Plex Crashing to “Desktop” on Apple TV

Plex Players Streaming Devices
1
  • tvOS software version: 7.13
  • Plex app version: 1.21.3.4046
  • Brief description of the issue or bug: Player plays films and tv fine - but trying to select a season on the app causes it to crash and return to the apple tv home screen.
  • Steps to reproduce:
    Open Plex. Go to a TV series. Scroll down to the seasons. Plex crashes.
  • When the issue has to do with information from your Plex Media Server (such as streaming content, accessing item details, creating playlists, etc.), you should gather the “Plex Media Server.log ” file covering the issue is reproduced and - attach that to your post.
    I’m not sure this is related to my server. Let me know if it is and you need the log though.

Crash log: Untitled - Pastebin

5 Likes
2

I’m having the same issue, it just started yesterday.

If I go to “TV shows”, under the “Library” heading, and I try to select the “Season” of a particular show, the app crashes and closes, sending me back to the Apple TV Home Screen.

This happens immediately as you swipe down to select the season, even before you can click on it.

Thanks
Marc Coletta (Lifetime PLEX Pass subscriber)

3

I am having the same issue!

1 Like
4

Yes I am having the same issue! Started yesterday.

5

There are a few threads on this issue.

Same issue here. Seems to have been introduced for me with client version 7.12 for Apple TV. Trying to browse to individual seasons of TV shows causes a client crash. The 7.13 release did not fix the issue.

Turned on logging on the server just to see if any obvious error messages appeared in the logs, but the server logs stay clean. It appears to be something on the client side.

I’m not having issues with any other clients, just the Apple TV client. Hope someone at Plex reads this message and responds. So far, no acknowledgement from them on the issue.

I’ve had to install Emby just to watch my TV show library, which isn’t ideal.

1 Like
6

I have only recently got into plex and TV Series on Apple TV was the main reason so may have to investigate Emby.

I also looked at the server logs and didn’t see anything so I believe you are correct that this is purely a client issue. I have Xcode installed on my mac but have never worked with apple TV. I will see if it is possible to grab a log from the apple tv itself this evening.

7

I think I have found the right forum/topic.
As far as I can tell this appears to be a Apple TV client problem. I have an Apple TV 64-bit Gen 4 and as of about 3 days ago, when selecting a specific Recorded TV file, I am crashed back the Apple TV home screen.
There is nothing (obvious) in the Plex Media Server logs (PMS version 1.21.4).
Some recorded program playback fine, other don’t. Some that playback with the crash will playback if accessing them via On Deck or via episode rather than by TV Show).
No problem with playback on other clients (web app, iPad, iPhone, etc.).

Any ideas? Perhaps I should turn off the PMS Beta option.
Regards, Oz

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This sounds like a slightly different issue to the one above as it occurs during playback! The issue above occurs when navigating the UI.

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Different symptom, yes, but my post fits the main topic.
Would you agree that this appears to be an Apple TV client problem as opposed to a PMS problem?

10

Different symptom usually indicates a different problem. Even if the generic title I used does cover your issue too, you would need to open a new topic for your issue so it can be discussed without conflicting with this one and potentially causing confusion.

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Some more info on this issue: Having added some other series to my plex server I can successfully browse the seasons for these but older ones (maybe a coincidence) still crash when moving to the seasons.

I tried grabbing some logs - nothing seems to be getting logged in plex itself. I loaded the page at 13:00:00 and then scrolled down to the seasons at 13:01:00, then restarted plex at 13:02:00:

