, is 480p originally ripped from a DVD, and plays OK (haven’t run across a 480p mp4 that does not play). All others 1080p, ripped from Blu-ray.
Mechanic: Resurrection (plays):
requiredBandwidths="2147483647,2147483647,2147483647,2147483647,2147483647,2147483647,2147483647,2147483647" videoProfile="high">
Lucy (doesn’t play):
requiredBandwidths="2147483647,2147483647,2147483647,2147483647,2147483647,2147483647,2147483647,2147483647" videoProfile="high">
Doobie Bros Rockin’ Down The Highway concert (plays):
requiredBandwidths=“2147483647,2147483647,2147483647,2147483647,2147483647,2147483647,2147483647,2147483647” videoProfile=“high”>
Was thinking same. I’ll give it a try.
I’ve just reverted back to the old version on my LG tv and all works as it always has. So the issue is defo an app update problem
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