Possible video file corruption

Plex Media Server
1

Server Version#: 1.20.1.3252
Player Version#: 4.42.1

I would like to start off with I did recently have some Plex database corruption, as well as a drive fail from my array. I am not sure if either of these have a factor on what I am seeing.

Plex Database Corruption

After rebuilding the array and rebuilding the database, the server has been running stable, with one exception. I am starting to find files that tend to stutter and skip during playback. It isn’t all files, but I am finding more and more. My first thought was I have experienced some file corruption in addition to the database corruption. I use Tautulli to help monitor playback and see history, and I have seen when the suspect files are being played they will stats such as original quality 8.6 Mbps bandwidth 38.2 Mpbs, this example is for a blu-ray file. Normally the stats would look more like original quality 36.5 Mbps bandwidth 38.2 Mpbs. Tonight I noticed something else about a suspect file, when I look at the media info for the file in Plex, I see the following.

Media

  • Duration 2:23:17
  • Bitrate 7655 kbps
  • Width 1920
  • Height 1080
  • Aspect Ratio 1.78
  • Video Resolution 1080p
  • Container MKV
  • Video Frame Rate 24p
  • Video Profile high
  • Overlay

Part

  • Duration 2:23:17
  • File 13_hours_(2016).mkv
  • Size 33.76 GB
  • Container MKV
  • Has Thumbnail 1
  • Indexes sd
  • Video Profile high
  • Codec H264
  • Bitrate 6108 kbps
  • Language English
  • Bit Depth 8
  • Chroma Location left
  • Chroma Subsampling 4:2:0
  • Coded Height 1088
  • Coded Width 1920
  • Frame Rate 23.976 fps
  • Height 1080
  • Level 4.1
  • Profile high
  • Ref Frames 4
  • Scan Type progressive
  • Width 1920
  • Display Title 1080p (H.264)
  • Extended Display Title 1080p (H.264)

I have highlighted the bitrate, which is way off, it should be more like 30198 kbps and 26902 kbps. I am not sure where this information is pulled from, but it got me thinking about metadata, possibly within the .MKV files.

So far this seems to almost exclusively be on the blu-ray files, which are obviously much larger than DVD files. I have seen it on one DVD, but I want to look closer at that one as I haven’t found any others yet. Does this look like file corruption and I need to replace files as I come across them or is this something with the metadata that could possibly be fixed. I am happy to answer any questions or provide logs to help troubleshoot this issue.

On a side note, it looks like my blobs database hasn’t had a backup since my error in August. Not sure if that points to anything related.

username@servername:~$ ls -l /canister/plexmediaserver/Library/Application\ Support/Plex\ Media\ Server/Plug-in\ Support/Databases/
total 2689716
-rw-r--r-- 1 plex plex     69632 Feb 14  2018 com.plexapp.dlna.db
-rw-r--r-- 1 plex plex     32768 Feb 14  2018 com.plexapp.dlna.db-shm
-rw-r--r-- 1 plex plex    292552 Feb 14  2018 com.plexapp.dlna.db-wal
-rw-r--r-- 1 plex plex 359989248 Aug 29 11:53 com.plexapp.plugins.library.blobs.db
-rw-r--r-- 1 plex plex 308517888 Aug  9 02:01 com.plexapp.plugins.library.blobs.db-2020-08-09
-rw-r--r-- 1 plex plex 308517888 Aug 12 02:02 com.plexapp.plugins.library.blobs.db-2020-08-12
-rw-r--r-- 1 plex plex 308517888 Aug 15 02:02 com.plexapp.plugins.library.blobs.db-2020-08-15
-rw-r--r-- 1 plex plex 310674432 Aug 18 02:04 com.plexapp.plugins.library.blobs.db-2020-08-18
-rw-r--r-- 1 plex plex     32768 Sep  6 17:47 com.plexapp.plugins.library.blobs.db-shm
-rw-r--r-- 1 plex plex         0 Sep  6 17:47 com.plexapp.plugins.library.blobs.db-wal
-rw-r--r-- 1 plex plex 192752640 Sep 19 20:43 com.plexapp.plugins.library.db
-rw-r--r-- 1 plex plex 190314496 Sep  8 02:02 com.plexapp.plugins.library.db-2020-09-08
-rw-r--r-- 1 plex plex 189015040 Sep 11 02:02 com.plexapp.plugins.library.db-2020-09-11
-rw-r--r-- 1 plex plex 192295936 Sep 14 02:02 com.plexapp.plugins.library.db-2020-09-14
-rw-r--r-- 1 plex plex 194877440 Sep 17 02:02 com.plexapp.plugins.library.db-2020-09-17
-rw-r--r-- 1 plex plex   1507328 Sep 19 20:47 com.plexapp.plugins.library.db-shm
-rw-r--r-- 1 plex plex 196829104 Sep 19 20:48 com.plexapp.plugins.library.db-wal
2

