Recent Playback Error - Multiple Clients & Files

Plex Players Desktop Players
1

Server Version#: 1.18.6.2368
Player Version#: Plex-For-Kodi - Coreelec 9.2.1 Linux / Android with Kodi and Plex for Kodi addon… Same issues on both

I will try to explain this as best as possible as its baffling me. Firstly my remote connections are limited to 720p 4mbps as my upload is only 14mbps.

Starting about 10 days ago my brother told me he couldnt watch an episode on my server, I checked at home inside the lan, all fine. I tried on my iPhone from external 3g and all fine too. (720p 4mbps limit on remote connections forced a transcode).
I ask him if any errors are shows and he sends me a picture of a message in kodi thats cut short (This is the box running android, with kodi (Latest) and the plex for kodi addon)
The error says, Playback Failed
Unable to find a a conversion profile. but after this its cut short.
Then the next day my dad messaged me to say he couldnt play an episode either, his box is running Coreelec 9.2.1, kodi 18.5 with the plex for kodi addon. His error Says, Playback error Cannot convert this item, No conversion audi (This is where it cuts short, so i figure from this its an audio problem with transcoding).

Now my server auto updates using plexupdate script running as a cron job, checking once a day and it always has worked fine for some 4 years now, until the last 10 days nobody had any problems.

Today i decided to try and switch my remote connection limit to 1080p 8mbps, asked them both to try and play the episode again. Works fine direct playing both audio and video. So the problem is with the server and how its transcoding to them, and as i said its been fine for years, why would this break now?

Last night I added a profile for Linux and Kodi and some episodes now play, I copied the profile from an nvidia shield someone had made. These boxes all use amlogic chipsets and usually direct play everything thrown at them.

Anyone have any ideas as to how I can fix this?

Some items still fail to play unless my remote connections is set to 1080p 8 mbps, i cant leave it like this though, I dont have enough upload speed. :frowning:

3 Likes
2

Heres a bit of the kodi player log to confirm, its just due to not direct playing and i think these CSettings errors have something to do with it. Did something change in the plex server that broke the kodi addon?

