Server Version#: 1.41.4.9463
Player Version#: 4.143.0
After upgrading my PMS to the latest version available for my DS920+ (running DSM 7.2.2-72806 Update 3), transcoding fails.
As far as I can tell from the logs, the h264 codec is missing and upon download, the Plex webserver returns a 429:
Feb 14, 2025 19:56:19.047 [139868376984376] INFO - [Req#b3/Transcode] CodecManager: obtaining decoder 'h264'
Feb 14, 2025 19:56:19.047 [139868376984376] DEBUG - [Req#b3/Transcode/HCl#48] HTTP requesting GET https://plex.tv/api/codecs/h264_decoder?build=linux-x86_64-standard&deviceId={deviceID}&oldestPreviousVersion=1%2E24%2E5%2E5173-8dcc73a59&version=e613bce-97f23d579c1001d8e9cc0d2e
Feb 14, 2025 19:56:19.077 [139868464474936] **DEBUG - [HttpClient/HCl#48] HTTP/1.1 (0.0s) 429 response from GET https://plex.tv/api/codecs/h264_decoder?build=linux-x86_64-standard&deviceId={deviceID}&oldestPreviousVersion=1%2E24%2E5%2E5173-8dcc73a59&version=e613bce-97f23d579c1001d8e9cc0d2e (reused)**
Feb 14, 2025 19:56:19.077 [139868424203064] ERROR - [Req#b3/Transcode] Codecs: Failed to download XML for codec 'h264_decoder'
Feb 14, 2025 19:56:19.077 [139868376984376] ERROR - [Req#b3/Transcode] Error configuring transcoder: Decoder install failed: h264
Feb 14, 2025 19:56:19.077 [139868376984376] DEBUG - [Req#b3/Transcode] Streaming Resource: Terminating session 0x7f35a59c6808:fzz4c9ujaujcxu3p27r56xxq which is using transcoder slot. Used slots is now 0
Feb 14, 2025 19:56:19.077 [139868376984376] DEBUG - [Req#b3/Transcode] Streaming Resource: Terminated session 0x7f35a59c6808:fzz4c9ujaujcxu3p27r56xxq with reason Conversion failed. A required codec could not be found or failed to install.
The body of the 429 response reads: Response code=“429” status=“Limit of devices using codec exceeded”
The HTTP 429 error is Plex.tv telling you “Too many download attempts”
(PMS will continue to download the codec until it succeeds. Plex.tv is putting on the limits)
When PMS is unable to install the codec (root problem)
and probably no longer in your logs (would need the entire “Plex Media Server.log.*” set to be certain.
Most common causes of this problem are:
DNS (doesn’t look to be the case in what you shared)
PMS cannot save the codec (not reported in logs)
Given #2 is the more likely scenario, then somewhere in the PlexMediaServer share folder, user PlexMediaServer does not own everything at the Linux level
What have you done in the PlexMediaServer shared folder?
Obviously, you’ve minimally tried to upload a codec (wrong username??)
Thanks Chuck. Don’t think that is the issue either as I have made sure to update the permissions of the file to match the rest of the Codecs directory.
drwx------+ 1 PlexMediaServer PlexMediaServer 218 Feb 14 20:28 ..
-rwx------ 1 PlexMediaServer PlexMediaServer 1596480 Feb 14 20:28 libh264_decoder.so
Other than this file I have not touched the rest of the directory structure, it is all owned by the PlexMediaServer user and group.
Thanks Chuck, really appreciate the speedy response.
It would be great to have an option in the server config to opt out of automated codec downloads/updates, possibly paired with an option to upload them to the server manually. Not all people can or want to have their PMS permanently online.
Thanks for the heads up Chuck. I am also seeing this issue and after a little digging came to report it. Happy to know the team is on top of things. Cheers!
lol
