No video. only sound on PS3

Plex Players Gaming Consoles
1

Hello,

 

I'm new here. I am having a problem. This has started recently. Certain videos have a black screen and but the sound works fine. The Shows I am referring to are The Blacklist and Revenge. The first 3 episodes of The Blacklist as well as episodes 5, 6, and 7 works perfectly. Episodes 4 and 8 however have a black screen but the sound comes out just fine.

 

Settings on the PS3 -

 

Local Stream quality - 8Mbps (recommended)

Remote Stream quality - 4Mbps (recommended)

Audio Boost - Large

Dolby AC3 - Disabled (No video or audio plays with this enabled, infinite buffering)

 

I am streaming from a Windows PC, Core 2 Duo with 2GB Ram running Windows 7. Every other show works fine apart from these two.

All the videos are around 800-900mb. All mkv's with unknown AC3 5.1. No subtitles.

 

PS3 is wired to the Router. PC is Wireless to the PS3. Even with a wired connection it doesn't work.

 

It must be mentioned that lowering the quality from whatever it gives me example - 3.2Mbps(best) down to 2Mbps, allows the video and audio to work.

 

Thank you for your time.

 

 

 

2

I have the exact same issue. I haven't been able to find a solution so far. 1080p video doesn't seem to be an issue but 720p and lower does not show video unless like you said I lower the bit rate.

The video files I'm using work great (no transcoding) through plex's DLNA server. 

files have a .mp4 container

Video Codec: H.264 - MPEG-4 AVC

Audio Codec: MPEG AAC Audio 5.1 48kHz

I'm also connected through hard wired network 10-100kbps.

I'll keep looking but hoping someone from Plex support can help.

3

It sounds like the videos you guys are playing are MP4 which we're passing directly to the PS3/4. Reducing the quality changes what we pass to the PS3/4 to be a transcoded stream vs a direct handle to the video. Evidently the PS3/4's playback system has an issue with something in these files.

Please post the XML media information for one of the MP4s which isn't playing. Also if you generate a 1 minute sample, add it to your library, play it back, does it have the same problem? If so please post that sample.

4

Also have that issue. Seems that all videos that I encode with handbrake (Mp4) don’t play on the ps3 app but they work on the ps4 ver of the app. Though they play wonderfully using the dlna server from ps3.


<MediaContainer size=“1” allowSync="1"identifier=“com.plexapp.plugins.library” librarySectionID=“4"librarySectionTitle=“Movies” librarySectionUUID=“5f133cad-bef6-4c83-baa5-08b4abc23ee7” mediaTagPrefix=”/system/bundle/media/flags/"mediaTagVersion=“1420848169”>


<Media videoResolution=“480” id=“2452” duration=“5945364” bitrate="1433"width=“720” height=“480” aspectRatio=“1.78” audioChannels="6"audioCodec=“ac3” videoCodec=“h264” container=“mp4” videoFrameRate=“24p"optimizedForStreaming=“1” has64bitOffsets=“0”>


<Part accessible=“1” exists=“1” id=“2508"key=”/library/parts/2508/file.mp4” duration=“5945364"file=”/media/HIROSHI/Media/Movies/Atlas Shrugged.mp4"size=“1065089853” container=“mp4” has64bitOffsets="0"hasChapterTextStream=“1” optimizedForStreaming=“1”>


<Stream id=“34189” streamType=“1” codec=“h264” index=“0” bitrate="981"anamorphic=“1” bitDepth=“8” cabac=“1” chromaSubsampling="4:2:0"codecID=“avc1” colorSpace=“yuv” duration=“5945364” frameRate=“24.000"frameRateMode=“vfr” hasScalingMatrix=“0” height=“480” level=“40"pixelAspectRatio=“32:27” profile=“high” refFrames=“16"scanType=“progressive” streamIdentifier=“1” title=”” width=“720”/>


<Stream id=“34190” streamType=“2” selected=“1” codec=“ac3” index=“1"channels=“6” bitrate=“448” language=“English” languageCode=“eng"bitDepth=“16” bitrateMode=“cbr” codecID=“ac-3” dialogNorm=”-31"duration=“5944928” samplingRate=“48000” streamIdentifier=“2” title=””/>

5

having the same issue.  All of S1 of the show Vikings worked no problem.  Now on season 2 black screen on ps3 gigabit ethernet all the way around.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>