@ChuckPa Sorry to ping you, but do you have any thoughts or input on this issue?

3

what do you get with ffmpeg -i <filename> ?

4

Hmm, for some reason I don’t seem to have that installed. I thought it was built into the Plex core. Guess I need to install it, and the 105 packages that comes with it? That number seems off.

5

@ChuckPa Ok, I went ahead and installed ffmpeg, and the 105 related packages. Here is the output. I am not quite sure what I am looking at with this.

username@servername:~$ ffmpeg -i /canister/media/alternative/movies/13_hours_\(2016\).mkv
ffmpeg version 2.8.17-0ubuntu0.1 Copyright (c) 2000-2020 the FFmpeg developers
  built with gcc 5.4.0 (Ubuntu 5.4.0-6ubuntu1~16.04.12) 20160609
  configuration: --prefix=/usr --extra-version=0ubuntu0.1 --build-suffix=-ffmpeg --toolchain=hardened --libdir=/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu --incdir=/usr/include/x86_64-linux-gnu --cc=cc --cxx=g++ --enable-gpl --enable-shared --disable-stripping --disable-decoder=libopenjpeg --disable-decoder=libschroedinger --enable-avresample --enable-avisynth --enable-gnutls --enable-ladspa --enable-libass --enable-libbluray --enable-libbs2b --enable-libcaca --enable-libcdio --enable-libflite --enable-libfontconfig --enable-libfreetype --enable-libfribidi --enable-libgme --enable-libgsm --enable-libmodplug --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libopenjpeg --enable-libopus --enable-libpulse --enable-librtmp --enable-libschroedinger --enable-libshine --enable-libsnappy --enable-libsoxr --enable-libspeex --enable-libssh --enable-libtheora --enable-libtwolame --enable-libvorbis --enable-libvpx --enable-libwavpack --enable-libwebp --enable-libx265 --enable-libxvid --enable-libzvbi --enable-openal --enable-opengl --enable-x11grab --enable-libdc1394 --enable-libiec61883 --enable-libzmq --enable-frei0r --enable-libx264 --enable-libopencv
  libavutil      54. 31.100 / 54. 31.100
  libavcodec     56. 60.100 / 56. 60.100
  libavformat    56. 40.101 / 56. 40.101
  libavdevice    56.  4.100 / 56.  4.100
  libavfilter     5. 40.101 /  5. 40.101
  libavresample   2.  1.  0 /  2.  1.  0
  libswscale      3.  1.101 /  3.  1.101
  libswresample   1.  2.101 /  1.  2.101
  libpostproc    53.  3.100 / 53.  3.100
[mjpeg @ 0x1cbb120] Changeing bps to 8
[matroska,webm @ 0x1ca4340] Stream #8: not enough frames to estimate rate; consider increasing probesize
[matroska,webm @ 0x1ca4340] Could not find codec parameters for stream 6 (Subtitle: hdmv_pgs_subtitle (pgssub)): unspecified size
Consider increasing the value for the 'analyzeduration' and 'probesize' options
[matroska,webm @ 0x1ca4340] Could not find codec parameters for stream 7 (Subtitle: hdmv_pgs_subtitle (pgssub)): unspecified size
Consider increasing the value for the 'analyzeduration' and 'probesize' options
Input #0, matroska,webm, from '/canister/media/alternative/movies/13_hours_(2016).mkv':
  Metadata:
    title           : 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi
    encoder         : libmakemkv v1.14.7 (1.3.5/1.4.7) win(x64-release)
    creation_time   : 2020-01-10 19:58:05
  Duration: 02:24:29.54, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 33452 kb/s
    Chapter #0:0: start 0.000000, end 287.662375
