Plex Useless; Apple TV 8.6 & 8.7 Player FUBAR—Can't Play TV; iOS Player 8.5 Can't Play Shows Being Recorded

Plex Players Streaming Devices
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PMS for Mac 1.28.0.5998 . . . (dedicated host Mac macOS 10.13.6)
Plex for Apple TV 8.6 & 8.7 . . . (host Apple TV tvOS 15.6)
Plex for iOS 8.5 . . . (hosts iPad ipadOS 14.8 & iPhone iOS 14.8.1)
Plex for Mac 1.49.1.3146 . . . (host Mac macOS 12.4)
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Plex for Apple TV 8.6
Plex for Apple TV 8.6 can not play OTA Live TV real-time live TV from any channel—just see spinning pinwheel—my wife is PO’d. (I can’t check playing of recorded shows now, nor playing of OTA Live TV shows being recorded—see “wife is PO’d.”)

[Update] (While PO’d wife gone)
I learned that Apple TV 8.6 app can not play OTA Live TV real-time live TV shows that are being recorded either, and . . .

Apple TV 8.6 app can not play shows that have been previously entirely recorded (eg, the OTA broadcast ended hours before) for more than a minute or two. After a couple minutes the video freezes and only the audio continues.
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Plex for Apple TV 8.6 app is FUBAR and now completely useless — wife PO’d for my decision to cut the cord and license Plex.
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Plex for Apple TV 8.5 and before did not have this problem, although my wife now recalls random failures to play OTA Live TV real-time shows that were being recorded. (See iOS bug below.)

(HDHomeRun Apple TV app works fine playing OTA real-time TV shows.)

Neither restarting the PMS host Mac, nor restarting the Apple TV helped.

Since originally installing PMS, the dedicated PMS host Mac had had enabled both 1Gbps Ethernet and WiFi (via an otherwise idle Ubiquiti UAP-AC-Pro 450Mbps/1.3Gbps 400’ range AP), both with IPv4 MAC reservations (ie, IP addresses that do not change), and with the Apple TV being 6-cable-feet from the PMS host Mac and 16-ft line-of-sight from the AP.

I’ve tried disabling the PMS host Mac WiFi, then restarting the PMS host Mac and the Apple TV, to force a single Apple TV to PMS host connection (they are both 3-cable-feet from the same Ethernet switch). This did not help.

I checked the dedicated PMS host Mac during a failure: Activity Monitor reported 0.9% (of 400% 4-core possible) PMS CPU activity, network activity 71Kbps. I don’t know how to view the AMD GPU activity load.

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Plex for Mac 1.49.1.3146
Intermittently, Plex for Mac 1.49.1.3146 can not play OTA Live TV real-time live TV from any channel—just hangs with a spinning rainbow—had to Force Quit (⌘⌥␛).
26 Jul 2022, after trying many times, it did work poorly.
27 Jul 2022 failed as above.

Plex for Mac 1.49.1.3146 is can play both OTA Live TV real-time TV shows being recorded, and previously entirely recorded shows.
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Plex for iOS 8.5 can play OTA Live TV real-time TV shows that are not being recorded on both my iPhone and iPad, but …

… my iPad and iPhone can not play OTA Live TV real-time TV shows that are being recorded. I do not know when this bug started.

3

seeing the same thing here with a similar setup.

my server is running on freebsd under TrueNAS using a HD Homerun tuner for Live TV. So far all other devices I’ve tested work just fine for Movies, TV Shows and Live TV. The exception is my Apple TV box which works for only Movies and TV Shows. Any attempt to tune to Live TV fails and either dumps back to the guide or sits and spins with small chops and chirps of audio.

Was working just fine Tuesday night and yesterday borked. :frowning:
Whiskey, Tango Plex Team.

4

Is there any way to revert the Apple TV app back to version 8.5?

5

I am experiencing this exact same issue. I am no longer able to watch Live TV (DVR) on my Apple TV via Plex. I am still able to watch using the Plex app on my Android TV and via a web browser.

