Playback error on every platform

Plex Media Server NAS & Devices
,
41

Yep, same

Not much different then I’d say

42

I just helped a user today on a Syno. I wonder if there’s a connection

I’d like to conduct the same experiment with you if you’re up to it.

  1. stop the existing instance of PMS

  2. Create a new TEST instance (add -TEST to the friendly name)
    – Rename the directory /config maps to or use a new one
    (Preserve your existing server data)
    – Make certain to use a Claim Token to set it up (avoid the ip clash)

  3. Specifics
    – Privileged container
    – Host networking
    – ONE (your smallest) library section
    – ** One directory
    – ** No thumbs
    – ** no other “Advanced” frills (want this to build quickly.

  4. Open an incognito browser window and get into this TEST container’s server

  5. When it’s complete, Enable HW transcoding

  6. Play something simple (H.264),

  7. If that works, try HEVC

Let me know your progress

43

@ChuckPa

Spun up another instance as described - works as expected! I verified on all my devices and no issues at all on either H.264 or HEVC throughout them

44

Then something happened to the first (down deep in the DB).

Abandon (delete) the first,
Rename the temp/test
Continue to rebuiild and use the new in its place

45

No other solutions?

Ideally I don’t want to lose my watch status, settings, etc…

46

@bucketphobia

If you enable the watch history upload, (which should be on) it will restore it.

If uncertain, You can:

  1. Using the failed DB (to pull the watch history from)
  2. Use DBRepair (my tool) to import that watch history and inject it into the new DB you just created
47

Ugh this sucks I’m seeing the exact same thing on unraid too. A db restore has still been working to fix it but it’s happening faster and faster between restores. If I could restore user access stuff to a new server I could deal with it but not an option is it?

48

Same exact problem here too… On a Proxmox instance with a mapped Syno drive. Anyone come up with a solution other than a complete server reinstall?

Ajar

49

Hi all
Is anyone actually working on the issue?
Outside of this thread I see no info or communication whatsoever on what basically comes down to complete failure of the server. Not much use in a streaming platform that can’t play anything.
Right now the DB restores don’t even maintain stability for more than a day.
I have invested a lot of time in refining music tags or movie info over the years. Having to lose it all would be downright unacceptable and it cannot be the official answer on this.
Could we at least get some form of info on what’s happening or when we can expect a fix?

50

I would also love it the Plex team to chime in to let us know it’s being looked into.

51

Folks,
Engineering is working on several problems right now.

My apologies for the personal time I’ve needed (health).

Given my machines are rebuilt from scratch at least once a year, and I can’t recreate this,

I’m think I’m seeing looks more and more like deep database corruption of days past.

Nobody could ever explain it however, if using a newer (e.g. 1.41.5), PMS DB were created and loaded up then the problem vanished.

I will assist where/as I can (one-on-one if needed and possible).

1 Like
52

I’m also seeing this issue. No changes to anything since it was last working (same versions of everything, no updates, it just stopped working). Database repairs/restores don’t help.

What info do you need that could help troubleshooting / chasing down this problem?

53

@threeLetterMeyhem

The best logs you could share would be:

  1. Confirm server DEBUG logging is enabled, VERBOSE logging is disabled
    (SAVE if you make changes)

  2. Restart PMS

  3. Wait 3 minutes for everything to start up and be completely stable.

  4. Now recreate the error

  5. Give a few examples (different files) of the error

  6. Download the server’s logs ZIP file

  7. Attach it here.

54

Is there a more private way to send in logs? I’m really not comfortable publicly posting the amount of data that’s in these logs.

55

I would be happy to provide logs, but I am not using an unraid setup.
I am only getting the playback issue on browsers (chrome, brave, Firefox) and the Plex for Windows player. I am using PMS 1.41.8.9834.
If you are just verifying the playback issue on any setup, and not specifically unraid issue, I can provide logs. Just let me know

56

@Lylesback2

Which host OS / server distro ? (except a Windows server)

57

Host machine:
PMS: Version 1.41.8.9834
Windows 11 Pro, build: 26100.4351 (24H2)
I’ve included the hour:min:sec of the playback times in my logs. (logs sent privately)

