Transcoding issues on Plex Media Server 1.18.8.2527 on Raspberry pi 4 running raspbian

Plex Media Server NAS & Devices
1

I have a raspberry pi 4 running raspbian. With Plex Media Server 1.18.8.2527 on it.

I have it reading movies off a usb 3 2TB ext hdd.

I have been experiencing intermittent transcoding issues on some videos.

My mountpoint for the drive is

/home/media/2_TB_RHDD

I ran:

sudo chown root:pi /home/media/2_TB_RHDD

sudo chmod 777 /home/media/2_TB_RHDD

This drive is a samba share as well.

when I have been watching videos, most of them work fine but on certain days, it pauses and reloads. Hence im getting trancoding issues.

My raspberry pi is using a wired connection to my router.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Attached are my logs i dont know how to read themPlex Media Server Logs_2020-03-17_21-25-38.zip (3.1 MB)

Any advice would be greatly appreciated

2
  1. It’s playing along fine.
Mar 17, 2020 20:09:41.491 [0xb1f32450] DEBUG - [Transcoder] Throttle - Going into sloth mode.
Mar 17, 2020 20:09:43.792 [0xb15ff450] DEBUG - Auth: authenticated user 1 as Stevo808
Mar 17, 2020 20:09:43.793 [0xa3bed450] DEBUG - Request: [192.168.3.10:50334 (Subnet)] GET /video/:/transcode/universal/session/2cdbb4c4-ba3e-465a-b90d-2ef9f4476373-4/base/00094.ts?protocol=hls&mediaIndex=0&waitForSegments=1 (4 live) TLS Signed-in Token (Stevo808)
Mar 17, 2020 20:09:43.793 [0xa3bed450] DEBUG - Asked for segment 94 from session.
Mar 17, 2020 20:09:43.793 [0xa3bed450] DEBUG - Returning segment 94 from session
Mar 17, 2020 20:09:43.793 [0xa3bed450] DEBUG - Content-Length of /var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Cache/Transcode/Sessions/plex-transcode-2cdbb4c4-ba3e-465a-b90d-2ef9f4476373-4-36d1084f-8ef8-44b1-8fb3-5d11862b8290/media-00094.ts is 634500 (of total: 634500).
Mar 17, 2020 20:09:43.843 [0xb15ff450] DEBUG - Completed: [192.168.3.10:50334] 200 GET /video/:/transcode/universal/session/2cdbb4c4-ba3e-465a-b90d-2ef9f4476373-4/base/00094.ts?protocol=hls&mediaIndex=0&waitForSegments=1 (4 live) TLS 50ms 634500 bytes (pipelined: 95)
Mar 17, 2020 20:09:43.844 [0xb15ff450] DEBUG - Removed transcode data consumer, active count 1 => 0
Mar 17, 2020 20:09:45.846 [0xb15ff450] DEBUG - Auth: authenticated user 1 as Stevo808
Mar 17, 2020 20:09:45.847 [0xa6bf3450] DEBUG - Request: [192.168.3.10:50292 (Subnet)] GET /:/timeline?playbackTime=124000&time=92000&duration=1286160&state=playing&ratingKey=784&key=%2Flibrary%2Fmetadata%2F784&playQueueItemID=1328 (4 live) TLS GZIP Signed-in Token (Stevo808)
Mar 17, 2020 20:09:45.849 [0xa6bf3450] DEBUG - Client [838b5762a0360effc1ba4f63cd4f327c] reporting timeline state playing, progress of 92000/1286160ms for guid=, playbackTime=124000ms ratingKey=784 url=, key=/library/metadata/784, containerKey=, metadataId=784, source=
Mar 17, 2020 20:09:45.853 [0xa6bf3450] DEBUG - Play progress on 784 'Pilot' - got played 92000 ms by account 1!
Mar 17, 2020 20:09:45.861 [0xa6bf3450] DEBUG - [Now] User is Stevo808 (ID: 1)
Mar 17, 2020 20:09:45.861 [0xa6bf3450] DEBUG - [Now] Device is Roku (Roku 3).
Mar 17, 2020 20:09:45.861 [0xa6bf3450] DEBUG - [Now] Profile is Roku-7.x
Mar 17, 2020 20:09:45.861 [0xa6bf3450] DEBUG - [Now] Updated play state for /library/metadata/784.
Mar 17, 2020 20:09:45.861 [0xa6bf3450] DEBUG - Statistics: (838b5762a0360effc1ba4f63cd4f327c) Reporting active playback in state 0 of type 4 (scrobble: 0) for account 1
