Server Version#: 1.14.1.5488
Player Version#: 3.87.2
Using Plex server on Shield, Beta update channel. The Plex server accesses the media off a NAS drive. Shield, NAS, and player (on a Windows computer) are all on Gigabit Ethernet.
When transcoding, it appears the server will encounter file errors. This causes the player to show an endless “buffering” spinner. It never recovers.
My tests use HVEC content streamed to the web player on Chrome, which requires transcoding. Transcoding does work for a while (~5-20 minutes), but it always fails within 20 minutes.
The NAS and Shield are on the same switch. The PC is an extra hop away, on a different switch. The NAS is a WD My Cloud Ex2100, which actually has built-in support for a Plex server but lacks the CPU power to do real-time transcoding. I can stream / copy from the NAS to the PC all day long without any drops.
It’s using SMB; I haven’t verified the version but I assume v3, since both devices support it.
Is the switch a smart switch where you can see if there are any NW errors being reported?
The ShieldTV’s SMB 3 support is new and hasn’t been problem free at this point.
I would try 2 different things. 1 try changing out both NW cables if you have extra’s on hand to make sure it isn’t a bad/flakey cable.
If that doesn’t seem to make a difference, set the WD My Cloud to SMB1 and then reboot the Shield and see if you still see the same issue.
The cables are fine; I’ve recently transferred 6TB across all of them. I used robocopy, expecting at least one error, but there wasn’t so much as a single blip.
I tried restricting to SMB1 (and rebooting the Shield), but it made no difference; transcoded playback lasted ~10 minutes and then went to buffering forever.
I didn’t mention earlier that it is specifically the transcoding that is causing this error. When I use a direct play client for the same source videos (e.g., Plex Windows Player on that same PC), there’s no problem at all.
I normally do direct play all the time. I do want the transcoding working, though, as I am travelling and will need to transcode when streaming remotely.
Tell me about which model Shield you have and your storage setup on the Shield. If I had to guess I would say that you likely are running out of internal storage on the transcode.
Hmm, good point. I do only have the 16GB model. From my server logs, at the point where buffering starts for “How to Succeed in the Spy Business”:
Feb 18, 2019 15:41:57.269 [15488] ERROR - Couldn’t find the file to stream: /storage/emulated/0/Android/data/com.plexapp.mediaserver.smb/cache/Transcode/Sessions/plex-transcode-qmz6c4wpf1faiucjczy3wna1-d6c0b561-249d-4932-afbb-ea4fcd64c5c0/init-stream0.m4s,/storage/emulated/0/Android/data/com.plexapp.mediaserver.smb/cache/Transcode/Sessions/plex-transcode-qmz6c4wpf1faiucjczy3wna1-d6c0b561-249d-4932-afbb-ea4fcd64c5c0/chunk-stream0-00086.m4s
It’s definitely transcoding to a cache on the internal storage. I’ll try adding USB storage and see if that helps. Got an extra 64GB laying around somewhere…
Yes, that does appear to have fixed the issue; I’m now using a 64GB USB flash drive as “internal” storage, and the transcoding seems to be working now.
Perhaps the newer Shield upgrades/apps are taking up too much room now. There’s no apps taking up over 500MB except Plex Media Server itself, which sits at 5.5GB. That seems like a lot to me for just metadata, though I do have a somewhat large library at this point (~3500 TV episodes and 275 movies). I’m wondering if there’s any partial trancodes or other cruft lying around; is there any way I can check that?
There isn’t a way to what is in there w/o rooting the Shield.
You can do the typical Library maintenance pattern though:
Scan File System
Optimize DB
Clean Bundles
Empty Trash
That does about all the care and feeding possible on the library data set. Also check to see if you have the automatic/scheduled maintenance enabled for some of those steps in the server settings > scheduled tasks.
I did all the maintenance; no real difference in space used. All my scheduled tasks are on, with video previews off and daily scans with emptying trash after each scan.
I suppose I just have a large library; about 1.3MB per item is not too crazy since that includes thumbnail images, I guess.
If any Plex devs are reading this, I’d recommend adding a periodic “volume space remaining” message when debug logs are enabled.
