Music playback on NVidia Shield TV is a total mess!

Plex Players Streaming Devices
1

Server Version#:V1.21.3
Player Version#: 8.12.4.22902

Music Playback in a web browser or my Android phone works well, but not on my NVidia Shield TV (2019 Pro version). Movie playback works just fine.

  • Most of the time I have to start playback several times before it works properly. Otherwise it might freeze an incomplete playback bar on the screen making it impossible to press next/previous track.

  • Lyrics might or might not work properly.

  • Choosing a specific track takes several tries to get me to the track I want.

  • When I start to play an album, the player might skip to track #3 or 4, and when I try to skip to the next song, it skips more than one track.

  • The player crashes and restarts quite often.

It gets worse the longer I use it.

It used to work (nearly) perfectly before the new GUI was implemented.
Now it is almost unusable. Please help!
(I love Plex and don’t want to change to Roon just yet…)

1 Like
2

I am currently playing using the same Nvidia Shield Pro 2019

App version 8.12.4.22902
Server version 1.21.3.4021

How long does it play before things get “wonky” ?

At some point here, DEBUG Plex logs (not VERBOSE) captured when it goes “nuts” will be helpful.

It will help me figure out whether a server, player, or network issue

3

Plex Media Server Logs_2021-02-17_12-55-15.zip (5.8 MB)

Sorry for the late response!
I ran a practical test just now to see how long it takes before trouble starts:
12:08 - Start Plex and play music
12:09 - Start to miss the songs I pick (i.e. plays track 5 when I click on track 6 and so on)
12:10 to 12:17 - Randomly skips tracks: Plays first track normally, skipping to track 2 works fine, jumps directly to track 5 when trying to skip to track 3 etc.
12:17 - Plex crashes and restarts.

Will a copy of the Plex Media Server Logs from after the last test be helpful?

Regards,
Dag

4

if you can

  1. verify DEBUG logs enabled ; VERBOSE logs disabled
  2. Start the playback
  3. Let it play those few minutes until all heck fails.
  4. After restart - Download the logs ZIP
  5. Attach here for me to review.
5

Plex Media Server Logs_2021-02-18_13-45-52.zip (5.5 MB)

Please see the attached log file that was taken right after the latest crash and restart.
Thank you!

BTW, I have upgraded the server to version Version 1.21.3.4046 today.

6

@Dag.S

The server was commanded to shutdown.
It did not “crash”.

