Newbie struggling to set up Plex, no media is viewable, only thumbnails

Newbie here. I’ve read about 20 posts and did a few searches in hope to find a remedy to my issue. To no avial. So please bear with me, and I appreciate any insight you gurus may offer.
I purchased a Synology DS418play after Christmas to replace an old HP MediaSmart Home Server that was ruined in the Hurricane Harvey floods (luckily I had backed up all my data to a remote location).
Unboxed it, set it up, loaded my 2TB worth of pictures and home videos, all of which can be viewed, modified using the DSM web app or via Windows.
Ready for Plex, I followed the instructions to install Plex Server (running version 1.10.1.4602) and then opened the app in DSM and added my libraries.
Upon opening the photo library, I can see the folders with thumbnails, then the pictures as thumbnails in the folders. But upon loading a picture, I can’t play it or see it. I get an “Unable to load photo” message. Same issue on the video library, except the message is “Playback Error, Streaming this media is unsupported”.

Buddy, Synology is a different monster man lol. you have to grant read/write permissions for Plex. Then you should be all good.

Thanks guys for the feedback and for your offer to help. I’ve attached the logs and XML text file. As for granting read/write permissions for Plex, I am able to grant permission for video and music, but the photo check boxes are grayed out and under Preview is says “No Access” while the others say “Read/Write”.

@J_fo

Your Syno is struggling. Adding a lot of media, especially photos, at once is very hard on it. Music can be hard enough.
On Synology, with both Music and Photos, the key is to do them in small chunks. We accomplish this by only adding a few sub-folders at a time instead of the all encompassing ‘music’ or ‘photo’ share.

As very first step to address that and restore it’s performance:

  1. If anything is trying to scan, stop it.
  2. Hover over Libraries.
  3. Expose the ...
  4. Click it and see the drop down menu
  5. Click “Optimize database”
  6. Next, I recommend finish creating either the music library or the photo library but not both at once. (delete one until later)
  7. Edit the library definition.
  8. Go into the ‘Folders’ list.
  9. Instead of picking /volume1/music, presuming you have it broken out a little bit, pick /volume1/music/pop or /volume1/music/A (PMS does not impose a hard limit on how many folders you can include but after about 30 folders it does become awkward to manage. (I organize by Genre)
  10. With that list broken down, Scan that library section only
  11. Watch as it picks up all the new media
  12. When it completes, manually optimize the database again
  13. Go back to Edit and add another folder.
  14. Repeat the Scan, Optimize, Add another folder until done.

Regarding the permissions issue. If Synology isn’t letting you edit the permissions for the photo share, and you know you’re the ADMIN user, create a new share.

As the admin user, you should see what looks like this where you allow user plex to access the share.

Thanks ChuckPA! That seemed to do the trick for the Photos library. I’ve deleted my music library for now and will add it back once I’ve gotten my Home Videos to start working. How do I go about addressing the “Playback Error, Streaming this media is unsupported” issue? I can see the thumbnails of the videos, but they don’t play when I open them. Oddly, they aren’t arranged into folders like my photos are, which mirrored my folder hierarchy on DSM. But rather they are all just there in one massive directory.

  1. To address the ‘playback error’, I will need to know details of the media and the log files from when you try to play it. Playback involves the media, server, and player. I need to see how all interact. Your logs will show me that.
  2. PMS creates a library "Section’ which is the consolidation of all the folders and items within it.

Have you looked through the support pages? A starting point for video is here. It will show you how PMS organizes and presents video.
https://support.plex.tv/articles/202935738-video-getting-started-with-plex/

You can search on any media type and see how it is organized and presented down to the best ways to organize your files.

Regarding mimicking DSM structure, that is entirely up to you. You can create library sections which identify with certain mid-level directories. All items under it will be part of that section. Should you want more sections, go down a layer in the directory heirarchy.

There is a great deal to learn. Please do avail yourself of the support pages while we figure out what happens with playback.

To the playback issue:

  1. Hover your mouse over the item to be played and click the .... Under it you will see ‘Get Info’. I would like to see that data. (copy / paste here is ok)
  2. I would next like you to attempt to play the item
  3. When it fails, click Settings - Server - Help - Download Logs
  4. It will present you with a ZIP file.
  5. Please attach that, along with the Media Info page output in your next post.

Thanks ChuckPA for taking this on! I’ve got a litany of different home video formats (Blackberry, iPhone, Sony Handycams, mpegs, Flips, Nikon videos, GoPro, etc.). I’ve attached the log from the Sony Handycam video which was is a 480i mgp file. Let me know if you need a larger sampling than what I’ve attached. And thanks again!

PMS, FFMPEG specifically, is not liking your media. I am seeing “Skipping P slice due to !sync”, Skipping due to open GOP, and a variety of errors. Is this professional gear you’re using?

Home videos will always only present themselves as thumbnails with the name you gave the file.

I was looking through your logs. Do you have any media which is IMDB/TheMovieDB/TVDB published? I couldn’t find any.

