Plex on Shield TV Completely Broken

Plex Media Server NAS & Devices
1

Hello, all. Thanks for reading. Here’s the short version of the problem:

I cannot add any files of any kind to my Plex library on an NVIDIA Shield TV Pro from my external hard drives, even though it’s just been completely factory reset.

A more detailed description of how this all started…

I’ve been using Plex on my NVIDIA Shield TV Pro for over a year. It’s worked great. Until recent NVIDIA and Plex updates, I really haven’t had any issues. But that’s all changed recently.

About a month ago, after an update, my NVIDIA Shield became almost completely unresponsive, and extremely sluggish. Despite multiple resets, nothing seemed to fix it… Except for MAYBE a complete factory reset, which I knew would wipe my entire Plex library. I decided to reset it anyway and rebuild the library again.

So, I wiped the Shield TV, rebuilt the library, and everything has been running completely fine. Until this past week.

My NVIDIA Shield TV - after the most recent major NVIDIA update - refused to consistently connect to the internet, either through its normal hard-wired ethernet or via Wi-Fi. (Despite the fact that my home setup had not changed, and I had fully working internet this entire time.) Plex also decided to introduce a “localhost” offline option on its own.

After multiple tries to fix it - deleting the Plex and Plex Media Server caches, and uninstalling the updates, etc. - nothing worked. I couldn’t access my library online at all.

So, I decided to bite the bullet again and factory reset my entire library.

After a full reset, I made sure all the latest updates to the Shield, Plex, and the Plex Media Server were installed. It’s been accessing the internet just fine since the reset. I attached my external hard drives. I set up my Movies and TV Shows libraries and directed them to where they’ve been located on my hard drives for over the past year. So far, no problem. I set the libraries to scan…

…And nothing. No files can be added. Not MKV’s. Not MP4’s. Nothing. Plex says there are no files to be added.

I checked to make sure Plex and Plex Media Server had storage permissions access (which they did). I tried deleting the cache again (even though I was working off a factory reset). I tried uninstalling the Plex and Plex Media Server updates.

Again, nothing.

Meanwhile, both the Kodi and VLC Player apps on my Shield could see, add to their libraries, and play ALL of the video files on my external hard drives. The issue is entirely isolated to the Plex app.

So I tried factory resetting it again, just in case that might magically fix something. Same situation. Nothing has improved.

My files are all correctly named and have worked perfectly with Plex for over a year, until the most recent NVIDIA/Plex updates. Plex and Plex Media Server have permissions access to external storage (at least, according to the settings). Nothing in my internet or cable set up has changed in well over a few years, and my Shield is hard-wired with ethernet.

A few notes on my setup… I’m running an NVIDIA Shield Pro, with two Drobo 5C’s connected to it via USB 3.0, and over 80 TB’s of combined hard drive space. My files are mostly MKV’s, with a few MP4’s. My set up has been working spectacularly for over a year… But now, it seems like it’s completely broken.

I’m in desperate need of help or advice. I’ve spent over a year creating my library from movies and TV shows I own, carefully naming everything, and managing it all… only to see it completely broken in the last several days by the latest updates. It sucks.

Any help would be hugely appreciated.

1 Like
2

I’m impressed you managed to have PMS running on the shield for so long. I gave up after a few months. The server on the shield was too unreliable. I now have a freenas box with PMS running on it and only use the shield as a player and all is running OK even after the updates. I’d suggest a proper server to use with your storage and forget the shield as a plex server.

3

Can you (or anyone else) suggest a device to act as a Plex server that has the following capabilities:

  • A direct HDMI connection to my AV receiver. (I don’t want to have stream over my home network to a separate Plex client like an Apple TV.)
  • During local playback, audio passthrough with no decoding of its own to let my AV receiver do the work
  • Smooth playback of not just 1080p MKV files, but also 4K H.265 movies as well.
  • At least 2 USB 3.0 ports to connect the Drobo 5C’s. (I have a large library and these have worked fantastically so far.)
  • Easy remote control access with a Logitech Harmony. (I don’t want to have to use a mouse and keyboard to start up and access the device.)
  • Something very small and low-power. I want to keep it in my AV cabinet and don’t want a full PC stuck in there and turned on 24/7.

(…You can probably see why the Shield TV was such an attractive option for me.)

Thanks again so much for the input!

4

Fixed it! Turn off debug logging on the Plex Media Server (which had turned itself on after the factory reset). Now my Plex sees all my media again.

HUGE thanks to user rbmaster7 on this Plex forum post:

2 Likes
5

Unfortunately, I am not so lucky. I started out having performance issues with the Shield dashboard, but I later realized my Plex database was no longer updating with new content in my library path. Some research suggested that it was a corrupt database. I was already frustrated with performance, so I pulled the trigger on the full reset. The situation did not improve.

I followed the steps of configuring a fresh Plex server and everything seems fine until I added a library from my NAS. The database still does not update with the library changes. I restarted and tried Plex. I was prompted to configure it as if the settings were not saved.

I reconfigured and restarted again. The server settings seemed to be saved this time, but the library database still does not update.

I am now looking for instructions on reverting the Shield to the previous version. Everything was working flawlessly on that version.

6

I did a second full reset. This time all is working as expected… so far. I haven’t got a clue why the first full reset did not work correctly.

Its unfortunate that a Shield upgrade caused such a huge problem.

7

See, my full reset worked after shutting off the debug mode.

But now I’ve run into a new issue since the latest Plex update where I can’t add new media.

