The video is direct playing the audio isn’t. With transcoding off nothing is being transcoded. But with forced subs, yes it is transcoding the EAC audio stream…and with non forced art subs it direct plays and no crash. It only crashes with forced subs enabled.
You can see FordGuys detailed explanation is to why that’s happening.
If the audio is transcoding and you enable subs it starts to transcode the video also
Do you have transcoding disabled in your server settings?
Transcoding is enabled. Hardware transcoding and encoding is enabled too. The error occurs with settings toggles on or off.
This hasn’t ever happened on any other files besides these most recent 4k hevc dv/hdr10 files. I got this series again in 1080p hevc and it still causes the same transcoded crash.
Is there any slight chance this could be resolved by switching clients from LG web OS to Nvidia shield pro?
I figured transcoder error has to be Plex and from the looks of things in console it seems to be a permissions issue which doesn’t make sense because nothing is mapped or network drives.
Yeah I’m lifetime Plex pass. CPU is 13th gen Intel using uhd770 igpu I’m not at home right now but when I get back I’ll reenable forced subs and upload the whole zip. Will he want verbose or just debug logs?
Transcoder is crashing when playing 2160p hevc 10 bit hdr10 when hardcoded subs are enabled.
logs zip attached from tonight of back-to-back plex transcoder crash on same file, happening when forced subs are enabled. Cannot replicate problem with forced subs disabled, or with standard subs (on always). Problem is exclusive to when hard subs are enabled Plex Media Server Logs_2023-05-29_22-25-03.zip (3.9 MB)
@Pcexbird Unfortunately, both debug and verbose logging are disabled. There is not enough info in the log files to tell what is happening.
What do you mean by “hardcoded” subs?
With some movies, subtitles exist as part of the video stream, not as a separate track. They cannot be enabled / disabled by Plex (or any other player).
There are also subtitles embedded into the media file. With movies from Blu-ray discs, they are usually in PGS format. There may be multiple tracks with both full and forced subtitles. These can be enabled/disabled by Plex and other video players.
There is no difference between forced and non-forced SRT subtitles. They are text files. “Forced” simply means that Plex will auto-pick that file instead of others.
If the movie plays OK with non-forced SRT subtitles, check the encoding of the forced subtitle files. Make sure they are UTF-8, not UTF-8 BOM or some other format. If necessary, save the subtitles as UTF-8, then re-scan the library and re-analyze the movie.
If you open the SRT file in Windows Notepad, the encoding is displayed in the lower right corner.
It the problem is not due to SRT encoding, please do the following:
Please supply the XML Info for the media causing the problem. Save the info as a .txt file or zip it. The forum does not allow .xml attachments.
In the Plex app on the LG, set Burn Subtitles = Automatic.
In the Plex app on the LG, set it to log to server at the debug level.
On the Plex Media Server, re-enable debug logging in Settings → Server_Name → General
@FordGuy61 I apologize that my server debugging was not on as requested. I followed your instructions and checked the media info on the file(s) causing the issue. It appears the subtitles are indeed UTF-8. On LG: Subtitles are set to (and were previously set to) Burn Subtitles = Automatic
In the attached .XML file (saved as text) I provided the XML and the “MediaInfo” properties from MediaInfo at the bottom of the text file after the XML info beneath a line of dashes.
I re-enabled debug logging on the LG and on the Plex Server and restarted PMS and re-created the issue. Attached are those logs and attached is the requested text file with XML data and MediaInfo.
Thanks very much, hopefully I captured the issue this time. Please let me know if there is anything else I need to do.
For some reason, it decides to transcode the media, then the transcoder crashes.
I loaded the same two files, episodes 4 & 5, on my system and played them with the Plex app (v5.60.2) on my LG B7 OLED.
Both direct played without issue. I switched between the three English subtitles without any problems. I tried on two servers, 1.29.2.6364 and 1.32.2.7100.
Best I can offer is some generic suggestions.
Drop the VPN when playing media locally.
FYI, you should connect the server via wired Ethernet if possible. It won’t matter for Citadel, which runs at ~15 Mbps. It will matter when playing 4K HDR BD rips, which can burst above 100 Mbps.
Force a transcode with no subtitles selected. If the transcoder crashes, then the files may somehow be corrupt.
