Stop Making Sense (2023) Not Loading (and other challenges...)

[david.weinberg]

I recently bought the 4K edition of Stop Making Sense, ripped the disc as MKV files, and loaded all on my Synology DS920+ NAS. Before doing so, I attempted to identify all the ripped files. There are two main files (as I could tell by matching the timing from this source: the 2023 UHD Extended Cut and the 1985 Extended Cut. All others that I could identify are labeled as “-featurette” or “-interview” and those I could not as “-other” as per these guidelines.

When I attempt to play the Talking Heads Extended Cut - 2023 UHD (52.92GB), Plex continually spins and never fully loads the film:

I then tried Does Anybody Have Any Questions_Making Stop Making Sense (HD)-interview, a shorter feature (6.81 GB) and got the same reply:

This was after aborting Plex and rebooting my NAS.

I then loaded the NAS based version of the 2023 Extended Cut on VLC running on my Mac, and the film played just fine.

Any suggestions on how I can get this to play on Plex?

Thanks,

David

[dbirch]

Take a look at the server while you are trying to play. Is it transcoding? if so that format may be too much for your NAS to transcode on the fly

[ChuckPa]

May I have the server DEBUG logs please ?

or make a ZIP of the Logs folder under the PlexMediaServer shared folder

[ChuckPa]

Looking on IMDB shows interesting results.

1. The actual movie from 1984 & 2009 ?
2. The podcast from 2023 ?
3. The short from 2024 ?

I suspect this is a naming issue.

[david.weinberg]

@ChuckPa- I attached the logs.

Stop Making Sense was restored and released in 2024. This is the complete film with lots of other versions and outtakes that I have yet to identify (and welcome any help in doing so : )

I’m not certain why it’s lacking in IMDB.

@dbirch- I thought that the size of the film might be jamming things (I don’t know how to check the transcoding issue). But when Plex jammed on “Does Anybody Have Any Questions” after the NAS reboot, I thought something else might be going on.

Plex Media Server Logs_2025-09-28_19-49-50.zip (2.9 MB)

[david.weinberg]

Hey @ChuckPa,

I wanted to check in to see if you might have been able to uncover anything from my logs. I did find a work around- I loaded the film on a USB drive and connect it to my TV, bypassing Plex altogether. I’d rather not do it that way, but it is a the best way at the moment.

[PunkleJones]

I have two versions of this film. I added it to my “Home Movies/Music” folder (In Plex its a “Music Videos” folder). As this is “outside” the Movies. Tv-Show, Music folders Plex dont care and just use what ever meta data you use or what ever name(s) the files have.
Its not as streamlined as having it as a “movie”, but saved me for meta-bs-traps

(Oh, both movies are single files also, but i have several live albums with tracks in the same “Music Videos” folder as Plex wouldn’t recognize any of them)

[ChuckPa]

I’ve done some research on this.

What I can find is:

1. Original film iin1984
2. Remastered in 2023 (Imax)
3. BluRay 4K in 2024 (Special Collector’s Edition)
   – With several extras on the BluRay

If I’ve got it right, then you still put the movie into Plex as
Stop Making Sense (1984)

The collector’s edition release in 4K might be named:

Stop Making Sense (1984) {edition-Special Collectors Edition} [2160p].mkv`

[trumpy81]

@david.weinberg

If you want to get the files playing in Plex, then run them through HandBrake or similar. That should correct the codec parameters that are currently preventing playback in Plex.

This is often an issue when using MakeMKV or similar to rip from disc.

I recommend re-encoding the files to H.264/AAC in an MP4 container, but you may use an MKV container with H.265/AC3 if you wish.

If your PC has dedicated graphics or CPU embedded graphics then you may use the accelerated codecs in HandBrake to speed up the process somewhat.