Mar 17, 2020 20:09:45.870 [0xb15ff450] DEBUG - Completed: [192.168.3.10:50292] 200 GET /:/timeline?playbackTime=124000&time=92000&duration=1286160&state=playing&ratingKey=784&key=%2Flibrary%2Fmetadata%2F784&playQueueItemID=1328 (4 live) TLS GZIP 23ms 772 bytes (pipelined: 42)
Mar 17, 2020 20:09:46.720 [0xb15ff450] DEBUG - Auth: authenticated user 1 as Stevo808
Mar 17, 2020 20:09:46.720 [0xa3bed450] DEBUG - Request: [192.168.3.10:50334 (Subnet)] GET /video/:/transcode/universal/session/2cdbb4c4-ba3e-465a-b90d-2ef9f4476373-4/base/00095.ts?protocol=hls&mediaIndex=0&waitForSegments=1 (4 live) TLS Signed-in Token (Stevo808)
Mar 17, 2020 20:09:46.720 [0xa3bed450] DEBUG - Asked for segment 95 from session.
Mar 17, 2020 20:09:46.720 [0xa3bed450] DEBUG - Returning segment 95 from session
Mar 17, 2020 20:09:46.721 [0xa3bed450] DEBUG - Content-Length of /var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Cache/Transcode/Sessions/plex-transcode-2cdbb4c4-ba3e-465a-b90d-2ef9f4476373-4-36d1084f-8ef8-44b1-8fb3-5d11862b8290/media-00095.ts is 666836 (of total: 666836).
Mar 17, 2020 20:09:46.786 [0xb1f32450] DEBUG - Session 2cdbb4c4-ba3e-465a-b90d-2ef9f4476373-4 (3) is unthrottling
Mar 17, 2020 20:09:46.788 [0xb057c450] DEBUG - [Transcoder] Throttle - Getting back to work.
Mar 17, 2020 20:09:46.790 [0xb15ff450] DEBUG - Completed: [192.168.3.10:50334] 200 GET /video/:/transcode/universal/session/2cdbb4c4-ba3e-465a-b90d-2ef9f4476373-4/base/00095.ts?protocol=hls&mediaIndex=0&waitForSegments=1 (4 live) TLS 69ms 666836 bytes (pipelined: 96)
Mar 17, 2020 20:09:46.790 [0xb15ff450] DEBUG - Removed transcode data consumer, active count 1 => 0
Mar 17, 2020 20:09:46.898 [0xa6bf3450] DEBUG - Transcoder segment range: 0 - 115 (115)
Mar 17, 2020 20:09:46.899 [0xa3bed450] DEBUG - Transcoder segment range: 0 - 116 (115)
Mar 17, 2020 20:09:47.118 [0xb1f32450] DEBUG - Transcoder segment range: 0 - 116 (116)
Mar 17, 2020 20:09:47.119 [0xb057c450] DEBUG - Transcoder segment range: 0 - 117 (116)
Mar 17, 2020 20:09:47.175 [0xa6bf3450] DEBUG - Session 2cdbb4c4-ba3e-465a-b90d-2ef9f4476373-4 (3)
  1. They player disconnects. Notice the network connection changed . IMPORTANT.
Mar 17, 2020 20:44:43.044 [0xb15ff450] DEBUG - Completed: [192.168.3.10:50469] 200 GET /video/:/transcode/universal/session/2cdbb4c4-ba3e-465a-b90d-2ef9f4476373-160/base/00699.ts?protocol=hls&mediaIndex=0&waitForSegments=1 (4 live) TLS 1087ms 700676 bytes (pipelined: 628)
Mar 17, 2020 20:44:43.044 [0xb15ff450] DEBUG - Removed transcode data consumer, active count 1 => 0
Mar 17, 2020 20:44:43.174 [0xb0dfe450] DEBUG - Auth: authenticated user 1 as Stevo808
Mar 17, 2020 20:44:43.174 [0xa43ee450] DEBUG - Request: [192.168.3.10:50469 (Subnet)] GET /video/:/transcode/universal/session/2cdbb4c4-ba3e-465a-b90d-2ef9f4476373-160/base/00700.ts?protocol=hls&mediaIndex=0&waitForSegments=1 (4 live) TLS Signed-in Token (Stevo808)
Mar 17, 2020 20:44:43.174 [0xa43ee450] DEBUG - Asked for segment 700 from session.
Mar 17, 2020 20:44:44.311 [0xa7dff450] DEBUG - Transcoder segment range: 0 - 700 (700)
Mar 17, 2020 20:44:44.311 [0xb057c450] DEBUG - Transcoder segment range: 0 - 701 (700)
Mar 17, 2020 20:44:44.381 [0xa43ee450] DEBUG - Returning segment 700 from session