Try playing the files using external subtitles. Here’s the English subtitles for episodes 4 & 5. Extracted using Subtitle Edit. citadel-subs.zip (53.4 KB)
Remux the files, removing the unneeded subtitles (MKVToolNix). This will reduce the amount of data sent to the client when direct playing. This also places the media in a new MKV container (on the off chance the current one is somehow damaged).
Re-acquire the files. Maybe yours are somehow damaged.
Thanks for looking into this. I wonder if I integrate a Nvidia Shield Pro as my client instead of LG WebOS if that may resolve some issues? I have a couple options at my disposal. I can gift my LG to a family member who has just a 1080p TV and get one of the newer Hisense TV’s with Google TV with Chromecast built in. Or I can buy a Nvidia Shield Pro and hook it up to my existing LG.
Would either of these be a better option or really make any sense? The Nvidia Shield Pro may be due for a new model soon, but that’s me guessing. I wonder if it’s still worth the $200 MSRP in 2023 or if I should hold out.
Could the subtitle issue be caused by the file being set on forced subs when there are possibly no foreign parts in that episode?
The Plex server is transcoding fine, although it usually Direct Streams with Remux’s. Like from EpisiLon or Bordure type mkvs.
Is this acceptable?
AS for the VPN I am rather stuck with it. My Plex server isn’t accessible outside the home without being limited to 2MBps (Plex Pass) this is due to the VPN I believe.
But split tunneling does not work properly when Plex and it’s other 3 processes are chosen to not go through the VPN. It doesn’t even work when only Qbitorrent is chosen as the only app to go through VPN. (which is my goal)
Plex works fine with Split tunneling on, but Jackett no longer indexes when split tunneling is on. I will be looking at other VPN options when my subscription expires later this year. I am open to suggestions I’ve been looking into "Private Internet Access) PIA VPN. I heard their split tunneling works good…(not sure if I even need vpn being on only private trackers but better safe than sorry)
My ultimate goal with VPN is to only have Qbitorrent running through it. Nord will not allow split tunneling without screwing up my indexers.
I realize most of this is outside the scope of the Plex forum. I do greatly appreciate your help and am open to any suggestions you might have in the future.
Citadel does have forced subs for every episode released so far.
Any 3rd party streaming device. Shield, Fire TV, Chromecast, or Roku is generally more capable than a Native TV app
The Shield is a little pricy but overall is probably the best, especially for audio. I’ve had several Fire TV’s and they are usually pretty good if you want to save a few bucks. I’ve had some incompatibility issues with Roku so that would be my last choice.
Some Hisense TV’s have support for both HDR10+ and Dolby Vision. The Shield does not support HDR10+ so that’s something to consider
I have PIA and split tunneling works eh, ok. Occasionally I have issues accessing network drives from the computer it runs on but it never causes a problem with Plex, inside or outside the network. Just FYI, the Qbit issue is a topic that will never be discussed in this forum for any reason
If I ever have playback issues the first thing I do is remux the file. This solves about 90% of all my issues. I’ve actually just gotten into the habit of remuxing every file with MKVToolNix before I even let Plex have it. You can also set your defaults up to only pass through English subs
Occasionally I still get a stutter for some high bitrate 4k files which I haven’t nailed down yet, but running it through this program always gets rid of it
I think it has something to do with DV and HDR10+ being contained in the same file, but that’s a discussion for another thread
I would keep the LG. They make nice TVs. I have not done a comparison, but not sure a Hisense would be a step up.
A Shield Pro would definitely work.
As @JaysPlex mentions, a less expensive option would be an Amazon FireStick 4K or 3rd Gen Cube. Amazon devices run Android, like the Shield. They will play subtitles without causing video transcoding.
The differences between the Shield and Amazon devices is in audio support (and all the Amazon stuff on the FireStick home page).
With the FireStick 4K, TrueHD audio will be transcoded by Plex Media Server. DTS audio formats will be decoded by the FireTV Stick and delivered as Dolby Digital or Dolby Digital Plus.
The Cube v3 will passthrough TrueHD audio. With DTS audio formats, only the lossy DTS 5.1 core is passed.
So…
If you’ve a sound system that supports lossless audio such as TrueHD + Atmos and dts-HD MA, go with the Shield.
If you do not, take a look at the Amazon devices. You’ll get playback w/o video transcoding and you’ll save a bit of coin as well.
