Multiple Version and Audio Transcode Issue on Android

Plex Players Streaming Devices
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1

I’ve identified a bug with all Android TV clients I have access to (CCwGTV 4K, Fire TV 4K, Sony Google TV, and Android 12 on Pixel 6). The issue presents itself as the file not playing (spinning circle) only when there are two versions of the file and an audio transcode is necessary.

The only work around is to MANUALLY select Play Version and manually select the version to Play.

@DaveBinM This is the Android Issue I’ve been pinging you about on Discord.

Server Version#: 1.31.0.6654
Player Version#: 9.16.2.38798

5 Likes
2

Can you provide the Android logs after reproducing this, please?

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@DaveBinM I just (via forum) DM’d you the logs. Please let me know if you have any questions.

This should be easy to reproduce though as well on your end since it happens any time there are two versions and an audio transcode is necessary. In testing I would just force an audio transcode by setting Audio Bypass to Optical and AC3.

Thanks!

4

Plex team, have you been able to look at this and confirm yet?

Another person (@Alex_BitLink) also noticed this issue as well: Redundant files causes problems on several devices

Thank you!

CC @DaveBinM

5

Not yet. It’s in my list of things to investigate, but there is a bit of a queue there.

8

Can confirm similar behavior with same circumstances as original poster.

Android client
Audio transcode needed
Multiple versions of item available

Hitting play and letting Plex auto-select just spins

Chosing More/Play Version and selecting version works.

1 Like
11

Thanks all, @FordGuy61 has managed to reproduce the issue as well, and we’ve got an internal issue filed for this now.

2 Likes
12

Is it the same error as Most playback on Fire TV failing due to audio error ?

13

Here’s what I tested:

PMS version & platform: multiple tested, does not matter
Plex Android Client: 9.16.0.38368, Pixel 6a, Android 13, on WiFi, same subnet as Plex server.

Given the file structure below, the Plex Android mobile client will not play Movie2, with EAC3 audio. The user sees a spinning orange circle. Manually selecting the version does work.

Movie1, with AC3 audio, plays immediately.

The Plex Android mobile app on a Pixel 6a direct plays AC3 audio. EAC3 audio is transcoded by Plex Media Server to a supported format.

/Movies
├───Movie1 (year)
│       Movie1 (year) [1080p.AC3].mkv
│       Movie1 (year) [720p.AC3].mkv
│
└───Movie2 (year)
        Movie2 (year) [1080p.EAC3].mkv
        Movie2 (year) [720p.EAC3].mkv
1 Like
14

I think that’s a different issue, but I’ve been testing quite a bit with a Fire TV 4K Max and haven’t run into that issue.

15

Is Android the only client affected by this issue? How soon might a fix roll out?

16

We don’t provide ETAs, I’m afraid.

17

Any update?

18

Same issue for me and multiple users. If you need some logs just ask.
Regards,
Thomas

19

Any news for this anoying issue ?

20

I don’t have anything further that I can share at this time.

21

Any update on this? This issue is really annoying.

22

Almost the same issue here. More than 2 months down the road and still no fix. Typical Plex…

23

You have to understand them, this problem is so complicated to reproduce and fix… Ho… Wait…? :see_no_evil:

24

@DaveBinM

Plex player BUG: 9.14.0.37678
Plex player WITHOUT BUG: 9.13.1.37459

So it’s introduced on 9.14 (maybe some fix about DTS on Fire TV or something like this)

1 Like