None of this is professional gear. And I haven’t ripped any movie DVDs yet, but I do intend to do so. Attached is the log and Get Info for an iphone video I took last November (1080p, H264). I get the same error when trying to play it.
Also, in the background I am reloading onto the Synology all my media via an internet backup service. Would that activity be straining the system resources to the point where I would getting all these errors? According to my resource monitor, the CPU is at 2% and the RAM at 21%, which to me seems okay.

Curiously, I tried using the other player that comes with the Synology called Video Station. All my videos work fine, although I’ve only added a couple of folders to the video library. With Plex, I added my entire video directory since I didn’t see an option to only add separate folders within the directory.

I’m seeing part of the problem.

Jan 14, 2018 23:02:49.372 [0xf3111b40] INFO - Plex Media Server v1.10.1.4602-f54242b6b - synology DiskStation i686 - build: linux-synology-i686 synology - GMT -06:00
Jan 14, 2018 23:02:49.390 [0xf3111b40] INFO - Linux version: 4.4.15+ (#15217 SMP PREEMPT Wed Dec 20 18:19:46 CST 2017), language: en-US
Jan 14, 2018 23:02:49.390 [0xf3111b40] INFO - Processor Intel(R) Celeron(R) CPU J3355 @ 2.00GHz

Did you download PMS from Synology’s Package Center? It looks like it gave you or you accidentally downloaded the 32 bit app. While this doesn’t explain it not playing entirely, there are reports of issues from those who use Package Center. You should be seeing x86_64 here and not i686

As first step, would you please verify what you have? If you downloaded from Synology, please download the 64 bit (DSM 6.1+) version from downloads.plex.tv Next, uninstall PMS (your data is safe), and perform a ‘Manual Install’ of the file you just downloaded.

This sounds like a good start to troubleshoot my issues. I checked and I’m running the DSM 6.1.4, which I downloaded from Synology’s website and which contained all the other software that comes with it, including PMS. So I went to the Plextv website and downloaded the 64bit version (PlexMediaServer-1.10.1.4602-f54242b6b-x86_64.spk), uninstalled the prior version and installed this one. Curiously, when I opened it up after install, it still has all the libraries from the prior 32-bit version. Should I delete my libraries and only add a particular video folder within my vast video directory to test it out? If so, what is the naming convention I should use when I add a library that targets that specific folder (e.g., /volume1/…)?

I wrote the installer such that the application software and your data are stored in two different locations. This allows you to change versions without losing your data.

It’s further written that if your Plex share (where your Library data is stored) gets moved, it will find it. My goal was to address all the different ways you could possibly configure / use a Synology whether it be one large volume or multiple smaller volumes. It no longer cares where it is. It finds it :slight_smile:

There is no need to delete the previous libraries. They are data.

Did you configure all your drives in one single volume? If so, everything will be on /volume1 (the first volume). If you created two volumes, they will be named /volume1 and /volume2. Synology is nicely logical in that regard.

Whatever top level you give PMS /volume1/movies , etc is entirely at your discretion based on how you configured and defined it. As long as a ‘movies’ type library points to a share containing movies, you’re good. The same general rule exists for the other types. The easiest thing to do is to ‘browse’ in the app to find where it is. When you see your media show up in the right-most pane, you’re at the right spot.

On my Syno, it looks like this for movies. Yours should be similar.

Ok. I think I’m getting somewhere. I am able to watch my GoPro videos, but now have an issue. About 3 seconds into the video playback on my TV (using Plex app on my new Sony Bravia 65A1E (OLED)), I get the attached message as the video stops, then restarts, stops, restarts, etc. The message indicates that I may not have a fast enough machine to do what I originally wanted to do, which was watch my home videos (some in 4k) on my TV. If I needed a beefier Synology, please let me know, as I can still return my 418play and get something more powerful. The video I’m trying to watch is in 1080p, however.

Forgot to mention that I installed the 64 version on Plex in order to get this working.

The DS418play, without hardware transcoding assist, isn’t fast enough to handle 4K. That’s what’s most likely causing the issue you’re seeing.
The CPU is only a Celeron with a big GPU glued on :slight_smile: (gotta love Intel)

If you would recreate it and then capture the log files (settings - server- help - download logs) and attach that ZIP file, I’ll verify what’s happening and we can go from there

Good to know. I’ll look into sending back the DS418play. (Is there a hardware transcoding assist option that I need to click on?). Once you analyze the log, let me know. I’d like to get the correct Synology model (or other product manufacturer) for what I’m trying to do, which is to watch home videos shot in 4K (60fps), as well as all my old home videos shot in various formats. I have also observed some of my old home videos shot in 1080p getting the same “the server is not powerful enough…”. Also want to point out that I’m using a LAN router that is only 10/100 and not gigabit. Let me know if you think this could be a bottleneck too.

Hardware transcoding is a PlexPass feature. The option is enabled when the server recognizes your account has an active Plex Pass subscription.

At that point, you’ll see the setting to enable it in Settings - Server - Transcoder

Do I need to change any of the settings in Plex Transcoder quality to get better performance and avoid the “the server is not powerful enough…” message?

I dug down further into your logs.

