Transcoded Mobile Download fails every time... until i throttle bandwidth to 20 mbps

Plex Players Mobile Devices
1

Server Version#: Version 1.29.1.6276 (*Unraid Container)
Player Version#: iOS v8.9
Player Version#: Android 9.9.0.35519 (0c60b84b)

I, like many, have been trying to solve issues with downloading. I was getting “Error downloading this item” and started digging.

I attempted to change my DNS, edit DNSmasq files, setup PiHole and local dns files, etc. None of that seemed to solve my issue.

Of the various solutions I tried, only 2 of them worked. 1. Download Original Quality. If there is no transcoding then there is no issue downloading. 2. Start download on cellular then jump to wifi. This led to a successful download but with 1 big caveat. If you start downloading over cellular, it doesn’t hand-over to wifi. This slower download speed got me thinking.

Investigation:
This lead me to look at the console… I noticed a few things:

1. Download Speed > Transcode Speed. If i’m on wifi normally, the transcode starts and immediately the download keeps pace. This continues for a while until eventually the transcode says that it is ended. The transcode is then deleted and download fails cause there is no more transcode file.

[TranscodeOutputStream] Input processing thread exited after writing 443023360 bytes, m_closed=0, m_endOfFileReached=1, session->isStopped()=0

2. Transcode Speed > Download Speed. In this scenario, if download speed cannot keep up with transcode speed. the transcode progress will run and steadily keep a distance between it’s progress and the progress of the download. once transcode is finished, it waits for download to finish successfully and then deletes the transcode.

Attempted Solves

The above led me to attempt 2 things. The first one was to see if i could stall the download in plex but keep transcoding. I tried closing plex once the download started, moving to a different app, etc. I got mixed results. Occasionally it would allow me start immediately downloading the full transcode, but most of the time it would delete the previous transcode and just start a new one over again.

Current Solve
The new foolproof solve i have is pretty ridiculous. I found that if i throttle my data connection of my device to 20 mbps it consistently keeps the download speed below the transcode speed. This results in a successful transcoded download every time.

PLEA FOR HELP
plex team! please adjust it so that transcoding is not deleted while download is still in progress!

1 Like
Downloads sucks and doesn’t work “Error downloading item”
2

That should not happen. Can you reproduce and get me the server logs and android logs? The transcoded file should only get removed early if the transcoder fails during the process.

3

This would explain so many things in my case. Like, why the downloads work much better locally than remotely.

4

I’m having terrible trouble trying to download to an ipad to take on holiday. Downloads always seem to fail then when I look they try again, rinse and repeat.

I have got it to work now, by allowing my user to log in automatically, as I wondered whether the log in timing out was causing the issue. It did seem to work.

Also, I have changed my quality to Original but it is still transcoding!

5

In my iPad the Downloads kept failing until I put all THREE settings (in downloads) to Original. When the third one was as “Maximize Compatibility” it triggered unnecessary transcodes that always failed. I changed it to Original and it was better.

6

Do you want me to post logs in here or directly to you?

7

I’ve also noticed that transcode being saved on my cache nvme is causing failures but if i switch to RAM transcoding then i dont get failures.

8

@SurfinBirdman Get me the logs either way.

9

OK, PM’ed the logs to you. that is with transcode folder located on my nvme. As stated above, if i set my transcode folder to a temp RAM folder location, then there is no issue.

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