OK. I love plex. I use it daily since 2013 and have a nice plex server (current) and a 4K samsung smart TV with plex app.
I have a folder of movies from youtube and they all play. once. Then I can no longer resume back to plex. It worked perfectly… then about 2 weeks ago, it started doing this. Very frustrating. I can’t exit the plex app on the TV. If I turn off the TV then turn it back on, and go to plex, the circle is still circleing just like when I left it. The only way I have found is to unplug the TV, wait a few seconds then plug it back in. That finally frees up the client app, and I can use it again.
This has happened to me about 20-30 times in the last week. I tried cleaning the folder of movies for corrupted or damaged files, but it keeps happening and I will need to do some heavy duty diagnostics. I should mention that this folder has 1700 video files on it, most of them old (old movies) but mostly all MP4 files transcoded by youtube. I will start on the diagnostics, but It seems to me that when the client goes back to the server to renew the files to select on-screen, it contacts the server (spinning circle) and the server doesn’t respond… so it sits there with the spinning circle… until the end of time. I left it spinning one time for 4 hours, and when I came back, it was still spinning.
NOTE: when I first connect to the server and look at that folder, it populates “fast” in a standard plex fashion. It’s only after it played one file in that folder that it can NO LONGER connect to plex server and waits till the end of time with the spinning circle. So far I have not tried other folders but when I do diagnostics, I will. Has anyone ran into a similar problem?
NOTE #2, I have removed and reinstalled the plex app on the samsung TV. I have verified that plex server is updated.
1st I dont think you need to unplug the TV.
You should be able to hold the power button on the remote down until the TV restarts at which time you should be able to relaunch plex. Not a fix for your issue just a quick comment and will save you getting up I am super lazy.
Well, I tried that. After turning it off, then back on I watched you tube for awhile, then went back to plex app. When it opened it was exactly at the same screen with the circle still circling. I could exit the plex app, do anything else I want then go back to it and it would be circling. The only thing that stopped it was to unplug the TV. I think it has a memory function that runs even when off… and the only way to clear it is to power it off.
I will report back in a few days when I complete the cleaning of all the movie names in the offending folder. Even though they are weird names, I don’t see anything wrong with them making plex circle forever. BUT…
I have a theory now that with the nonsensical names of these movies, the scanner never completes. When I first go into that folder after unplugging it, I see some movies showing onscreen. I can select any of them and play them… . but once I try and go back to the plex screen, it seems the scanner is still working. With 1700 movie names that only half that can be matched, I believe the scanner is bogged down and basically never finishes. If I start from scratch, it works. But when returning to the screen, it gets stuck attempting to populate the screen with the newly found items.
I will complete the cleanup of the names in this folder. If that works, then I will close this. If not, I will post the logs as you asked. It may take me a few more days. Most of those names are… meaningless and I have to go looking… and with about 600 more to do, it may take me a few more days. I will respond either way.
Thank you for your time
Biospot