Mar 17, 2020 20:44:44.381 [0xa43ee450] DEBUG - Content-Length of /var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Cache/Transcode/Sessions/plex-transcode-2cdbb4c4-ba3e-465a-b90d-2ef9f4476373-160-18f613f4-609a-4c09-b113-f15e2bf737c7/media-00700.ts is 795428 (of total: 795428).
Mar 17, 2020 20:44:44.431 [0xb15ff450] DEBUG - Failed to stream media, client probably disconnected after 589824 bytes: 104 - Connection reset by peer
Mar 17, 2020 20:44:44.431 [0xb15ff450] DEBUG - Completed after connection close: [192.168.3.10:50469] 200 GET /video/:/transcode/universal/session/2cdbb4c4-ba3e-465a-b90d-2ef9f4476373-160/base/00700.ts?protocol=hls&mediaIndex=0&waitForSegments=1 (3 live) TLS 1257ms 589824 bytes (pipelined: 629)
Mar 17, 2020 20:44:44.432 [0xb15ff450] DEBUG - Removed transcode data consumer, active count 1 => 0
Mar 17, 2020 20:44:45.765 [0xa73ff450] DEBUG - Transcoder segment range: 0 - 701 (701)
Mar 17, 2020 20:44:45.765 [0xa43ee450] DEBUG - Transcoder segment range: 0 - 702 (701)
Mar 17, 2020 20:44:47.322 [0xb057c450] DEBUG - Transcoder segment range: 0 - 702 (702)
Mar 17, 2020 20:44:47.325 [0xb057c450] DEBUG - Transcoder segment range: 0 - 703 (702)
Mar 17, 2020 20:44:48.622 [0xb057c450] DEBUG - Transcoder segment range: 0 - 703 (703)
Mar 17, 2020 20:44:48.642 [0xa43ee450] DEBUG - Transcoder segment range: 0 - 704 (703)
Mar 17, 2020 20:44:49.865 [0xa7dff450] DEBUG - Transcoder segment range: 0 - 704 (704)
Mar 17, 2020 20:44:49.867 [0xa43ee450] DEBUG - Transcoder segment range: 0 - 705 (704)
Mar 17, 2020 20:44:51.036 [0xa43ee450] DEBUG - Transcoder segment range: 0 - 705 (705)
Mar 17, 2020 20:44:51.038 [0xa7dff450] DEBUG - Transcoder segment range: 0 - 706 (705)
Mar 17, 2020 20:44:51.470 [0xab3fc450] DEBUG - NetworkInterface: received Netlink message len=56, type=RTM_NEWLINK, flags=0x0
Mar 17, 2020 20:44:51.470 [0xab3fc450] DEBUG - NetworkInterface: Netlink information message family=0, type=1, index=3, flags=0x1003, change=0x0
Mar 17, 2020 20:44:51.470 [0xab3fc450] DEBUG - Network change.
Mar 17, 2020 20:44:51.470 [0xab3fc450] DEBUG - NetworkInterface: Notified of network changed (force=0)
Mar 17, 2020 20:44:51.471 [0xab3fc450] DEBUG - Network change notification but nothing changed.
Mar 17, 2020 20:44:52.133 [0xb057c450] DEBUG - Transcoder segment range: 0 - 706 (706)
Mar 17, 2020 20:44:52.135 [0xa43ee450] DEBUG - Transcoder segment range: 0 - 707 (706)
Mar 17, 2020 20:44:53.293 [0xa43ee450] DEBUG - Transcoder segment range: 0 - 708 (707)
Mar 17, 2020 20:44:53.294 [0xa7dff450] DEBUG - Transcoder segment range: 0 - 708 (707)
Mar 17, 2020 20:44:54.435 [0xa7dff450] DEBUG - Transcoder segment range: 0 - 708 (708)
Mar 17, 2020 20:44:54.436 [0xa7dff450] DEBUG - Transcoder segment range: 0 - 709 (708)
Mar 17, 2020 20:44:55.628 [0xa43ee450] DEBUG - Transcoder segment range: 0 - 709 (709)
Mar 17, 2020 20:44:55.631 [0xa7dff450] DEBUG - Transcoder segment range: 0 - 710 (709)
Mar 17, 2020 20:44:56.990 [0xa7dff450] DEBUG - Transcoder segment range: 0 - 710 (710)
Mar 17, 2020 20:44:56.990 [0xb057c450] DEBUG - Transcoder segment range: 0 - 711 (710)
Mar 17, 2020 20:44:58.168 [0xa43ee450] DEBUG - Transcoder segment range: 0 - 711 (711)
Mar 17, 2020 20:44:58.169 [0xa43ee450] DEBUG - Transcoder segment range: 0 - 712 (711)
Mar 17, 2020 20:44:59.497 [0xb057c450] DEBUG - Transcoder segment range: 0 - 712 (712)
Mar 17, 2020 20:44:59.511 [0xa73ff450] DEBUG - Transcoder segment range: 0 - 713 (712)
Mar 17, 2020 20:45:00.877 [0xa73ff450] DEBUG - Transcoder segment range: 0 - 714 (713)
3

