Plex TV and Movies not available

Plex Media Server
,
1

Server Version#: 1.25.5.5492

Whilst moving my Plex server from the Synology package to a docker container, I had a chance to look into why I am only able to see and enable “Music” as an online media source in "Settings->Online Media Sources. I haven’t been able to see Movies or TV for quite a long time now.

I live in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Looking at the Plex server logs and carrying out wget and curl commands to https://vod.provider.plex.tv, it seems clear that accessing this URL from the UAE is blocked by Cloudflare.

I suspect that this is most likely a licencing issue and isn’t that big a deal if so. However, there are a couple of issues:

  1. “Plex Media Server.log” has many “ERROR” messages relating to this issue
  2. Commands such as “grep” see “Plex Media Server.log” as a binary file due to strange characters in the error messages

As I said, none of this is really much of an issue for me, but I have a couple of questions:

  1. Is there a setting/parameter that can disable Plex Server connecting to VOD services it is not permitted to?
  2. Will the UAE be licenced for the Plex VOD services and added to the Cloudflare whitelist?
  3. I have a static IPv4 address. If there isn’t a licencing issue affecting the UAE, can my IP address be added to the Cloudflare whitelist?

For completeness, my error messages and tests are below in case this might help others.

root@synologynas:/# wget https://vod.provider.plex.tv
–2022-02-04 08:49:57-- https://vod.provider.plex.tv/
Resolving vod.provider.plex.tv (vod.provider.plex.tv)… 104.18.13.47, 104.18.12.47, 2606:4700::6812:d2f, …
Connecting to vod.provider.plex.tv (vod.provider.plex.tv)|104.18.13.47|:443… connected.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response… 403 Forbidden
2022-02-04 08:49:57 ERROR 403: Forbidden.

root@synologynas:/# curl -I https://vod.provider.plex.tv
HTTP/2 403
date: Fri, 04 Feb 2022 04:51:19 GMT
content-type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
content-length: 16
x-frame-options: SAMEORIGIN
referrer-policy: same-origin
cache-control: private, max-age=0, no-store, no-cache, must-revalidate, post-check=0, pre-check=0
expires: Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:01 GMT
expect-ct: max-age=604800, report-uri=“https://report-uri.cloudflare.com/cdn-cgi/beacon/expect-ct”
server: cloudflare
cf-ray: 6d81487deb8d126e-DXB

root@synologynas:/# curl https://vod.provider.plex.tv
error code: 1020root@synologynas:/#

root@synologynas:/# curl -v https://vod.provider.plex.tv

  • Trying 104.18.12.47:443…
  • TCP_NODELAY set
  • Connected to vod.provider.plex.tv (104.18.12.47) port 443 (#0)
  • ALPN, offering h2
  • ALPN, offering http/1.1
  • successfully set certificate verify locations:
  • CAfile: /etc/ssl/certs/ca-certificates.crt
    CApath: /etc/ssl/certs
  • TLSv1.3 (OUT), TLS handshake, Client hello (1):
  • TLSv1.3 (IN), TLS handshake, Server hello (2):
  • TLSv1.2 (IN), TLS handshake, Certificate (11):
  • TLSv1.2 (IN), TLS handshake, Server key exchange (12):
  • TLSv1.2 (IN), TLS handshake, Server finished (14):
  • TLSv1.2 (OUT), TLS handshake, Client key exchange (16):
  • TLSv1.2 (OUT), TLS change cipher, Change cipher spec (1):
  • TLSv1.2 (OUT), TLS handshake, Finished (20):
  • TLSv1.2 (IN), TLS handshake, Finished (20):
  • SSL connection using TLSv1.2 / ECDHE-ECDSA-CHACHA20-POLY1305
  • ALPN, server accepted to use h2
  • Server certificate:
  • subject: C=US; ST=California; L=San Francisco; O=Cloudflare, Inc.; CN=plex.tv
  • start date: Jan 11 00:00:00 2022 GMT
  • expire date: Apr 11 23:59:59 2022 GMT
  • subjectAltName: host “vod.provider.plex.tv” matched cert’s “*.provider.plex.tv”
  • issuer: C=US; O=Cloudflare, Inc.; CN=Cloudflare Inc ECC CA-3
  • SSL certificate verify ok.
  • Using HTTP2, server supports multi-use
  • Connection state changed (HTTP/2 confirmed)
  • Copying HTTP/2 data in stream buffer to connection buffer after upgrade: len=0
  • Using Stream ID: 1 (easy handle 0x55814163f510)