2021/02/24 13:00:05.407 (176 MB) (3467012) :heavy_minus_sign: PMDirectoryViewModel.m:68 | [DISPATCH_LEAVE_GROUP] Loading full metadata info for <PMKMetadata:0x1176b7140 key:/library/metadata/1/children title:Westworld type:2 isDirectory:1> (2)
2021/02/24 13:00:05.410 (176 MB) (3467012) :wrench: PMKContentController.m:559 | Loading content from /library/metadata/1/children ({
excludeAllLeaves = 1;
includeExternalMedia = 1;
includeMeta = 1;
})
2021/02/24 13:00:05.440 (176 MB) (3467638) :wrench: PMKNetworkTask.m:197 | Started: 23: unRAID (8f2d15954979b65b750bb44078447adc6c0d91c6): GET /library/metadata/1/children?excludeAllLeaves=1&includeExternalMedia=1&includeMeta=1
2021/02/24 13:00:05.442 (176 MB) (3467391) :wrench: PMKNetworkTask.m:197 | Started: 24: unRAID (8f2d15954979b65b750bb44078447adc6c0d91c6): GET /library/metadata/1?asyncAugmentMetadata=0&checkFiles=0&includeChapters=1&includeConcerts=1&includeExternalMedia=1&includeExternalMetadata=1&includeExtras=1&includeGeolocation=0&includeMarkers=1&includeMeta=1&includeOnDeck=1&includePopularLeaves=1&includePreferences=0&includeRelated=0&includeRelatedCount=15&includeReviews=1
2021/02/24 13:00:05.551 (179 MB) (3467391) :wrench: PMKNetworkTask.m:221 | Completed [200]: 23: unRAID (8f2d15954979b65b750bb44078447adc6c0d91c6): GET /library/metadata/1/children?excludeAllLeaves=1&includeExternalMedia=1&includeMeta=1
2021/02/24 13:00:05.551 (179 MB) (3467637) :wrench: PMKNetworkTask.m:221 | Completed [200]: 24: unRAID (8f2d15954979b65b750bb44078447adc6c0d91c6): GET /library/metadata/1?asyncAugmentMetadata=0&checkFiles=0&includeChapters=1&includeConcerts=1&includeExternalMedia=1&includeExternalMetadata=1&includeExtras=1&includeGeolocation=0&includeMarkers=1&includeMeta=1&includeOnDeck=1&includePopularLeaves=1&includePreferences=0&includeRelated=0&includeRelatedCount=15&includeReviews=1
2021/02/24 13:00:05.581 (190 MB) (3467012) :wrench: PMKMetadataController.m:494 | Requesting related content for /library/metadata/1
2021/02/24 13:00:05.583 (190 MB) (3467656) :wrench: PMKNetworkTask.m:197 | Started: 25: unRAID (8f2d15954979b65b750bb44078447adc6c0d91c6): GET /hubs/metadata/1/related?includeExternalMetadata=1&includeMeta=1
2021/02/24 13:00:05.584 (190 MB) (3467879) :wrench: PMKNetworkTask.m:197 | Started: 26: unRAID (8f2d15954979b65b750bb44078447adc6c0d91c6): GET /library/metadata/308?asyncAugmentMetadata=1&checkFiles=1&includeChapters=1&includeConcerts=1&includeExternalMedia=1&includeExternalMetadata=1&includeExtras=1&includeGeolocation=0&includeMarkers=1&includeMeta=1&includeOnDeck=1&includePopularLeaves=1&includePreferences=0&includeRelated=0&includeRelatedCount=15&includeReviews=1
2021/02/24 13:00:05.593 (190 MB) (3467879) :wrench: PMKNetworkTask.m:221 | Completed [200]: 25: unRAID (8f2d15954979b65b750bb44078447adc6c0d91c6): GET /hubs/metadata/1/related?includeExternalMetadata=1&includeMeta=1
2021/02/24 13:00:05.594 (190 MB) (3467879) :wrench: PMKNetworkTask.m:221 | Completed [200]: 26: unRAID (8f2d15954979b65b750bb44078447adc6c0d91c6): GET /library/metadata/308?asyncAugmentMetadata=1&checkFiles=1&includeChapters=1&includeConcerts=1&includeExternalMedia=1&includeExternalMetadata=1&includeExtras=1&includeGeolocation=0&includeMarkers=1&includeMeta=1&includeOnDeck=1&includePopularLeaves=1&includePreferences=0&includeRelated=0&includeRelatedCount=15&includeReviews=1
2021/02/24 13:00:05.711 (194 MB) (3467638) :wrench: PMKNetworkTask.m:197 | Started: 27: unRAID (8f2d15954979b65b750bb44078447adc6c0d91c6): GET /library/metadata/1/theme/1614119038
2021/02/24 13:00:05.880 (197 MB) (3467879) :wrench: PMKNetworkTask.m:221 | Completed [200]: 27: unRAID (8f2d15954979b65b750bb44078447adc6c0d91c6): GET /library/metadata/1/theme/1614119038
2021/02/24 13:00:06.061 (197 MB) (3467637) :wrench: PMKMetricsEngine.m:348 | Generated anonymous metrics event client:view {
identifier = “com.plexapp.plugins.library”;
page = preplay;
type = show;
}
2021/02/24 13:00:36.373 (197 MB) (3467012) :heavy_minus_sign: PMKMetricsEngine.m:562 | Submitted 1 events to https://analytics.plex.tv/collect/event
2021/02/24 13:02:11.652 (89 MB) (3468333) :heavy_minus_sign: PMKAppDelegate.m:333 | Initialized Logging
2021/02/24 13:02:11.655 (75 MB) (3468333) :wrench: PMKAppEventMonitor.m:128 | [AppEventMonitor]: A