The first test was playing the file Black Mirror S04E04 - Hang the DJ.
I first tried in Plex for Windows (not on the host machine) Version 1.109.0.329-ea562b95
immediate result was: An error occurred loading items to play.
Timestamp is around: 8:45:30~ pm

The second test was performed on Chrome Version 137.0.7151.120 (Official Build) (64-bit)
immediate result was: An error occurred loading items to play.
Timestamp is around: 8:46:10~ pm

The third test was on Firefox 139.0.4 (64-bit)
immediate result was: An error occurred loading items to play.
Timestamp is around: 8:46:30 pm

The last test was on Plex for Android (Pixel 8 Pro) 10.26.0.2578 (yes, this is very old)
Playback works
Timestamp is around: 8:46:45~ pm

58

I have three Nvidia shields, (2015, 2017, 2019) and they playback fine, but no watched status.
Version 10.28.0.3441 (367a93b4)

59

I am running the plex server on Gentoo Linux.
I am uploading the logs as requested.
Seems to me like every time I try to play something (music / photo or video get the same error) I see something like this in the logs :

Jun 24, 2025 10:30:44.665 [140552281246520] ERROR - [Req#2b6] Unknown metadata type: folder
Jun 24, 2025 10:30:44.665 [140552212835128] WARN - [Req#2b5] QueryParser: Invalid field 'sectionID' found, ignoring.
Jun 24, 2025 10:30:44.665 [140552212835128] WARN - [Req#2b5] QueryParser: Invalid field 'contentDirectoryID' found, ignoring.
Jun 24, 2025 10:30:44.665 [140552281246520] WARN - [Req#2b6] QueryParser: Invalid field 'contentDirectoryID' found, ignoring.

Hope this helps, I am available to answer any further query.
Plex Media Server.log (1.1 MB)

