Playback Error Conversion failed. The transcoder exited due to an error. after update to PlexMediaServer-1.18.8.2468-5d395aa9d-armv7hf_neon

General Discussions
1

Server Version#: PlexMediaServer-1.18.8.2468-5d395aa9d-armv7hf_neon
Player Version#: All

yesterday I updated PMS to the latest version 1.18.8.2468

I can keep playing all the videos that were before in the library without issues but I get the error “Playback Error Conversion failed. The transcoder exited due to an error” when I try to play something I added to the library after PMS update

PMS running on Synology DS416slim, players on AppleTV, iOS or WebPlayers

which one is the correct log file to post here ?

2

The entire downloaded ZIP you get from Settings -Server - Troubleshooting - Download Logs

Most issues span multiple logs files. The ZIP file guarantees we can see

3

there is it, thanks

Plex Media Server Logs_2020-03-03_23-08-40.zip (2.1 MB)

4

Diego,

I see where it starts to play for some and then is stopped by the player.

Mar 03, 2020 21:54:53.934 [0x6bf50450] DEBUG - Downloaded stream from [http://127.0.0.1:32400/library/streams/2859?X-Plex-Token=xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] (codec: srt) to temporary file [/volume1/Plex/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Cache/Transcode/Sessions/plex-transcode-4A4E3D2F-A1FB-4263-824D-86BC8EDF0D5A-0faf6e6f-16a5-4ce9-a795-f1d17490dcf0/temp-0.srt]
Mar 03, 2020 21:54:53.935 [0x6bf50450] DEBUG - TPU: hardware transcoding: final decoder: , final encoder: 
Mar 03, 2020 21:54:53.935 [0x6e469450] DEBUG - [Now] User is diego.ferrini (ID: 1)
Mar 03, 2020 21:54:53.935 [0x6e469450] DEBUG - [Now] Device is iOS (Diego’s iPhone).
Mar 03, 2020 21:54:53.935 [0x6e469450] DEBUG - [Now] Profile is iOS
Mar 03, 2020 21:54:53.935 [0x6e469450] DEBUG - [Now] Updated play state for /library/metadata/593.
Mar 03, 2020 21:54:53.936 [0x6e469450] DEBUG - Statistics: (410BC9B7-92D2-45EF-B5CB-3E13BFB558F7) Reporting active playback in state 2 of type 4 (scrobble: 0) for account 1
Mar 03, 2020 21:54:53.937 [0x6bf50450] DEBUG - Job running: EAE_ROOT='/volume1/Plex/tmp_transcoding/pms-3b4eda8f-4887-4fd0-a919-cba0cfd43211/EasyAudioEncoder' FFMPEG_EXTERNAL_LIBS='/volume1/Plex/Library/Application\ Support/Plex\ Media\ Server/Codecs/0bc617e-2974-linux-armv7hf_neon/' XDG_CACHE_HOME='/volume1/Plex/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Cache' XDG_DATA_HOME='/volume1/@appstore/Plex Media Server/Resources' X_PLEX_TOKEN='xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx' '/volume1/@appstor

Subtitles are being burned in. That must be causing problems. Do you have them set this way deliberately?

5

I keep subtitles always on
I get this error only on movies I added tro the library after the update. Old movies works fine, also with subtitles

6

May I see the XML for the movie?
Something is not right.

7

597.rar (1.2 KB)

8

the video file is not damaged or corrupted, I can play it normally with VLC or other players

9

I’ve experienced these same issues for the past week or so on my ReadyNAS

When I add new movies or tv shows they play for a few seconds and show a transcoder error message and stop playing.

Problem doesn’t happen for older files though.

10

Turned the automatic subtitles off and problem solved :slight_smile:

1 Like
11

That worked for me too,
I usually use .srt subtitles in an external file, it seems that the 2 or 3 movies I downloaded in those days had embedded subtitles, the ones in image format not text, and so automatic subtitle failed rendering. The new videos I downloaded after that are fine

Still, this is a workaround and appear that the new version has issues with embedded subs

12

@ChuckPa We have just started receiving the same error as in the title.

Any chance you could have a quick browse over the log files and see whats happening?

Some films are playing and some wont. Only thing that’s changed is a latest software update.

Webbrowser plays the movies fine and so does iPhones. It seems to be the apps we have on 4K apple TV’s that have the issue.

Plex Media Server Logs_2020-04-06_10-02-24.zip (4.7 MB)

So I’ve just rolled back the software from -

1.19.1.2621-b249be3b0 April 3rd 2020 to 1.18.9.2578-513b381af March 30, 2020 by un-ticking the Plex Pass downloads option and this has solved the issue.