    Metadata:
      title           : Chapter 01
    Chapter #0:1: start 287.662375, end 541.541000
    Metadata:
      title           : Chapter 02
    Chapter #0:2: start 541.541000, end 931.555625
    Metadata:
      title           : Chapter 03
    Chapter #0:3: start 931.555625, end 1272.229292
    Metadata:
      title           : Chapter 04
    Chapter #0:4: start 1272.229292, end 1608.773833
    Metadata:
      title           : Chapter 05
    Chapter #0:5: start 1608.773833, end 1882.755875
    Metadata:
      title           : Chapter 06
    Chapter #0:6: start 1882.755875, end 2060.058000
    Metadata:
      title           : Chapter 07
    Chapter #0:7: start 2060.058000, end 2376.123750
    Metadata:
      title           : Chapter 08
    Chapter #0:8: start 2376.123750, end 2832.871708
    Metadata:
      title           : Chapter 09
    Chapter #0:9: start 2832.871708, end 3239.027458
    Metadata:
      title           : Chapter 10
    Chapter #0:10: start 3239.027458, end 3747.744000
    Metadata:
      title           : Chapter 11
    Chapter #0:11: start 3747.744000, end 4203.324125
    Metadata:
      title           : Chapter 12
    Chapter #0:12: start 4203.324125, end 4982.477500
    Metadata:
      title           : Chapter 13
    Chapter #0:13: start 4982.477500, end 5231.100875
    Metadata:
      title           : Chapter 14
    Chapter #0:14: start 5231.100875, end 5690.685000
    Metadata:
      title           : Chapter 15
    Chapter #0:15: start 5690.685000, end 6156.358542
    Metadata:
      title           : Chapter 16
    Chapter #0:16: start 6156.358542, end 6488.148333
    Metadata:
      title           : Chapter 17
    Chapter #0:17: start 6488.148333, end 6827.278792
    Metadata:
      title           : Chapter 18
    Chapter #0:18: start 6827.278792, end 7222.882333
    Metadata:
      title           : Chapter 19
    Chapter #0:19: start 7222.882333, end 7639.465167
    Metadata:
      title           : Chapter 20
    Chapter #0:20: start 7639.465167, end 8305.422125
    Metadata:
      title           : Chapter 21
    Chapter #0:21: start 8305.422125, end 8669.536000
    Metadata:
      title           : Chapter 22
    Stream #0:0(eng): Video: h264 (High), yuv420p, 1920x1080 [SAR 1:1 DAR 16:9], 23.98 fps, 23.98 tbr, 1k tbn, 47.95 tbc
    Metadata:
      BPS-eng         : 26565392
      DURATION-eng    : 02:24:29.535875000
      NUMBER_OF_FRAMES-eng: 207861
      NUMBER_OF_BYTES-eng: 28788700071
      SOURCE_ID-eng   : 001011
      _STATISTICS_WRITING_APP-eng: MakeMKV v1.14.7 win(x64-release)
      _STATISTICS_WRITING_DATE_UTC-eng: 2020-01-10 19:58:05
      _STATISTICS_TAGS-eng: BPS DURATION NUMBER_OF_FRAMES NUMBER_OF_BYTES SOURCE_ID
    Stream #0:1(eng): Audio: truehd, 48000 Hz, 7.1, s32 (24 bit) (default)
    Metadata:
      title           : Surround 7.1
      BPS-eng         : 4641293
      DURATION-eng    : 02:24:29.536666666
      NUMBER_OF_FRAMES-eng: 10403444
      NUMBER_OF_BYTES-eng: 5029732466
      SOURCE_ID-eng   : 001100
      _STATISTICS_WRITING_APP-eng: MakeMKV v1.14.7 win(x64-release)
      _STATISTICS_WRITING_DATE_UTC-eng: 2020-01-10 19:58:05
      _STATISTICS_TAGS-eng: BPS DURATION NUMBER_OF_FRAMES NUMBER_OF_BYTES SOURCE_ID
