Plex on my Sony Android TV doesn't play certain files. Don't know why

[gianpaoloracca]

Hi, I’m experiencing a weird issue on my Sony android TV since a week or so:

If I try to play a some episodes of Tv Shows from my Library the plex app on my TV just hangs therewith a black screen and a spinning circle. Movies, Music and other videos play just fine. Sometimes the app just crashes, sometimes it stays forever with the spinning circle. Yesterday I tried two different episodes. The first is never played and the second is always played. Here are the two mediainfo

General
Unique ID                                : 261158803961451122590386883630862582438 (0xC4795B27FDD135CA629A6B7CF6B242A6)
Complete name                            : The Walking Dead - S11E15 - Trust.mkv
Format                                   : Matroska
Format version                           : Version 4
File size                                : 3.61 GiB
Duration                                 : 52 min 10 s
Overall bit rate mode                    : Constant
Overall bit rate                         : 9 902 kb/s
Writing application                      : mkvmerge v66.0.0 ('Josie') 64-bit
Writing library                          : libebml v1.4.2 + libmatroska v1.6.4

Video
ID                                       : 1
Format                                   : AVC
Format/Info                              : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile                           : High@L4
Format settings                          : CABAC / 4 Ref Frames
Format settings, CABAC                   : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames                : 4 frames
Codec ID                                 : V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC
Duration                                 : 52 min 10 s
Bit rate mode                            : Constant
Bit rate                                 : 9 260 kb/s
Nominal bit rate                         : 10 000 kb/s
Width                                    : 1 920 pixels
Height                                   : 1 080 pixels
Display aspect ratio                     : 16:9
Frame rate mode                          : Constant
Frame rate                               : 24.000 FPS
Color space                              : YUV
Chroma subsampling                       : 4:2:0
Bit depth                                : 8 bits
Scan type                                : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)                       : 0.186
Stream size                              : 3.38 GiB (94%)
Language                                 : English
Default                                  : Yes
Forced                                   : No
Color range                              : Limited
Color primaries                          : BT.709
Transfer characteristics                 : BT.709
Matrix coefficients                      : BT.709

Audio
ID                                       : 2
Format                                   : E-AC-3
Format/Info                              : Enhanced AC-3
Commercial name                          : Dolby Digital Plus
Codec ID                                 : A_EAC3
Duration                                 : 52 min 10 s
Bit rate mode                            : Constant
Bit rate                                 : 640 kb/s
Channel(s)                               : 6 channels
Channel layout                           : L R C LFE Ls Rs
Sampling rate                            : 48.0 kHz
Frame rate                               : 31.250 FPS (1536 SPF)
Compression mode                         : Lossy
Delay relative to video                  : 16 ms
Stream size                              : 239 MiB (6%)
Language                                 : English
Service kind                             : Complete Main
Default                                  : Yes
Forced                                   : No

The second

General
Unique ID                                : 98564268176968002931323239989891101331 (0x4A26C99D108148F75CEFBFBFAC94F293)
Complete name                            : The Walking Dead - S11E16 - Acts of God.mkv
Format                                   : Matroska
Format version                           : Version 4
File size                                : 4.53 GiB
Duration                                 : 48 min 1 s
Overall bit rate                         : 13.5 Mb/s
Writing application                      : mkvmerge v66.0.0 ('Josie') 64-bit
Writing library                          : libebml v1.4.2 + libmatroska v1.6.4 / Lavf58.76.100

Video
ID                                       : 1
Format                                   : AVC
Format/Info                              : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile                           : High@L4
Format settings                          : CABAC / 4 Ref Frames
Format settings, CABAC                   : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames                : 4 frames
Codec ID                                 : V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC
Duration                                 : 47 min 59 s
Bit rate                                 : 12.9 Mb/s
Width                                    : 1 920 pixels
Height                                   : 1 080 pixels
Display aspect ratio                     : 16:9
Frame rate mode                          : Constant
Frame rate                               : 24.000 FPS
Color space                              : YUV
Chroma subsampling                       : 4:2:0
Bit depth                                : 8 bits
Scan type                                : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)                       : 0.259
Stream size                              : 4.32 GiB (95%)
Writing library                          : AVC Coding
Default                                  : Yes
Forced                                   : No
Color range                              : Limited
Color primaries                          : BT.709
Transfer characteristics                 : BT.709
Matrix coefficients                      : BT.709
VENDOR_ID                                : [0][0][0][0]

Audio
ID                                       : 2
Format                                   : E-AC-3
Format/Info                              : Enhanced AC-3
Commercial name                          : Dolby Digital Plus
Codec ID                                 : A_EAC3
Duration                                 : 48 min 1 s
Bit rate mode                            : Constant
Bit rate                                 : 640 kb/s
Channel(s)                               : 6 channels
Channel layout                           : L R C LFE Ls Rs
Sampling rate                            : 48.0 kHz
Frame rate                               : 31.250 FPS (1536 SPF)
Bit depth                                : 32 bits
Compression mode                         : Lossy
Delay relative to video                  : -2 s 0 ms
Stream size                              : 220 MiB (5%)
Language                                 : English
Service kind                             : Complete Main
Default                                  : Yes
Forced                                   : No
VENDOR_ID                                : [0][0][0][0]

If I play a Tv show from my ipad it plays just fine. If I play it from a remote location using FireTV Stick it’s ok. I really don’t know what to think. The Logs doesn’t seem to show anything related.
The strangest thing of all is that if I install kodi on my tv with plex add-on the two files play just fine (they even start faster).
The server has enough power to eventually transcode.

