Plex HTPC feedback

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1462

Hi, I have a few problems…

  1. When playing on my laptop (Ryzen 5 3500U) the 3d graph on the GPU tab in task manager reaches 60%. Meanwhile playing through chrome it only reaches 15%.

  2. When playing on my desktop (fresh Windows 10 install, and latest version of Plex htpc) I have around 10 seconds to select something to play otherwise it fails to play whatever is selected until the program is restarted. If I select something within this time frame it will play until the end but when the next episode of a show autoplays or something else is selected it will fail. This issue does not occur on my laptop.

I have tried uninstalling, deleting leftover directory’s and reinstalling multiple times to no avail.

  1. Auto updating has to be disabled in the plex.ini file on both my desktop and laptop otherwise the program will crash after a while.

Thanks for giving the HTPC another chance, really hope issue 2 can be fixed.

Plex HTPC.log (690.5 KB)

1463

=> This is due Plex HTPC using some filters to enhance the video - all processed by your GPU.

1464

As stated in the reply above, this is because Plex HTPC does more post processing. Chrome is doing the absolute bare minimum. If you want the same in Plex HTPC, change the quality setting.

There is a bug in the SDL2 library that presents itself on some systems (but not all) where it consumes handles until the OS denies it any more. You are hitting this. A workaround for now is to disconnect any joysticks/controllers when using Plex HTPC.

Without logs from this at a minimum, there’s nothing anyone can do to help you.

1465

Changing the quality setting to “Low quality (Angle Renderer)” bought the resource usage down to that of playing through chrome.

I have unplugged my controller dongles (steam controller dongle, and dualshock 4 usb wireless adapter) and restarted, but I’m still having the issue.
Plex HTPC.log (1.7 MB)

I enabled the updater briefly until it crashed, here’s the log.
Plex HTPC.log (192.1 KB)

1466

The controller is still present:

Apr 22, 2022 16:11:27.410 [0644] INFO - [Input/SDL] Found 1 joysticks
Apr 22, 2022 16:11:27.412 [0644] INFO - [Input/SDL] JoyStick #0 is PS4 Controller with 16 buttons and 6 axes
Apr 22, 2022 16:11:27.412 [4408] INFO - [InputManager/SDL] Successfully inited input
Apr 22, 2022 16:11:27.412 [0644] INFO - [Input/SDL] Detected device was added.
Apr 22, 2022 16:11:27.412 [0644] INFO - [Input/SDL] Found 1 joysticks
Apr 22, 2022 16:11:27.413 [11508] INFO - libCEC was successfully initialized, found version 262151
Apr 22, 2022 16:11:27.414 [0644] INFO - [Input/SDL] JoyStick #0 is PS4 Controller with 16 buttons and 6 axes

Looks like it’s the result of the problem above.

1467

Ah, my controller charging dock was plugged into a data port on my usb hub. All seems to be working now. Thanks for your help. Hopefully the controller issue can be fixed.

1468

Link dead… can you help me ?

1469

New build.

1470

I am unable to play any video on the latest Plex HTPC Version 1.15.1.

Looking at the logs, the primary reason seems to be vo/gpu/win32: unable to create window!

Here is a part of the log that mostly covers what happens when I try to play a video file:PrivateBin

It is also filled with ERROR - QEventDispatcherWin32::registerTimer: Failed to create a timer (The current process has used all of its system allowance of handles for Window Manager objects.) the whole time. But this has been the case for a long time and is not the reason for not being able to play anything…according to me.

I tried rolling back to 1.14.0 and 1.14.1 but I have the same problem on them as well. :frowning:

Any help is appreciated.

Edit:
After a little bit of troubleshooting, I have figured out this happens exactly when I use my PS5 controller to control Plex HTPC.
The problem did start right after I set up the input mapping. While the controller itself works perfectly, it doesn’t let Plex HTPC play anything. :frowning:

1472

Version 1.15.1 was causing black screen when starting app and corrupted Plex logo startup and when leaving app, also a black screen for a few seconds. I have seen this before with updates.

It is a refresh rate issue. The issue does not occur if I use Plex in a window. I do not have match refresh rate on as that causes a blank screen. I have tried a new HDMI cable, updating AMD driver, Win 10 settings, refresh settings etc in Plex.

Only happens with Plex HTPC. Not with VLC or Emby or Jellyfin. PMP doesn’t do it either and neither does playing through Plex web.

Switching to Emby as a player as Plex HTPC is becoming too unreliable and technical.