    Stream #0:2(eng): Audio: ac3, 48000 Hz, 5.1(side), fltp, 640 kb/s
    Metadata:
      title           : Surround 5.1
      BPS-eng         : 640000
      DURATION-eng    : 02:24:29.536000000
      NUMBER_OF_FRAMES-eng: 270923
      NUMBER_OF_BYTES-eng: 693562880
      SOURCE_ID-eng   : 001100
      _STATISTICS_WRITING_APP-eng: MakeMKV v1.14.7 win(x64-release)
      _STATISTICS_WRITING_DATE_UTC-eng: 2020-01-10 19:58:05
      _STATISTICS_TAGS-eng: BPS DURATION NUMBER_OF_FRAMES NUMBER_OF_BYTES SOURCE_ID
    Stream #0:3(eng): Audio: ac3, 48000 Hz, 5.1(side), fltp, 640 kb/s
    Metadata:
      title           : Surround 5.1
      BPS-eng         : 640000
      DURATION-eng    : 02:24:29.536000000
      NUMBER_OF_FRAMES-eng: 270923
      NUMBER_OF_BYTES-eng: 693562880
      SOURCE_ID-eng   : 001101
      _STATISTICS_WRITING_APP-eng: MakeMKV v1.14.7 win(x64-release)
      _STATISTICS_WRITING_DATE_UTC-eng: 2020-01-10 19:58:05
      _STATISTICS_TAGS-eng: BPS DURATION NUMBER_OF_FRAMES NUMBER_OF_BYTES SOURCE_ID
    Stream #0:4(eng): Audio: ac3, 48000 Hz, stereo, fltp, 224 kb/s
    Metadata:
      title           : Stereo
      BPS-eng         : 224000
      DURATION-eng    : 02:24:29.536000000
      NUMBER_OF_FRAMES-eng: 270923
      NUMBER_OF_BYTES-eng: 242747008
      SOURCE_ID-eng   : 001102
      _STATISTICS_WRITING_APP-eng: MakeMKV v1.14.7 win(x64-release)
      _STATISTICS_WRITING_DATE_UTC-eng: 2020-01-10 19:58:05
      _STATISTICS_TAGS-eng: BPS DURATION NUMBER_OF_FRAMES NUMBER_OF_BYTES SOURCE_ID
    Stream #0:5(eng): Audio: ac3, 48000 Hz, 5.1(side), fltp, 640 kb/s
    Metadata:
      title           : Surround 5.1
      BPS-eng         : 640000
      DURATION-eng    : 02:24:29.536000000
      NUMBER_OF_FRAMES-eng: 270923
      NUMBER_OF_BYTES-eng: 693562880
      SOURCE_ID-eng   : 001106
      _STATISTICS_WRITING_APP-eng: MakeMKV v1.14.7 win(x64-release)
      _STATISTICS_WRITING_DATE_UTC-eng: 2020-01-10 19:58:05
      _STATISTICS_TAGS-eng: BPS DURATION NUMBER_OF_FRAMES NUMBER_OF_BYTES SOURCE_ID
    Stream #0:6(eng): Subtitle: hdmv_pgs_subtitle (default)
    Metadata:
      BPS-eng         : 42213
      DURATION-eng    : 02:14:24.577354166
      NUMBER_OF_FRAMES-eng: 4086
      NUMBER_OF_BYTES-eng: 42553871
      SOURCE_ID-eng   : 001200
      _STATISTICS_WRITING_APP-eng: MakeMKV v1.14.7 win(x64-release)
      _STATISTICS_WRITING_DATE_UTC-eng: 2020-01-10 19:58:05
      _STATISTICS_TAGS-eng: BPS DURATION NUMBER_OF_FRAMES NUMBER_OF_BYTES SOURCE_ID
    Stream #0:7(eng): Subtitle: hdmv_pgs_subtitle
    Metadata:
      BPS-eng         : 47270
      DURATION-eng    : 02:15:02.865604166
      NUMBER_OF_FRAMES-eng: 4548
      NUMBER_OF_BYTES-eng: 47878158
      SOURCE_ID-eng   : 001201
      _STATISTICS_WRITING_APP-eng: MakeMKV v1.14.7 win(x64-release)
      _STATISTICS_WRITING_DATE_UTC-eng: 2020-01-10 19:58:05
      _STATISTICS_TAGS-eng: BPS DURATION NUMBER_OF_FRAMES NUMBER_OF_BYTES SOURCE_ID
    Stream #0:8: Video: mjpeg, yuvj444p(pc, bt470bg/unknown/unknown), 640x360 [SAR 72:72 DAR 16:9], 90k tbr, 90k tbn, 90k tbc
    Metadata:
      filename        : cover.jpg
      mimetype        : image/jpeg
At least one output file must be specified
6