Server Version#: 1.25.9.5721
Player Version#: latest

[jason_lee]

Hi, this has just started happening to me also on my Sony Android TV. I have found that if I use Chromecast to cast to my TV instead of using the TV app it plays the file fine (note, the TV appears twice as a Chromecast target, once as the Plex App and once as the TV, only the TV works this way).

The server shows it is played using Direct Play so transcoding is not an issue. I have also taken the file, put it on a USB, and plugged it directly into the TV and it plays just fine.

General
Unique ID : 205450421401381342811342755733453437755 (0x9A904FD679C8491FC52E2EB001C47B3B)
Format : Matroska
Format version : Version 4
File size : 5.46 GiB
Duration : 54 min 32 s
Overall bit rate : 14.3 Mb/s
Writing application : mkvmerge v49.0.0 (‘Sick Of Losing Soulmates’) 64-bit
Writing library : libebml v1.4.0 + libmatroska v1.6.1

Video
ID : 1
Format : HEVC
Format/Info : High Efficiency Video Coding
Format profile : Main 10@L5@High
HDR format : SMPTE ST 2094 App 4, Version 1, HDR10+ Profile B compatible
Codec ID : V_MPEGH/ISO/HEVC
Duration : 54 min 32 s
Bit rate : 13.3 Mb/s
Width : 3 840 pixels
Height : 2 160 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16:9
Frame rate mode : Constant
Frame rate : 23.976 (24000/1001) FPS
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0 (Type 2)
Bit depth : 10 bits
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.067
Stream size : 5.06 GiB (93%)
Default : Yes
Forced : No
Color range : Limited
Color primaries : BT.2020
Transfer characteristics : PQ
Matrix coefficients : BT.2020 non-constant
Mastering display color primaries : BT.2020
Mastering display luminance : min: 0.0001 cd/m2, max: 1000 cd/m2

Audio
ID : 2
Format : E-AC-3 JOC
Format/Info : Enhanced AC-3 with Joint Object Coding
Commercial name : Dolby Digital Plus with Dolby Atmos
Codec ID : A_EAC3
Duration : 54 min 32 s
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 768 kb/s
Channel(s) : 6 channels
Channel layout : L R C LFE Ls Rs
Sampling rate : 48.0 kHz
Frame rate : 31.250 FPS (1536 SPF)
Compression mode : Lossy
Stream size : 300 MiB (5%)
Language : English
Service kind : Complete Main
Default : Yes
Forced : No
Complexity index : 16
Number of dynamic objects : 15
Bed channel count : 1 channel
Bed channel configuration : LFE

[gianpaoloracca]

I’m planning to enable debug on the client this evening to see if there is something I can find. I’ll post eventually what I find.

[gianpaoloracca]

Some more logs.
First from my plex tv app while attempting to play an episode: failed with spinning cirle. and then from the server. (sorry for the unique pastebin but I think it’s understandable from the timestamps

Logs

Hope these logs mean something to the devs.

The strang thing is that yesterday one episode was playing every time and the other wasn’t.
Today none of the two are playable

[schawolf]

i have the same problem with hevc main 10 to play on an android tv device. but only when I transcode this

[DomesPlex]

The chromecast seems to be having a lot of trouble with EAC3 audio. My working theory is that it’s running out of memory trying to cache the audio. I have a similar issue, but no response from Plex yet: Playback fails on EAC3 audio files when Bluetooth Headphones are connected - #7 by DomesPlex

[jason_lee]

That would be the common link in our files, however my workaround is to play via Chromecast. It seems the native Android TV app won’t play these files but Chromecasting without transcoding works fine on the same TV.

[jason_lee]

Adding to this, the latest episode of the show I’m watching was encoded in AC-3 and plays fine, the episodes prior to it were encoded with E-AC-3 JOC so I think you are right on the money that it’s actually an audio issue.

[jason_lee]

No feedback or questions from the devs? This is really ruining the experience.

[jason_lee]

Bump.

[gianpaoloracca]

TBH with latest updates (I’m now on version 1.26.2.5797-5bd057d2b) problems seems to have vanished. Don’t know if the firmware update on my Sony TV helped with that too.

[jason_lee]

Do you think it was the TV, server or client update that fixed it? I’m using the PMS Docker version 1.26.2.5797 and still getting the same issue, though I did find a workaround to force it to transcode the audio to AC-3.

My TV is about 2 years old now so I think Sony has given up on updating it ( KD-55X9500G).

[DomesPlex]

@jason_lee

Chromecasting without transcoding works fine on the same TV.

Does this still work for you? Tried it this morning and didn’t have any luck.

[jason_lee]

Still appears to work for me, but I’ve discovered something easier.

Go to the settings menu in your Plex app on your TV, under Video Settings make sure Adjust Automatically is set to on, then scroll down until you find Passthrough in the Advanced section, switch this from Disabled to Optical, and then select AC3 in the new Optical Encodings menu that appears next to it.

With these two turned on they play fine through the app, the audio transcodes to AC3 and the video Direct Plays.

[DomesPlex]

@jason_lee

With these two turned on they play fine

Ah, I forgot my use case was slightly different. This works through the speakers yes, but with Bluetooth headphones connected there is no sound. (Though the video plays fine)