I tried a full reset (again), and now it won’t add any media at all.

8

I’m in the same boat. Has been working great for over a year, but now I can’t add movies. Started by not being able to add NEW movies, so I reset the app, cleared storage and cache, and started over. Now, nothing will add. Says it is scanning, then scan completes almost immediately, then nothing. Tried your debug mode trick, but no luck. Pretty disappointing as this has been a great solution until now.

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Did you install the update from today?

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It says I’m up to date: SHIELD Version 7.0.2, Plex Server Version: 1.13.4.5271

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I’m about to try reformatting the external disk from within the SHIELD, then copy the movies back on, but that’s just a shot in the dark. The disk is NTFS formatted and the server can see it and even lists the movie files when I add the directory to the Movies library, and this disk has been working for over a year as it is. Would you (@BigWheel) recommend proceeding with the format or wait?

UPDATE: Decided to hold off on the format as it turns out that formatting the external disk from the SHIELD will make it “secure” which means that no other devices can access the disk, which isn’t what I want. Also, see my next reply as it would seem to indicate that there is no issue with the disk.

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Another shot in the dark: I decided to try adding a new library of type “Other Videos.” I then added my Movies folder from my external disk to this new library. It scanned and started downloading metadata immediately, though it doesn’t show up they way movies should (no cover art, etc.). I assume this is because of the library type being “Other Video.” All of my movies show up (including the new ones I was trying to add that started me down this path). I think this demonstrates that there is nothing wrong with the disk, nor the files and that they can be accessed by the Plex server. It seems like a Plex server issue. Hope this helps the Plex folks sort out the issue. @BigWheel, can you escalate this issue? Thanks!!

UPDATE: Tried added another new library of type “Movies,” (Movies 2), added the Movies folder from my external disk, then hit “Scan Library Files” on the library menu. Same behavior as the original Movies library: Scan starts, then completes almost immediately. No files added or metadata downloaded. Just displays, “There are no items in this library” in the middle of the screen. Seems like a problem with the “Movies” library type.

One more bit of info in the interest of helping debug this issue. I’ve added all of the exact same set of movie files to a Plex server running on my laptop (MacBook Pro 2017), and the scan works as expected: movies are added, metadata downloaded, etc… Seems like it’s an issue with “Movies” library type on the SHIELD platform.

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Hi the issue is specific to the Shield build. Don’t format the shield that literally takes hours.

Can you look at your server logs and a the top of should the full version number with the build number. It was fixed for so many today not sure what could be different about yours.

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New update does nothing for me, too. I even reset the data on both the Plex app and the Plex Media Server.

Scanning on the Shield finds nothing.

On Kodi (or any other app), however, my media is found.

Plex worked great for over a year. Updates have really screwed it up over the last couple months.

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@BigWheel, Per your request, here is the version Info from Log File (Plex Media Server.log):

Jul 24, 2018 23:29:08.681 [14318] INFO - Plex Media Server v1.13.4.5271-200287a06 - NVIDIA SHIELD Android TV foster - build: android-aarch64 unknown - GMT -06:00
Jul 24, 2018 23:29:08.681 [14318] INFO - Android version: 8.0.0, language: en-US
Jul 24, 2018 23:29:08.681 [14318] INFO - Processor Unknown architecture

Also, this is in my server log (Plex Media Scanner.3.log) in case it helps. Looks like maybe a missing python file.

Jul 24, 2018 23:14:50.124 [10257] DEBUG - Directory had 461 files, database had 0 files, can’t skip.
Jul 24, 2018 23:14:50.133 [10257] ERROR - No module in Plex Movie Scanner
Jul 24, 2018 23:14:50.133 [10257] ERROR - Error in Python: Looking up module:
Traceback (most recent call last):
File “/data/user/0/com.plexapp.mediaserver.smb/Resources/Plug-ins-200287a06/Scanners.bundle/Contents/Resources/Movies/Plex Movie Scanner.py”, line 6, in
SeriesScanner = import(‘Plex Series Scanner’)
File “/data/user/0/com.plexapp.mediaserver.smb/Resources/Plug-ins-200287a06/Scanners.bundle/Contents/Resources/Series/Plex Series Scanner.py”, line 6, in
from mp4file import mp4file, atomsearch
ImportError: No module named mp4file
Jul 24, 2018 23:14:50.134 [10257] ERROR - We got an error scanning in /storage/3C4A46244A45DAF2/Movies
Jul 24, 2018 23:14:50.136 [10257] WARN - Scanning the location /storage/3C4A46244A45DAF2/Movies did not complete
Jul 24, 2018 23:14:50.136 [10257] DEBUG - Since it was an incomplete scan, we are not going to whack missing media.

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Yeah that is the issue. Do you mind posting the full log. Did you move PMS folder to external storage?

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For myself, PMS folder is still on the internal Shield hard drive (since I’ve got the Shield TV Pro with 500 GB’s of internal storage).

EDIT: Out of curiosity (if and when I can actually build a library again with Plex), is it possible to restore my library within the Plex app on the Shield if I had stored it on an external HD? Can an externally stored library on the Shield serve as a backup?

18

With the recent hotfix this should be fixed, no? “Unfortunately” it carries the same PMS version number, so merely posting the version does not “proof” if you updated. Have a look into Play Store whether there is an update für PMS.

19

Confirm, fixed!

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@persona1138

Would you mind grabbing logs too from after a scan attempt.

Maybe a dumb question but have you restarted Shield? I needed to when i updated earlier on mine. it was a dumb question i see you formatted earlier