AMD GPU. Windows 10.

1473

Anyone else find they have to hit the rewind or fastforward after starting a video before it starts playing?
2014 I7 mac mini

1474

hi, is it possible to get Cycle Deband added as a function that’s possible to input map? or is it already and just not in the article? thanks

edit: seems like this might be possible by binding “mpv: cycle deband”? will have to test it later.

1475
  • Resolution switching

May I ask if there is something new on SD/DVD content? Maybe limit those resolutions to 720p or leave them at the current display resolution?

One thing I also noticed is 4096x2160p content not switching to the 4096x2160 mode. It stays at 3840x2160. Maybe 4096x2160p could be whitelisted as a supported resolution?

  • Codec Support

Right now, when playing back av1 files with the shipped mpv-1.dll, Plex HTPC errors out - which is to be expected. The shipped mpv-1.dll was probably built without av1 support but with the self-compiled mpv-1.dll with av1 support, it still errors out. =>

Apr 30, 2022 19:35:18.716 [13048] INFO - [Web] 03/06/2022 19:35:18:716 [Mitzsch:dxh9pxs30nmnw6myin5kejt7] INFO Navigating to screen: VisualMediaPlaybackScreen
Apr 30, 2022 19:35:18.737 [13048] INFO - [Web] 03/06/2022 19:35:18:734 [Mitzsch:dxh9pxs30nmnw6myin5kejt7] INFO Navigated to screen: VisualMediaPlaybackScreen
Apr 30, 2022 19:35:18.762 [13048] INFO - [Web] 03/06/2022 19:35:18:761 [Mitzsch:dxh9pxs30nmnw6myin5kejt7] INFO [PlaybackMetrics] Attaching playback metrics to PlayerController
Apr 30, 2022 19:35:18.766 [13048] INFO - [Web] 03/06/2022 19:35:18:765 [Mitzsch:dxh9pxs30nmnw6myin5kejt7] INFO [SubtitleConnectionManager] Subtitle connection ignored. App is not rendering subtitles.
Apr 30, 2022 19:35:18.767 [13048] INFO - [Web] 03/06/2022 19:35:18:766 [Mitzsch:dxh9pxs30nmnw6myin5kejt7] INFO [ServerConnectionTestManager] Stopped
Apr 30, 2022 19:35:18.794 [13048] INFO - [Web] 03/06/2022 19:35:18:794 [Mitzsch:dxh9pxs30nmnw6myin5kejt7] INFO [MDE] Application decision, directPlay: false, directStreamVideo: false, directStreamAudio: false
Apr 30, 2022 19:35:18.794 [13048] INFO - [Web] 03/06/2022 19:35:18:794 [Mitzsch:dxh9pxs30nmnw6myin5kejt7] INFO     Cannot direct play with protocol: http, codec: av1.  Not found in profile.
Apr 30, 2022 19:35:18.794 [13048] INFO - [Web] 03/06/2022 19:35:18:794 [Mitzsch:dxh9pxs30nmnw6myin5kejt7] INFO     Cannot direct stream with protocol: http, codec: av1.  Not found in profile.
Apr 30, 2022 19:35:18.794 [13048] INFO - [Web] 03/06/2022 19:35:18:794 [Mitzsch:dxh9pxs30nmnw6myin5kejt7] INFO     No stream or codec found when evaluating media stream for streamType: 2!
Apr 30, 2022 19:35:18.795 [13048] INFO - [Web] 03/06/2022 19:35:18:794 [Mitzsch:dxh9pxs30nmnw6myin5kejt7] INFO   videoStream: {
  "id": 17566,
  "streamType": 1,
  "selected": true,
  "default": true,
  "codec": "av1",
  "index": 0,
  "bitrate": 2697,
  "language": "Englisch",
  "languageTag": "en",
  "languageCode": "eng",
  "frameRate": 25,
  "height": 1080,
  "level": 8,
  "profile": "main",
  "refFrames": 1,
  "width": 1920,
  "displayTitle": "1080p (AV1)",
  "extendedDisplayTitle": "1080p (AV1)"
}
Apr 30, 2022 19:35:18.795 [13048] INFO - [Web] 03/06/2022 19:35:18:794 [Mitzsch:dxh9pxs30nmnw6myin5kejt7] INFO   audioStream: none
Apr 30, 2022 19:35:18.795 [13048] INFO - [Web] 03/06/2022 19:35:18:794 [Mitzsch:dxh9pxs30nmnw6myin5kejt7] INFO   subtitleStream: none
Apr 30, 2022 19:35:20.350 [13048] ERROR - [Web] 03/06/2022 19:35:20:349 [Mitzsch:dxh9pxs30nmnw6myin5kejt7] WARN Failed to create and set current playable media item - General: Weder Direkte Wiedergabe noch Konvertierung ist verfügbar. Direct: Diese App kann den Titel nicht direkt wiedergeben. Direkte Wiedergabe ist deaktiviert. Transcode: Diese Datei kann nicht konvertiert werden. Implementierung für Video Decoder 'av1' wurde nicht gefunden.
Apr 30, 2022 19:35:20.350 [13048] ERROR - [Web] 03/06/2022 19:35:20:349 [Mitzsch:dxh9pxs30nmnw6myin5kejt7] WARN [PlaybackSessionController] we failed to create a playable URL!
Apr 30, 2022 19:35:20.357 [13048] ERROR - [Web] 03/06/2022 19:35:20:350 [Mitzsch:dxh9pxs30nmnw6myin5kejt7] ERROR Playback error occurred. Reason: FailedToCreatePlayable, Failed to create a playable with the current play queue item! Message: General: Weder Direkte Wiedergabe noch Konvertierung ist verfügbar. Direct: Diese App kann den Titel nicht direkt wiedergeben. Direkte Wiedergabe ist deaktiviert. Transcode: Diese Datei kann nicht konvertiert werden. Implementierung für Video Decoder 'av1' wurde nicht gefunden.
Apr 30, 2022 19:35:20.357 [13048] ERROR - [Web] 03/06/2022 19:35:20:356 [Mitzsch:dxh9pxs30nmnw6myin5kejt7] WARN [PlaybackSessionController] could not retry, reporting error
Apr 30, 2022 19:35:20.357 [13048] ERROR - [Web] 03/06/2022 19:35:20:356 [Mitzsch:dxh9pxs30nmnw6myin5kejt7] WARN [PlaybackMetrics] Player sent ready signal or closed but no player or playable provided!
Apr 30, 2022 19:35:20.361 [13048] INFO - [Web] 03/06/2022 19:35:20:361 [Mitzsch:dxh9pxs30nmnw6myin5kejt7] INFO Opening modal: ActionsModal
Apr 30, 2022 19:35:20.367 [13048] INFO - [Web] 03/06/2022 19:35:20:366 [Mitzsch:dxh9pxs30nmnw6myin5kejt7] INFO Opened modal: ActionsModal