It is complaining because it can’t transcode fast enough to meet real-time requirement. It’s showing rates of 40-80% of realtime demand.

Jan 15, 2018 17:43:51.929 [0x7f67d0447700] DEBUG - Request: [127.0.0.1:33638 (Loopback)] PUT /video/:/transcode/session/481c8f81362b0776-com-plexapp-android/74dda2b5-94e6-4eec-ad3a-0ee587aa1a48/progress?progress=0.0&size=-22&remaining=121&vdec_packets=18&vdec_sw_ok=17&speed=0.8&vdec_hw_status=0 (16 live) Signed-in Token (J_fo)
Jan 15, 2018 17:43:51.930 [0x7f67d7fff700] DEBUG - Completed: [127.0.0.1:33638] 206 PUT /video/:/transcode/session/481c8f81362b0776-com-plexapp-android/74dda2b5-94e6-4eec-ad3a-0ee587aa1a48/progress?progress=0.0&size=-22&remaining=121&vdec_packets=18&vdec_sw_ok=17&speed=0.8&vdec_hw_status=0 (16 live) 0ms 326 bytes
Jan 15, 2018 17:43:52.434 [0x7f67d87ff700] DEBUG - Request: [127.0.0.1:33642 (Loopback)] PUT /video/:/transcode/session/481c8f81362b0776-com-plexapp-android/74dda2b5-94e6-4eec-ad3a-0ee587aa1a48/progress?progress=0.0&size=-22&remaining=193&vdec_packets=25&vdec_sw_ok=24&speed=0.4&vdec_hw_status=0 (16 live) Signed-in Token (J_fo)
Jan 15, 2018 17:43:52.435 [0x7f67d7d11700] DEBUG - Completed: [127.0.0.1:33642] 206 PUT /video/:/transcode/session/481c8f81362b0776-com-plexapp-android/74dda2b5-94e6-4eec-ad3a-0ee587aa1a48/progress?progress=0.0&size=-22&remaining=193&vdec_packets=25&vdec_sw_ok=24&speed=0.4&vdec_hw_status=0 (16 live) 1ms 326 bytes
Jan 15, 2018 17:43:52.962 [0x7f67d508f700] DEBUG - Request: [127.0.0.1:33644 (Loopback)] PUT /video/:/transcode/session/481c8f81362b0776-com-plexapp-android/74dda2b5-94e6-4eec-ad3a-0ee587aa1a48/progress?progress=0.0&size=-22&remaining=216&vdec_packets=33&vdec_sw_ok=32&speed=0.6&vdec_hw_status=0 (17 live) Signed-in Token (J_fo)
Jan 15, 2018 17:43:52.963 [0x7f67d7d11700] DEBUG - Completed: [127.0.0.1:33644] 206 PUT /video/:/transcode/session/481c8f81362b0776-com-plexapp-android/74dda2b5-94e6-4eec-ad3a-0ee587aa1a48/progress?progress=0.0&size=-22&remaining=216&vdec_packets=33&vdec_sw_ok=32&speed=0.6&vdec_hw_status=0 (17 live) 0ms 326 bytes
Jan 15, 2018 17:43:53.484 [0x7f67d5f35700] DEBUG - Request: [127.0.0.1:33646 (Loopback)] PUT /video/:/transcode/session/481c8f81362b0776-com-plexapp-android/74dda2b5-94e6-4eec-ad3a-0ee587aa1a48/progress?progress=1.0&size=-22&remaining=194&vdec_packets=42&vdec_sw_ok=41&speed=0.5&vdec_hw_status=0 (17 live) Signed-in Token (J_fo)
Jan 15, 2018 17:43:53.484 [0x7f67d7fff700] DEBUG - Completed: [127.0.0.1:33646] 206 PUT /video/:/transcode/session/481c8f81362b0776-com-plexapp-android/74dda2b5-94e6-4eec-ad3a-0ee587aa1a48/progress?progress=1.0&size=-22&remaining=194&vdec_packets=42&vdec_sw_ok=41&speed=0.5&vdec_hw_status=0 (17 live) 1ms 326 bytes
Jan 15, 2018 17:43:53.963 [0x7f67d7a23700] DEBUG - Request: [127.0.0.1:33648 (Loopback)] POST /video/:/transcode/session/481c8f81362b0776-com-plexapp-android/74dda2b5-94e6-4eec-ad3a-0ee587aa1a48/seglist (18 live) Signed-in

(Notice the speed=0.4 -> speed=0.8 range here. This is why it’s failing. It knows it can’t keep up and is telling you so.

For H.264 and HEVC (8 bit - non HDR) video, hardware transcoding will help you.
When Engineering enables VC-1 and MPEG2 decode in hardware this will also be a huge help for everyone.

The decision is yours at this point. The NAS is close to being fast enough but because it’s MEG2VIDEO (Mpeg-2) HW transcoding will only help you on the output conversion. Since you’re peaking at 80%, it might be enough to make it viable but no guarantee.

I’m looking at 'mpeg2video' '-codec:#0x1c0' 'mp2' '-i' '/volume1/video/2007-06 (Jun)-29/MOV054(0).mpg' as I write this.