RPI isn’t suitable for transcoding. Put a real CPU behind it and you’ll be in much better shape.

4

The ARMv8 CPU is good for about 20 Mbps of H.264 video transcoding with audio conversion. (I tested this during initial ARMv8 launch)

The issue above is a network or player issue, first and foremost.

7

troubleshooting of rpi4 model B, 4 core processor with 4 GB of ram

Disabled trancoding on rp4
Result = better
still cutting in and out

Ping test from tower pc to rp4:
ping info
PING 192.168.3.80 (192.168.3.80) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from 192.168.3.80: icmp_seq=1 ttl=64 time=0.204 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.3.80: icmp_seq=2 ttl=64 time=0.178 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.3.80: icmp_seq=3 ttl=64 time=0.173 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.3.80: icmp_seq=4 ttl=64 time=0.182 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.3.80: icmp_seq=5 ttl=64 time=0.229 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.3.80: icmp_seq=6 ttl=64 time=0.175 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.3.80: icmp_seq=7 ttl=64 time=0.287 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.3.80: icmp_seq=8 ttl=64 time=0.208 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.3.80: icmp_seq=9 ttl=64 time=0.192 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.3.80: icmp_seq=10 ttl=64 time=0.209 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.3.80: icmp_seq=11 ttl=64 time=0.177 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.3.80: icmp_seq=12 ttl=64 time=0.180 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.3.80: icmp_seq=13 ttl=64 time=0.191 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.3.80: icmp_seq=14 ttl=64 time=0.207 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.3.80: icmp_seq=15 ttl=64 time=0.180 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.3.80: icmp_seq=16 ttl=64 time=0.168 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.3.80: icmp_seq=17 ttl=64 time=0.179 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.3.80: icmp_seq=18 ttl=64 time=0.371 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.3.80: icmp_seq=19 ttl=64 time=0.348 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.3.80: icmp_seq=20 ttl=64 time=0.322 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.3.80: icmp_seq=21 ttl=64 time=0.175 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.3.80: icmp_seq=22 ttl=64 time=0.181 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.3.80: icmp_seq=23 ttl=64 time=0.198 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.3.80: icmp_seq=24 ttl=64 time=0.199 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.3.80: icmp_seq=25 ttl=64 time=0.214 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.3.80: icmp_seq=26 ttl=64 time=0.183 ms

reseated cable to router

totally deleted and reinstalled plex client app on roku to read the movies and re authorized it linkedin it to my account again. Disabled direct play.
unplugged roku and reseated path cable.
unplugged roku and tv, let it sit for a minute to rid of caching issues.
unpluged router and let it sit for a minute
tried plex again for this particular set of videos.