My setup consists of the following
Server version 1.27.2.5929/1.28.0.5998 running on Windows 10 (Both server versions exhibit the issue)
2x Apple TV (v8.6)
1x Android TV (v8.21.1.27073)
1x HDHomerun PRIME
1x HDHomerun Extend

6

28 Jul 2022 Apple TV app is still FUBAR — absolutely useless!

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Why hasn’t version 8.6 been deleted from the Apple TV App Store, and 8.5 restored???

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It has been two entire days since the version 8.6 involuntary update rendered Plex useless for my family with no apparent action by, nor any response from Plex—my wife is still PO’d.

As far as I know, users have no ability to revert back to version 8.5.

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29 Jul 2022 Apple TV app still FUBAR and USELESS!
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PMS for Mac 1.28.0.5999 (released today 29 Jul 2022)
Plex for Apple TV 8.6
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I tried switching to the old player, but that did not help.
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My wife had surgery yesterday and can NOT watch live TV, nor recorded shows or movies.
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(Guess who’s in the dog-house because of Plex poor QA an QC?)
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Why hasn’t this dung been pulled?
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Why hasn’t Plex posted any response?

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Please reproduce the issue and provide logs from the Apple TV and from your server.

FYI - 8.6 did go through QA and LiveTV did work during our testing.

9

MovieFan,

Thank you for responding.

Please do know that I don’t expect anything to be perfect. I have written several hundred thousand lines of code, managed software and hardware engineering departments, and personally used several hundred applications, perhaps even a thousand versions. I understand the challenge of heterogeneous user environments. (I managed one department with a very early GUI application that ran on 14 radically different platforms: CDC NOS & NOS/BE, VMS, RSX, RT, Dec Rainbow, DOS, Prime, IBM mini’s, and others, in several of which GUI was “impossible.”)

Bugs will always occur—that’s not Plex’s sin.

Rather, Plex did not heed the Apple TV app deployment inflexibility and, accordingly, timely monitor user feedback. It took almost a week for Plex to respond to multiple users’ having a non-functional product, and even then, not providing any relief, but rather only acknowledging their lament.

Users can’t revert Apple TV versions, as far as I know. If there is a way, please do correct my error. (I probably wouldn’t distribute Apple TV apps without there always being at least two versions in the Apple TV App Store, the “new” version, the current stable version, and maybe even all its predecessors named with their version number. Why not? Just define them, and then slide product versions through them.)

It’s important to see the big picture. Plex implicitly expects its customers to do Plex’s work, with very, very poor leverage and efficiency. For every person like me that takes her/his very precious time to tediously document unexpected product behavior, of which there are a lot for Plex, there are literally hundreds, likely several thousands that are either not empowered, insufficiently articulate, don’t have the time, or just don’t care enough about others to so do.

Real world statistics: only

  • 1 in 500 people that are sure they’ve been “injured” (eg, overcharged) will seek redress; and only

  • 1 in 2,500 people that merely think they’ve been “injured” will call, write, etc.

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Huh? What do you mean “reproduce the issue”?

I have one Apple TV device running Plex for Apple TV 8.6 that fails 100% of the time

  • playing live OTA TV for all 59 channels,
  • playing recorded OTA TV, and
  • playing live OTA TV that is being recorded, regardless of the TV channel.

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How does one export or capture “logs from the Apple TV”? (I have zero experience troubleshooting anything on an Apple TV, which I just purchased to run Plex.)

I did see in the Plex for Apple TV app settings a single option to share data with, presumably, Plex, but that didn’t look like it would give me access to “log” files.

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Specifically, what PMS for Mac “log” files do you want?

Specifically, in what path(s) are these found?

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Apple TV Logs

Plex Media Server Logs

1 Like
12

With recent macOS versions, I only seem to be able to see detailed log
visibility in the console when streaming real-time. If there is a more
helpful or more detailed mechanism, please do let me know.

