Server Version#: 1.19.3.2740 (also saw the same on 1.18.something)
Player Version#: 8.0.0.17276
I’ve suddenly started seeing a new issue over the last few days. When a TV episode ends, instead of showing the 10 second countdown until the next episode starts, it will either freeze on a frame or just show a black screen. It actually seems to skip back to the beginning of the show and is re-playing it in the background even though there’s no video/audio. If I press pause while on the black or frozen screen then I can see the timer moving forward and sometimes can get it to start playing again. I’ve also verified that it’s replaying the same show by viewing the activity link in the dashboard. This is happening with several different shows that I’ve noticed, some of which are 5~ minute long kids shows that have been played hundreds of times over the last few months without an issue, up until now at least. As far as I can tell this is only happening on the Nvidia Shield since I haven’t seen it happen on my Firestick or Android phone, though the Shield is our primary viewing device.
I’ve attached a log that starts about 15 seconds before a show ended and goes about 15 seconds into the frozen screen. Is there something I can do to fix this?
Yep same here too. I actually spent a little time with it earlier. As the next episode starts it’s stuck (on the documentary show I used and I’m not sure if the frame is from the end of an episode or the beginning of the next as they’re identical on that particalar show)… but a full 40 minute episode can play according to bringing up the timeline while the TV displays the same frame and no audio for that 40 minutes.
One step forward and two back? Either way it’s definitely time for me to stop taking in the betas.
It’s kind of hilarious really. The last server bug had an episode playing fine, but with no record in the dashboard or being marked as watched afterwards.
Now client side an episode can play with no audio, no video but happily shows in the dashboard and marks it as watched afterwards.
Maybe one step forward and five back is more realistic.
For what it’s worth, I’m not in the beta and still experiencing this.
Completely resetting the PLEX app does seem to have helped a good bit though. I’ve only seen it happen once now over the last couple of days whereas it was happening close to every other episode before the reset.
So possibly something caused by the latest couple of server updates?
Thanks for the heads up.
But honestly though. Firstly Plex has no idea when we watch something in Plex.
Fixed by Plex knows totally we watched a still frame with no audio and happily marks it watched.
If it wasn’t for the fact I love UNO so much, I would be going back to the green option.
Just sayin’
One other thing… was it consistent or intermittent? Different show and no issue here now.
I wouldn’t think it was anything to do with the server updates since it was the app on the Shield that I reinstalled that seems to have helped a lot. I also didn’t see it happening on my other devices, though I don’t use anything else nearly as much as the Shield.
It was somewhat intermittent… From what I remember it seemed like it started with a particular show and seemed like it did it every other episode, or sometimes every episode. I also have some 3~ minute long kids shows that have been watched hundreds of times and the issue suddenly started happening with them as well. Some other shows seemed to play just fine too, so I don’t think it’s necessarily the particular show you’re watching.
Yes, it definitely seems to have helped. Before I reinstalled, it seemed like I was getting the frozen black frame after nearly every episode I watched. Now I’ve only seen it once in the last 3 days (*knock on wood). Though I guess I might not have technically uninstalled since my Shield only gave me the option to uninstall all updates rather than fully uninstalling the app. I cleared the app’s cache, cleared the data, and then uninstalled all updates. Then I went to the Play store and re-installed updates.
It might also be worth just clearing the cache first since that should be quicker/easier, should retain your settings, and it’s something I didn’t test.
Mine already seems to be doing this more and more frequently again. Reinstalling seems to have helped for a bit, but it looks like that was a very temporary fix.
I starting having this exact issue earlier this week. Before I started searching for solutions online I had already deleted cache and data and saw no improvement at all. I just tried CodeCat5’s recommendation of deleting the cache and data I then uninstalled updates of Plex and then went to the google play store and installed the updates.
The first 3 episodes I have played did successfully play the next episode whereas before doing this I experienced the blank screen with the same episode running in the background with no audio or video probably 95 percent of the time. Hopefully this isn’t a temporary fix like it appears to have been for CodeCat5. I will update if my issues come back (likely will)
EDIT: Just for the record I have the 2015 Nvidia Shield Pro.
Server version: Version 1.19.3.2764
Plex Player Version: 8.01.17410
Well, after 5 episodes successfully starting the next episode successfully I got the same thing already again. The deleting cache, data and uninstalling updates and then re-installing them only helped for a short while.
Frustrating
I am facing the same issue exactly as described by the OP.
Episodes don’t mark as played after this happens. I first thought I had bad metadata for a show as I had made some changes to its files recently, so I did the dance with it but it did not help. Then I noticed it happening on other shows that hadn’t been touched since I installed Plex.
Sony android TV running Plex for android version: 8.01.17410
Server version: 1.19.3.2764 and at least one prior version.
Same here, episodes not marked as played, stopping near the end and not moving forward. Happens on ALL Android, Amazon, and Roku based clients. Started about 2 weeks ago.
Also confirming that this is happening on other devices besides the Nvidia Shield since I just saw it happen on my old Mii box.
For me personally, it’s an annoyance but I can get past it. When I’m playing a list of 5 minute long shows for my kids though it’s much worse since they don’t know how to use a remote and fix it.
So what do we have to do to get PLEX to officially recognize this as a bug and do something about it? Is there perhaps another thread where this has been reported that I should be following?