logged into rpi4 via ssh
did ls -l on mounpoint
drwxrwxrwx 6 pi pi 4096 Mar 14 16:03 Plex

I had these videos on my tower pc, and they were working fine under that plex server on ubuntu.
When I transfered them over to my samba share on my rpi4 they have this issue

Problem still persists but only on these videos. Plex client program issues and direct play issues.Do you have any ideas of how I could fix this. I will reattach my logs.

I have my main plex server on my ubuntu tower pc, my secondary plex server on my pi4 on raspbian.

I have ruled out caching issues, latency issues, transcoding issues,

9

I have one more idea then Ill attach my logs for you, this time i wont forget

10

Hi Chuck,
Ok I troubleshoted this a bit more this afternoon. I shut off trancoding but it didnt take. So I reshut it off this time it took.

To my surprise I tried to play that video and got a error that direct play needs to be enabled.So I re enabled direct play and restarted the video and still got the same error. Rebooted my roku to rule out caching issues. I tried it again still got the error as before. So I had to renable trancoding. The episodes of big bang theory start but after a while buffer.
Its only big bang theory that is causing this, but it was transfered from my desktop plex server and it was working great on plex before.

Attached are my logs

As you can see all my other movies work just fine. Im out of ideas.

Im kinda asking myself why would my network conk out on one batch of videos not the rest.

Plex Media Server Logs_2020-03-18_15-30-36.zip (2.4 MB)

11

Independent of this discussion

To shine some quantitative info on the scope of the problem facing transcoding and these processors.

Testing on i7-8509G (my desktop) running the standard LinPack

Current date/time: Wed Mar 18 14:20:57 2020

CPU frequency:    4.195 GHz
Number of CPUs: 1
Number of cores: 4
Number of threads: 4

Parameters are set to:

Number of tests: 15
Number of equations to solve (problem size) : 1000  2000  5000  10000 15000 18000 20000 22000 25000 26000 27000 30000 35000 40000 45000
Leading dimension of array                  : 1000  2000  5008  10000 15000 18008 20016 22008 25000 26000 27000 30000 35000 40000 45000
Number of trials to run                     : 4     2     2     2     2     2     2     2     2     2     1     1     1     1     1    
Data alignment value (in Kbytes)            : 4     4     4     4     4     4     4     4     4     4     4     1     1     1     1    

Maximum memory requested that can be used=16200901024, at the size=45000

=================== Timing linear equation system solver ===================

Size   LDA    Align. Time(s)    GFlops   Residual     Residual(norm) Check
1000   1000   4      0.005      127.8300 1.502479e-12 5.123838e-02   pass
1000   1000   4      0.005      143.7662 1.502479e-12 5.123838e-02   pass
1000   1000   4      0.004      149.7619 1.502479e-12 5.123838e-02   pass
1000   1000   4      0.005      147.5091 1.502479e-12 5.123838e-02   pass
2000   2000   4      0.035      152.6965 5.141276e-12 4.472280e-02   pass
2000   2000   4      0.035      151.7080 5.141276e-12 4.472280e-02   pass
5000   5008   4      0.449      185.6399 2.567213e-11 3.579772e-02   pass
5000   5008   4      0.448      186.1547 2.567213e-11 3.579772e-02   pass
10000  10000  4      3.353      198.9060 1.034086e-10 3.646293e-02   pass
10000  10000  4      3.462      192.6319 1.034086e-10 3.646293e-02   pass
15000  15000  4      12.150     185.2272 2.206862e-10 3.475844e-02   pass
15000  15000  4      12.455     180.6845 2.206862e-10 3.475844e-02   pass
18000  18008  4      21.672     179.4332 2.839891e-10 3.110030e-02   pass
18000  18008  4      21.818     178.2323 2.839891e-10 3.110030e-02   pass
20000  20016  4      29.205     182.6444 3.839458e-10 3.398761e-02   pass
20000  20016  4      29.792     179.0432 3.839458e-10 3.398761e-02   pass
22000  22008  4      39.106     181.5483 4.191068e-10 3.069793e-02   pass
22000  22008  4      38.816     182.9051 4.191068e-10 3.069793e-02   pass
^C
[chuck@lizum linpack.557]$
  1. Per the tests performed on the Pi 4
    Ref: Raspberry Pi 4 Benchmarks: Processor And Network Performance Makes It A Real Desktop Contender | Hackaday