Researching, Xcode appears to be the prescribed means of viewing Apple
TV and Apple TV app log message activity. Current software behaves
similarly to:

Stack Exchange > Ask Different > Dylan_Larkin's 20 Dec 2018 posting:

	https://apple.stackexchange.com/a/346269

(My Mac Studio (2022) is running macOS 12.4 (Monterey) and Xcode 13.4.1,
my Apple TV 4K (64GB) is running tvOS 15.6. Earlier macOS Console,
Xcode, or tvOS versions may have slightly different behaviors.)
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On my Mac, I:

download and installed Xcode; 
launched Xcode; 
clicked upon [Create a new Xcode project] in the splash window; 
clicked upon [Cancel] to decline creating a project from a template; and
immediately then clicked upon Xcode > Window > Devices and Simulators (⇧⌘2)

On my Apple TV (displaying on a 4K TV via HDMI), I:

clicked upon Settings;
clicked upon Remotes and Devices; and
clicked upon Remote App and Devices.

Xcode on my Mac then displayed my Apple TV with a [Pair] button, upon which I clicked.

Xcode then displayed six single digit verification entry fields.

My Apple TV then displayed a 6-digit verification code, which I typed into the Xcode fields.

The Xcode > Devices and Simulators window > Devices tab:

in the left margin column "Connected," showed the selected Apple room name I chose when I originally setup the Apple TV and HomePod mini's, "Living Room (3)";
the right body header listed my Apple TV info (tvOS version, storage capacity, sn, and a GUID), and three buttons:
	[Take Screenshot],
	[View Device Logs],
	[Open Console].

I clicked upon the Xcode [View Device Logs] button. All were “Crash
Logs.” None were recent, 15 Jun 2022 being the most recent Plex [for
Apple TV app] crash log. While I doubt useful, I’ve included.

I clicked upon the Xcode [Open Console] button, launching Console on my
Mac. In addition my Mac’s name being a device choice in the upper left
corner, the Xcode-paired “Living Room (3)” was then newly a choice.

In Console, I clicked upon “Living Room (3),” and was then prompted to
“Start Streaming” log messages, which I did at 2:40:20 on 31 Jul 2022,
and type “Plex” into the message filter text entry field in the Console
upper right corner. Thinking potentially valuable, I enabled [Debug]
and [Info]. As with other Apple log message streams, a message torrent
began. (I attempted, at a random time a live TV test, but decided I
should begin at a precise time for ease of Plex staff debugging.) I
have include all the streamed “Plex” messages beginning five minutes
before my documented tests below.
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I then began Plex for Apple TV app 8.6 attempt to play an OTA Live TV
real-time TV show (that was not be recorded), using Plex > Live TV >
Guide:

31 July 2022 at 2:45:00pm PDT [UTC -0700], I clicked upon OTA TV (display) channel 7.1 (CBS affiliate, broadcasting a PGA tournament, scheduled to end at 3pm) ▶️(Play) button;
the display when completely black, except for a spinning white pinwheel;
after a dozen or two seconds, the display reverted to the Plex > Live TV > Guide without any indication of error.

During this time, I captured on Mac > Console > "Living Room (3)" > "Plex" log messages by selecting one and then typing ⌘a (Select All), then ⌘c (Copy).

I then began Plex for Apple TV app 8.6 attempt to play a previously
recorded OTA Live TV real-time TV show recorded 26 July 2022
successfully, using Plex > TV Shows > “ABC World News Now” > “Season
2022” > the 26 July 2022 recording :arrow_forward:(Play) button:

31 July 2022 at ~2:50:03pm PDT [UTC -0700], I clicked upon OTA TV (display) channel 7.1 (CBS affiliate, broadcasting a PGA tournament, scheduled to end at 3pm);
a frozen video frame immediately displayed, then the recording began playing both video and audio;
after 40 seconds (ie, at ~2:50:43pm PDT), the video froze, but the audio continued.

During this time, I captured on Mac > Console > "Living Room (3)" > "Plex" log messages by selecting one and then typing ⌘a (Select All), then ⌘c (Copy), including from before the failed Live TV play attempt above.

