I installed the Plex software with no problems two days ago, organized my music libraries, and started playing music on my smart TV (Sony) successfully. Everything was going well and I was very happy with Plex. That was yesterday – today, not so happy.
I keep getting “an error occurred while playing this item” on music items that played yesterday with no problem, and I can’t figure out why. I have searched the forum and the web for a solution and have come up dry. The latest forum posts on the subject are getting old, and no new updates have been added recently.
What is causing this? Can anyone help?
Thanks!
Server Version#: 4.128.1
Player Version#:
<If providing server logs please do NOT turn on verbose logging, only debug logging should be enabled>
So, it seems (I am using GTV) that Plex music playing stops after some time (like 30+ mins) for me also. Once it hits this state, it will no longer play anything from music library. I am trying to figure this out myself now – you can reset it (you have to KILL the plex app in GTV – or restart GTV – to have it stream anything new. BUT after 20-30 mins, same thing.
What format audio do you have (just wondering if that is the issue). I am using FLAC for all music.
To me this is a critical DEFECT and without it being fixed it is unusable on GTV. Not a good look Plex on a very popular streaming platform. Never mind the music player is so basic … it needs (a lot) of work.
Streaming works fine on other platforms so I believe this is GTV/Android TV client issue.
If there are any plex folsk reading this – I can supply logs as needed.
So, just some additional info. based on logs I see, looks like the server side thinks it’s now looking at a video type of item (its a FLAC song in a queue on the client) – which I suspect the client can’t play (obviously). See the logs below for the attempt to stream the next song (this is the first set of logs after playing a successful song):
Apr 20, 2024 09:49:55.620 [1648] DEBUG - [Req#3ede5] We’re going to try to auto-select an audio stream for account 1.
Apr 20, 2024 09:49:55.620 [1648] DEBUG - [Req#3ede5] Selecting best audio stream for part ID 29087 (language: en)
Apr 20, 2024 09:49:55.620 [1648] DEBUG - [Req#3ede5] We’re going to try to auto-select a subtitle for account 1.
Apr 20, 2024 09:49:55.620 [1648] DEBUG - [Req#3ede5] Audio Stream: 51007, Subtitle Stream: -1
Apr 20, 2024 09:49:55.620 [1648] DEBUG - [Req#3ede5] [Now] User is XXXXX (ID: 1)
Apr 20, 2024 09:49:55.620 [1648] DEBUG - [Req#3ede5] [Now] Device is Android (Family Room TV).
Apr 20, 2024 09:49:55.621 [1648] DEBUG - [Req#3ede5] [Now] Profile is Android
Apr 20, 2024 09:49:55.621 [1648] DEBUG - [Req#3ede5] [Now] Updated play state for /library/metadata/18583.
Apr 20, 2024 09:49:55.621 [1648] DEBUG - [Req#3ede5] Statistics: (c5705e8cc93dcee9-com-plexapp-android) Reporting active playback in state 0 of type 10 (scrobble: 0) for account 1
The previous successful playback of music did no such ‘auto-select’. Looks to me like something got confused about what the content type is!
I’m using wav files, mostly – with a few mp4 and mp3 scattered among the lot. Curiously, this problem comes and goes. Some days, Plex works fine and other days I can’t play a single song from ANY album with seeing the dreaded “an error occurred while playing this item”. Thankfully tho, I haven’t encountered the problem you’re seeing (i.e., the music stopping). My setup is the similar to yours.
I’ll keep using Plex because I really like it, but I won’t pay extra to see it fail occasionally.
And when Plex fails, my alternate plan is employing the Pi Music Player on my tablet, connected to my sound bar via Bluetooth.
Cheers and I hope you can work it out,
Running into this exact same issue as well, absolutely ridiculous since it didn’t used to. Workaround I was able to connect using air play, still absolutely insane that this workaround is even needed when I used to be able to just click and play.
I have the same issue on my Sony TV. Plex used to play my music library wonderfully, but hasn’t worked well since it got hacked a couple of years ago. My music library plays great for about a half hour and then I get an “An Error Occurred While Playing This Item” notice and Plex no longer plays any music. It will still play my movie library perfectly even after the error notice, but it will no longer play any music. I can either wait until the next day when it will play music again, or I can reset the TV (my TV has a reset option) or I can erase the cache in the Plex App. I can’t seem to find a permanent fix/solution. As I stated before, Plex used to work great on the very same TV and setup. Not sure what Plex did, but I wish that they would undo it.
