# Plex EAC3 5.1 Problem **URL:** \ **Category:** Plex Media Server\ **Tags:** server-linux\ **Created:** [October 22, 2025, 2:14am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-eac3-5-1-problem/932725 "2025-10-22T02:14:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dustart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9d8465/32.png) [@dustart](https://forums.plex.tv/u/dustart)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2025, 2:14am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-eac3-5-1-problem/932725/1 "2025-10-22T02:14:36Z")
> ```auto > [Req#20dd/Transcode/71y8tnkc6amdo59zgu6dt6z1/cf9415eb-3fd5-4551-a3b8-134256b6a151] [eac3_eae @ 0x77b6cdda6ac0] EAE timeout! EAE not running, or wrong folder? Could not read ‘/transcode/pms-62d3760f-1fa2-4f6b-bce2-44a5b7cba5b6/EasyAudioEncoder/Convert to WAV (to 8ch or less)/71y8tnkc6amdo59zgu6dt6z1_2726-0-1.wav’ > > [Req#24df/Transcode/w63zinfdj9himkbpydjwzgt4/cc20e522-54a3-442c-b83c-acab04e60b84] [eac3_eae @ 0x775144950ac0] error reading output: -5 (I/O error) > > [Req#256f/Transcode/w63zinfdj9himkbpydjwzgt4/cc20e522-54a3-442c-b83c-acab04e60b84] Error while decoding stream #0:1: I/O error > > ``` I’ve been having this problem for several months now. I’ve tried everything recreated it in Docker, redownloaded the EAC folder to get a new codec, and the only solution I’ve found so far is to completely delete Plex container + volume and reinstall it. That works, but only until the next update. If the update doesn’t break it, then the following one definitely will or sometimes it happens after a random container restart. I always get the same error message the one I mentioned above. On Reddit and other platforms, there are already countless threads where users are having similar issues to mine. The only permanent solution I’ve found is to convert EAC3 5.1 audio to AAC or another format like AC3. Could this maybe be base corruption or something similar? I’ve seen there’s a tool that supposedly fixes that does anyone know if it helps? Please, if anyone has a real fix for this, I’d really appreciate it. I love Plex, it’s the best, and I don’t want to switch to any other alternative. Thank you all so much for your help! ---
**Author:** ![ChuckPa](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/chuckpa/32/79710_2.png) [@ChuckPa](https://forums.plex.tv/u/ChuckPa)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2025, 7:02am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-eac3-5-1-problem/932725/2 "2025-10-22T07:02:14Z")
Make certain server [DEBUG logging](https://support.plex.tv/articles/201643703-reporting-issues-with-plex-media-server/#toc-1) is enabled (VERBOSE disabled) Restart PMS Let it sit completely idle for a couple minutes (3 minutes should be enough) Download the logs. Search for “No space left on device” (scroll down through the logs.. it will be obvious) If you don’t see any, confirm the transcoder temp is on a local HDD (Network storage will not work for this) If you do find this error message , this confirms the Notify table (which EAC transcoding uses) is full (you are attempting to monitor more folders than the kernel allows by default). A lot of properly structured music or photos will fill the kernel table very quickly. The solution is to increase the table size. Here is how you determine if you need to increase the table size and then how to increase the size. > [@Linux Tips](https://forums.plex.tv/t/linux-tips/276247/9): > > Increase the number of directories Linux can monitor (inotify) for PMS The default size of the Linux inotify table is 8192 directories (\*1). When PMS is configured to update automatically when media is added, with properly organized media, especially music, this table rapidly fills and exceeds the default allocation requiring you to increase it. The solution to this is straight forward. Increasing the table size is easy. The first step is to determine how many directories to alloca… ---
**Author:** ![dustart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9d8465/32.png) [@dustart](https://forums.plex.tv/u/dustart)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2025, 4:26am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-eac3-5-1-problem/932725/3 "2025-10-23T04:26:20Z")
This is not my problem i have app for tracking my sistem specs and my inotify is never used more than 5% .. ---
**Author:** ![ChuckPa](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/chuckpa/32/79710_2.png) [@ChuckPa](https://forums.plex.tv/u/ChuckPa)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2025, 4:47am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-eac3-5-1-problem/932725/4 "2025-10-23T04:47:20Z")
> [@dustart](#): > > ```auto > [Req#24df/Transcode/w63zinfdj9himkbpydjwzgt4/cc20e522-54a3-442c-b83c-acab04e60b84] [eac3_eae @ 0x775144950ac0] error reading output: -5 (I/O error) > > [Req#256f/Transcode/w63zinfdj9himkbpydjwzgt4/cc20e522-54a3-442c-b83c-acab04e60b84] Error while decoding stream #0:1: I/O error > > ``` These two lines tell me there is an I/O problem when it’s trying to convert the EAC3 5.1 for downloading. This involves the transcoder. The most common problem is inotify. May I see Server DEBUG logs ZIP file which captures this happening rather than a 3 line excerpt ? ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/plex/original/3X/2/a/2acb9765406f63293d357b4ec509ec39aa28f2ad.png) [@system](https://forums.plex.tv/u/system)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2026, 4:47am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-eac3-5-1-problem/932725/5 "2026-01-21T04:47:59Z")
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