thanks. and I am sorry for the boo-koo extra packages

Input #0, matroska,webm, from '/canister/media/alternative/movies/13_hours_(2016).mkv':
  Metadata:
    title           : 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi
    encoder         : libmakemkv v1.14.7 (1.3.5/1.4.7) win(x64-release)
    creation_time   : 2020-01-10 19:58:05
  Duration: 02:24:29.54, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 33452 kb/s

What FFMPEG is showing is everything it sees about the input file.
This is what it does when you don’t specify an output file.

If you use mediainfo on the file, the headers should also report this proper bit rate

PMS does a detailed analysis by treading the stream itself.

If the file is damaged then what PMS reports will be less.
I would play the file and see if it’s truncated. That’s the most common cause.

7

@ChuckPa No worries, it just took me by surprise at first. Installed mediainfo and below is the output. If I understand what you are saying correctly, these two are essentially showing the metadata for the files is good, and then since PMS is reporting less and the file doesn’t play properly, meaning it skips and stutters, that means the file is damaged? Do I have any options to try and recover the file, or should I just recreate it? If I end up with quite a few of these, then it is probably a pretty good chance whatever happened last month likely contributed to the corruption of these files in addition to the PMS database?

username@servername:~$ mediainfo /canister/media/alternative/movies/13_hours_\(2016\).mkv
General
Unique ID                                : 137845949758687254603119998524322341472 (0x67B42A0B52B0CCF85C8E507F1219E260)
Complete name                            : /canister/media/alternative/movies/13_hours_(2016).mkv
Format                                   : Matroska
Format version                           : Version 2
File size                                : 33.8 GiB
Duration                                 : 2h 24mn
Overall bit rate mode                    : Variable
Overall bit rate                         : 33.5 Mbps
Movie name                               : 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi
Encoded date                             : UTC 2020-01-10 19:58:05
Writing application                      : MakeMKV v1.14.7 win(x64-release)
Writing library                          : libmakemkv v1.14.7 (1.3.5/1.4.7) win(x64-release)
Original source medium                   : Blu-ray
Cover                                    : Yes
Attachments                              : cover.jpg

Video
ID                                       : 1
ID in the original source medium         : 4113 (0x1011)
Format                                   : AVC
Format/Info                              : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile                           : High@L4.1
Format settings, CABAC                   : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames                : 4 frames
Codec ID                                 : V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC
Duration                                 : 5s 88ms
Bit rate mode                            : Variable
Bit rate                                 : 26.6 Mbps
Maximum bit rate                         : 29.0 Mbps
Width                                    : 1 920 pixels
Height                                   : 1 080 pixels
Display aspect ratio                     : 16:9
Frame rate mode                          : Constant
Frame rate                               : 23.976 (24000/1001) fps
Color space                              : YUV
Chroma subsampling                       : 4:2:0
Bit depth                                : 8 bits
Scan type                                : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)                       : 0.534
Stream size                              : 26.8 GiB (79%)
Language                                 : English
Default                                  : No
Forced                                   : No