246712117639707465642599617704145339641 (0xB99B0687343BD88096A1ED9D250644F9)UniqueID_String_________________ : 246712117639707465642599617704145339641 (0xB99B0687343BD88096A1ED9D250644F9)
E:\TV Shows\Vikings\Season 2\Vikings - 2x01 - Brother's War.mkvCompleteName____________________ : E:\TV Shows\Vikings\Season 2\Vikings - 2x01 - Brother's War.mkv
MatroskaFormat__________________________ : Matroska
Version 4 / Version 2Format_Version__________________ : Version 4 / Version 2
1.29 GiBFileSize_String_________________ : 1.29 GiB
48mn 12sDuration_String_________________ : 48mn 12s
3842 KbpsOverallBitRate_String___________ : 3842 Kbps
UTC 2014-12-29 19:26:52Encoded_Date____________________ : UTC 2014-12-29 19:26:52
mkvmerge v7.4.0 ('Circles') 64bit built on Dec 12 2014 12:19:56Encoded_Application_____________ : mkvmerge v7.4.0 ('Circles') 64bit built on Dec 12 2014 12:19:56
libebml v1.3.0 + libmatroska v1.4.1Encoded_Library_String__________ : libebml v1.3.0 + libmatroska v1.4.1
00:45:15.921000000DURATION________________________ : 00:45:15.921000000
379NUMBER_OF_FRAMES________________ : 379
10735NUMBER_OF_BYTES_________________ : 10735
<_STATISTICS_WRITING_APP_________>mkvmerge v7.4.0 ('Circles') 64bit built on Dec 12 2014 12:19:56_STATISTICS_WRITING_APP_________ : mkvmerge v7.4.0 ('Circles') 64bit built on Dec 12 2014 12:19:56
<_STATISTICS_WRITING_DATE_UTC____>2014-12-29 19:26:52_STATISTICS_WRITING_DATE_UTC____ : 2014-12-29 19:26:52
<_STATISTICS_TAGS________________>BPS DURATION NUMBER_OF_FRAMES NUMBER_OF_BYTES_STATISTICS_TAGS________________ : BPS DURATION NUMBER_OF_FRAMES NUMBER_OF_BYTES


