Dealing with this same issue on a Chromecast with Google TV.
I canât get that log for some reason. Can you just attach your zip file to your net comment?
Sorry I didnât knew that I could do that. Here you have it:
plex-log-OuterWinnie.zip (175.5 KB)
In the above comment you have it!
I have the same problem with .ssa subtitles
Can those having this issue please provide me the subtitle file that can reproduce this issue. Iâm not able to and Iâd like to check if it is the file itself having something the client doesnât like.
If you use external ass/ssa subtitles when using the Android app, the app will crash.
I understand that the ass subtitle needs transcoding because the Androidâs built-in player âexo playerâ does not support ass. However, the bug in which the app crashes when playing a video with external ass subtitles is fatal.
If you use internal ass subtitles or set the âburn subtitlesâ option to always, the app does not crash. However, if you select the âburn subtitlesâ option to always, the srt subtitles that are normally played on Android are also transcoded, causing a strain on the server. And it is very cumbersome to embed external ass subtitles in all videos.
I would like to quickly fix the crash bug when playing video with external ass subtitles.
(I can provide developers if they want bug logs or ASS subtitles (not English subtitles).)
As a result of doing our own tests, we got very interesting results. This app crash issue seems to be related to the metadata scanner and agent.
After writing the article, I set the âburn subtitlesâ option to Auto with the latest beta version of the Android plex app and played a video with ass subtitles, and it played very normally. At first, I thought the new beta version solved the ass subtitle issue, but there was no such article in the changelog. So, when I thought about what has changed in the plex recently, I activated the âupgrade matchingâ option.
The âupgrade matchingâ option is an option to change the libraryâs metadata scanner and agent to âPlex TV Seriesâ. After enabling this option, the ass subtitle crash issue disappeared at all. However, simply changing the metadata scanner and agent did not seem to solve the app crash problem, so I checked additionally.
The difference between other metadata scanners and agents and âPlex TV Seriesâ scanners and agents was whether subtitles with an ass file extension are normally recognized as ass or ssa.
âPlex TV Seriesâ scanner and agent correctly recognized the ass subtitle file extension as ass, and it played very well in the app. However, other metadata scanners and agents incorrectly recognized the ass subtitle file extension as an ssa file, and we speculate that this caused an app crash.
This gave me a way to avoid the ass subtitle crash issue, but I canât just use the âPlex TV Seriesâ scanner and agent. Since other agents must be used, I hope this problem can be resolved quickly.
The condition for the ASS subtitle crash problem occurs when playing video with external ass subtitles, not the âPlex TV Seriesâ scanner and agent. (For the âburn subtitles option,â you must select âAutoâ or âimage formats onlyâ.)
I tried with external ASS subtitles. It is not crashing for me.
Yes, send me the subtitle so I can check that first.
Iâve tried all the options and cannot reproduce the crash.
[Moozzi2] Tenki no Ko (BD 1920x1080 x.265-10Bit 4Audio).ko.zip (48.1 KB)
The condition for the ASS subtitle crash problem occurs when playing video with external ass subtitles, not the âPlex TV Seriesâ scanner and agent. (For the âburn subtitles option,â you must select âAutoâ or âimage formats onlyâ.)
â Please try again according to the conditions using the subtitles above. Also, âPlex Movieâ scanner and agent recognize ass subtitles as well, so to cause ass subtitle crash issue, Plex Movie scanner and agent must also be excluded.
Select Plex Movie Scanner (or Plex Series Scanner) among metadata scanners and test it.
Iâm able to reproduce the crash with your subtitle. Let me investigate.
Can you provide me the XML for that video and a few other videos that produce this problem? I think I found the issue but want to verify something.
xml.zip (9.9 KB)
I didnât know exactly how to extract xml from video, so I saved three video information as xml as mediainfo. Can I give you this?
And there are additional bugs I discovered. If there is an ASS type subtitle embedded in the video, the SRT type (both internal and external) subtitles are ignored. (You can select the srt subtitle, but it will be ignored. And there is no bug if the ASS-type subtitles are external. It only occurs when ASS subtitles are embedded.)
This bug occurs only during direct play when the burn subtitle option is set to auto, and does not occur when transcoding is performed by setting the burn subtitle option to always or only image format, or by changing the image quality.
And it occurs regardless of the language of the subtitle, and unlike the above-mentioned bug, it seems to occur in all metadata scanners and agents.
Can you investigate any additional bugs I found? If there is any information the developer wants from me, I will give it to you.
I am looking for the XMLâs from your Plex server. Investigate Media Information and Formats | Plex Support
Edit - Send me the XML for that other video with the embedded ASS. It may be related.
XML.zip (15.0 KB)
The xml file of the video where the ass-type subtitle crashes and the xml file of the video with ass subtitles (srt subtitles are ignored) are attached.(2 xml files are attached each)
I hope my data will help you with the investigation.
The XMLâs for the ones crashing match what I suspect.
For the SRT being ignored, I see no reason why. Itâs working for me. Can you reproduce this and send me a new Android log?
Just got this issue when loading external subtitles for an episode. It crashes when loading using external subtitles in both android and nvidia shield. I updated the android app but it didnât solve the crashing issue
The android log I get after attempting to play the episode:
android-plex-log.txt (74.3 KB)
the xml of the episode Iâm trying to play with external subtitles:
crashing-episode-xml.txt (5.4 KB)
android version:
8.17.1.25326 (a6ce558e)
server version:
1.23.0.4497
I also tested with Plex for Windows which works fine
Edit:
Iâve done some more testing and it seems to happen only on my tablet and Nvidia shield, but not on my phone.
Iâve checked and my phone is on the same version as my tablet (newest available)
One of the differences between tablet & nvidia shield vs my phone is that my phone didnât direct play. Tablet is a Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 and phone is a Samsung Galaxy S20 FE.
So I forced my tablet to a lower quality to force transcoding and then selected the external subtitles, now it works fine. When I put the quality back to original (=direct play) it will crash again.
Your info appears to show the same issue.
Plex-logging.zip (11.5 KB)
This is the log when the srt subtitle is ignored and the xml file of the media.
I am sorry for sending you information late. I hope this information will help fix the bug.
My plex client on nvidia sheild crash when I try to play a media file with vobsubs embeeded into the media file 
I have also try on my samsung s10 with the same outcome
