Some MP4's no longer play

General Discussions
1

I have a Windows 7 Pro SP1 64bit with Plex Media Server 0.9.16.3.184
I’m not sure which update, but in the past month or so I’m no longer able to watch some of my mp4 files. I’m half way through some of these episode, so I know I was able to watch them previously. I assumed it was something going on with my new LG TV and using the XPlay app. However, I’ve tried it in several locations and devices now and it simply states there was a problem playing this file or goes back to the menu.

I realize MP4 is just a container file, so I’ve dug a little deeper into the files. The only real difference I see is the format MPEG-4 files seem to play fine, however my MPEG-TS will no longer play. Was this support taken away on purpose and or is it coming back? I love PLEX, but it’s just not possible for me to go back and re-encode all my files as well as all future ones from my DVR.

2

When it comes to this type of issues, it is very important to have very detailed informations.
You mentioned MPEG-TS files. Those have nothing to do with mp4.

Please deliver the mediainfo XML of both playing and not playing files.

Please try to play these files always in several plex clients and compare the results.
Additionally to your LG TV, use at least Plex Web and if possible Plex Media Player or Plex Home Theater.

  1. Please activate debug logging (not ‘verbose’!)
  2. quit Plex Server
  3. wait 1 minute
  4. empty the log folder
  5. start Plex Server
  6. wait 2 minutes
  7. play a non-working movie and wait ~1 minute after pressing ‘playback’, please take a note of the time when you pressed ‘playback’ so the right part of the server logfile can be found swiftly
  8. wait 3 minutes
  9. shut down Plex server
  10. wait 1 minute
  11. zip up the whole log folder and attach it here
3

First of all thank you very much for details suggestions. I’ll do my best to get the answers.
When it comes to this type of issues, it is very important to have very detailed informations.
You mentioned MPEG-TS files. Those have nothing to do with mp4.
I got this info by playing the files in MPC-HC and looking at the properties of the files. The format field of a working MP4 says MPEG-4 and a non-working one says MPEG-TS. Clearly I’m not sure what that means. It’s just what I noticed when trying to compare one file to another

Please deliver the mediainfo XML of both playing and not playing files.
Files Attached

Please try to play these files always in several plex clients and compare the results.
Additionally to your LG TV, use at least Plex Web and if possible Plex Media Player or Plex Home Theater.
****I tried playing these in the web client on several windows computers, FireStick, Chromecast all with the same result in the files not playing. I actually have 2 plex servers. Another is running on CentOS and has version Version 0.9.12.13. I transferred one of the files to it and it plays fine on a computer. This machine is more work to upgrade and I obviously have not done it in awhile. ****

Please activate debug logging (not ‘verbose’!)
quit Plex Server
wait 1 minute
empty the log folder
start Plex Server
wait 2 minutes
play a non-working movie and wait ~1 minute after pressing ‘playback’, please take a note of the time when you pressed ‘playback’ so the right part of the server logfile can be found swiftly
wait 3 minutes
shut down Plex server
wait 1 minute
zip up the whole log folder and attach it here

6:31 (server time was different than client, so this is my best estimate. It’s the only thing that should have been played on the server. Hope these help. It looks like my best option is to find an old version of the server and reinstall it

4

Perfect! Thank you for the log files and all the info.
I have relayed the informations to the developers for analysis.

5

btw. you should remove the unsupportedappstore.plugin. It is no longer operational.
Its functionality was integrated into WebTools.

6

Thanks. FYI, I went ahead and just removed the entire plugins folder as I don’t actually use any of them at this point. I know you didn’t suggest that it would help with this issue in anyway and it made no difference. I just figured the cleaner the install the better.

7

Update, I did a complete uninstall and reinstall of the plex server to Version 0.9.14.6. The files still don’t play, which tells me the problem wasn’t caused by an update, but must be something else on the computer causing it. I’m going to try and go back to the version I have on my centOS server.
Recent installs in program files updates have been to .net framework 4.6.1, Flash Player 21 Acive X, Visual C++ 2015 14.0.23506, and Microsoft Security Essentials. I’ve uninstalled security essentials and restarted and that didn’t help. I’m really confused at this point as to what could be causing it.

8

Just got a report back. The underlying issue is known and will be fixed in a future update of PMS.
As a temporary workaround you can try to disable ‘Direct Stream’ in the preferences of the client.

9

Thanks for the info. Do they know what version this became an issue or when it might be fixed? I have not had time to do a server re-install for an older version yet to see if I can get one that works.

I disabled direct stream on my browser and that has allowed me to play it. That should work on my other clients as well. Thanks again.