Feb 18, 2021 10:31:24.718 [0x7f375d3be700] DEBUG - Request: [192.168.0.39:37054 (Subnet)] GET /:/timeline?bufferedTime=342000&duration=398000&guid=plex%3A%2F%2Ftrack%2F5d07f0aa403c6402900c32a9&key=%2Flibrary%2Fmetadata%2F8640&playbackTime=77680&playQueueItemID=48399&ratingKey=8640&state=paused&time=56000&token=xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (6 live) TLS GZIP Signed-in Token (Dag.S)
Feb 18, 2021 10:31:24.719 [0x7f375d3be700] DEBUG - Client [076e2b83a111f7a7-com-plexapp-android] reporting timeline state paused, progress of 56000/398000ms for guid=plex://track/5d07f0aa403c6402900c32a9, playbackTime=77680ms ratingKey=8640 url=, key=/library/metadata/8640, containerKey=, metadataId=8640, source=
Feb 18, 2021 10:31:24.720 [0x7f375d3be700] DEBUG - [Now] User is Dag.S (ID: 1)
Feb 18, 2021 10:31:24.720 [0x7f375d3be700] DEBUG - [Now] Device is Android (SHIELD Android TV).
Feb 18, 2021 10:31:24.720 [0x7f375d3be700] DEBUG - [Now] Profile is Android
Feb 18, 2021 10:31:24.720 [0x7f375d3be700] DEBUG - [Now] Updated play state for /library/metadata/8640.
Feb 18, 2021 10:31:24.720 [0x7f375d3be700] DEBUG - Statistics: (076e2b83a111f7a7-com-plexapp-android) Reporting active playback in state 1 of type 10 (scrobble: 0) for account 1
Feb 18, 2021 10:31:24.725 [0x7f375fd11700] DEBUG - Completed: [192.168.0.39:37054] 200 GET /:/timeline?bufferedTime=342000&duration=398000&guid=plex%3A%2F%2Ftrack%2F5d07f0aa403c6402900c32a9&key=%2Flibrary%2Fmetadata%2F8640&playbackTime=77680&playQueueItemID=48399&ratingKey=8640&state=paused&time=56000&token=xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (6 live) TLS GZIP 7ms 421 bytes (pipelined: 5024)
Feb 18, 2021 10:31:34.763 [0x7f375ffff700] DEBUG - Auth: authenticated user 1 as Dag.S
Feb 18, 2021 10:31:34.763 [0x7f375d3be700] DEBUG - Request: [192.168.0.39:37054 (Subnet)] GET /:/timeline?bufferedTime=342000&duration=398000&guid=plex%3A%2F%2Ftrack%2F5d07f0aa403c6402900c32a9&key=%2Flibrary%2Fmetadata%2F8640&playbackTime=77680&playQueueItemID=48399&ratingKey=8640&state=paused&time=56000&token=xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (6 live) TLS GZIP Signed-in Token (Dag.S)
Feb 18, 2021 10:31:34.765 [0x7f375d3be700] DEBUG - Client [076e2b83a111f7a7-com-plexapp-android] reporting timeline state paused, progress of 56000/398000ms for guid=plex://track/5d07f0aa403c6402900c32a9, playbackTime=77680ms ratingKey=8640 url=, key=/library/metadata/8640, containerKey=, metadataId=8640, source=
Feb 18, 2021 10:31:34.766 [0x7f375d3be700] DEBUG - [Now] User is Dag.S (ID: 1)
Feb 18, 2021 10:31:34.766 [0x7f375d3be700] DEBUG - [Now] Device is Android (SHIELD Android TV).
Feb 18, 2021 10:31:34.766 [0x7f375d3be700] DEBUG - [Now] Profile is Android
Feb 18, 2021 10:31:34.766 [0x7f375d3be700] DEBUG - [Now] Updated play state for /library/metadata/8640.
Feb 18, 2021 10:31:34.767 [0x7f375d3be700] DEBUG - Statistics: (076e2b83a111f7a7-com-plexapp-android) Reporting active playback in state 1 of type 10 (scrobble: 0) for account 1
Feb 18, 2021 10:31:34.775 [0x7f375ffff700] DEBUG - Completed: [192.168.0.39:37054] 200 GET /:/timeline?bufferedTime=342000&duration=398000&guid=plex%3A%2F%2Ftrack%2F5d07f0aa403c6402900c32a9&key=%2Flibrary%2Fmetadata%2F8640&playbackTime=77680&playQueueItemID=48399&ratingKey=8640&state=paused&time=56000&token=xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (6 live) TLS GZIP 11ms 421 bytes (pipelined: 5025)
Feb 18, 2021 10:31:38.758 [0x7f3767ebb700] DEBUG - Shutting down with signal 15 (Terminated)
Feb 18, 2021 10:31:38.758 [0x7f3767ebb700] DEBUG - Ordered to stop server.
Feb 18, 2021 10:31:38.758 [0x7f3767ebb700] WARN - Timed out waiting for server to finish.
Feb 18, 2021 10:31:38.758 [0x7f3770c01780] DEBUG - Stopping server...
Feb 18, 2021 10:31:38.758 [0x7f3770c01780] DEBUG - HttpServer: Stopping server.
Feb 18, 2021 10:31:38.758 [0x7f373ba23700] DEBUG - TranscodeJobManager: [Running] onServerShutdown
Feb 18, 2021 10:31:38.758 [0x7f373ba23700] DEBUG - TranscodeJobManager: [Running] -> [Shutdown]
Feb 18, 2021 10:31:38.758 [0x7f373ba23700] DEBUG - MetadataItemClusterRequestHandler: a shutdown event has been received
Feb 18, 2021 10:31:38.758 [0x7f3770c01780] DEBUG - Server stopped.
Feb 18, 2021 10:31:38.758 [0x7f3770c01780] DEBUG - NetworkService: Stopping advertisement.
Feb 18, 2021 10:31:38.758 [0x7f3770c01780] DEBUG - Killing plug-ins.
Feb 18, 2021 10:31:38.797 [0x7f3770c01780] DEBUG - [com.plexapp.system] Killing.
Feb 18, 2021 10:31:38.804 [0x7f3770c01780] DEBUG - ChildProcessMonitor: Waiting for Plex DLNA Server to exit.
Feb 18, 2021 10:31:38.811 [0x7f3767ebb700] WARN - JobManager: Could not find job for handle 5380
Feb 18, 2021 10:31:39.061 [0x7f375caf4700] DEBUG - Stopping file watcher for com.plexapp.system
Feb 18, 2021 10:31:39.075 [0x7f3767ebb700] DEBUG - Jobs: '/share/CACHEDEV1_DATA/.qpkg/PlexMediaServer/Plex DLNA Server' exit code for process 7596 is 0 (success)
Feb 18, 2021 10:31:39.076 [0x7f375f735700] DEBUG - [ChildProcessMonitor] Plex DLNA Server exited.
Feb 18, 2021 10:31:39.076 [0x7f3770c01780] DEBUG - ChildProcessMonitor: Waiting for Plex Tuner Service to exit.
Feb 18, 2021 10:31:39.231 [0x7f3767ebb700] DEBUG - Jobs: '/share/CACHEDEV1_DATA/.qpkg/PlexMediaServer/Plex Tuner Service' exit code for process 7602 is 0 (success)
Feb 18, 2021 10:31:39.231 [0x7f373bd11700] DEBUG - [ChildProcessMonitor] Plex Tuner Service exited.
Feb 18, 2021 10:31:39.283 [0x7f3770c01780] INFO - Killing process: Plex EAE Service (pid: 14191)
Feb 18, 2021 10:31:39.283 [0x7f3770c01780] DEBUG - Killing job.
Feb 18, 2021 10:31:39.283 [0x7f3770c01780] DEBUG - Signalling job ID 14191 with 9
Feb 18, 2021 10:31:39.288 [0x7f3767ebb700] DEBUG - Jobs: '/share/CACHEDEV1_DATA/.qpkg/PlexMediaServer/Library/Plex Media Server/Codecs/EasyAudioEncoder-1165-linux-x86_64/EasyAudioEncoder/EasyAudioEncoder' exit code for process 14191 is -9 (signal: Killed)
Feb 18, 2021 10:31:39.291 [0x7f3770c01780] DEBUG - Job was already killed, not killing again.
Feb 18, 2021 10:31:39.291 [0x7f3770c01780] DEBUG - Database: Shutting down.
Feb 18, 2021 10:31:39.291 [0x7f3770c01780] DEBUG - Captured session 0.
Feb 18, 2021 10:31:39.291 [0x7f3770c01780] DEBUG - Captured session 1.