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I then found and made copies of all the PMS for Mac log files that were modified after 31 Jul 2022 2:39pm PDT [UTC -0700]:

find -E / -iregex “.plex.” -iregex “.log.” -newermt “July 31, 2022 14:39:00” -exec stat -t ‘%Y%m%d_%H%M%S %d %b %Y %l-%M-%S%p’ -f “%Sp %4Ul %15Su %-15Sg %12Uz A: %Sa M: %Sm C: %Sc B: %SB %N%SY” {} ;
drwxrwxrwx 46 «macOS user ID» staff 1564 A: 20220731_151800 31 Jul 2022 3-18-00PM M: 20220731_150005 31 Jul 2022 3-00-05PM C: 20220731_150005 31 Jul 2022 3-00-05PM B: 20220322_061121 22 Mar 2022 6-11-21AM /Users/«macOS user ID»/Library/Logs/Plex Media Server
-rw-r–r-- 1 «macOS user ID» staff 152588 A: 20220729_163558 29 Jul 2022 4-35-58PM M: 20220731_150532 31 Jul 2022 3-05-32PM C: 20220731_150532 31 Jul 2022 3-05-32PM B: 20220729_163558 29 Jul 2022 4-35-58PM /Users/«macOS user ID»/Library/Logs/Plex Media Server/Plex DLNA Server.log
-rw-r–r-- 1 «macOS user ID» staff 529 A: 20220731_150001 31 Jul 2022 3-00-01PM M: 20220731_150001 31 Jul 2022 3-00-01PM C: 20220731_150001 31 Jul 2022 3-00-01PM B: 20220731_150001 31 Jul 2022 3-00-01PM /Users/«macOS user ID»/Library/Logs/Plex Media Server/Plex Media Scanner Analysis.log
-rw-r–r-- 1 «macOS user ID» staff 535 A: 20220731_150002 31 Jul 2022 3-00-02PM M: 20220731_150002 31 Jul 2022 3-00-02PM C: 20220731_150002 31 Jul 2022 3-00-02PM B: 20220731_150002 31 Jul 2022 3-00-02PM /Users/«macOS user ID»/Library/Logs/Plex Media Server/Plex Media Scanner Matcher.1.log
-rw-r–r-- 1 «macOS user ID» staff 535 A: 20220731_150002 31 Jul 2022 3-00-02PM M: 20220731_150003 31 Jul 2022 3-00-03PM C: 20220731_150003 31 Jul 2022 3-00-03PM B: 20220731_150002 31 Jul 2022 3-00-02PM /Users/«macOS user ID»/Library/Logs/Plex Media Server/Plex Media Scanner Matcher.log
-rw-r–r-- 1 «macOS user ID» staff 940909 A: 20220729_163553 29 Jul 2022 4-35-53PM M: 20220731_150031 31 Jul 2022 3-00-31PM C: 20220731_150031 31 Jul 2022 3-00-31PM B: 20220729_163553 29 Jul 2022 4-35-53PM /Users/«macOS user ID»/Library/Logs/Plex Media Server/Plex Media Server.log
-rw-r–r-- 1 «macOS user ID» staff 854548 A: 20220731_150000 31 Jul 2022 3-00-00PM M: 20220731_150001 31 Jul 2022 3-00-01PM C: 20220731_150001 31 Jul 2022 3-00-01PM B: 20220731_150000 31 Jul 2022 3-00-00PM /Users/«macOS user ID»/Library/Logs/Plex Media Server/Plex Transcoder Statistics.1.log
-rw-r–r-- 1 «macOS user ID» staff 149890 A: 20220731_145141 31 Jul 2022 2-51-41PM M: 20220731_145141 31 Jul 2022 2-51-41PM C: 20220731_145141 31 Jul 2022 2-51-41PM B: 20220731_145141 31 Jul 2022 2-51-41PM /Users/«macOS user ID»/Library/Logs/Plex Media Server/Plex Transcoder Statistics.2.log
-rw-r–r-- 1 «macOS user ID» staff 18086 A: 20220731_144948 31 Jul 2022 2-49-48PM M: 20220731_144948 31 Jul 2022 2-49-48PM C: 20220731_144948 31 Jul 2022 2-49-48PM B: 20220731_144948 31 Jul 2022 2-49-48PM /Users/«macOS user ID»/Library/Logs/Plex Media Server/Plex Transcoder Statistics.3.log
-rw-r–r-- 1 «macOS user ID» staff 63456 A: 20220731_144810 31 Jul 2022 2-48-10PM M: 20220731_144810 31 Jul 2022 2-48-10PM C: 20220731_144810 31 Jul 2022 2-48-10PM B: 20220731_144810 31 Jul 2022 2-48-10PM /Users/«macOS user ID»/Library/Logs/Plex Media Server/Plex Transcoder Statistics.4.log
-rw-r–r-- 1 «macOS user ID» staff 3195 A: 20220731_144507 31 Jul 2022 2-45-07PM M: 20220731_144507 31 Jul 2022 2-45-07PM C: 20220731_144507 31 Jul 2022 2-45-07PM B: 20220731_144507 31 Jul 2022 2-45-07PM /Users/«macOS user ID»/Library/Logs/Plex Media Server/Plex Transcoder Statistics.5.log
-rw-r–r-- 1 «macOS user ID» staff 935 A: 20220731_150005 31 Jul 2022 3-00-05PM M: 20220731_150005 31 Jul 2022 3-00-05PM C: 20220731_150005 31 Jul 2022 3-00-05PM B: 20220731_150005 31 Jul 2022 3-00-05PM /Users/«macOS user ID»/Library/Logs/Plex Media Server/Plex Transcoder Statistics.log
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I have uploaded the ZIP archive containing all of the above:

