Server Version#: 1.32.8.7639, also tried 1.32.7.7621
Player Version#: iOS 8.30, online web player (chrome and edge)
Was running for a long time on Plex server for Mac on a M1 Mini, but wanted to move to a VM of Ubuntu due to consolidation of hardware in my home rack setup. Running an Ubuntu 22.04.3 LTS VM with NFS mounts to a QNAP NAS, the same exact NAS and filesystem that I used on the Mac for over a year.
Some videos seem to play fine - watched Murder on the Orient Express in transcoded bitrate yesterday and it played fine. I can play some files without issue, with Direct Play or transcoding, without issue. However, many of the files that I know to be solid/good (because they play fine on the Mac from the same NFS mounts) fail on the new Plex on Linux. All files are MKV containers and the folders are mounted with 755 permissions. The transcoding temporary folder is set to /tmp and is creating sub-folders for the transcoding tasks so it doesn’t appear to be a permissions issue.
In my most recent example, I can’t play Groundhog Day; the console logs spit out this message (to which I can find no assistance on this forum or Google):
[Req#eb3/Transcode/7B732E68-1E5B-491A-A9EB-A09C5AEA1B69/60c6a0e1-294b-4020-8c42-a110353308f4] [mpeg2video @ 0x7f8451c09100] ignoring pic cod ext after 0
Jobs: ‘/usr/lib/plexmediaserver/Plex Transcoder’ exit code for process 1562 is -11 (signal: Segmentation fault)
Is there something glaringly wrong with my setup? Any additional logs I can provide to help with this? I’d rather not re-implement the Mac since it’s a PITA to update/reboot with NFS mounts. Plex Media Server Logs_2024-02-02_21-15-07.zip (6.6 MB)
Thanks for your assistance, but I do not think you’re correct, here, for the following reasons:
If I run a Mac-based server, running the EXACT same version of PMS, running local or remote, the EXACT same movie, run from the EXACT same NFS mount, plays fine.
Playing these files directly from Windows or Mac play fine.
The majority of my collection, these test files included, are bit-for-bit MKV passthrough versions pulled from actual media. No encoding in the middle.
This is clearly, it seems to me, to be an issue with how the linux-specific PMS installation is working; I mean, if a Mac running the exact same version of software does not have issues playing the file in Direct Play or transcoded manner, but a linux host running PMS and attempting to Direct Play or transcode the file cannot due to a transcoder error, then it’s clearly an issue with the linux host or the implementation of PMS.
I’m willing to accept that perhaps I need a package installed to properly transcode, or something (i.e. there’s a host dependency in my Ubuntu server this is running on to make this properly function), but I’m afraid I cannot accept your premise that the file is damaged in some way, because alternative operating systems using the same mount protocol work fine.
Additional data point - I added a third server, now, on the same network - a Windows-based VM. Installed the same version of PMS. Added the libraries. All of the movies stream perfectly.
Definitely a Linux-only issue. If you want to close out this thread or ignore it, fine, because I’ll just run it on Windows now, at least it can be virtualized.
Network protocol to transport the file is irrelevant. It either sends the stream correctly or it doesn’t.
Windows and Mac transcode differently than Linux. They cannot be compared.
– MacOS uses VideoToolbox where MacOS does it
– Windows uses a layer in DirectX which is solely under Windows control.
– Linux is the only OS where PMS/FFMPEG are responible for the transcoding.
Walking through this again –
Could it be your Linux install? Yes.
Don’t have any idea what it might be.
Generic Workstation or Server installation from the ISO
apt-get update && apt-get upgrade
reboot
Install PMS and complete PMS setup/claiming
Add media
Play
That’s how it works. There’s no mystery or magic here.
You’re not doing something silly like put the transcoder temp over the network?
Nope initially the Linux host didn’t have the transcoding folder set at all and then as part of troubleshooting later I set it to /temp which is just part of the root filesystem. It creates the folder(s) for transcoding under that folder no problem but it aborts and dies for some reason.
I figured there was some difference between Linux and the other OS’s and that sounds like the issue. While again these files are plucked clean and without recoding into MKV, so there shouldn’t be any errors in the files… and many of them used to play many years ago from a Linux PMS that I ran six or so years ago, but are there utilities to parse through the files and fix them, maybe? Perhaps the players that Plex relies on “forgive” minor issues that a more strict engine cannot handle?