Audio #1
ID                                       : 2
ID in the original source medium         : 4352 (0x1100)
Format                                   : Atmos / TrueHD
Codec ID                                 : A_TRUEHD
Duration                                 : 2h 24mn
Bit rate mode                            : Variable
Bit rate                                 : 4 641 Kbps
Maximum bit rate                         : 7 500 Kbps
Channel(s)                               : Object Based / 8 channels
Channel positions                        : Object Based / Front: L C R, Side: L R, Back: L R, LFE
Sampling rate                            :  / 48.0 KHz
Frame rate                               : 1 200.000 fps (40 spf)
Bit depth                                : 24 bits
Compression mode                         : Lossless
Stream size                              : 4.68 GiB (14%)
Title                                    : Surround 7.1
Language                                 : English
Default                                  : Yes
Forced                                   : No

Audio #2
ID                                       : 3
ID in the original source medium         : 4352 (0x1100)
Format                                   : AC-3
Format/Info                              : Audio Coding 3
Mode extension                           : CM (complete main)
Format settings, Endianness              : Big
Codec ID                                 : A_AC3
Duration                                 : 2h 24mn
Bit rate mode                            : Constant
Bit rate                                 : 640 Kbps
Channel(s)                               : 6 channels
Channel positions                        : Front: L C R, Side: L R, LFE
Sampling rate                            : 48.0 KHz
Frame rate                               : 31.250 fps (1536 spf)
Compression mode                         : Lossy
Stream size                              : 661 MiB (2%)
Title                                    : Surround 5.1
Language                                 : English
Default                                  : No
Forced                                   : No

Audio #3
ID                                       : 4
ID in the original source medium         : 4353 (0x1101)
Format                                   : AC-3
Format/Info                              : Audio Coding 3
Mode extension                           : CM (complete main)
Format settings, Endianness              : Big
Codec ID                                 : A_AC3
Duration                                 : 2h 24mn
Bit rate mode                            : Constant
Bit rate                                 : 640 Kbps
Channel(s)                               : 6 channels
Channel positions                        : Front: L C R, Side: L R, LFE
Sampling rate                            : 48.0 KHz
Frame rate                               : 31.250 fps (1536 spf)
Compression mode                         : Lossy
Stream size                              : 661 MiB (2%)
Title                                    : Surround 5.1
Language                                 : English
Default                                  : No
Forced                                   : No

Audio #4
ID                                       : 5
ID in the original source medium         : 4354 (0x1102)
Format                                   : AC-3
Format/Info                              : Audio Coding 3
Format profile                           : Dolby Digital
Mode extension                           : CM (complete main)
Format settings, Endianness              : Big
Codec ID                                 : A_AC3
Duration                                 : 2h 24mn
Bit rate mode                            : Constant
Bit rate                                 : 224 Kbps
Channel(s)                               : 2 channels
Channel positions                        : Front: L R
Sampling rate                            : 48.0 KHz
Frame rate                               : 31.250 fps (1536 spf)
Compression mode                         : Lossy
Stream size                              : 232 MiB (1%)
Title                                    : Stereo
Language                                 : English
Default                                  : No
Forced                                   : No

Audio #5
ID                                       : 6
ID in the original source medium         : 4358 (0x1106)
Format                                   : AC-3
Format/Info                              : Audio Coding 3
Mode extension                           : CM (complete main)
Format settings, Endianness              : Big
Codec ID                                 : A_AC3
Duration                                 : 2h 24mn
Bit rate mode                            : Constant
Bit rate                                 : 640 Kbps
Channel(s)                               : 6 channels
Channel positions                        : Front: L C R, Side: L R, LFE
Sampling rate                            : 48.0 KHz
Frame rate                               : 31.250 fps (1536 spf)
Compression mode                         : Lossy
Stream size                              : 661 MiB (2%)
Title                                    : Surround 5.1
Language                                 : English
Default                                  : No
Forced                                   : No