Plex for Apple TV app 8.6 bug–can’t play TV.zip (483.8 KB)

13

Try turning off hardware encoding and then try again.

Jul 29, 2022 16:37:44.762 [0x700006aeb000] ERROR - [Req#37a/Transcode] [FFMPEG] - Error: cannot create compression session: -12908
Jul 29, 2022 16:37:44.762 [0x700006aeb000] ERROR - [Req#37a/Transcode] [FFMPEG] - Try -allow_sw 1. The hardware encoder may be busy, or not supported.
Jul 29, 2022 16:37:44.762 [0x700006aeb000] WARN - [Req#37a/Transcode] Codecs: avcodec_open2 returned -542398533 for encoder ‘h264_videotoolbox’

The logs clearly state it’s trying to use hardware and it’s failing. So an iMac 11 is not likely going to support it. Just throwing this out there.

14

I applied the PMS for Mac 1.28.0.5999 update on my MacPro (2008) server today, and now Plex is broken and cannot list or find my content living on the hard drives. I get the triangle “There was a problem” icon, no info what the problem is. Really aggravated I can’t just roll back to the last version which was working 3 days ago.
2008 Mac Pro, MacOS 10.11.6, Firefox 78.10.0esr
Plex needs to provide a fix, this is clearly caused by this update.

15

There is no reason for you to need to install XCode or anything like that. Please follow our guidelines for retrieving and supplying logs, as I’ve linked here. Apple TV Logs and Server Logs.

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DaveBinM,

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Thank you for your reply. Someone earlier referenced those same links, which I did carefully read.

Unfortunately, the Plex Apple TV Logs support page

https://support.plex.tv/articles/212639598-apple-tv-logs/

is obsolete and completely inaccurate, both with respect to current Apple TV hardware and Plex for Apple TV app version 8.6.

Apple TV 4K’s do not have a USB port, rather only one Ethernet port and one HDMI port.

Plex for Apple TV 8.6 does not have a setting Enable Log Download—the only setting enables sending crash reports (but does not specify to whom, by the way). In as much as the Plex for Apple TV app isn’t crashing, it is not surprising that no crash reports arose from either of my failed tests yesterday (31 July 2022), nor arising from Plex for Apple TV app version 8.6 at any other time. (The Plex for Apple TV app last crash report on my Apple TV is dated 15 June 2022.)

Further, while others may think installing arbitrary third-party apps is a safe practice, I do not. My experience as a software engineer and engineering manager screams the opposite.

Apple Xcode is free from Apple. I can think of no reason to use any other product. Having never used Xcode, it took me only a few minutes to establish access to what appear to be comprehensive log messages on my Apple TV. (I suspect that from very painful experience, even if my Apple TV did have a USB port, I would have wasted a lot more time researching, downloading, installing, setting-up, and learning LemonJar or other similar products.)

