Plex can't read my MKV files

Plex Media Server NAS & Devices
1

hello all, new here, couldn't find the suggestion box, so here goes:

 

Devs, please add MKV support to Plex on Synology.

 

it's just a wrapper for other formats, this one file i tried to play, i believe is MP4 inside a MKV, it should read fine but all i get in plex is some generic error message with a sad face. :( a lil more info how to fix this error would help too, like installing VLC (which is already on this laptop). And yes this file plays in VLC.

 

 

General
Format                                   : Matroska
Format version                           : Version 4 / Version 2
File size                                : 711 MiB
Duration                                 : 22mn 8s
Overall bit rate                         : 4 491 Kbps
Encoded date                             : UTC 2013-04-08 08:48:23
Writing application                      : mkvmerge v6.1.0 ('Old Devil') built on Mar  2 2013 14:32:37
Writing library                          : libebml v1.3.0 + libmatroska v1.4.0
 
Video
ID                                       : 1
Format                                   : AVC
Format/Info                              : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile                           : High@L3.1
Format settings, CABAC                   : No
Format settings, ReFrames                : 2 frames
Codec ID                                 : V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC
Duration                                 : 22mn 8s
Width                                    : 1 280 pixels
Height                                   : 720 pixels
Display aspect ratio                     : 16:9
Frame rate mode                          : Constant
Frame rate                               : 23.976 fps
Color space                              : YUV
Chroma subsampling                       : 4:2:0
Bit depth                                : 8 bits
Scan type                                : Progressive
Title                                    : H.264
Default                                  : Yes
Forced                                   : No
Color primaries                          : BT.709
Transfer characteristics                 : BT.709
Matrix coefficients                      : BT.709
 
Audio #1
ID                                       : 2
Format                                   : AC-3
Format/Info                              : Audio Coding 3
Mode extension                           : CM (complete main)
Format settings, Endianness              : Big
Codec ID                                 : A_AC3
Duration                                 : 22mn 8s
Bit rate mode                            : Constant
Bit rate                                 : 384 Kbps
Channel(s)                               : 6 channels
Channel positions                        : Front: L C R, Side: L R, LFE
Sampling rate                            : 48.0 KHz
Bit depth                                : 16 bits
Compression mode                         : Lossy
Stream size                              : 60.8 MiB (9%)
Title                                    : DD5.1
Language                                 : English
Default                                  : Yes
Forced                                   : No
 
Audio #2
ID                                       : 3
Format                                   : AAC
Format/Info                              : Advanced Audio Codec
Format profile                           : LC
Codec ID                                 : A_AAC
Duration                                 : 22mn 8s
Channel(s)                               : 2 channels
Channel positions                        : Front: L R
Sampling rate                            : 48.0 KHz
Compression mode                         : Lossy
Title                                    : AAC2.0
Language                                 : English
Default                                  : No
Forced                                   : No
 
Text
ID                                       : 4
Format                                   : UTF-8
Codec ID                                 : S_TEXT/UTF8
Codec ID/Info                            : UTF-8 Plain Text
Title                                    : CC
Language                                 : English
Default                                  : No
Forced                                   : No
 
 
thanks for reading
2

I have been playing MKV files in Plex since January 2008, and the Synology PMS supports serving up MKV files, so that is not the issue.

Please recreate the issue, and then upload Plex.log and Plex Media Server.log so we can take a look at it.

I also edited your thread topic to better reflect this.

3

It also needs to be mentioned that MKV is not a wrapper to contain whatever one wants. There are limitations. MKV is a container for different video, audio, image and subtitle tracks.
The container formats that are listed for video, audio and image can be found here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matroska#External_links

With that said, I can't directly see that your file violates any of that, so I think we can get your issue sorted. Hopefully when we take a look at your log files.

4

so i've reinstalled vlc with the file associations to all video and audio files.

the mkv and mp4 files work from both my nases (qnap ts212/synologyd s212j) (video station, multimedia station, all good)

and also when i start them from the network shares in windows 7.

i just can't see them in plex from the browsers (chrome, ie9). and the error message is useless to debug this problem.

how do i fix this ?

5

so i've reinstalled vlc with the file associations to all video and audio files.

the mkv and mp4 files work from both my nases (qnap ts212/synologyd s212j) (video station, multimedia station, all good)

and also when i start them from the network shares in windows 7.

i just can't see them in plex from the browsers (chrome, ie9). and the error message is useless to debug this problem.

how do i fix this ?

Are you in some way unable to read my above posts?

6

what do your posts have to do with the problem ? they just explain mkv is a container, i knew that.

lets fix the problem ok ?

7

what do your posts have to do with the problem ? they just explain mkv is a container, i knew that.

lets fix the problem ok ?

In both posts I ask you for the logs, without them there is no way for us to see why this does not work.

EDIT: You can find info about log file locations in red in my signature below.

8

so i've reinstalled vlc with the file associations to all video and audio files.

the mkv and mp4 files work from both my nases (qnap ts212/synologyd s212j) (video station, multimedia station, all good)

and also when i start them from the network shares in windows 7.

i just can't see them in plex from the browsers (chrome, ie9). and the error message is useless to debug this problem.

how do i fix this ?

neither of those NAS models support transcoding, you should prob read through the NAS guide sticky at the top of the forum to understand what it going on.

