There’s a few other posts about this, but they’re all archived, and this is worth raising.
For years now, I’ve been dealing with the same issue :
Plex tells me there are “too many active streams”, and there are exactly Zero “Active” streams.
This bug is really easy to reproduce, and others have mentioned it before on this forum. All you need to do is adjust the video playhead, pause and resume, or change the quality/bitrate of the video, and eventually you’ll see the error. Sometimes it allows you to make a few adjustments, sometimes it happens immediately. From there, you’re bricked out for an unknown amount of time.
Two issues / recommendations:
The error’s text is misleading. “Active Streams” implies separate clients, or other (intentionally created) sessions. Given that this can be easily triggered via a single browser window, this use case should have a separate message that explains what the user did to trigger it. Something like “Plex does not support rapid scrubbing or adjusting the video.” would be accurate… and very unfortunately, true.
The client shouldn’t be able to get themselves here in the first place. There’s no indication that too much scrubbing could be detrimental to their UX. If they’re on the threshold of triggering this, the initiating action should be blocked so they don’t brick themselves out of a session.
First off, thanks for reading+replying. Worth noting that I’m a huge fan of Plex and the work that y’all do. This hit me in the middle of a critical moment last night
I can’t provide client + server logs at the moment, but will follow up when I can.
Here’s another one of the more recent posts on it, but you can find others on Reddit as well.
Based on those other posts, it’s likely that this happens in situations where the Server, quite justifiably, only wants to allow one device or authenticated session per Client. As discussed in these threads, one solution is to have the server change this setting (“Remote streams allowed per user”). Increasing this number apparently fixes the issue.
The problem with this solution is that it’s a band-aid… and not really what’s happening; the Client isn’t using multiple devices, or opening multiple browser windows or anything like that. The client is ONLY scrubbing around a single video during a single session, and Plex seems to think that this activity constitutes “too many active streams”. So the server would be forced to allow multiple streams per client (which they might not want to allow), just to let a single user be more agile with their video controls.
I’ll try to get logs pulled when I can, and thanks again for reading.
No - Automatically adjust quality is unchecked.
Attaching debug logs for the client; I don’t have access to the server.
Again, the steps to reproduce are pretty simple; just interact with the video controls and eventually it will trigger the “You have too many active streams” message. The latest time this occurred, the video started buffering (as though it lost a connection to the host entirely), and then attempting to lower the bitrate triggered the issue. debuglog.txt (104.0 KB)
I need the server logs to know what’s going on. Your Web logs show it received an error, but I don’t see the actual error in the log so I don’t know what caused it.
Without the logs I can’t say. There are other 3rd party programs like Tautulli that can stop streams too. I don’t know if maybe something like that is involved. I’m not able to reproduce when setting the stream limit to 1 for a shared server running remotely.
Okay, well either way, just purely from a client experience perspective, the most basic feedback I’m trying to give is that the Error Message being displayed to the client is a little off: It doesn’t represent the client behavior (the client has no active streams), and implies that the client should do something that there is no possible way to do (close any active streams). Unless I’m mistaken about what Client Logs are for, these 2 facts should be proven by the Client Logs.
Regardless of what the server logs say, or what 3rd party programs are doing, it’s a confusing message to display to users who are only using one device.
Like I said, there are other programs that can stop the stream so I don’t know if what you saw was caused by PMS or one of these other programs. If it was PMS, we can potentially fix it. If it was something else, we have no control there.
I don’t believe that you “have no control” over the text in an error message.
If you can’t understand my posts that – pretty clearly and articulately – separate the customer experience feedback from the technical cause of the issue, then writing any more here is a lost cause. Regardless of the underlying thing that triggers the error: Think about what you’re telling customers is wrong, and re-visit my earlier posts for more details.
Saying “I can’t reproduce this” and “we have no control here” makes it sound a lot like you’re trying to take the easy way out and end the thread.
If you cannot provide server logs there is nothing we can do but take random guesses. If not your server then ask your friend sharing their server with you to post them here.
they could be either limiting the number of transcoded stream over all (if it was a transcoded stream)
If there is some issue with the server thinking it is sending you more streams than you are playing the only way will we ever know that is by looking at their server logs.
They can also look at their Now Playing dashboard to see if any streams are playing by your account and by which device.
To be clear, that is not what I said. Yes, Plex controls the text of the error messages, but from your description or your logs, it is not clear that Plex is producing the issue resulting in that error coming up.
I understand, but my point was that this may not be Plex. As mentioned, programs like Tautulli can stop your stream and produce their own error messages. My “we have no control” was in reference to what these programs do. Just going back and forth in a video should not trigger PMS to think you have more than 1 stream going on. In my test, I could not produce that and PMS only thought I had 1 stream.
If a program like Tautulli (which I do not use or test) is mistakenly seeing these actions as a separate streaming session and stopping your playback and providing that error message, then that program is faulty and Plex can’t fix that.
If your friend isn’t using a 3rd party program and this is being caused by something in Plex, then I can pass the info along to the team to get it fixed. Right now, there is not enough information without the logs since I am unable to reproduce.
I am having the same issue. I’m connected to a friend’s server, they are on vacation, so nothing has changed. I get the error that i have too many active streams. I have no active streams. I went into authorized devices and removed them, and now i can’t watch anything at all because i keep getting the same message no matter what i attempt it on. IE: Macbook, Xbox, FireCube or BuzzTv.
In the past when i have received this error it was because i had forgotten to close down my mac. when i did it would resume.
I have deleted all authorized apps, but I can still play it on firestick , but it doesn’t show up as an authorized device in my account.
From google searches this seems like a common issue, on that the plex team should look into. Right now I can’t even watch on my macbook through the chrome browser. It would be wonderful if there would be a fix for this. Im sure there are a multitude of users who’d appreciate it. I don’t believe this is a restricted device issue or open streams, at least not in this case. I’m not using a third party app on my macbook, why wouldn’t i be able to play when i’m not streaming on anything else?
insight and a solution would be most greatly appreciated , thank you.
So, I just had - I think - the exact same error. Well, error message anyway. But I’m pretty sure I know what caused it. I started a stream/video playing, and in a separate tab opened my notifications; this caused my single stream (it seems) to be running on both tabs.
Unfortunately, I closed my original tab and proceeded to get the ‘too many streams error’.
Much cursing and gnashing of teeth ensued, but I only resolved it after completely signing out of this service and back in.
He’s signed out of all devices and signed back in. I’ve unfriended him and refriended him. And it’s still showing as too many streams.
When he tries playing it on Plex, it pops up in the dash with ‘error’ and I can’t even cancel it. After a few minutes it disappears and he still can’t stream.
Will try and send server logs later, but I’m on a docker and not entirely sure how. Haha. Also, went onto ‘Console’ and there’s nothing there - which is usually how I check.
I have lifetime Plex Pass. I have a new user/friend added and he constantly gets the error “to many streams”. He has never actually watched anything as the error began instantly. We created a new user account and that worked for a day or two but the error came back. He is the only user on my server that has this issue. I CAN PROVIDE SERVER LOGS (-_•) if anyone at PLEX would like them. I would like this error fixed as I am sure others I have found In the forums with the same issue would also like it fixed.
This is the first and only issue I have ever had with PLEX. Making PLEX the best application I have ever used on any device and on any O.S. going back to my Texas Instruments Ti99 and Zenith Data systems 16MHz.
I have the exact same issue. Deleted my old account, set up a new account and got life time pass. Streamed one movie and now I get the error. I can download content fine and watch but not stream anymore. I only have one device (Mac) and have logged out and on many times. Help!!