Text #1
ID                                       : 7
ID in the original source medium         : 4608 (0x1200)
Format                                   : PGS
Codec ID                                 : S_HDMV/PGS
Codec ID/Info                            : Picture based subtitle format used on BDs/HD-DVDs
Duration                                 : 2h 14mn
Bit rate                                 : 42.2 Kbps
Count of elements                        : 4086
Stream size                              : 40.6 MiB (0%)
Language                                 : English
Default                                  : Yes
Forced                                   : No

Text #2
ID                                       : 9
ID in the original source medium         : 4609 (0x1201)
Format                                   : PGS
Codec ID                                 : S_HDMV/PGS
Codec ID/Info                            : Picture based subtitle format used on BDs/HD-DVDs
Duration                                 : 2h 15mn
Bit rate                                 : 47.3 Kbps
Count of elements                        : 4548
Stream size                              : 45.7 MiB (0%)
Language                                 : English
Default                                  : No
Forced                                   : No

Menu
00:00:00.000                             : en:Chapter 01
00:04:47.662                             : en:Chapter 02
00:09:01.541                             : en:Chapter 03
00:15:31.555                             : en:Chapter 04
00:21:12.229                             : en:Chapter 05
00:26:48.773                             : en:Chapter 06
00:31:22.755                             : en:Chapter 07
00:34:20.058                             : en:Chapter 08
00:39:36.123                             : en:Chapter 09
00:47:12.871                             : en:Chapter 10
00:53:59.027                             : en:Chapter 11
01:02:27.744                             : en:Chapter 12
01:10:03.324                             : en:Chapter 13
01:23:02.477                             : en:Chapter 14
01:27:11.100                             : en:Chapter 15
01:34:50.685                             : en:Chapter 16
01:42:36.358                             : en:Chapter 17
01:48:08.148                             : en:Chapter 18
01:53:47.278                             : en:Chapter 19
02:00:22.882                             : en:Chapter 20
02:07:19.465                             : en:Chapter 21
02:18:25.422                             : en:Chapter 22
8

Two options:

  1. Have Plex “Analyze” the movie again.
  2. That failing, then the file is corrupted and recreation will be required – with a forced Plex-Dance in the process.
9

Ha, I had to look up plex-dance, but I see what you are referring to there.

Ok, so this is interesting. Having PMS Analyze the file again updated all of the metadata and now it looks as expected. I played the file again and observed a few things. In Tautulli the stats now look correct and when I play the file it is arguably better, but not quite right. What I mean by this is I have watched the first 5 minutes of this enough times now to mostly remember where the issues were. It would skip here and there and then sometimes completely freeze only to resume a few seconds further into the movie, now it nearly plays fine with the exception of a bit of stuttering maybe a couple of times a minute.

Based on this improvement, it makes me wonder if there is still something wrong with the PMS, which is going to take me back to the blobs files I mentioned in the original post. Does that mean anything, or is there anything else I should check to better understand the health of PMS?

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When only one file is misbehaving, it’s really hard to blame the entire installation.

Let’s try this one.

  1. Recreate the file again
  2. Keep BOTH copies
  3. Move the existing out - scan - empty trash - clean bundles (so it’s gone)
  4. Move the new one in - scan
  5. Try it.
  6. See if there’s a difference.
  7. Download and attach the logs if it’s still misbehaving. Maybe i can see something. (DEBUG only - no VERBOSE logging)
1 Like
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Agreed if it is only one file I wouldn’t think it was the entire installation and I would simply replace the file. Here is an excerpt from my original post.

To be clear, I am seeing this on much more than one file. I have been focusing on one file simply as an example. I did try replacing the file for another one I was having trouble with. After replacing the file it played without issue. I guess I have been clinging onto the hoping that I don’t have mass corruption since it took me about 3 years to convert my library from physical to digital. Having PMS Analyze the file was certainly helpful as I assume if I run that on files I find which have incorrect stats I believe it will resolve one perceived issue. Earlier this week I was correlating the incorrect stats to file corruption, but maybe I simply need to Analyze the entire library and then work on replacing corrupt files as I encounter them.