How much of your configuration is wired and how much WiFI ?

7

Please see the attached network map.

The shutdown happens randomly, and there are often problems navigating to the correct song on an album.

If I, for example, want to go from track 1 to track 4, it often goes to directly to track 5. I might have to click on track 4 three times before it plays the correct track, and Plex often shuts down when I have this kind of navigation trouble.

Sometimes when I play an album, it starts with the second or the third track.
If I click “one track forward” it normally skips a couple of tracks.

It doesn’t matter if I use the original Shield remote or a Logitech remote.

Network map
Network map702Ă—437 20.7 KB

8

Thanks for the diagram but I think you missed what I’m saying / there’s information missing between what’s been said and what I’m seeing.

I’m expressing that a manual , human intervention, told the server to shut down.

As for the amount of interaction you need to make the server respond, that is all indicative of inadequate networking. Anything from weak signal (packet loss) to overloaded wifi.

Given this additional information about what it takes to start playback, I am more inclined to believe the wireless has a serious deficiency.

As first diagnostic steps:

  1. Load the speedtest app on the shield and run it. See if you are getting the performance which matches your subscribed internet speeds.

  2. Connect a laptop to the same device the NAS is wired to.
    a. Speedtest there and compare Shield with computer results.

  3. As next test, if at all possible, temporarily plug the shield to the same Netgear as the NAS and verify normal operation.

My concern here is the two netgear devices (between NAS and Shield are not providing enough reliable bandwidth. Testing by using wired connections will vet that out .

9

The server shutting down is only a part of the problem. Navigating between albums and tracks is the most annoying problem.

I’ll try to explain:

  1. the first album I play is just fine as long as i don’t try to skip to the next track, and the entire album might even play without any problems.

  2. The next album I try to play might more often than not start directly with track 3 or 4 or…

  3. If I press back to get to the new “grey playlist” and click on track 1, it skips again to track 3. Then maybe on the third attempt Plex will play track 1 for me.

  4. If I try to skip to the next track, Plex often skips two or three tracks instead.
    To be able to play the next track I have to do the same as above. Very annoying…

  5. Sometimes when I start playing, a small black bar with Play/Pause appears at the bottom of the screen and Plex freezes completely. If I then push the back button nothing happens, if I do it repeatedly, Plex will shut down (as I guess it should).

  6. Plex sometimes won’t play an album at all. The “play bar” misses buttons, the lyrics button is very small or missing, the now playing animation on the old, black tracklist is not moving, or any combination of these. if this happens, I have to start the playback three or four times before it works as it should.

