plex wont play avi

General Discussions
1

I updated to the new version of the plex server on march 19 and since the update I can’t get plex to play avi files…almost all of our movies are avi files…any help would be greatly appreciated in resolving this problem

2

Hello, and welcome to the forums!

Please update to Plex Server 0.9.16.3
If after that, AVI playback still fails,

  • please note which plex clients you use
  • please deliver the mediainfo XML of one such failing AVI
3

I have updated to the latest plex server…we have roku 3’s for all our tv’s and all avi files will not play…ive gotten one movie to play and its an mkv file i believe

4

You are the first to report the issue. So please deliver an example mediainfo XML.
Knowing which generation of Roku you have would be helpful too. (there were several with differing abilities)
Have you made sure you are on 0.9.16.3? Please don’t say “Latest”.

5

Yes it is 0.9.16.3…we have roku 3 im not exactly sure what mediainfo xml is

6

I set a link above. It provides a detailed analysis of what is actually in that AVI file, which is important to diagnose the issue.

If you can get to your server logfiles, a logfile covering a playback attempt would be also very useful.

While performing the following, please don’t do anything else in Plex like playing, browsing or scanning.

  1. activate debug logging (not ‘verbose’!)
  2. quit Plex Server
  3. wait 1 minute
  4. empty the log folder
  5. start Plex Server
  6. wait 2 minutes
  7. attempt to play one AVI video.
  8. wait 3 minutes
  9. shut down Plex server
  10. wait 1 minute
  11. zip up the whole log folder and attach it here
7

1 of 2 pics

8

2 of 2 pics

9

On the left lower edge of that window is View XML link which takes you to the XML view.
From there you can copy the text and paste it into a forum message or into a txt file which you can attach to your post.

10 
-<MediaContainer mediaTagVersion="1458576656" mediaTagPrefix="/system/bundle/media/flags/" librarySectionUUID="f75cc790-e9ef-4c7d-9a08-72eebd95677a" librarySectionTitle="Kids Movies " librarySectionID="2" identifier="com.plexapp.plugins.library" allowSync="1" size="1">


-<Video title="Cars" librarySectionID="2" chapterSource="agent" audienceRatingImage="rottentomatoes://image.rating.upright" updatedAt="1458784644" addedAt="1349722587" originallyAvailableAt="2006-06-09" duration="6990449" art="/library/metadata/697/art/1458784644" thumb="/library/metadata/697/thumb/1458784644" tagline="Ahhh... it's got that new movie smell." year="2006" audienceRating="8.0" rating="6.3" summary="Lightning McQueen, a hotshot rookie race car driven to succeed, discovers that life is about the journey, not the finish line, when he finds himself unexpectedly detoured in the sleepy Route 66 town of Radiator Springs. On route across the country to the big Piston Cup Championship in California to compete against two seasoned pros, McQueen gets to know the town's offbeat characters." contentRating="G" type="movie" studio="Walt Disney Pictures" guid="com.plexapp.agents.imdb://tt0317219?lang=en" key="/library/metadata/697" ratingKey="697">


-<Media duration="6990449" videoProfile="advanced simple" videoFrameRate="24p" container="avi" videoCodec="mpeg4" audioCodec="mp3" audioChannels="2" aspectRatio="2.35" height="238" width="576" bitrate="843" id="802" videoResolution="sd">


-<Part size="736210944" duration="6990449" key="/library/parts/920/file.avi" videoProfile="advanced simple" container="avi" id="920" file="E:\Kids Movies\Cars.avi" exists="1" accessible="1">

<Stream duration="6990442" height="238" width="576" bitrate="721" id="789" scanType="progressive" qpel="0" profile="asp" pixelFormat="yuv420p" level="5" gmc="0" frameRate="23.976" codecID="DX50" chromaSubsampling="4:2:0" bitDepth="8" index="0" codec="mpeg4" streamType="1"/>

<Stream duration="6990096" bitrate="112" id="790" codecID="55" index="1" codec="mp3" streamType="2" streamIdentifier="1" samplingRate="48000" bitrateMode="cbr" audioChannelLayout="stereo" channels="2" selected="1"/>

</Part>
</Video>

</MediaContainer>
11

Thank you for the media info. That is something to work with.
Any chance you could fetch the log files too?

12

I will get them…how do i do it

13

@nlmusicman said:
I will get them…how do i do it

This I already wrote above (follow the hyperlinks), the 11-step howto

14

log file from avi

15

This is the log file from your plex web client.
I need the Plex Media Server.log file.
https://support.plex.tv/hc/en-us/articles/200250417

16

there is another log there plex DLNA server Neptune

17

Settings - Server - Network - Secure Connections
please set this to ‘disabled’
Then stop and restart Plex Server
Then retry the playback, both in Plex Web and on your Roku.

18

Here is another test to confirm a suspicion of mine:

Could you please downgrade Plex server to version 0.9.15.6 and repeat the playback attempts?

Downgrading won’t change anything about your libraries.

  • Download the installer for PMS version 0.9.15.6 from here
  • quit/end Plex server
  • deinstall Plex Server regularly with the Windows control panel (Remove programs)
  • wait 2 minutes
  • install the older Plex version, when asked at the end of the installation whether to start Plex - say No. Instead, end the installation program and start plex server with its icon in the start menu
19

I set the secure connections to disabled and now everything works again…thank you so much…next time I do a server update Ill be checking that setting…again thank you so much

20

I have downloaded the new plex server version 0.9.16.4 and plex wont play avi or mkv files on the web app or the Roku 3 it will just play mp4 files…I have checked the secure connections and its set to disabled