1ID_String_______________________ : 1
AVCFormat__________________________ : AVC
Advanced Video CodecFormat_Info_____________________ : Advanced Video Codec
High@L4.1Format_Profile__________________ : High@L4.1
YesFormat_Settings_CABAC_String____ : Yes
9 frame3Format_Settings_RefFrames_String : 9 frame3
V_MPEG4/ISO/AVCCodecID_________________________ : V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC
48mn 12sDuration_String_________________ : 48mn 12s
3200 KbpsBitRate_String__________________ : 3200 Kbps
1280 pixel3Width_String____________________ : 1280 pixel3
720 pixel3Height_String___________________ : 720 pixel3
16:9DisplayAspectRatio_String_______ : 16:9
CFRFrameRate_Mode_String___________ : CFR
23.976 fps2FrameRate_String________________ : 23.976 fps2
YUVColorSpace______________________ : YUV
4:2:0ChromaSubsampling_______________ : 4:2:0
8 bit3BitDepth_String_________________ : 8 bit3
ProgressiveScanType_String_________________ : Progressive
0.145Bits_Pixel_Frame_______________ : 0.145
1.05 GiB (81%)StreamSize_String_______________ : 1.05 GiB (81%)
x264 core 144 r2525 40bb568Encoded_Library_String__________ : x264 core 144 r2525 40bb568
cabac=1 / ref=9 / deblock=1:-3:-3 / analyse=0x3:0x113 / me=hex / subme=7 / psy=1 / psy_rd=1.00:0.00 / mixed_ref=1 / me_range=16 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=2 / 8x8dct=1 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / fast_pskip=1 / chroma_qp_offset=-4 / threads=12 / lookahead_threads=2 / sliced_threads=0 / nr=0 / decimate=1 / interlaced=0 / bluray_compat=0 / constrained_intra=0 / bframes=3 / b_pyramid=2 / b_adapt=2 / b_bias=0 / direct=1 / weightb=1 / open_gop=0 / weightp=2 / keyint=240 / keyint_min=23 / scenecut=40 / intra_refresh=0 / rc_lookahead=40 / rc=2pass / mbtree=1 / bitrate=3200 / ratetol=1.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=0 / qpmax=69 / qpstep=4 / cplxblur=20.0 / qblur=0.5 / vbv_maxrate=30000 / vbv_bufsize=40000 / nal_hrd=none / filler=0 / ip_ratio=1.40 / aq=1:1.00Encoded_Library_Settings________ : cabac=1 / ref=9 / deblock=1:-3:-3 / analyse=0x3:0x113 / me=hex / subme=7 / psy=1 / psy_rd=1.00:0.00 / mixed_ref=1 / me_range=16 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=2 / 8x8dct=1 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / fast_pskip=1 / chroma_qp_offset=-4 / threads=12 / lookahead_threads=2 / sliced_threads=0 / nr=0 / decimate=1 / interlaced=0 / bluray_compat=0 / constrained_intra=0 / bframes=3 / b_pyramid=2 / b_adapt=2 / b_bias=0 / direct=1 / weightb=1 / open_gop=0 / weightp=2 / keyint=240 / keyint_min=23 / scenecut=40 / intra_refresh=0 / rc_lookahead=40 / rc=2pass / mbtree=1 / bitrate=3200 / ratetol=1.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=0 / qpmax=69 / qpstep=4 / cplxblur=20.0 / qblur=0.5 / vbv_maxrate=30000 / vbv_bufsize=40000 / nal_hrd=none / filler=0 / ip_ratio=1.40 / aq=1:1.00
enLanguage_String_________________ : en
YesDefault_String__________________ : Yes
NoForced_String___________________ : No
BT.709colour_primaries________________ : BT.709
BT.709transfer_characteristics________ : BT.709
BT.709matrix_coefficients_____________ : BT.709
Limitedcolour_range____________________ : Limited
00:48:12.056000000DURATION________________________ : 00:48:12.056000000
69340NUMBER_OF_FRAMES________________ : 69340
1156731666NUMBER_OF_BYTES_________________ : 1156731666
<_STATISTICS_WRITING_APP_________>mkvmerge v7.4.0 ('Circles') 64bit built on Dec 12 2014 12:19:56_STATISTICS_WRITING_APP_________ : mkvmerge v7.4.0 ('Circles') 64bit built on Dec 12 2014 12:19:56
<_STATISTICS_WRITING_DATE_UTC____>2014-12-29 19:26:52_STATISTICS_WRITING_DATE_UTC____ : 2014-12-29 19:26:52
<_STATISTICS_TAGS________________>BPS DURATION NUMBER_OF_FRAMES NUMBER_OF_BYTES_STATISTICS_TAGS________________ : BPS DURATION NUMBER_OF_FRAMES NUMBER_OF_BYTES


2ID_String_______________________ : 2
AC-3Format__________________________ : AC-3
Audio Coding 3Format_Info_____________________ : Audio Coding 3
CM (complete main)Format_Settings_ModeExtension___ : CM (complete main)
BigFormat_Settings_Endianness______ : Big
A_AC3CodecID_________________________ : A_AC3
48mn 12sDuration_String_________________ : 48mn 12s
CBRBitRate_Mode_String_____________ : CBR
640 KbpsBitRate_String__________________ : 640 Kbps
6 channel3Channel_s__String_______________ : 6 channel3
Front: L C R, Side: L R, LFEChannelPositions________________ : Front: L C R, Side: L R, LFE
48.0 KHzSamplingRate_String_____________ : 48.0 KHz
16 bit3BitDepth_String_________________ : 16 bit3
LossyCompression_Mode_String_________ : Lossy
221 MiB (17%)StreamSize_String_______________ : 221 MiB (17%)
enLanguage_String_________________ : en
YesDefault_String__________________ : Yes
NoForced_String___________________ : No


3ID_String_______________________ : 3
UTF-8Format__________________________ : UTF-8
S_TEXT/UTF8CodecID_________________________ : S_TEXT/UTF8
UTF-8 Plain TextCodecID_Info____________________ : UTF-8 Plain Text
enLanguage_String_________________ : en
YesDefault_String__________________ : Yes
NoForced_String___________________ : No


4ID_String_______________________ : 4
UTF-8Format__________________________ : UTF-8
S_TEXT/UTF8CodecID_________________________ : S_TEXT/UTF8
UTF-8 Plain TextCodecID_Info____________________ : UTF-8 Plain Text
enLanguage_String_________________ : en
NoDefault_String__________________ : No
NoForced_String___________________ : No
6

I am also suffering from this issue so would be interested if there is a resolution. I have tried to get the XML from PlexWeb for some of the videos which don't play but am seeing an error however here are the video details from the interface:

Video

 
Codec H264
Bitrate 3268 kbps
Language English
Bit Depth 8
CABAC 1
Chroma Subsampling 4:2:0
Color Space yuv
Duration 42:28
Frame Rate 23.976 fps
Frame Rate Mode cfr
Has Scaling Matrix 0
Height 720
Level 4.1
Profile high
Ref Frames 9
Scan Type progressive
Width 1280
7

The media information is very helpful. It definitely showed that we should have no problem playing back these files. Not a lot of solace in that answer but it helps me help you. Thanks.