  7. Plex also sometimes restarts without any obvious manual restart, like pressing the back button several times.

The Internet router and my NAS is upstairs in my home office and my Shield and TV etc. is downstairs in my living room. I have tested the speed and got the following results:

  1. Speedtest on the shield.
    Down: 53,77 Mbps
    Up: 616,75 Mbps (probably the speed between the two Netgears)
    Ping: 41,8 ms

  2. My office desktop computer connected to the Netgear upstairs:
    Down: 85,99 Mbps
    Up: 51,84 Mbps
    Ping: 20 ms

  3. Not possible at the moment. The results connected directly to my ISP’s router are:
    Down: 203,33 Mbps
    Up: 51,84 Mbps
    Ping: 20

The connection between upstairs and downstairs has been constantly very good. Streaming 4k movies on Plex and Netflix has worked fine since I installed the Netgear Orbi mesh the last year.
Only navigating my music library has been very problematic the last couple of months. I suspect it started when the new transparent, grey GUI with band and album info was introduced, but I could of course be wrong.

Could it be the shield itself causing the errors?
I have tried multiple restarts and reinstalling the Plex app without any luck.
I do have another shield in my bedroom and I will try to swap them tonight after work to see if the other one works as it should.

10

If the Shield is fully updated (Shield Experience 8.2) then , unless it’s defective, the problem isn’t the Shield.

I ran the shield, playing only Music the other day to test your issue, attempting to reproduce. 8 hours later, not a single issue. I then sat and bounced tracks. Still nothing.

I am playing FLAC audio. The shield is wired. It’s playing into my Onkyo receiver (HDMI)

11

I’m having the exact same issues for quite a while now but with the latest update it’s even worst as like Dag.s was saying the player now crash (shutdown) quite often now.

Trying to select a track is now quite frustrating. If a song is currently playing and you browse for another song chance are that 1- The player will freeze or shutdown, 2- The music start but it’s not the one selecting (Usually it’s always the one under the one selected.). 3- Nothing happen. You can see the song on the screen but it’s like the file is empty as the player show a time length of 0.

I have this issue on 2 Nvidia shield both updated to the latest version. I thought the issue was coming from my plex server running on TrueNas so I’ve installed another Plex Server on my Windows PC moved all my music file but same issues.

Last weekend i’ve replaced one of my Nvidia Shield with a old Roku 3 unit and i couldn’t reproduce the issue for now. On the Roku the client is quite different so it’s probably not the same client version at all.

The thing is that the music experience is getting worst after each update for about 1 year now. At first it was just the songs that would not always start, then the issue where the wrong song is playing start and now since about a month the player crash quite often when selecting a song. It’s pretty easy to make it crash just by trying to select a song while one is already playing.

12

Thank you for mentioning this. I never thought of trying it. I normally select an album and start playing then full-stop to move to the next when i want to change.

I was able to repeat the app freezing up after the 4th browse / select attempt.

I will report this (with my logs – which captured it) to the team.

EDIT: Trouble report filed , Steps-to-reproduce and logs provided.

2 Likes
13

Great. Thanks ChuckPa for the follow up.

14

Following up: Engineering has the logs and are already working on it.

Given they are at the investigation phase, I don’t have any projections.
I only know they were very anxious to get on it.

1 Like
15

I’m recently having to force close the Plex app on my NVIDIA SHIELD Pro 2019 and restart the app to get music to playback properly. It sounds like it’s playing at 1/10 speed and/or will just crash (as reported above). This is all mp3 music (not FLAC).

16

@gte517z

That sounds like a different issue. If you would like, i can send you a PM and you can share the MP3 file for me to test with here?

17

Thank you ChuckPa for following up on this issue. I was nearly giving up Plex as a music player completely. I have tried factory reset several times and as long as the old Plex version was running, everything worked as it should. Only problem was that I couldn’t find any way to turn off the auto update function. Plex on Shield has been my number one choice for music playback for years until it became almost unusable, and the clients on Xbox and LG TV are too slow and rudimentary in comparison.
Fingers crossed, the team will find a solution, and I can live with the alternative clients for a while as long as there is hope for a solution.

18

Any news? It would be nice to know if we can expect the issue to be solved.
I have noticed that it looks like Plex on Shield runs both the old (black) and the new (grey) GUI in parallell. Could this be a part of the problem?

19

When can we expect a solution to this problem?
The old version that comes preinstalled on Shield is not very elegant but is rock solid and never skips a beat. When I reset my plex completely, the old version of the player is available until next time I start Plex. The auto update is not possible to turn off as far s I can see.
Could perhaps the old version be re-issued as a new one until the latest (and super elegant) version has been fixed?

1 Like
20

@Dag.S

Sorry for missing all this. I wasn’t notified by the forum until now plus Syno has been :scream: crazy :lol

Please give me a few minutes to setup, test, and set some pics from the TV