Final point:

Ref: Can You Really Use The Raspberry Pi 4 As A Desktop Machine? | Hackaday

Closing thoughts

So you need a desktop, should you just use a Raspberry Pi? If you have one already, sure, give it a try; it might surprise you. If you only have a few dollars to spend, or need a bunch of machines, using Pis might be a great fit. Editing video, 3D modeling, compiling large projects, or some other processor- or video-card-intensive workload? The Pi probably isn’t the right choice.

For a $55 piece of hardware, it’s impressive. Can it replace your desktop? Yes, yes it can. Should it? Probably not.

Ref: 1 GFLOP > 1000 MIPS
Most Pi benchmarks are measured in MIPS (Millions of instructions/sec)

My results are meausred in GFLOPS (Billions of floating point operations per second) which are harder than integer.

My thoughts:

A hobbyist microcontroller board versus a full up computer?
Sure it can do a lot but expectations must be managed.

Use it for DirectPlay or SD software transcoding ONLY.

12

@Stevo808

From the logs:

Mar 18, 2020 12:45:16.912 [0xb1e81450] DEBUG - Grabber: Cleaned up 0 decrepit directories in 0.0 sec.
Mar 18, 2020 12:45:16.913 [0xb6ef3010] DEBUG - Opening 1 database sessions to library (), SQLite 3.26.0, threadsafe=1
Mar 18, 2020 12:45:16.918 [0xaf0ff450] DEBUG - HTTP requesting GET https://plex.tv/api/v2/server/access_tokens?auth_token=xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx&includeProfiles=1&includeProviders=1
Mar 18, 2020 12:45:16.924 [0xaf0ff450] ERROR - Error issuing curl_easy_perform(handle): 6
Mar 18, 2020 12:45:16.924 [0xaf0ff450] WARN - HTTP error requesting GET https://plex.tv/api/v2/server/access_tokens?auth_token=xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx&includeProfiles=1&includeProviders=1 (0, No error) (Could not resolve host: plex.tv)
Mar 18, 2020 12:45:16.925 [0xaf0ff450] DEBUG - MyPlex: using cached data for

CURL error 6 = DNS failure = Network.

14

Hi Chuck,
I kinda see what your saying after reading it a few times.

I saw that it was dropping eth0 connection but just on those videos, not my others.

Which brings me to my point. Its a 4 core processor 1.2GHz per core with 4 GB of ram, I have been using it for a month with plex just fine its just this batch of videos that doesnt play.

So my real conclusion is that this device is capable of using plex, but im using it as a server/purely a headless machine. I am running a samba share of my hdd,ssh/ vnc enabled(so I can manage it). I have it as gui startup but the video card shuts off in a while.

So I really dont think im putting too much load on it since its armed with 4 processors and 4GB of DDR4 ram.

unless im misinterpreting what your trying to say.

Now, Im just getting these videos of big bang again and transfering them over once more bc they might be corrupt. Its worth a shot.

So are you saying I should use direct play for the rp4 but not on my primary server of ubuntu.

I apologize I do not understand much of what your stating.

All I can think of its some weird bug in raspbian.

thank you I shall update this post once it get season 1 tranferred over later on.

-Steve

15

Don’t think or don’t know ? Need to be finite here.

Having tested the ARMv8, professionally built into NAS boxes (QNAP & Synology), I know their limits. The mechanical connections are per industry… The cooling is per industry standard. The power is per industry standard. There’s big difference between a a DS418j CPU board and an Rpi 4 and I know how limited the DS418j is.

