With the latest version (1.30.1.3391), Plex HTPC opens the file, but will not play. Just seems to be in a paused state. Have not isolated the difference in the files, but I have seen some H.264 files work and others not. Previous version worked great. Using Windows 11 22H2.
Regular Plex app for Windows and Firestick app still play all files fine.
Can you please share your Plex HTPC logs?
HTPC - 1.30.1.3391 on Mac M1
Server - 1.30.0.6406 on QNAP x64
Comp - MacOS 12.6.1 Studio
Last known good - HTPC for Mac 1.29.1.3369
On a Mac Studio using SPDIF output, my results are below.
- Failure - Media with this codec freezes as described in the OP.
- Success - it continues to work
| codec | playback result | untested |
|---|---|---|
| mono MP3 | |
|
| stereo MP3 | |
|
| stereo MP2 | |
|
| stereo 16b PCM | |
|
| stereo 24b PCM | |
|
| stereo EAC3 | |
|
| stereo TrueHD | |
|
| stereo AAC | |
|
| FLAC | |
|
| stereo 32b PCM | – | |
| 5.1 PCM | – | |
| 7.1 PCM | – | |
| stereo ape | – | |
| stereo opus | – | |
| stereo AC3 | |
|
| 5.1 AC3 | |
|
| 5.1 EAC3 | |
|
| stereo DTS | |
|
| 5.1 DTS | |
|
| 5.1 DTS-HD MA | |
|
| 7.1 TrueHD | |
|
| 5.1 AAC | – | |
| 7.1 AAC | – |
logs and why we got this bug
I think it happened because grandpa is still using SPDIF.
At 11:28a I restarted PMS
at 11:30a I began playback of a 16/44.1 FLAC.
at 11:31a I stopped playback.
at 11:32a I downloaded logs.
Plex Media Server Logs_2022-12-03_11-32-32.zip (36.3 KB)
Plex HTPC.log.zip (22.5 KB)
Sample FLAC from the logs for testing
Ballad of Frankie Lee.xml.zip (1.6 KB)
Workarounds - none, setting Device Kind to HDMI no longer works like a few years ago. The Auto Update can be disabled. See the post below from Mitzsch.
EDIT: Here are logs you can diff of a video with AAC audio.
Plex QI HTPC-1.29.log (146.1 KB)
Plex QI HTPC-1.30.log (146.6 KB)
Plex QI 1.29 Media Server.log (177.5 KB)
Plex QI 1.30 Media Server.log (142.5 KB)
(mov) What I saw
(mov) What I expected to see.
This is also what I assume. I have looked at your logs and they don’t seem to show something obvious. The only thing I could see is that the audio is transcoded to ac3 before the output. (Maybe try to disable ac3 passthrough?) Do you have the chance to test if audio is playing when hearing with headphones plugged into the mac?
Maybe there is something wrong with the mpv build shipped and lavcac3enc? I don´t have much experience with macs but I guess replacing the libmpv.2.dylib should also work. Have you tried it with the one from the last one working?
You can disable auto-update with
[debug]
disableUpdater=true
added to the plex.ini. 
I did have a lockup twice after the new update. Unresponsive screen in Plex HTPC on playback. Had to force exit.
Has been fine since so put it down to 'one of those things.
Win 11 Pro 22H2
Thanks for the replies. The issue in HTPC has now appeared in the new Plex for Mac. So good data there when the previous versions of both apps worked.
@Mitzsch I really appreciate the plex.ini information. You asked about SPDIF and the extra transcode to AC3 step my media seems to take,
This is also what I assume. I have looked at your logs and they don’t seem to show something obvious. The only thing I could see is that the audio is transcoded to ac3 before the output.
You’ll be even more stumped when you see logs from both working and non-working HTPC are nearly identical. I’ll attach them to the first post. All I can say is that transcode step worked previously and appears in both logs identically.
(Maybe try to disable ac3 passthrough?
Probably won’t try that. This problem where SPDIF output doesn’t work occurred in HTPC for several versions about two or three years ago, and the workaround was to set the Audio Device Kind to HDMI
When Plex does this, it hangs my USB Optical S/PDIF adapter. I can’t live with trying to unplug it several times an hour.
Do you have the chance to test if audio is playing when hearing with headphones plugged into the mac?
Audio continues to work normally through headphones or the Mac internal speakers.
Maybe there is something wrong with the mpv build shipped and
lavcac3enc?
Maybe that can be determined. I went on to your next suggestion, though, as I’m not sure it’s actually converting a PCM to AC3 then to PCM again. I tried to ask once why the lavcac3enc log message, but got no reply from the developer who was reading the topic I posted into.
I don´t have much experience with macs but I guess replacing the libmpv.2.dylib should also work. Have you tried it with the one from the last one working?
Tired that, and HTPC would only crash.
See my first post for more logs and clips of this issue.
I have the same issue with Plex HTPC 1.30.1 on Windows 10.
It happens only when I try to play files with “MP2” Audio according to the GUI.
These are files I have recorded from satellite DVB several years ago.
Some files will start but stuck in the first frames, with a buzzing sound, some files will be playing video normally but without any sound.
My setup is with SPDIF to the amplifier. Any AC3, PCM or MP3 audio source is playing properly.
To me it seems that something in the MPV libraries has changed - it was working some months ago.
Edit: Seems to be an issue only on SPDIF, on my desktop with analog attached speakers there is no problem.
Will test older version later on the HTPC.
Logs attached.
Plex HTPC.log (418.4 KB)
Exactly what happens with me, either stuck buzzing or playing with no sound.
Most often it’s stuck for me.
In the June 2021 SPDIF output not working thread, I always got no sound,
but that was logged by CPlayer.
Because it worked in all previous versions for at least a year,
I have not tried swapping a lot of hardware.
When I switched SPDIF adapters, there was no difference in behavior.
Can you tell from the receiver what format PCM is being sent? I saw swresample and 32bit / 48 kHz floatp logged iirc.
My SPDIF supports 24bit 192 kHz. So maybe that’s a stumbling block, but when the previous HTPCs worked, I’d prefer not to blame my hardware just yet.
Ok, I rolled back the version on my HTPC to version 1.29.1 and it is working again!
So from my point of view this is a topic of MPV libraries not working correct with SPDIF on the newer version.
Will stay on 1.29.1 for now on the HTPC.
+1 for htpc crashes/hangs since this update…mainly on files with stereo aac.
Same files work with no issues on all my other clients: browser(same machine), appleTV, android, ios, shieldTV, even plex for windows.
server 1.30.0.6-6486
htpc 1.31.1.3412
Dell optiplex AIO9030
Windows 10pro 21h2
Fixed
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