# Transcoder error - EAE Timeout?

**URL:** <https://forums.plex.tv/t/transcoder-error-eae-timeout/798388>\
**Category:** Plex Media Server\
**Tags:** server-linux\
**Created:** [June 25, 2022, 5:55am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/transcoder-error-eae-timeout/798388 "2022-06-25T05:55:00Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![mobilpeter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a9adbd/32.png) [@mobilpeter](https://forums.plex.tv/u/mobilpeter)\
**Post date:** [June 25, 2022, 5:55am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/transcoder-error-eae-timeout/798388/1 "2022-06-25T05:55:00Z")

</div>

Hello

I’m getting this weird error from my plex [server log,](https://support.plex.tv/articles/200250417-plex-media-server-log-files/) and the CPU is running high for some reason, until I restart the PMS on my debian system.

Jun 25, 2022 07:47:24.000 [0x7f0cdb717b38] ERROR - [Transcoder] [eac3\_eae @ 0x7f16433d2b40] EAE timeout! EAE not running, or wrong folder? Could not read ‘/tmp/pms-937f4984-1209-4807-a1c4-d548707aa375/EasyAudioEncoder/Convert to WAV (to 8ch or less)/80188f1e-5a01-4d18-94a7-af16ca672549\_7514-0-99.wav’  
Jun 25, 2022 07:47:24.000 [0x7f0cdb588b38] ERROR - [Transcoder] [eac3\_eae @ 0x7f16433d2b40] error reading output  
Jun 25, 2022 07:47:24.000 [0x7f0cdb27ab38] ERROR - [Transcoder] Error while decoding stream #0:1: I/O error

Server Version#: 1.27.1.5916

Any ideas how to fix this ?  
[Plex Media Server Logs\_2022-06-25\_07-47-46.zip](https://forums.plex.tv/uploads/short-url/9MfamsCSM1VmbwQTRUXE49hEVuB.zip) (6.2 MB)

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ChuckPa](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/chuckpa/32/79710_2.png) [@ChuckPa](https://forums.plex.tv/u/ChuckPa)\
**Post date:** [June 25, 2022, 7:10am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/transcoder-error-eae-timeout/798388/2 "2022-06-25T07:10:37Z")

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In your logs, I see where the scanner is processing a very large number of directories.

In total (total of all directories and subdirectories under all media top-level directories), do you have?

(Can be counted by `find /top-dir1 /top-dir2 <add more here as needed> -type d -print | wc -l`

The default max inotify directory count is either 8192 or 65536 (distro and kernel dependent)

I am asking this because the transcoder needs 2 inotify slots for the EAE.

This error will happen when all the inotify slots have been allocated to “update my library automatically when changes detected”.

```auto
Jun 25, 2022 07:42:15.000 [0x7f0cdb717b38] ERROR - [Transcoder] [eac3_eae @ 0x7f2533886b00] EAE timeout! EAE not running, or wrong folder? Could not read '/tmp/pms-937f4984-1209-4807-a1c4-d548707aa375/EasyAudioEncoder/Convert to WAV (to 8ch or less)/ce3952ab-2c6a-4a9e-8cef-7bcdaa151da8_28389-0-3816.wav'
Jun 25, 2022 07:42:15.000 [0x7f0cdbb50b38] ERROR - [Transcoder] [eac3_eae @ 0x7f2533886b00] error reading output
Jun 25, 2022 07:42:15.001 [0x7f0cdbd5bb38] ERROR - [Transcoder] Error while decoding stream #0:1: I/O error

```

The solution is simple:

1. Count the number of directories in use
2. Round up to the next integral multiple of 32768 (or 65536 if you have ample memory)
3. Increase the default table size and restart the host.

> [@Linux Tips](https://forums.plex.tv/t/linux-tips/276247/9):
>
> Increase the number of directories Linux can monitor (inotify) for PMS The default size of the Linux inotify table is 8192 directories (\*1). When PMS is configured to update automatically when media is added, with properly organized media, especially music, this table rapidly fills and exceeds the default allocation requiring you to increase it. The solution to this is straight forward. Increasing the table size is easy. The first step is to determine how many directories to alloca…

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![mobilpeter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a9adbd/32.png) [@mobilpeter](https://forums.plex.tv/u/mobilpeter)\
**Post date:** [June 26, 2022, 2:10am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/transcoder-error-eae-timeout/798388/3 "2022-06-26T02:10:50Z")

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Thanks alot, yes that solved the problem instantly!

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/plex/original/3X/2/a/2acb9765406f63293d357b4ec509ec39aa28f2ad.png) [@system](https://forums.plex.tv/u/system)\
**Post date:** [September 24, 2022, 2:10am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/transcoder-error-eae-timeout/798388/4 "2022-09-24T02:10:55Z")

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