Plex for Windows Suspected Corrupted Codecs

Plex Players
1

Server Version#: 1.40.2.8395
Player Version#: 1.91.0.129

So I have an issue that’s been going on for a LONG time, but nothing that i’ve tried to date has helped.

I’m running my Plex Server on Windows, and running Plex for Windows, using the server as an HTPC.

Most videos run fine, but from time to time, I’m having issues with some shows that play for about a minute, but then the video freezes, and audio continues.

Inevitably I have to stop the show as it will not play.

When this happens I cannot play any further show until I restart the machine (possibly the plex server only, but I usually just restart the machine).

The same PC runs these shows perfectly fine on VLC or Media Player Classic, so it’s not a windows code issue.

The same shows run fine when streamed from a different machine or device, so it’s not a server issue or issue with the video file itself.

I’m fairly certain that the issue is related to codecs / caching which is specific to Plex.

I did find an article that suggested deleting the codecs folder and having Plex re-download them, but this never resolved the issue for me.

Does anyone have any suggestions on what I can try in order to fix this?

Thanks!

2

In the windows Plex player app
Settings - Plex for Windows - ‘Show Advanced’ - Player
Try different settings for “Video Playback Quality” as well as “Use Hardware decoding”.

Unless you have a fast CPU and rather modern GPU, you don’t want to select the highest options for “Video Playback Quality”. These apply additional filtering, which the other players don’t do.

You can also try to remove all “codec packs” which came with other software.
then reboot and try without these.
Another option would be to subsequently install only one of its kind: GitHub - Nevcairiel/LAVFilters: LAV Filters - Open-Source DirectShow Media Splitter and Decoders

3

Thanks Otto - I’ll try playing around with those settings and see what impact if any they have. I’ll report back in case it can help others in future.

mostly it’s been on default settings with hardware decoding enabled.

I have previously uninstalled windows codec packs and tested reinstalling them (several times), but once I confirmed that windows players were working I kind of localised the issue back to the plex player.

I haven’t tried your recommended packs so I will see if those make any difference. :slight_smile: