There are some movies and some TV shows that I can’t play. I’ve tried the web player, the tv app and the android app with the same results. I can however play these files with VLC and other media players. I’ve tried to reanalyze but the issue persists. What could be causing such behavior? Server is running version 1.10.1.4602 on Ubuntu Server.
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details please…
can you post/attach information of those files? you can e.g. use Show Information from the movie context menu in Plex and either copy that information or use the Show XML from that dialog and attach the result. alternatively you could use an app called MediaInfo to post your file information.
it’s rather not typical behavior… what happens when you attempt to play the files from Plex – nothing at all, endless buffering…?!
Here’s two examples that aren’t working. When I attempt to play the files they just get stuck at 0:00 buffering endlessly.
Please perform the following steps
- Make certain only DEBUG logging is enabled. (Not Verbose)
- Recreate the problem.
- Wait 20 seconds after terminating the playback attempt. This allows everything to get to the log files
- Settings - Server - Help - Download Logs
- Attach the ZIP file it presents you here with your next post.
Here’s the ZIP file with the logs
Thanks for the logs
I’m seeing what appears to be a problem with your PMS transcoder temp directory. Is it on a network share? If so, PMS needs it to be on a local drive (file locking). If it’s on a local drive, then I suggest you check the local drive’s integrity.
Jan 22, 2018 13:55:42.001 [0x7f317fffd700] ERROR - [Transcoder] [eac3_eae @ 0x297c780] EAE timeout! EAE not running, or wrong folder? Could not read '/tmp/pms-5517469d-97e1-42bd-8a48-f69e60f5b05c/EasyAudioEncoder/Convert to WAV (to 8ch or less)/oylautzw53nefb7yzlqq8shm_5506-1-0.wav'
Jan 22, 2018 13:55:42.002 [0x7f31a57fd700] ERROR - [Transcoder] [eac3_eae @ 0x297c780] error reading output
Jan 22, 2018 13:55:42.004 [0x7f317fffd700] ERROR - [Transcoder] Error while decoding stream #0:1: Input/output error
Jan 22, 2018 13:55:42.005 [0x7f31a57fd700] DEBUG - Request: [127.0.0.1:59206 (Loopback)] PUT /video/:/transcode/session/oylautzw53nefb7yzlqq8shm/bb773d75-a009-4f32-afad-4548694db6cc/progress?progress=0.0&size=-22&remaining=-1&speed=0.0 (11 live) Signed-in Token (jfbmaia)
Jan 22, 2018 13:55:42.019 [0x7f31a5ffe700] DEBUG - Completed: [127.0.0.1:59206] 206 PUT /v
Well, I run PMS inside a docker container with the transcode directory mapped to a local drive. While trying to figure out what was wrong I restarted the container and it seem to have fixed the issue. Still I don’t really know if it was about the trancode directory since some other files would transcode without any problem.
Anyway, I would like to thank you very much for you help 
Knowing it was Docker based up front would have helped.
Perhaps a note for future reference ??
Hi @ChuckPa - I am having this same issue. Upfront, I am running it in Docker on a OMV NAS
Logs attached.
Running Version 1.13.5.5291 (server says it’s up-to-date) - linux based. Have tried all the usual troubleshooting (new docker image, new containers, server restarts, drive integrity etc.) .
It just kind of happened out of the blue a week ago - everything was playing fine. Then noticed only direct (only non-transcoded files like h264 and avi I think), and past few days nothing will play - all formats. Just get the infinite loading wheel. Thanks in advance.Plex Media Server Logs_2018-08-10_16-08-33.zip (2.3 MB)
Docker AND OMV??? 
Are you trying to give me a heart attack? LOL
Whatever changed with your networking config, PMS isn’t able to download the codecs.
Aug 10, 2018 15:20:01.590 [0x7f0af03ff700] DEBUG - Request: [192.168.1.125:64960 (Subnet)] GET /playQueues/173?repeat=0&own=1&includeChapters=1&includeGeolocation=1 (10 live) GZIP Signed-in Token (crouchpotato)
Aug 10, 2018 15:20:01.591 [0x7f0ae17f4700] ERROR - [Transcoder] Unknown decoder 'h264'
Aug 10, 2018 15:20:01.592 [0x7f0af03ff700] DEBUG - PlayQueue: total generated: 1, before cursor: 0, after cursor: 0
Aug 10, 2018 15:20:01.593 [0x7f0af03ff700] DEBUG - PlayQueue: No need to refresh, active window is operational.
Aug 10, 2018 15:20:01.593 [0x7f0aee7ff700] DEBUG - Jobs: '/usr/lib/plexmediaserver/Plex Transcoder' exit code for process 26948 is 1 (failure)
Aug 10, 2018 15:20:01.600 [0x7f0af03ff700] DEBUG - PlayQueue: Client 8giele7caxssn7jqgfpes3tn requested ownership of play queue 173, but already had it.
Aug 10, 2018 15:20:01.602 [0x7f0af03ff700] DEBUG - We're going to try to auto-select an audio stream for account 1
The H.264 decoder is downloaded from plex.tv on first use…
I’m not sure what could have done it. I haven’t altered the network settings in as long as I can remember.
There’s not much in the way of variable to change for the docker container (attached image).
The container has full access to the net and read/write on the drives. It’s all local. It’s processing new media fine (grabbing metadata, subtitles, artwork etc.) Just doesn’t want to play anything.
I’m using the Linuxserver/plex image.
Give this a try?
- Stop the container
- Go into the Metadata from the filesystem side. Get into the
Codecsdirectory. - Delete the H264 decoder if it exists. It may be a partial or zero-length file
- Give a quick double-check of UID/GID for uniformity
- Start it up
- Attempt to play again. Note: It will now attempt to download the codec again.
- If this fails, it’s time to inspect the transcoder temporary directory
Here’s what’s currently in there, for reference.
Deleted the 264 decoder. Started back up. Tried to play a file - same infinte load. Can see PMS has replaced/downloaded the decoder again. 
Have now noticed that I can now (maybe always could) play an MP4/ACC file - I guess there’s no transcoding involved?
Still no dice on everything else (avi, mkv, etc.)
What are you trying to play? That 28 Mbps file? Subtitles? Transcoding to a lower bitrate? (what are the player’s payback settings)
Not sure sorry - have been testing heaps of files for combinations that work/don’t-work (most don’t).
Re: subtitles, it seems to just pull subtitels for every file (english audio or not), so I would just turn them off when watching something. Global playback for “Internet streaming”, in Quality settings, is set to ‘maxium’ for video - just using web-player (chrome) at the moment, but back when it was working I would also use iOS app and stream to chromecast sometimes.
For ‘Home streaming’ I have the ‘use recommended setting’ box checked.
Perhaps of note - in the Transcoding tap, there is nothing in the directory field. This has it has always been setup though - back when it was working fine on all media for over a year, so not sure that’s relevant.
Let us first worry about playing locally. Ignore “Internet streaming quality”.
The transcoder temporary directory does not matter at this point. It is more than fast enough.
We will test with one file on one device. It is impossible to work with multiple files and devices in this scenario if I do not have all the data.
LAN (home): Do not use “Recommended”. Set manually to: Original/maximum quality
Subtitle burning: Image formats only OR “OFF”
Find and play a file which is MP4, Do not play the AVI because it is PAL and interlaced. This must be transcoded.
I first want DirectPlay and DirectStream (audio) working. This will verify all decoding and remux is working as it should with minimal load on the CPU. Speaking of CPU… How many cores have you allocated to PMS? All of them?
Before I lose this bookmark, this is the CPU performance barrier we have to deal with. It will impact heavily for playback of some files so you must be careful in managing expectations.
https://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=AMD+A10-7860K
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Understood re: focusing on 1 thing at t a time.
Changing from Recommended to Maximum (doesn’t seem to be an ‘original’ option in the drop-down for me) and subtitles to image-only has got MP4 files working now (YAY!)
All CPU cores are available for plex.
No worries re: the CPU performance. Only looking to play files at this point - it’s a budget build, so not too fussed about top quality at this stage.
So that leaves us with the other files - MKV and avi
Look at the codec in the MKV… MKV, AVI, MP4 are only containers… the Encoding matters (what the media info / xml shows)
Here’s an example of an MKV file that won’t play
Codec H264
Bitrate 2603 kbps
Closed Captions 1
Frame Rate 23.976 fps
Height 720
Level 3.1
Profile main
Ref Frames 1
Scan Type progressive
Width 1280
Display Title Unknown (H.264 Main)
Codec AAC
Channels Stereo
Profile lc
Sampling Rate 44100 Hz
Display Title Unknown (AAC Stereo)
Codec EIA_608
Embedded In Video 1
Display Title Unknown (EIA_608)
HandBrake it. It doesn’t have enough Ref Frames (should be 4)