60

  1. Those warnings are harmless. They are leftovers from the old scanner/agent code (soon to vanish completely)

  2. Your network configuration has fundamental errors

location=1&includeExternalMedia=1 (4 live) #359 TLS GZIP 87ms 727 bytes (pipelined: 4)
Jun 24, 2025 10:31:15.345 [140552460663608] VERBOSE - WebSocket: processed 1 frame(s)
Jun 24, 2025 10:31:16.164 [140552398232376] WARN - NetworkServiceBrowser: Error sending out discover packet from 192.168.13.1 to 239.255.255.250: Operation not permitted
Jun 24, 2025 10:31:16.164 [140552398232376] WARN - NetworkServiceBrowser: Error sending out discover packet from 192.168.14.1 to 239.255.255.250: Operation not permitted
Jun 24, 2025 10:31:16.164 [140552398232376] WARN - NetworkServiceBrowser: Error sending out discover packet from 192.168.17.1 to 239.255.255.250: Operation not permitted
Jun 24, 2025 10:31:16.183 [140552367700792] WARN - NetworkServiceBrowser: Error sending out discover packet from 192.168.13.1 to 192.168.13.255: Operation not permitted
Jun 24, 2025 10:31:16.183 [140552400341816] WARN - NetworkServiceBrowser: Error sending out discover packet from 192.168.13.1 to 192.168.13.255: Operation not permitted
Jun 24, 2025 10:31:16.183 [140552367700792] WARN - NetworkServiceBrowser: Error sending out discover packet from 192.168.14.1 to 192.168.14.255: Operation not permitted
Jun 24, 2025 10:31:16.183 [140552400341816] WARN - NetworkServiceBrowser: Error sending out discover packet from 192.168.14.1 to 192.168.14.255: Operation not permitted
Jun 24, 2025 10:31:16.183 [140552367700792] WARN - NetworkServiceBrowser: Error sending out discover packet from 192.168.17.1 to 192.168.17.255: Operation not permitted
Jun 24, 2025 10:31:16.183 [140552400341816] WARN - NetworkServiceBrowser: Error sending out discover packet from 192.168.17.1 to 192.168.17.255: Operation not permitted
Jun 24, 2025 10:31:19.721 [140552460663608] VERBOSE - WebSocket: processed 1 frame(s)
Jun 24, 2025 10:31:21.184 [140552404560696] WARN - NetworkServiceBrowser: Error sending out discover packet from 192.168.13.1 to 192.168.13.255: Operation not permitted
Jun 24, 2025 10:31:21.184 [140552400341816] WARN - NetworkServiceBrowser: Error sending out discover packet from 192.168.13.1 to 192.168.13.255: Operation not permitted
Jun 24, 2025 10:31:21.184 [140552404560696] WARN - NetworkServiceBrowser: Error sending out discover packet from 192.168.14.1 to 192.168.14.255: Operation not permitted
Jun 24, 2025 10:31:21.184 [140552400341816] WARN - NetworkServiceBrowser: Error sending out discover packet from 192.168.14.1 to 192.168.14.255: Operation not permitted
Jun 24, 2025 10:31:21.184 [140552404560696] WARN - NetworkServiceBrowser: Error sending out discover packet from 192.168.17.1 to 192.168.17.255: Operation not permitted
Jun 24, 2025 10:31:21.184 [140552400341816] WARN - NetworkServiceBrowser: Error sending out discover packet from 192.168.17.1 to 192.168.17.255: Operation not permitted
Jun 24, 2025 10:31:25.346 [140552460663608] VERBOSE - WebSocket: processed 1 frame(s)
Jun 24, 2025 10:31:26.165 [140552367700792] WARN - NetworkServiceBrowser: Error sending out discover packet from 192.168.13.1 to 239.255.255.250: Operation not permitted
Jun 24, 2025 10:31:26.165 [140552367700792] WARN - NetworkServiceBrowser: Error sending out discover packet from 192.168.14.1 to 239.255.255.250: Operation not permitted
Jun 24, 2025 10:31:26.165 [140552367700792] WARN - NetworkServiceBrowser: Error sending out discover packet from 192.168.17.1 to 239.255.255.250: Operation not permitted
Jun 24, 2025 10:31:26.185 [140552404560696] WARN - NetworkServiceBrowser: Error sending out discover packet from 192.168.13.1 to 192.168.13.255: Operation not permitted
Jun 24, 2025 10:31:26.185 [140552400341816] WARN - NetworkServiceBrowser: Error sending out discover packet from 192.168.13.1 to 192.168.13.255: Operation not permitted
Jun 24, 2025 10:31:26.185 [140552404560696] WARN - NetworkServiceBrowser: Error sending out discover packet from 192.168.14.1 to 192.168.14.255: Operation not permitted
Jun 24, 2025 10:31:26.185 [140552400341816] WARN - NetworkServiceBrowser: Error sending out discover packet from 192.168.14.1 to 192.168.14.255: Operation not permitted
Jun 24, 2025 10:31:26.185 [140552404560696] WARN - NetworkServiceBrowser: Error sending out discover packet from 192.168.17.1 to 192.168.17.255: Operation not permitted
Jun 24, 2025 10:31:26.185 [140552400341816] WARN - NetworkServiceBrowser: Error sending out discover packet from 192.168.17.1 to 192.168.17.255: Operation not permitted
Jun 24, 2025 10:31:29.721 [140552460663608] VERBOSE - WebSocket: processed 1 frame(s)
Jun 24, 2025 10:31:31.186 [140552367700792] WARN - NetworkServiceBrowser: Error sending out discover packet from 192.168.13.1 to 192.168.13.255: Operation not permitted
Jun 24, 2025 10:31:31.186 [140552406678328] WARN - NetworkServiceBrowser: Error sending out discover packet from 192.168.13.1 to 192.168.13.255: Operation not permitted
Jun 24, 2025 10:31:31.186 [140552406678328] WARN - NetworkServiceBrowser: Error sending out discover packet from 192.168.14.1 to 192.168.14.255: Operation not permitted
Jun 24, 2025 10:31:31.186 [140552367700792] WARN - NetworkServiceBrowser: Error sending out discover packet from 192.168.14.1 to 192.168.14.255: Operation not permitted
Jun 24, 2025 10:31:31.186 [140552406678328] WARN - NetworkServiceBrowser: Error sending out discover packet from 192.168.17.1 to 192.168.17.255: Operation not permitted
Jun 24, 2025 10:31:31.186 [140552367700792] WARN - NetworkServiceBrowser: Error sending out discover packet from 192.168.17.1 to 192.168.17.255: Operation not permitted
Jun 24, 2025 10:31:34.103 [140552458554168] VERBOSE - Comparing request from ::ffff:192.168.2.254 against ::ffff:192.168.12.0/120