GET / HTTP/2
Host: vod.provider.plex.tv
user-agent: curl/7.68.0
accept: /

  • Connection state changed (MAX_CONCURRENT_STREAMS == 256)!
    < HTTP/2 403
    < date: Fri, 04 Feb 2022 04:54:16 GMT
    < content-type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
    < content-length: 16
    < x-frame-options: SAMEORIGIN
    < referrer-policy: same-origin
    < cache-control: private, max-age=0, no-store, no-cache, must-revalidate, post-check=0, pre-check=0
    < expires: Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:01 GMT
    < expect-ct: max-age=604800, report-uri=“https://report-uri.cloudflare.com/cdn-cgi/beacon/expect-ct”
    < server: cloudflare
    < cf-ray: 6d814cd37ca2125a-DXB
    <
  • Connection #0 to host vod.provider.plex.tv left intact

Feb 04, 2022 08:25:29.681 [0x7f3b5850ab38] DEBUG - [MediaProviderManager] HTTP requesting GET https://vod.provider.plex.tv
Feb 04, 2022 08:25:29.681 [0x7f3b58141b38] DEBUG - [MediaProviderManager] HTTP requesting GET https://music.provider.plex.tv
Feb 04, 2022 08:25:29.869 [0x7f3b581b3b38] DEBUG - [HttpClient] HTTP/2.0 (0.2s) 403 response from GET https://vod.provider.plex.tv
Feb 04, 2022 08:25:29.869 [0x7f3b5850ab38] ERROR - [MediaProviderManager] XML: Entity: line 16:^@
Feb 04, 2022 08:25:29.869 [0x7f3b5850ab38] ERROR - [MediaProviderManager] XML: parser^@
Feb 04, 2022 08:25:29.869 [0x7f3b5850ab38] ERROR - [MediaProviderManager] XML: error :^@
Feb 04, 2022 08:25:29.869 [0x7f3b5850ab38] ERROR - [MediaProviderManager] XML: Specification mandates value for attribute defer^@
Feb 04, 2022 08:25:29.869 [0x7f3b5850ab38] ERROR - [MediaProviderManager] XML: ^@
Feb 04, 2022 08:25:29.869 [0x7f3b5850ab38] ERROR - [MediaProviderManager] XML: ^^@
Feb 04, 2022 08:25:29.869 [0x7f3b5850ab38] ERROR - [MediaProviderManager] XML: Entity: line 16:^@
Feb 04, 2022 08:25:29.869 [0x7f3b5850ab38] ERROR - [MediaProviderManager] XML: parser^@
Feb 04, 2022 08:25:29.869 [0x7f3b5850ab38] ERROR - [MediaProviderManager] XML: error :^@
Feb 04, 2022 08:25:29.869 [0x7f3b5850ab38] ERROR - [MediaProviderManager] XML: attributes construct error^@
Feb 04, 2022 08:25:29.869 [0x7f3b5850ab38] ERROR - [MediaProviderManager] XML: ^@
Feb 04, 2022 08:25:29.869 [0x7f3b5850ab38] ERROR - [MediaProviderManager] XML: ^^@
Feb 04, 2022 08:25:29.869 [0x7f3b5850ab38] ERROR - [MediaProviderManager] XML: Entity: line 16:^@
Feb 04, 2022 08:25:29.869 [0x7f3b5850ab38] ERROR - [MediaProviderManager] XML: parser^@
Feb 04, 2022 08:25:29.869 [0x7f3b5850ab38] ERROR - [MediaProviderManager] XML: error :^@
Feb 04, 2022 08:25:29.869 [0x7f3b5850ab38] ERROR - [MediaProviderManager] XML: Couldn’t find end of Start Tag script line 16^@
Feb 04, 2022 08:25:29.869 [0x7f3b5850ab38] ERROR - [MediaProviderManager] XML: ^@
Feb 04, 2022 08:25:29.869 [0x7f3b5850ab38] ERROR - [MediaProviderManager] XML: ^^@
Feb 04, 2022 08:25:29.869 [0x7f3b5850ab38] ERROR - [MediaProviderManager] XML: Entity: line 16:^@
Feb 04, 2022 08:25:29.869 [0x7f3b5850ab38] ERROR - [MediaProviderManager] XML: parser^@
Feb 04, 2022 08:25:29.869 [0x7f3b5850ab38] ERROR - [MediaProviderManager] XML: error :^@