Regarding log files of PMS, I merely copied all recent such files so as to capture contemporaneous PMS activity.

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DaveBinM, beyond all of the above, did you actually read my entire post and look at the files that I submitted?

I’ve taken a lot of my time patiently documenting this major bug and Plex issues. Bugs happen. I don’t take such personally. I’m absolutely sure that Plex engineers and testers did not intentionally render my wife’s surgery convalescence tedious and boring due to her lack of access to all the TV shows and movies recorded in preparation.

Why did you publicly post a snarky attempt to school (or worse) a customer trying to help Plex and its other customers?

17

It definitely does.

Within the Plex app, Settings → [Debugging] → Enable Log Download
(It’s kinda towards the bottom.)

I agree that the support page should be updated - the cable-based instructions are a combination of outdated and irrelevant. They should probably be removed completely.

If device console logs are truly required, that should probably be an entirely separate support page.

But I don’t think that’s what you’re being asked to do! The network/downloaded logs from the Plex app should be the first step.

(As a bystander - I didn’t take Dave’s message as snarky. I think he was trying to redirect to a simpler option, instead of the complicated & impossible cable path.)

1 Like
18

There was nothing snarky about my reply. I saw someone doing something in an incredibly complicated way, compared to simply hitting download in the Plex Web app for server logs, and enabling log downloads in the Apple TV app (which is most definitely present, as I used it yesterday), and was attempting to help them find an easier way to achieve what they were doing.

While the Apple TV 4Ks do not have a USB port, the 4th gen Apple TV HD (which is still made and sold) does have a USB-C port, which can be used to retrieve logs, should someone wish to do it that way. I did read through all of your post, and the logs you posted. However, those logs you posted from the Apple TV are not really useful at all to us, we need the logs to be retrieved as we instruct, because what you get out of them is quite different. There is no reason to take that type of tone. On a different note, I hope your wife has a smooth recovery from surgery.

19

sixxnet,

Thank you for your suggestion, and especially for taking the time to actually review the logs.

Like you, I did notice the transcoding errors that logged two days earlier.

When researching PMS for Mac potential hosts months ago, I was aware that the selected PMS host Mac’s i7-870 (4-core + hyper-threading => “8-core”) processor did not include Intel Quick Sync Video support, but could not find Plex documentation as to whether Plex would utilize that Mac’s much more powerful ATI Radeon HD 5750 GPU. Prior to Plex for Apple TV 8.6 installation, the original PMS configuration, including the HW transcoding setting, did not appear to cause any issues.

This bug only manifested upon Plex for Apple TV app 8.6 automatic installation.

When I get time, I will try disabling HW transcoding. (My wife had surgery late last week, so I’ve been quite busy.)

20

I also can’t see an attempt to tune in the PMS logs, and the transcoder is having a number of issues with the video you’re trying to play. Can you please provide a sample file of one of the affected recordings?

EDIT: Debug logging also doesn’t seem to be enabled. Please enable that, and then reproduce issue again before providing more logs. Details about that can be found here.

21

On Mac, Plex uses Apple’s VideoToolbox APIs for acceleration.

https://support.plex.tv/articles/115002178853-using-hardware-accelerated-streaming/

I don’t think the Radeon HD 5750’s “ATI Stream” is supported by VideoToolbox. That was the very early days of GPU acceleration. I think it was only supported by a few specific applications.

I’m not suggesting this is the cause of the new problems, obviously.

22

This seems to be Plex marking Firefox 78.10esr as obsolete and no longer supported. You can’t state that you build Plex Media Server for Macs back to 10.9 if you disable the browsers that only go up so far because of the machine’s OS. Not everybody is running this on a machine just a couple years old. And also, if you’re sending out an update that’s going to render my setup useless, you darn well better pre-emptively warn the customer not to update anymore. I ended up downloading the last version of 1.27 from a copycat site, turned off (hopefully) all abilitiy for PMS to update itself, and will never update the software again.