Plex Transcoder fails all the time

Plex Media Server Desktops & Laptops
1

Hi,

I have issues regarding plex 1080p, 720p en 4k streams of different movies and series on the Apple TV 4, iPhone se 16gb, the Huawei P10 lite and my 2 laptops and my smart TV.
All computers and the Apple TV 4 are connected to utp cable, including the plex media server… IPhone, Huawei P10 lite and smart TV are connected by wifi. The smart TV is a 2016 model of Samsung with Tizen installed… 4k hw transcoding does not work on kaby lake pms, playing 4k file in vlc does work. 1080p streams to Apple TV 4 using utp cable does not work, I get 2 out of 10 files that give error after 2 minutes… Error in foto.
Then next problem. On my iPhone se and android Huawei P10 lite no direct stream or transcoding possible. I keep getting error code. Then my laptops. I try playing 4k on host machine with pms installed, but plex reverts to transcoding, whilst direct play is possible because my laptop has kaby lake gpu with 4k h265 playback possibility. No luck. Also, plex forums do not work on Android… And Transcoder keeps crashing with 1080p videos while playing on apple tv 4.

Solutions would be nice, since I cannot use plex at all currently.

2

Before getting into all the players, how about addressing the server?

Windows?

Linux?

whatever the problem is , the players will fall in line after that. For that reason, I’ve removed the player tags for now

Also, Log files would be nice (Settings - Server - Help - Download Logs) Attach the ZIP

3

Hi, It happend on both windows and linux servers on the same laptop.

Here are the logs from my windows machcine, but they are from now, which is about a few hours after I tried to play a file.

Kind regards,

Adoteq

Plex Media Server Logs_2018-08-06_18-55-28.zip (3.5 MB)

4

Screenshot_20180818-145340
Screenshot_20180818-145340530×943 214 KB

5

some extra information. I am currently not using linux actively, but used it in the past with the same errors as on windows system. The foto in the above replay is one of many errors I do get. On the mobile device I also get an error about Coversion OK, Direct play not… Don’t know the exact words used in the error, but files do not play randomly. I use USB3.0 exfat drives of 8tb each. here my recent loggs…Plex Media Server Logs_2018-08-18_14-58-47.zip (4.0 MB)

6

Screenshot_20180818-150747
Screenshot_20180818-150747530×943 211 KB

7

And as you can see, conversion should happen, but for some reason does not…

Screenshot_20180818-150926
Screenshot_20180818-150926530×943 115 KB

8

You have marked WIndows and Linux. Which OS please?
Is that the Android player? It appears to be

9

Yes, i used windows & linux as server, clients are apple tv, android, ios, smart tv with tizen etc. The photo is about the issues related with android player with windows server…

10

To be clear, you are stating the transcoder fails on both Windows and linux ?

11

yes. that’s correct, so this is how it went. I used linux first, but I got these issues. Then I thought, maybe this bug is solved on windows, but after reinstalling windows os I still got these errors…

12

two different operation systems and PMS, which is compiled entirely differently for each using different libraries, can’t both be faulty so we have to figure out what’s the root cause. What is common to both?

To start that analysis, I need DEBUG log files (VERBOSE OFF) of how it fails. captured about 30 seconds after it actually fails (stopping playback if needed) and then gathering them with Settings - Server - Help - Download Logs and attaching that ZIP

13

For now I can give you the windows logs when I playback files tomorrow, but the linux server is completely wiped because it was not usable. I will check if I can work that out the next weeks.

14

Let us stick to one OS at a time.

I wish Linux was installed as I’m a Linux guy but I will try. Worst case is I will ask one of the Ninjas to assist for the Windows segment.

15

Here I have some logs, but for some reason plex is now not accessible outside the network, while it was all the other times playback did not work. Plex Media Server Logs_2018-08-24_13-54-14.zip (4.6 MB)

16

I think this tells me that plex refuses transcoding, but I do not know why?
It is in the Transcoder log without number…

<Stream albumGain="-10.26" albumPeak="0.999023" albumRange="4.683442" bitrate="32" bitrateMode="vbr" channels="2" codec="mp3" displayTitle="Unknown (FLAC Stereo)" gain="-10.69" id="34631" loudness="-7.31" lra="2.57" peak="0.880859" selected="1" streamType="2" decision="transcode" location="direct" />

17

Anyway, the playback l stopped around 13.53u and about 45 seconds on August 24.

18

And then there is an issue with 4k playback, the above is all related to music playback. Music that doesn’t start playing at all.
About the 4k playback, I get a message that the server is not powerful enough, whilst I do have a Intel i3-7130u with at least hardware decoding support confirmed while playing 4k movies in other apps. Movies simply start buffering every few seconds… Plex Media Server Logs_2018-08-24_14-27-08.zip (4.2 MB)

19

In plex media player for windows I can only playback 4k with stuttering on 4k hw decoding playback laptop. In vlc I have no issues. Plex is the fault here…

20

Playback 4k is now possible on same device as server in Linux, Windows is stille failing.
But it can’t transcode…