Feb 04, 2022 08:25:29.869 [0x7f3b5850ab38] ERROR - [MediaProviderManager] XML: Opening and ending tag mismatch: head line 6 and script^@
Feb 04, 2022 08:25:29.869 [0x7f3b5850ab38] ERROR - [MediaProviderManager] XML: ^@
Feb 04, 2022 08:25:29.869 [0x7f3b5850ab38] ERROR - [MediaProviderManager] XML: ^^@
Feb 04, 2022 08:25:29.869 [0x7f3b5850ab38] ERROR - [MediaProviderManager] XML: Entity: line 17:^@
Feb 04, 2022 08:25:29.869 [0x7f3b5850ab38] ERROR - [MediaProviderManager] XML: parser^@
Feb 04, 2022 08:25:29.869 [0x7f3b5850ab38] ERROR - [MediaProviderManager] XML: error :^@
Feb 04, 2022 08:25:29.869 [0x7f3b5850ab38] ERROR - [MediaProviderManager] XML: Opening and ending tag mismatch: html line 5 and head^@
Feb 04, 2022 08:25:29.869 [0x7f3b5850ab38] ERROR - [MediaProviderManager] XML: ^@
Feb 04, 2022 08:25:29.869 [0x7f3b5850ab38] ERROR - [MediaProviderManager] XML: ^^@
Feb 04, 2022 08:25:29.869 [0x7f3b5850ab38] ERROR - [MediaProviderManager] XML: Entity: line 18:^@
Feb 04, 2022 08:25:29.869 [0x7f3b5850ab38] ERROR - [MediaProviderManager] XML: parser^@
Feb 04, 2022 08:25:29.869 [0x7f3b5850ab38] ERROR - [MediaProviderManager] XML: error :^@
Feb 04, 2022 08:25:29.869 [0x7f3b5850ab38] ERROR - [MediaProviderManager] XML: Extra content at the end of the document^@
Feb 04, 2022 08:25:29.869 [0x7f3b5850ab38] ERROR - [MediaProviderManager] XML: ^@
Feb 04, 2022 08:25:29.869 [0x7f3b5850ab38] ERROR - [MediaProviderManager] XML: ^^@
Feb 04, 2022 08:25:29.869 [0x7f3b5850ab38] ERROR - [MediaProviderManager] Error parsing content.
Feb 04, 2022 08:25:29.869 [0x7f3b5850ab38] ERROR - [MediaProviderManager] Error parsing XML: Error parsing file.
Feb 04, 2022 08:25:29.871 [0x7f3b581b3b38] DEBUG - [HttpClient] HTTP/2.0 (0.2s) 200 response from GET https://music.provider.plex.tv
Feb 04, 2022 08:25:29.877 [0x7f3b58187b38] WARN - [MediaProviderManager] Unrecognized MediaProvider feature: availability
Feb 04, 2022 08:25:29.877 [0x7f3b58187b38] WARN - [MediaProviderManager] Unrecognized MediaProvider feature: availability-platforms
Feb 04, 2022 08:25:29.880 [0x7f3b58268b38] WARN - [MediaProviderManager] Unrecognized MediaProvider feature: availability
Feb 04, 2022 08:25:29.880 [0x7f3b58268b38] WARN - [MediaProviderManager] Unrecognized MediaProvider feature: availability-platforms

2

It is blocked because of regional regulations there. You can disable them at https://app.plex.tv/desktop/#!/settings/online-media-sources

https://support.plex.tv/articles/frequently-asked-questions-vod/

3

No. I can’t as only “Music” appears there.

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image1920×929 22.4 KB

4

sorry i forgot to reply to this. does seem like a bug the logs are filling up with that if you cannot access. I don’t have an ETA for a fix though

5

Thanks @BigWheel. No biggy.

6

Hello @BigWheel . please let us know if you found a fix to enable the online media sources … currently can only see music there enabled similar to the earlier shared screeshot.
Thanks

7

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