Transcoder issues since 1.16.4

Plex Media Server Desktops & Laptops
1

After upgrading to 1.16.4.1469 and later to 1.16.5.1488, I’ve been having trouble with the transcoder and playing content. At undefined intervals, the video will macroblock, jump ahead or back by a few seconds in the stream, then clear up and resume just after where the macroblocking first occurred. Another variation of the glitch is that the video playback speed will double, but the audio will play at normal rate. If I skip back in the video stream, the same section that glitched will play back normally. I’ve noticed this extensively with Roku players, but I’ve also seen video glitching with the web client in Chrome on Windows 10.

Today I rolled the server back to version 1.16.3.1402 and the video problems have not recurred even after playing content that glitched on 1.16.4 and 1.16.5.

2

which OS? Windows or Linux?

3

Sorry…didn’t specify but I do have the tag of server-linux.
This is Ubuntu 18.04.

4

May I have the logs before the other version info is gone or is it too late?

5

I have logs, but I’ve never had to send them before…not sure where I put them so you can get them. Nevermind…I see I can simply attach the zip file.

Plex Media Server Logs_2019-08-14_00-57-10.zip (2.6 MB)

6

drats. Somewhere along the way you turned on verbose logging.
everything is gone.

Verbose logs every single packet. I can only see about 2 minutes of time.
DEBUG lets’ me see about 20 minutes.

7

Then sorry, it’s too late :frowning:

However, I can probably upgrade the system, turn off verbose, and try it again. Should be easily repeatable. BUT, not tonight. I’ll see if I can reproduce and post a new one tomorrow.

8

please do set the logging back to DEBUG.
VERBOSE is only used when looking for specific problems at the packet level

9

Could be the same problem described here:

Seems that both problems disappear after downgrade to 1.16.3.1402 so maybe it’s the same root cause.

10

I upgraded to 1.16.5 and captured three incidents over two streams. Attached are the logs from that.

Plex Media Server Logs_2019-08-14_08-45-32.zip (3.0 MB)

11

I’ve read through the first parts of that thread and it does seem quite similar and the fact that someone else mentioned it happened on Roku bolsters that claim.

Specifically, this post by @FahimF : Plex randomly jumping forward during playback

12

Thank you for the comparative logs.
I only have a roku 3 but will attempt to recreate this.
I will submit to Engineering regardless for their triage.

1 Like
13

I have a Roku 3 and Roku Express and Roku Premier. I know it’s happened with the Express and Premier, but the Roku 3 was recently packed away and I don’t remember if it was before the upgrade to 1.16.4. I think I can find the Roku 3 and see if it happens.

14

If you can please, that will serve as verification of my results.

Also, I just tried playing and jumping around multiple HEVC, DD & EAC audio videos.
I could not replicate.

In logs I’ve seen: AVI format, MP3 audio

I wonder if this is a factor. Being able to replicate on regular MKV H.264 with AAC/AC-3 would be better.

15

I have found the Roku 3, but I haven’t seen the issue yet. Also, I have found one stream that it happened on:
General
Unique ID : 227598276534322996248433701861666790957 (0xAB39D56741FAAE4399305C755C731E2D)
Complete name : S05E08 - Hear The Angels Sing.mkv
Format : Matroska
Format version : Version 4 / Version 2
File size : 1 006 MiB
Duration : 55 min 51 s
Overall bit rate : 2 519 kb/s
Encoded date : UTC 2017-11-05 11:57:29
Writing application : mkvmerge v6.3.0 (‘You can’t stop me!’) built on Jun 28 2013 20:09:41
Writing library : libebml v1.3.0 + libmatroska v1.4.0

Video
ID : 1
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : High@L4.1
Format settings : CABAC / 5 Ref Frames
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames : 5 frames
Codec ID : V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC
Duration : 55 min 51 s
Bit rate : 2 213 kb/s
Width : 1 280 pixels
Height : 720 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16:9
Frame rate mode : Constant
Frame rate : 25.000 FPS
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.096
Stream size : 884 MiB (88%)
Writing library : x264 core 152 r2851 ba24899
Encoding settings : cabac=1 / ref=5 / deblock=1:0:0 / analyse=0x3:0x113 / me=hex / subme=8 / psy=1 / psy_rd=1.00:0.00 / mixed_ref=1 / me_range=16 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=2 / 8x8dct=1 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / fast_pskip=1 / chroma_qp_offset=-2 / threads=6 / lookahead_threads=1 / sliced_threads=0 / nr=0 / decimate=1 / interlaced=0 / bluray_compat=0 / constrained_intra=0 / bframes=3 / b_pyramid=2 / b_adapt=1 / b_bias=0 / direct=3 / weightb=1 / open_gop=0 / weightp=2 / keyint=250 / keyint_min=25 / scenecut=40 / intra_refresh=0 / rc_lookahead=50 / rc=crf / mbtree=1 / crf=18.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=0 / qpmax=69 / qpstep=4 / ip_ratio=1.40 / aq=1:1.00
Default : Yes
Forced : No
Color range : Limited
Matrix coefficients : BT.709

Audio
ID : 2
Format : MPEG Audio
Format version : Version 1
Format profile : Layer 2
Codec ID : A_MPEG/L2
Codec ID/Hint : MP2
Duration : 55 min 51 s
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 256 kb/s
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Sampling rate : 48.0 kHz
Compression mode : Lossy
Stream size : 102 MiB (10%)
Default : Yes
Forced : No

16

More info. I was watching a stream on the Roku 3 and didn’t see any issues. I then paused the stream and resumed on the Roku express and the issue occurred right away.

17

Is this behavior more like a Device & Server version specific matchup issue?

18

Couldn’t say. I do know that I’ve watched two assets on the Roku 3 without incident while the Roku Express and Premier have the issue. I’ve seen in the other thread mentioned here that others have also downgraded to 1.16.3 and the problem went away.

19

I am trying everything I can to reproduce and cannot.
We may need to get the big guys in here

20

You did say you only have a Roku 3. That’s the only one of my Roku devices that I cannot make this happen, so it makes since that you might not see it either. However, with the other Roku models, it happens rather quickly after starting a stream using 1.16.4 or 1.16.5, and it doesn’t happen when I go back to 1.16.3.