Plex will not play a video. I can play the file outside of Plex.

[rubymotorsport]

So I have files I’ve ripped from blu rays, and it won’t play. I just get the Orange spinning circle and no error messages. Other videos play perfectly and other blu rays play perfectly as well.

I’ve downloaded the logs and I think it’s a transcoding issue, but I don’t know enough to work out what the issue might be.

I have Plex running as a docker on an Unraid server.

The logs:

May 12, 2025 21:02:48.073 [22816135953208] DEBUG - [Req#16f/Transcode] We’re going to try to auto-select an audio stream for account 1. May 12, 2025 21:02:48.073 [22816135953208] DEBUG - [Req#16f/Transcode] Selecting best audio stream for part ID 1094 (language: )
May 12, 2025 21:02:48.073 [22816135953208] DEBUG - [Req#16f/Transcode] We’re going to try to auto-select a subtitle for account 1.
May 12, 2025 21:02:48.073 [22816135953208] DEBUG - [Req#16f/Transcode] Audio Stream: 2675, Subtitle Stream: -1 May 12, 2025 21:02:48.075 [22816135953208] DEBUG - [Req#16f/Transcode] MDE: Selected protocol dash; container: mp4
May 12, 2025 21:02:48.075 [22816135953208] DEBUG - [Req#16f/Transcode] MDE: analyzing media item 1082
May 12, 2025 21:02:48.075 [22816135953208] DEBUG - [Req#16f/Transcode] MDE: E1 - Pilot: Direct Play is disabled
May 12, 2025 21:02:48.075 [22816135953208] DEBUG - [Req#16f/Transcode] MDE: E1 - Pilot: media must be transcoded in order to use the dash protocol
May 12, 2025 21:02:48.075 [22816135953208] DEBUG - [Req#16f/Transcode] MDE: E1 - Pilot: no direct play video profile exists for http/mkv/h264 May 12, 2025 21:02:48.075 [22816135953208] DEBUG - [Req#16f/Transcode] MDE: E1 - Pilot: no direct play video profile exists for http/mkv/h264/ac3
May 12, 2025 21:02:48.075 [22816135953208] DEBUG - [Req#16f/Transcode] MDE: E1 - Pilot: Audio Direct Streaming is disabled, so video’s audio stream will be transcoded May 12, 2025 21:02:48.075 [22816135953208] DEBUG - [Req#16f/Transcode] MDE: Cannot direct stream audio stream due to profile or setting limitations

[rubymotorsport]

I’ve accidentally found this issue here.

It won’t play on Brave browser, but will on Firefox.

[Divideby0]

Try an analysis on the video. (I keep bringing this up in other posts, maybe I’m finally right here!) I’ve had a spinny circle issue watching some files, and it appears that Plex can lose / forget your media’s metadata such as codec, length, etc. Analyze can force it to scan the file, and determine how it should play the file on certain devices.