Server Version#: 1.18.1.1788 (and all recent versions)
Player Version#: Web-client 4.8.1 & newest Firestick Android App, and most up-to-date Roku app.
So I have had my plex server running perfect for well over a year. A couple weeks ago when my server updated to the 1.17 update that was released all the sudden none of my files would work right. Upon investigating it seems that there are now serious transcoding issues.
Symptoms:
Whenever I try playing a video, the console lists a ton of errors trying to transcode.
The server CPU spikes to 100% which is has barely ever used 20% when streaming before. (I assume this is due to the transcode errors)
The files will either not play at all, crash after a few seconds, or if they do decide to play, they will be super pixelated, and freezing a lot.
Things I have tried:
I have uninstalled and reinstalled PMS.
Refomratted server PC completely and started from scratch.
Tried using a different HDD.
Tried rolling back to 1.16 as well as moving forward to the beta 1.18 right now. Same results (even though it worked fine prior to the 1.17 patch, maybe coincidence?)
Made sure all drivers are up to date, as well as Windows 10 is fully updated.
Tested with remote and network streams. Same results.
Tried with hardware transcoding on and off. Same results.
Sorry for a stupid question but where and how do I delete default codecs in Windows 10? I’m sure if the codecs were the issue the fresh format / reinstall of windows would have solved that but I am desperate so anything is worth a shot.
Unless you uninstall before installing the files are not overwritten and with you running an unknown version its possible the permissions are messed up.
Stop Plex from running and then open File Explorer (or it’s equivalent) and navigate to C:\Users\YOUR USER NAME\AppData\Local\Plex Media Server\Codecs and delete all .dll files you find in that folder and any folder it contains. Leave all other file types untouched.
Based on you logs:
'C:\Users\fores\AppData\Local\Plex Media Server\Codecs\'
Thank you very much for the guidance. I did as you said. Found all the codec dll files and deleted them. I then re-opened Plex and tried to play a movie. Sadly, same results. I then decided to ditch the beta 1.18 version and uninstall it and install the current 1.17 version again. Again, making sure the codecs were deleted. Same results.
This is what is spamming the console as I try to play a video.
I am almost starting to wonder if Windows 10 broke something on a recent update. Cause like I said, I’ve tried everyting up to and including a completely formatted system with windows newly installed. I am so lost right now.
Same results Tiebierius. Appreciate the help though.
The network is just a standard Windows 10 machine I have hooked up to my router via ethernet cable. Nothing fancy really. The errors however happen when I try playing a video on Roku over the network, Streaming a video over the internet via my android phone or even playing a video directly on the same computer via the Plex Media Player. However if I play the video on the same computer via VLC player it plays fine. Any other information I can provide I am more than happy to. Or any other suggestions.
So update… I want to thank you Tieberius for the assistance.
So I decided to re-download some movies from the server to my personal computer for further testing. Upon further inspection it seems although my CPU didn’t spike, the movie actually froze and pixelated through VLC player. So for testing purposes. I grabbed a fresh new copy and uploaded it to the server and it plays fine with no transcoding errors!!!
The odd thing is, this is the case with every file I’ve tested so far… 1,000s of videos. Videos that have worked flawlessly for years. So something, some how corrupted every file on the drive. I don’t know if I got a weird virus or what the case is. I wish I knew so I could make sure it doesn’t happen again. However it seems so far everything is back to normal. Now I just have to spend the next week, maybe weeks getting fresh copies of these videos for the server. So weird.