CSettingsManager: requested setting (playback_directplay) was not found.
2020-02-12 19:21:35.831 T:3608146752   DEBUG: CSettingsManager: requested setting (playback_remux) was not found.
2020-02-12 19:21:35.848 T:3608146752  NOTICE: script.plex: API: Forced Transcode; allowDirectStream=False
2020-02-12 19:21:35.864 T:3608146752  NOTICE: script.plex: API: DEBUG: buildDirectPlay()
2020-02-12 19:21:35.881 T:3608146752  NOTICE: script.plex: API: Constructed video item for playback: {'playStart': 0, 'frameRate': 24, 'streamBitrates': [1994], 'partIndex': 0, 'duration': 2528277, 'streamQualities': ['SD'], 'fullHD': False, 'startOffset': 0, 'streamUrls': [u'https://my.hiddenhost.com:32400/library/parts/443287/1580891390/file.mkv?X-Plex-Token=??????????????????'], 'isRequestToServer': True, 'live': False, 'streamFormat': 'mkv', 'prevObj': None, 'token': 'kvxL8b9JBhi6ye3LyGap', 'partDuration': 2528277, 'isTranscoded': False, 'audioLanguageSelected': u''}
2020-02-12 19:21:35.898 T:3608146752  NOTICE: script.plex: API: DEBUG: buildTranscode()
2020-02-12 19:21:35.939 T:3608146752  NOTICE: script.plex: API: DEBUG: buildTranscodeMkv()
2020-02-12 19:21:35.943 T:3608146752   DEBUG: CSettingsManager: requested setting (local_quality) was not found.
2020-02-12 19:21:35.943 T:3608146752   DEBUG: CSettingsManager: requested setting (allow_4k) was not found.
2020-02-12 19:21:35.944 T:3608146752   DEBUG: CSettingsManager: requested setting (h264_level) was not found.
2020-02-12 19:21:35.948 T:3608146752  NOTICE: script.plex: API:  ---TEST: TEST==========================
2020-02-12 19:21:35.964 T:3608146752  NOTICE: script.plex: API:  ---TEST: /video/:/transcode/universal/decision?X-Plex-Token=??????????????????&copyts=1&subtitles=burn&path=%2Flibrary%2Fmetadata%2F179513&offset=0&session=c8e4ee1a-a3cc-4020-8de7-1ce2dcb31e25&directStream=1&directPlay=0&videoQuality=100&videoResolution=3840x2160&maxVideoBitrate=200000&mediaIndex=0&partIndex=0&X-Plex-Client-Profile-Extra=append-transcode-target-audio-codec%28type%3DvideoProfile%26context%3Dstreaming%26audioCodec%3Dac3%29%2Badd-direct-play-profile%28type%3DvideoProfile%26container%3Dmatroska%26videoCodec%3D%2A%26audioCodec%3Dac3%29%2Bappend-transcode-target-audio-codec%28type%3DvideoProfile%26context%3Dstreaming%26audioCodec%3Deac3%29%2Badd-direct-play-profile%28type%3DvideoProfile%26container%3Dmatroska%26videoCodec%3D%2A%26audioCodec%3Deac3%29%2Bappend-transcode-target-audio-codec%28type%3DvideoProfile%26context%3Dstreaming%26audioCodec%3Ddca%29%2Badd-direct-play-profile%28type%3DvideoProfile%26container%3Dmatroska%26videoCodec%3D%2A%26audioCodec%3Ddca%29%2Badd-limitation%28scope%3DvideoAudioCodec%26scopeName%3Ddca%26type%3DupperBound%26name%3Daudio.channels%26value%3D6%26isRequired%3Dfalse%29%2Bappend-transcode-target-codec%28type%3DvideoProfile%26context%3Dstreaming%26videoCodec%3Dvp9%29&location=lan
2020-02-12 19:21:35.970 T:3608146752   DEBUG: CSettingsManager: requested setting (remotecontrol) was not found.