9

right well i managed to see part of an ep lastnite, but when plex starts to play it now it asks to continue at the time i was or restart from start.

if i click either i get some error.

listen, i know you think you know all there is to know, but i have the boxes here in my hands, i've done it in other programs,

your plex worked once for a few minutes streaming me the content, but now it doesn't want to work.

Can you actually help or are you just going to argue without helping?

10

In both posts I ask you for the logs, without them there is no way for us to see why this does not work.

EDIT: You can find info about log file locations in red in my signature below.

ok how do i do that ? the log would come from a win 7 laptop streaming from a Qnap ts-212 

how do i do this ?

11

right well i managed to see part of an ep lastnite, but when plex starts to play it now it asks to continue at the time i was or restart from start.

if i click either i get some error.

listen, i know you think you know all there is to know, but i have the boxes here in my hands, i've done it in other programs,

your plex worked once for a few minutes streaming me the content, but now it doesn't want to work.

Can you actually help or are you just going to argue without helping?

have you read the guide to give you an understanding of what is happening with your NAS units?  Have you attached the requested logs? No one here is arguing with you, we are just trying to get you to provide some useful info so we can actually help you.

12

have you read the guide to give you an understanding of what is happening with your NAS units?  Have you attached the requested logs? No one here is arguing with you, we are just trying to get you to provide some useful info so we can actually help you.

i know what is hapenning in my nas, i can transcode as the video station app asks me if i want flv or mp4.

as for the logs, how do i do that? the faq only showed where they are, but not how to get them out of the nas.

that is what is needed to post those logs.

13

i know what is hapenning in my nas, i can transcode as the video station app asks me if i want flv or mp4.

Videostation is not Plex Media Server, they work differently, and if you had read some of the doco already recommended to you, you would know all about it.

as for the logs, how do i do that? the faq only showed where they are, but not how to get them out of the nas.

that is what is needed to post those logs.

www.google.com for something like scp or putty

or maybe synology provide a tool, check your manual

14

Videostation is not Plex Media Server, they work differently, and if you had read some of the doco already recommended to you, you would know all about it.

www.google.com for something like scp or putty

or maybe synology provide a tool, check your manual

Qnap. i returned the synology.

don't you think this kind of info about how to get log files out of a plex installation, should be explained here instead of running around on google ? your faq gives where but not how.

you're dealing with a newbie to linux and qnap in general, so a little help would be most appreciated.

15

Qnap. i returned the synology.

don't you think this kind of info about how to get log files out of a plex installation, should be explained here instead of running around on google ? your faq gives where but not how.

you're dealing with a newbie to linux and qnap in general, so a little help would be most appreciated.

you need to enabled command line access for your NAS - which is a QNAP thing

you need to know the linux tools to retrieve files once you have command line access - which is a linux thing, and i've given you the names of 2 of them above

you need to know where the logs are, which is a Plex thing, and you've already been given this.

Plex Media Server does not support transcoding on your NAS, so you need to read the NAS guide to understand what this means, which you have also been given a link to.

You've already been given a lot of help, you're just not following any of the advice.

The QNAP ARM NAS's are also not officially supported by Plex, the software is "packaged" by someone in the forums based on another supported model so may have other things that do not work right.

16

Like Trudge said, SCP is the way to go.

When using Windows as the desktop, I recommend WinSCP

After logging on to your QNAP box as admin, you'll find yourself in the homedirectory of Admin, which is /root

Go from there into Library/PlexMediaServer/logs, and copy them to your workstation

17

ok, now we're getting somewhere, 

 
i've reset the qnap to factory settings + installing Plex so i can get a clean fresh bunch of logs.
 
winscp works great to get the logs out of there.
 
i've attached a zip of all the logs i could find in the plex install folder
 
thanks guys.
 
 
18

ok, now we're getting somewhere, 

 
i've reset the qnap to factory settings + installing Plex so i can get a clean fresh bunch of logs.
 
winscp works great to get the logs out of there.
 
i've attached a zip of all the logs i could find in the plex install folder
 
thanks guys.

you're trying to play an .mkv file on Chrome, which does not support Direct Playing MKV files, hence it needs to be transcoded.

your server does not support transcoding, hence it cannot play.

you're also running a very old version of the server

it also has a number of issues being caused by network issues (basically bad DNS, a forum search should give you info on how to fix them)

upgrading or fixing the network issues still won't allow you to play .mkv's with chrome though.  Your best option would be to download and install the PMC client from www.plexapp.com/getplex and use it instead of Plex/Web on Chrome.

19

Thanks, was all that really necessary just to tell me to use plex PMC ? its a rhetorical question lol

dns is fine, i set it to 192.168.1.2 for a reason

>you're also running a very old version of the server

what server is that to be clear?

20

Thanks, was all that really necessary just to tell me to use plex PMC ?

If you were at all capable of following advice, you would have had that information from my very first reply.

dns is fine, i set it to 192.168.1.2 for a reason

No it isn't, again, if you follow advice to search it out, you will know why. (you only need to read your own log files to see it not working correctly)