Server Version#:1.18.3.2156-349e9837e
Player Version#:7.29.2.16071 (735308913)
When playing media using the /player/playback/playMedia endpoint on the Plex Shield client, playback begins correctly but no status for the client is reported by the /status/sessions endpoint on the associated Plex server. Also, the /player/timeline/poll player endpoint returns data but always shows ‘stopped’ for each of the three media types when media is actively playing.
To clarify, when starting media via the Shield’s UI then the server’s /status/sessions endpoint always reports the correct information.
As a test I rolled back the client to the original Shield version (5.6.1.505 - 25ece77b) and sessions started from /player/playback/playMedia showed up correctly in the server’s /status/sessions data and also the /player/timeline/poll data.
After re-upgrading to the latest available (7.29.2.16071 - 71e4f554) the server’s /status/sessions endpoint no longer shows the sessions and the /player/timeline/poll endpoint still shows all three media types (music, photo, video) as “stopped”.
I also noticed that when on the current version the /player/timeline/poll endpoint always seems to report everything as “stopped” even if started via the UI.
This is still occurring in 7.30.0.16390 (5d527228).
Still seeing this behavior in 7.31.0.16802 (737417761).
Besides the direct API calls to the client, this also occurs when controlling the Shield client from another official Plex client, such as the iOS app.
Is there any information I can provide here to help understand the problem?
I was excited to see a possible fix in the release notes for 8.0.0, but unfortunately the problem persists. 
Tested with version 8.0.0.17276 (805582785) and playback status is still not reflected on the server when playback on the Shield is started from a different client (i.e., iOS Plex client).
I must confess I’m a bit confuse about this! How are you starting playback after all? is it via the actually player or not?
We have no other reports of this happening with the actually client… are you triggering it via some script and this no longer works as expected?
If you are using a script you might need to share it btw, I’m not sure just the /player/playback/playMedia is enough (even if it was at some point) in any case this is not really a supported way to do it, but if you do share the script perhaps I can try to help see what might be needed.
Easy to reproduce for me is selecting the Shield as the target player in Plex Web and starting playback. It starts playback on the Shield just fine, but the session doesn’t show up in the Plex Web activity.
oh ok that’s helpful does it only fail if you use the “plex player” or “built-in chromcast” too?
To use the built in one you need to be in Google (not chromium) Chrome and use https://app.plex.tv.
I can’t say I repo it but just curious if there’s an issue in the receiver/sender app
Actually I can repo; I think the issue might be on the web side though, let me investigate more and I’ll get back to you
I can reproduce when controlling with the iOS Plex client, too.
Hum I have a theory this might actually be a server issue (the info that it fails for iOS to helped). But in any case its raised internally now and I’ll keep you posted when I know more.
Note that I’ve only seen this behavior on my Shield client and that older versions did not have this problem. In the linked case I downgraded the “original” version that came preinstalled with the Shield and I could not make it fail to report playback status, either controlling locally or remotely.
Edit: Sorry, “linked case” means this case. I thought I was replying in a different thread. 
I’m definitely seeing a PMS issues reporting where the API (/clients endpoint) is not always reporting the players properly, and seeing 500 errors for timeline request…
Its possible that other version is so old that with would be using PMS.
Btw the shield does have built-in Chromecast, which is not the same as the “plex remote player” or what is referred to as companion.
I tested that to and it works fine from chromecast it self (you can only use that from Google Chrome or other Android devices).
But i.e. with firefox I can totally reproduce the issue, and as I was saying /player/playback/playMedia is not enough for seeing the dashboard info, its also important that the timeline is being updated and it seems you also see issues there!
I’m confident I’m running into the same issue here now, but it doesn’t always happen, when it does though my for me at least /clients endpoint suddenly reports wrong info, so my theory is that the this is correlated, might not be the exact case but its a good start.
If you can please post you’re logs so I can compare.
I guess I’m seeing multiple problems:
/clients on PMS. Other clients are reported correctly. Does it not register to the PMS using GDM?/status/sessions on PMS when started from another companion client.I’m not using the Chromecast functionality at all. Focusing purely on native Plex controls/status.
@mikec_pt anything else I can provide or are you able to reliably reproduce the issues on your side?
Just chiming in to say that I can repro this as well and am also happy to contribute whatever logs/info is needed.
@mikec_pt I see there’s a new release but no release notes. Anything to test there?
This is not fixed yet for sure (if yo mean any of the 1.19.3 builds), we are looking into fixing it in a future release though.
I had assumed it was an Android TV fix as this has only affected my Shield client out of all the clients I’ve tested. Old versions of the Shield client do not have this issue. Are you saying this is a Plex server issue?