Sorry I sound like a broken record but, if any of you generate a 1 minute sample, add it to your library, play it back, does it have the same problem? If so please post that sample. This sounds like an issue we need to present to Sony.

8

I also have this issue, will generate sample files tonight.

9

Here's a sample I generated from Handbreak. I'm also attaching the XML related to that file.

Does not work:

Works:

10

I had the same black screen with only audio just last night, and several times before, all seemingly random (to me), so I came here with an interest in finding any clues.


Thanks to pversailles video file (so we’re all on the same page) I’ve just had a play around and here are my findings.


On my PS3, the 720p file didn’t play video, just audio, with my regular settings. I have AC3 ticked, and I’m normally running the Local Streaming Quality up at 20 mbps, with almost no trouble. I have pretty solid wifi connected via a Linksys bridge to a Linksys router to a Synology NAS.


Everything else was working as normal.


So, I went and changed the Local streaming Quality down to each level, and there was no video until 3 mbps, and each step down from that. So, no video at 20, 12, 10, 8, and 4 mbps. But video played from 3 mbps down to 720 kbps (where I stopped because it looked pants)


Interestingly, I tried this on a TV show I have that also only played black with audio, and that one only worked from 2 mbps down. The bitrate on that one is 1970 kbps. At least I now know I can watch that show if I change the Local Streaming Setting down until it plays.


(I haven’t tried on my PS4 yet, but I will try to remember to report back)

(The video plays fine via the XMB Plex media server)

(All files always play on my Roku)

(Can’t wait for the anamorphic issue to be fixed!)


EDIT: so I just checked the 720p clip on my PS4, which was set as above (AC3 ticked, 20 Mbps Local Streaming Quality) and video played with audio just fine, on all qualities.


Hope this is some help?

11

Hi Bert,

Your tests are very interesting. When I play the 720p versions I don't even have a choice of mbps over 3.5mbps. If I switch it down to 3mbps then my plex server starts transcoding and I can see the video. PS3 would play these videos naively so I'm not sure why plex would need to transcode them.

Does the PS4 audio 5.1 still come out of 1 speaker?

If you have a moment would you mind testing one of these versions to see if you're still getting audio out of one speaker?

These are encoded with AAC (FDK) instead of passthru.

Works

Does not work

12

Hi pversailles


Sorry if I confused things, but I edited my post, and I guess you must have been referring to the part I removed where I said the audio wasn’t coming out of the Surround Sound unit as 5.1? More on that in a sec. . .


Your first two files The Hobbit Desaulation of Smaug 720p T18.5 AAC passthru and The Hobbit Desaulation of Smaug 1080p T18.5 AAC 5.1 passthru aren’t in 5.1, they are reporting as dual audio (French/English) Stereo. That’s where I was confused, as I presumed when I was testing them that they were 5.1, but they aren’t.


So I dowloaded two of your latest files The Hobbit Desaulation of Smaug 1080p T18.5 AAC 5.1 FDK 192kbps and The Hobbit Desaulation of Smaug 720p T18.5 AAC FDK 192kbps and here’s my findings on those:


They’re both dual audio, 5.1.

They too both play video on the PS4.

They too both play on the Roku.
The Hobbit Desaulation of Smaug 1080p T18.5 AAC 5.1 FDK 192kbps plays video on the PS3.

However, The Hobbit Desaulation of Smaug 720p T18.5 AAC FDK 192kbps is the same story, on the PS3 it won’t play any video until I drop the Local Streaming Quality down to 3 Mbps.


Here’s something else though, which I hazard a guess at being a weird Plex on PS3 issue (?) on both your 5.1 files, on the PS3 that is hooked up to my Surround Sound Amp the audio track is mixed up. The centre speaker/dialogue track plays out of the right speaker, but a surround track is coming out of the centre speaker. BUT. . .when I play both of the files from the Plex Media Server on the XMB, the audio is correct, and the centre speaker/dialogue plays through the centre speaker.