Would it be possible to whitelist av1 in the mentioned “profile”? I mean with the shipped mpv-1.dll it would probably still error out but with the self-compiled version, we could experience av1 content!
With the old Plex Media Player, it was possible to watch av1 content with a self-compiled lib. (At least it worked under Linux - tried it there and it worked just fine)

1476

Out of curiosity, what content is this? Screen recordings? Upscaled anime?

1477

Mostly high-quality movie trailers, that derive from a 4K DCI DCP.

1478

Neat.

Even then, isn’t everything cropped to either flat or scope? I’m not aware of any media that’s full container 4K.

What does the media info look like on these?

1479

Well, most trailers that have some sort of a 4K DCI origin, are indeed scope (4096x1716) but I also have some that are (L)IMAX 4096x2160. (All others are 3840xsomething…)

Nothing too exotic - 150mbit h.264 8 Bit 4:2:0 encodes - some are HEVC 10Bit 4:4:4 with lower bitrate (20-40 mbit)

2 Likes
1480

Others have commented on SD resolution not working great so this is certainly worth consideration.

You likely need hwdec-codecs=all in your mpv.conf to override what HTPC sets for hwdec (which is a specific list of codecs). See mpv.io for more info.

1481

I will try that, thanks! Although I don´t think this will solve it as this setting is only for hw decoding mentioned codecs. It should also work with software decoding. The system I´m trying it on has no av1 hw decoding capabilities, with the standalone mpv player it falls back to sw decoding, whereas Plex HTPC just fails to play it at all. (does so with the shipped and self-compiled mpv-1.dll)

Somehow Plex HTPC does not find the codec in a profile (in the hierarchy above the mpv layer) and therefore denies direct play.

1482

QQ: I use a three monitor setup and the htpc app always starts on monitor #1. Even if I move to #3, exit and restart it always pops on #1 again. #1 is not even the primary monitor, #2 is. I’m on ubuntu 22.04 using X11.

Is there a way to force the app to remember which monitor it used last ?