2020-02-12 19:21:35.981 T:3608146752  NOTICE: script.plex: API: Starting request: GET https://my.hiddenhost.com:32400/video/:/transcode/universal/decision?X-Plex-Token=****&copyts=1&path=%2Flibrary%2Fmetadata%2F179513&offset=0&session=c8e4ee1a-a3cc-4020-8de7-1ce2dcb31e25&directStream=1&directPlay=1&videoQuality=100&videoResolution=3840x2160&maxVideoBitrate=200000&mediaIndex=0&partIndex=0&X-Plex-Client-Profile-Extra=append-transcode-target-audio-codec%28type%3DvideoProfile%26context%3Dstreaming%26audioCodec%3Dac3%29%2Badd-direct-play-profile%28type%3DvideoProfile%26container%3Dmatroska%26videoCodec%3D%2A%26audioCodec%3Dac3%29%2Bappend-transcode-target-audio-codec%28type%3DvideoProfile%26context%3Dstreaming%26audioCodec%3Deac3%29%2Badd-direct-play-profile%28type%3DvideoProfile%26container%3Dmatroska%26videoCodec%3D%2A%26audioCodec%3Deac3%29%2Bappend-transcode-target-audio-codec%28type%3DvideoProfile%26context%3Dstreaming%26audioCodec%3Ddca%29%2Badd-direct-play-profile%28type%3DvideoProfile%26container%3Dmatroska%26videoCodec%3D%2A%26audioCodec%3Ddca%29%2Badd-limitation%28scope%3DvideoAudioCodec%26scopeName%3Ddca%26type%3DupperBound%26name%3Daudio.channels%26value%3D6%26isRequired%3Dfalse%29%2Bappend-transcode-target-codec%28type%3DvideoProfile%26context%3Dstreaming%26videoCodec%3Dvp9%29&location=lan&subtitles=sidecar&mediaBufferSize=20971&hasMDE=1&X-Plex-Platform=Chrome&X-Plex-Token=**** (async=False timeout=10)
2020-02-12 19:21:36.281 T:3608146752  NOTICE: script.plex: API: Got a 200 from https://my.hiddenhost.com:32400/video/:/transcode/universal/decision?X-Plex-Token=****&copyts=1&path=%2Flibrary%2Fmetadata%2F179513&offset=0&session=c8e4ee1a-a3cc-4020-8de7-1ce2dcb31e25&directStream=1&directPlay=1&videoQuality=100&videoResolution=3840x2160&maxVideoBitrate=200000&mediaIndex=0&partIndex=0&X-Plex-Client-Profile-Extra=append-transcode-target-audio-codec%28type%3DvideoProfile%26context%3Dstreaming%26audioCodec%3Dac3%29%2Badd-direct-play-profile%28type%3DvideoProfile%26container%3Dmatroska%26videoCodec%3D%2A%26audioCodec%3Dac3%29%2Bappend-transcode-target-audio-codec%28type%3DvideoProfile%26context%3Dstreaming%26audioCodec%3Deac3%29%2Badd-direct-play-profile%28type%3DvideoProfile%26container%3Dmatroska%26videoCodec%3D%2A%26audioCodec%3Deac3%29%2Bappend-transcode-target-audio-codec%28type%3DvideoProfile%26context%3Dstreaming%26audioCodec%3Ddca%29%2Badd-direct-play-profile%28type%3DvideoProfile%26container%3Dmatroska%26videoCodec%3D%2A%26audioCodec%3Ddca%29%2Badd-limitation%28scope%3DvideoAudioCodec%26scopeName%3Ddca%26type%3DupperBound%26name%3Daudio.channels%26value%3D6%26isRequired%3Dfalse%29%2Bappend-transcode-target-codec%28type%3DvideoProfile%26context%3Dstreaming%26videoCodec%3Dvp9%29&location=lan&subtitles=sidecar&mediaBufferSize=20971&hasMDE=1&X-Plex-Platform=Chrome&X-Plex-Token=****
2020-02-12 19:21:36.298 T:3608146752  NOTICE: script.plex: API: DEBUG: Decision codes: {'termination': -1, 'mdeDecision': 3001, 'directPlayDecision': 1000, 'transcodeDecision': 4005, 'generalDecision': 2000}
2020-02-12 19:21:36.314 T:3608146752  NOTICE: script.plex: API: WARNING: MDE: Server was unhappy with client's original decision. Not enough bandwidth for direct play of this item. Required bandwidth is 4020kbps and only 4000kbps is available. Direct play OK. Cannot convert this item. No conversion audio and video encoders could be found in app profile. Neither direct play nor conversion is available.