(Also if I want to confuse and muddle the issues further - I get no audio through my other TV (my PS4 isn’t hooked up to my Surround Sound Amp so I can’t check what’s coming out) when I play your recent FDK versions through the Synology DS Video App on my Roku, nor the Roku Media Player, so I’m guessing that’s more of a conversion/settings issue at your end, and not necessarily an exclusive Plex issue? But that won’t explain why they are correct 5.1 from the XMB and not on the Plex app)


So, it seems there’s two issues going on here at once? The video on certain files only plays when we drop the Local Streaming Quality. And then there’s a side issue of certain files having mixed up Surround Sound (which I’m sure there’s another thread for??)


Any clearer? :wink:

13

Hi Bert,

Thanks for doing all this testing! Sorry for the confusion, I did indeed read the email that was generated when you first posted. I didn't notice that you had modified it afterwards.

I was trying different encoding settings using AAC (AAC being the recommended encoding for PS3) to see if that could have been part of the issue. And at the same time I wanted to make sure I was future proofing my files. So it's clear that I should stay away of Passthru for the moment. 

This shows that different AAC Codecs don't make any difference, the issue remains the same.

Cheers,

pversailles

14

I also have this issue with several media files.  When i transcode them to 1080p from handbrake they then work.

From reading others comments along with my own experience it seems like the ps3 can play 1080p but does not like being told to direct play lower resolutions, but will happily play a transcoded stream at any resolution.  

15

I have the exact same problem



Skickat från min iPhone med Tapatalk

16

Just so others finding this thread are aware... this is still going on. I haven't found a fix yet.
 
Has anyone else?
 
Tried the lowering of the Streaming Quality trick and that seems to get it to work... but defeats some of the purpose of downloading high quality and audio files. On my PS3 the option goes from 1.5mbs (720) to 1.4 (480)...
 
I get 720p TV shows so I can watch with higher quality AND 5.1 audio...
Lowering to 1.4 on the PS3 and having lower video defeats the purpose...
or the other option is to play the file on my XBox 360...
but then the 5.1 audio is converted to stereo...
 
I compared files in MediaInfo to figure out what the difference between videos that worked and videos that didnt work are:
All my files are mkv's... and it seems the common item I have so far is that all the non-working videos are Matroska Ver 4 / Ver 2 and written with mkvmerge v6.7.0 and libebml v1.3.0 + libmatroska v1.4.1
 
(argh... tried to add in a table... didnt work, attached pdf)Plex MKV - MediaInfo Compares 2.pdf (64.2 KB)

17

I never had this video problem till the new update. I’m also having some issues with audio… Background voices are audible but the Maine center channel voices does not… All works correctly if I turn off direct stream and direct play and force a transcode but that’s not what used to happen and not what I want to happen.

18

I never had this video problem till the new update. I'm also having some issues with audio... Background voices are audible but the Maine center channel voices does not.... All works correctly if I turn off direct stream and direct play and force a transcode but that's not what used to happen and not what I want to happen.

I have a whole library of videos which do this. Unfortunately not yet had the time to analyse all of my videos, but there is certainly something about the video source which Plex & the PS3 app is not happy with.

At some point I will do a comparison table of videos which cause buffering issues (mostly films in 1080p HD), sound playback but no video (mostly TV programmes in 720p HD) and good video playback and ambient sounds but missing speech (only TV programmes in SD or 720p HD).

If there are specific steps or file analysis needed I should be able to check a whole batch of files which are affected in each of the different ways at some point next week. Can someone from the Plex team advise what specifically is needed for each of these issues?

David

19

You all are swarming really well around this issue. I'll jump back into it in a couple days and see if we can't identify the issue specifically.

As as test if you all would try unticking Allow Direct Play and Allow Direct Stream (one at a time) and see if it changest behavior. When both checkboxes are unchecked Plex Media Server will transcode the video. It's heavy on the server but will help me know if it's a problem with MP4 direct playback or HLS remuxes (direct stream).

20

You all are swarming really well around this issue. I'll jump back into it in a couple days and see if we can't identify the issue specifically.

As as test if you all would try unticking Allow Direct Play and Allow Direct Stream (one at a time) and see if it changest behavior. When both checkboxes are unchecked Plex Media Server will transcode the video. It's heavy on the server but will help me know if it's a problem with MP4 direct playback or HLS remuxes (direct stream).

Thank you for picking back up on this. I will test tonight both those options and let you know. Would you like any media info for the various files I have which cause issues? If so what detail/source?