Plex hardware transcoding suddenly stopped working on TrueNAS SCALE (Intel iGPU, VAAPI)

Plex Media Server
1

Hi all,

I’ve been successfully using hardware transcoding with Plex for years on my self-hosted server, but recently (past few weeks) it suddenly stopped working. Playback only works in Original quality, but fails with a “source error” if transcoding is required. No changes were made intentionally.

:clipboard: System details:

  • Platform: TrueNAS SCALE (latest stable release, up-to-date)
  • Plex installation: Official Plex app (Latest: V1.41.6.9685-d301f511a) from the TrueNAS Apps interface
  • Plex Pass: Yes (active)
  • CPU: Intel i5-10500T (UHD 630 iGPU)
  • GPU passthrough: Enabled (/dev/dri is available inside container)
  • Transcoding settings:
    • Hardware transcoding enabled
    • “Use hardware-accelerated video encoding” also enabled
    • Experimental HEVC transcoding tried both ON and OFF — no difference

:page_facing_up: What I’ve tried so far:

  • Verified that /dev/dri is visible inside the container (card0, renderD128)
  • Checked Plex logs — VAAPI and iHD driver are detected and initialized
  • Cleared the Codecs folder and restarted Plex (to force codec reload)
  • Tried multiple videos (SD, HD, H.264, H.265) — none transcode
  • Plex logs show Unable to create output stream for transcode session, no segments found

:test_tube: Example log snippet:

[Transcode] [FFMPEG] -init_hw_device vaapi=va:/dev/dri/renderD128
[AVHWDeviceContext @ 0x...] libva: VA-API version ...
[AVHWDeviceContext @ 0x...] libva: va_getDriverName() returns 0
[AVHWDeviceContext @ 0x...] libva: Trying to open /usr/lib/dri/iHD_drv_video.so
[Transcode] ERROR - Unable to create output stream for transcode session, no segments found

:red_question_mark: Looking for:

  • Anyone else experiencing similar issues recently with Plex hardware transcoding on TrueNAS?
  • Is there any known regression in Plex’s latest builds that affects VAAPI or Intel iGPU setups?
  • Suggestions on how to fully reset transcoder environment in containerized Plex?
2

The problem is solved, but it is hard to say why.
The only last missing part was (at least it seems) a complete server (hardware) restart.

But I don’t think it was alone the solution.
Maybe clearing the cache was not enough by itself, but a restart was needed too.

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