Maybe this helps in finding or fixing the issue.

1 Like
3

I’m getting the same error, out of the blue, starting a couple days ago. (Sorry, I don’t have a log to provide at this point…)

Specifically, it’s one player (a Win32 8.1 tablet) on my home network using Plex for Kodi, streaming from my Windows HTPC that doubles as a Plex server (in addition to the remote server, that is having zero issues) on my local network. Doesn’t seem to matter if it’s direct playing, or converted. Suddenly approx 4 TV series refuse to play, with that same msg. No common file-type, that I can see.

No other points of streaming have this issue. The PMP, Android, and web clients all work fine, locally and remotely.

4

Can also attest to this recent issue.

From Plex (offical) Kodi plugin.

From the log it appears the plex client isnt sending a required parameter (perhaps not required in the past?)

Feb 14, 2020 13:22:25.624 [0x7fc3735e3700] ERROR - ClientProfileExtra: missing protocol parameter
Feb 14, 2020 13:22:25.624 [0x7fc3735e3700] WARN - ClientProfileExtra: ignoring directive: append-transcode-target-audio-codec(type=videoProfile&context=streaming&audioCodec=ac3)
Feb 14, 2020 13:22:25.624 [0x7fc3735e3700] ERROR - ClientProfileExtra: missing protocol parameter
Feb 14, 2020 13:22:25.625 [0x7fc3735e3700] WARN - ClientProfileExtra: ignoring directive: append-transcode-target-audio-codec(type=videoProfile&context=streaming&audioCodec=eac3)
Feb 14, 2020 13:22:25.625 [0x7fc3735e3700] ERROR - ClientProfileExtra: missing protocol parameter
Feb 14, 2020 13:22:25.625 [0x7fc3735e3700] WARN - ClientProfileExtra: ignoring directive: append-transcode-target-audio-codec(type=videoProfile&context=streaming&audioCodec=dca)
Feb 14, 2020 13:22:25.625 [0x7fc3735e3700] ERROR - ClientProfileExtra: missing protocol parameter
Feb 14, 2020 13:22:25.625 [0x7fc3735e3700] WARN - ClientProfileExtra: ignoring directive: append-transcode-target-codec(type=videoProfile&context=streaming&videoCodec=vp9)
Feb 14, 2020 13:22:25.625 [0x7fc3735e3700] WARN - TranscodeUniversalRequest: at least one profile extra directive could not be read
Feb 14, 2020 13:22:25.631 [0x7fc3735e3700] ERROR - Streaming Resource: Cannot make a decision because either the file is unplayable or the client provided bad data
5

The github repo has a development branch which has a lot of commits newer than the current “release” but still has the same problem. I looked at who did the latest stuff and messaged him through his website, maybe he will help us. If not maybe we fork the addon and try to find python coders better than me to fix it.

I dont think it will take much, I just think the way the file is requested via the url is now in the wrong format.

1 Like
6

Im gonna setup a mitm proxy and see if I can catch the differences between the kodi addon requesting a transcode and something like the windows app/browser. If I can see whats happening differently maybe I can patch the addon to suit. Kodi should play anything thrown at it so even if I can force a universal transcode it should work.

7

My streams also are having problems since some days/weeks. But my Problem is a bit different. It does buffer or not even start even tho its direct played. Same file works on the plex app

1 Like
8

Same problem here.

9

Hi, same Problem here. To fix it, I downgraded to 1.18.5.2309 (easy … if you have the install exe (Windows) Just uninstall old, install 1.18.5.2309, done. Old install exe can be found @ videohelp . com ) and it works again. Would be gratefull if anybody would report that one of the newer versions has fixed this specific problem.

2 Likes
11

Still no answer from any dev or the one Who is maintaining the kodi addon… Thats very sad

1 Like
12

Having the exact same issue. All of my family fire stick 4Ks with Plex for Kodi give the same error. If I turn off the limit of 8mbps and set to original it works fine. Has anyone had any luck with this? I’m using the linuxserver container on Unraid. Latest version of both.

13

Also seems to be issues with the Plex for Android TV’s app on Sony Bravia 4k. My friend cant play episodes unless its direct play or terribly low 480p quality. :frowning:

14

Is There no way to contact the Devs. Ive got the feeling no matter what we post. No one Who can change the situation reads that topic… And i think its Not that Hard to fix the issues…

15

I’m currently looking at the kodi Plex addon to try and find the issue and resolve it due to the devs lack of response

2 Likes
16

p376em is my nephew. I couldn’t figure out how it worked so I asked him to take a look. He has found the issue, a variable is missing from the server responses. Now its just a case of him figuring out how to fix it. :slight_smile:

2 Likes
17

That Sounds amazing. Thumbs Up

18

I have created a new repo on GitHub and commited a temporary fix

Github Plex For Kodi

It will allow transcoding if it needs it but currently does not display the error text it will say Playback error if there is not enough bandwidth

I will be working on a permanent solution from now on but thought i would share the temporary fix

2 Likes
19

Works. U are my hero :slight_smile:

20

No problem

21

Thank you ballz2k7 and p376em. I honestly expected this issue to be ignored and lost in the forums. You guys are amazing.