13

The logs show the AAC_LC codec wasn’t there. PMS thought it was.

e380aa08-44c5-4087-81bc-813b71945e1c/progress/stream?index=0&id=1&codec=h264&type=video (30 live) 0ms 195 bytes (pipelined: 5) (range: bytes=0-) 
Apr 06, 2020 09:38:42.859 [0x7fa433ff7700] ERROR - [Transcoder] Unknown decoder 'aac_lc'
Apr 06, 2020 09:38:42.862 [0x7fa4cf591700] DEBUG - Jobs: '/usr/lib/plexmediaserver/Plex Transcoder' exit code for process 1590 is 1 (failure)
Apr 06, 2020 09:38:42.862 [0x7fa4bdffb700] DEBUG - Using default transcode duration of 120 minutes
Apr 06, 2020 09:38:42.862 [0x7fa437fff700] DEBUG - Streaming Resource: Terminating session 0x7fa48545cf30:A864DC1D-B5D4-4C85-94B4-E7B2E44BB6F1 which is using 5395kbps of WAN bandwidth.  Used is now 14324kbps
Apr 06, 2020 09:38:42.862 [0x7fa437fff700] DEBUG - Streaming Resource: Terminated session 0x7fa48545cf30:A864DC1D-B5D4-4C85-94B4-E7B2E44BB6F1 with reason Conversion failed. The transcoder exited due to an error.

If need be, we can go into the Plex share and manually clean a few things up.

14

I’d like to +1 on this error, I’ve seen it on an Apple TV as well, and randomly in a web browser after lengthy playback sessions. Usually browser playback I never have issues with, but as of late I am receiving the transcoder error quite a bit. Plex Media Server Logs_2020-04-11_22-41-09.zip (5.2 MB)

Edit: Additional bit of experimental troubleshooting being taken, I saw in another post this issue was caused by transcoder directory permissions error. I’ve changed the Transcoder temp directory and verified the permissions of that directory… will report the results after more testing

15

Please report back after your testing. I’ll look on Monday.

16

I have the same issue on my end for clients. But locally working fine

1 Like
17

Plex really has to stop pushing these wonky updates. Everytime I see an update, I’m wondering what it’s gonna break this time. Sick of it.

3 Likes
18

Hi,

I’m experincing the same error but this was happening to me also before updating to 1.19.1.2645. Aproximatly 10 days ago. I upated hopping it would solve it, but it didn’t.
Plex Media Server Logs_2020-04-12_19-25-28.zip (4.9 MB)

I’m on Windows Server 2016, and it’s happening to most videos (downlodaded a long time ago or new ones), substitulies can be on and off, and it’s happening in the internal network and externally, in many players (web, Tizen, Chromecast).

I’m attatching the logs.

Thanks for your helpPlex Media Server Logs_2020-04-12_19-25-28.zip|attachment (4.9 MB)

19

You’ve posted in Synology but your logs show a Windows system.

I can only recognize this. I can’t help otherwise (no windows skills)

a45061d3-7423-43f4-8d70-1ff9da80e045\init-stream0.m4s,C:\Users\Services\AppData\Local\Plex Media Server\Cache\Transcode\Sessions\plex-transcode-cbneod6gk639lrw8irjlq3bs-a45061d3-7423-43f4-8d70-1ff9da80e045\chunk-stream0-00314.m4s is 6047391 (of total: 6047391).
Apr 12, 2020 19:15:35.447 [7204] DEBUG - handleStreamRead code 10054: An existing connection was forcibly closed by the remote host
Apr 12, 2020 19:15:35.447 [7204] DEBUG - NotificationStream: Removing because of error
Apr 12, 2020 19:15:35.447 [7208] DEBUG - handleStreamRead code 10054: An existing connection was forcibly closed by the remote host
Apr 12, 2020 19:15:35.447 [7208] DEBUG - NotificationStream: Removing because of error

Please create a new thread, tagged server-windows ?

20

This is happening to me for music, films and TV shows. No matter what I play, it just plays 17 seconds stops and shows the error.

I am an electrical engineer and I have never come across a media player that looks so neat and gorgeous on the outside but has so many issues that prevent me as a user from enjoying this consistently and persistently. Basically there are no 2 consecutive days without something breaking down, the server not reachable, etc.

Please do not take this as criticism. I just think that being the year 2020, this type of software should just work or get fixed without any intervention from the user. At the moment customers appear to be extensions of your team helping Plex fix what they break and bare all along with their frustration. It just should not be this way.

4 Likes