Seems that nothing shows in the plex logs. Will try grabbing Apple TV logs through Xcode later today.

12

Plex Crashes show up in the Apple TV Logs. Latest crash available here:

https://pastebin.pl/view/9e043563

13

I have a slightly similar issue regarding the latest app version on Apple TV

14

I just went and bought a brand new Apple TV 4K, to see if there would be a difference from my Apple TV HD, and it is still crashing back to the home screen, when trying to navigate seasons of a TV show on Plex

15

That is the same behavior that I am seeing. I thought it was all TV shows and all ways that they were being accessed… but it does appear that selecting from ‘on deck’ or ‘recently added’ will allow them to be played, but selecting by going into a specific show, then series, then try to pick an episode will crash to the ‘desktop’ when pushing the ‘down arrow’ from the first screen upon opening the show.
Movies and home videos work perfectly, so I am forced to assume that it is an Apple TV client issue (web and phone seem to work fine when viewing TV episodes from my server) and specific to television shows.

1 Like
16

Happening to me too. Same versions. Can provide any additional logs.

17

Yes that is exactly what is happening for me too

18

This is happening for me also. Apple TV 4k with latest OS. Plex server on a WD PL-4100 with the latest updates.

This started yesterday for me. AFTER I uploaded copies of Outlander that were formatted MP4 using H265. All prior TV shows were MP4 and H264.

All my H264 series/episodes work fine, I can highlight the series, go to the menu and then click down to select a season.

Then when I go to Outlander, select the series, and then hit down, it crashes.

The only difference is that as of yesterday I changed my record setting to H265 and then uploaded a couple seasons.

I have since deleted Outlander and all H265 episodes and every other TV series works fine.

I’m going to re-record a few more episodes today using H264 and H265 and see if I can duplicate these findings.

19

I can confirm from my library:
1080p (H.264) - Can Navigate
1080p (H.264) - Can Navigate
1080p (H.264) - Cannot Navigate
1080p (H.264) - Cannot Navigate

All episodes of the series I cannot navigate are encoded as H.264 but other series that I can navigate are also H.264 so it doesn’t seem to be related to the encoding unfortunately.

20

I’m having the same issue with only one of the 4 different shows currently in my DVR. I can navigate to the show when Advanced → Seasons is set to “show” but when I scroll down to select a Season, it crashes. If Advanced → Seasons is set to “hide,” the app crashes when I try to navigate to the show. If I change the display / filter option at the DVR landing page to “Episode” instead of “TV Shows,” then I can scroll through all of the episodes of all of the shows I’ve recorded to find one of these and watch it that way without crashing the app, but that’s far from ideal because I have to scroll through a LOT of other shows to get to the one that I want to watch.