So I am not sure where this leaves me. Analyzing seems to solve one of the issues I am seeing. I am assuming I have at least some file corruption, as once I replace a file it plays fine. I am still concerned there may be more damage that I need to work to repair, based on the blobs database having not backed up in over a month. I am not sure whether that is related or not, nor whether that is something I should be concern about.

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Ok, then lets do this in two log sets.

  1. Verify debug logging is ON and VERBOSE logging is off.
  2. Start Playback of one which has the problem.
  3. Let it play for 30 seconds or so and then Download the logs (while playing is ok)
  4. Hang on to that ZIP
  5. Let it play until it errors / fails / stops
  6. Grab the second set.
  7. Attach both ZIP files please.
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Thanks Chuck. Attached are the two files. I downloaded the first one at about 30 seconds in and then the second at about 5 minutes in. I should clarify, for this file it isn’t so bad that the playback completely stops. If we don’t see anything in this one, I can look through some of the others I know had issues and see if they provide more details on the error.

Plex Media Server Logs_2020-09-24_16-23-37.zip (5.3 MB)

Plex Media Server Logs_2020-09-24_16-27-33.zip (5.3 MB)

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I’m going to upload one more log. My dad tried to watch a different movie and I observed the PMS console light up with errors. The log from that is attached. I then tried to watch the same movie and didn’t see the same errors but the movie didn’t play properly either. One difference is since I am local I was using direct play where my dad is not local and the movie was transcoding.

Plex Media Server Logs_2020-09-24_17-35-30.zip (5.8 MB)

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It’s constantly losing network connection and going nuts.

Sep 24, 2020 15:49:24.618 [0x7f5b08e1a700] DEBUG - [Now] Adding 1 sessions.
Sep 24, 2020 15:49:24.619 [0x7f5b09e1c700] DEBUG - Completed: [10.1.20.16:37976] 200 GET /status/sessions (9 live) TLS 1ms 3927 bytes (pipelined: 1)
Sep 24, 2020 15:49:28.553 [0x7f5b09e1c700] DEBUG - EventSource: Failure in IdleTimeout (0 - Success).
Sep 24, 2020 15:49:28.553 [0x7f5b09e1c700] ERROR - EventSource: Retrying in 30 seconds.
Sep 24, 2020 15:49:29.470 [0x7f5b09e1c700] DEBUG - Auth: authenticated user 19229869 as andie5319@gmail.com
Sep 24, 2020 15:49:29.470 [0x7f5add7fa700] DEBUG - Request: [173.94.76.251:47308 (WAN)] GET /video/:/transcode/universal/session/8ccfcdeb-87f9-4861-8705-6da164536396-4/base/00413.ts?protocol=hls&mediaIndex=0&waitForSegments=1 (8 live) TLS Signed-in Token (andie5319@gmail.com)
Sep 24, 2020 15:49:29.470 [0x7f5add7fa700] DEBUG - Asked for segment 413 from session.
Sep 24, 2020 15:49:29.470 [0x7f5add7fa700] DEBUG - Returning segment 413 from session
Sep 24, 2020 15:49:29.470 [0x7f5add7fa700] DEBUG - Content-Length of /dev/shm/Transcode/Sessions/plex-transcode-8ccfcde

It recovers, sends some, then fails and goes into retry again.

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Thanks Chuck. So where does this leave us? I can upload the logs when I play the same movie to see how different it is locally versus remote. Do you think this is relevant to the current issue or is it a red herring?

One thing to point out. Remote viewing of other files for that same person/location/device works fine, although I suppose I could send logs of those too as maybe there is something undetected going on there as well?

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If you can upload the file (hope it’s small), I will try it.

Given what I see in the logs, it really does look like a networking issue because losing “EventSource” (Plex.tv) will cause it to burp hard and reset connections. It can easily interrupt playback

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Thanks Chuck. Are you asking me to upload more logs of playback, or the source video? The source video is over 25GB, so I don’t think you want me to do that.

If you wanted to see what playback looks like from that same user/location/device but on a different file, I can get those logs for you.

I am open to whatever is needed, just looking to clarify what my next step is.

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