Proper engineering dictates load analysis be done to see if the CPU can handle it without going into thermal throttling (VERY IMPORTANT)

See what I’m trying to say? More directly stated: " Did you build it to take a load or is it sitting there in the open with cables dangling out of it? "

16

Hi Chuck,

I thought about what you said for a while. I value your opinion but I dont understand how just a eth0 connection would drop intermittantly if it cant handle the load.

As a MCSE with intermediate knowledge of linux.
If plex cant keep up you wouldnt see connection errors in the dmesg logs on raspbian.

I wasnt disregarding your thoughts, I was merely stuck at understanding this. As I stated im still in my early stages of understanding linux.

I studied windows all my life. But around 7 years ago started using ubuntu on my desktop pcs.

I got the raspberry pi 4 model b stater kit from amazon. I have the rp4 in the case. Its just a black platic case, and yes I have heatsinks and a fan. the cpu typically runs at 40 -45 degrees.

Again im sorry if i misunderstood you.

I tried using kodi at the beggining but it was very laggy. But for the past month plex has worked just ok. Now I got myself wondering why curl would cause a network connection error.

After my test
my dmesg logs stated exactly
[ 1054.666039] bcmgenet fd580000.genet eth0: Link is Down
[ 1055.706140] bcmgenet fd580000.genet eth0: Link is Up - 100Mbps/Full - flow co

I am a little puzzled as this seems a OS issue from what im seeing.

I’ll try copying over season 1 to plex and reindex and test that.

thank you very much for your insight I will do what I can to reduce the load. I will install stacer to shutdofff services that I dont need and disable my gui startup.

Thank you very much for your opinion I will think about what you said for a while.

17

Let’s take this all the way back to your first point:

Why would it drop?

  1. Electrical drop
  2. Ethernet address changed / DHCP Refresh (forces adapter restart)

Let’s focus here? Solve this one first?

  1. System logs should show electrical LINK DROP if the connector is faulty / loose.
  2. DHCP address refresh / change is more subtle.
    a. PMS didn’t indicate an address change
    b. But the connection did drop.
    c. If the machine is DHCP assigned, DHCP refresh will cause this event.

You show: “Link is Down”.
It (the kernel) then responded with “Link is UP - 100 Mbps/Full” .

Right here, it had re-established the ethernet layer and negotiated a 100 Mbps link.

This is the hardware talking to you.

18

Hi Chuck,

Thanks I will reseat all the cables.

I will look to replace the ethernet cord if I can find one thats long enough.

I have a few things to think about here, I have been at this all day and will return to troubleshooting this over the next few days. I will update this post and let you know, im not one for not posting my solution.

I will see if I can replace the cable, reseat all the cables, then research that dmesg error, and think about this for a while.

Since it works on every other movie and its dropping a hardware and or service error. Dont really know if thats a coincidence. Seems my hands are full. But ill let you know.

I really appreciate your help here.

My country is under quarantine bc of this pandemic so i have a lot of time to think about this.

have a great day

-Steve

19

Steve,

Here’s the OSI model. This is how it all works:

Layer 1 = Link Layer = What you’re seeing. This is where bit rates are negotiated
Layer 2 = MAC (Media Access) - Skip for now
Layer 3 = IP Layer
Layer 4 = TCP (Transmission Control Protocol)

Layer 6 = HTTPS
Layer 7 = Plex

We’re starting to go under quarantine here too. Our county is about to lock down.

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For tonight. I unplugged all my cables and blew out dust using canned air for dusting my computer case.

I researched that dmesg error and found I needed to run fsck on the sd card. So I plugged the card into my laptop using ubuntu I ran fsck on my sd card. I put the card back in the rp4 and found in plex my loading of a movie was greatly increased.

I logged into the rp4 by ssh and found my dmesg stated I re enabled caching mode on the sd card. I started plex and noticed the movies were parsing faster.

I deleted the seasons on big bang theory on the RHDD, the troubled ones. there were permission issues on those files. To my surprise they actually deleted.

Tommorow I will transfer over season 1 and reindex my repo. Im guessing that should work.

I will post my outcome, just may take a while.

You jogged my memory that I rember having this issue in the past with ubuntu that movies had parsing errors in plex sometimes. They sometimes dont inherit the permissions of the drive. I figured ubuntu and raspian as are debian based so this should be similiar. So I think im drilling down to a solution here.

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Hi Chuck,
This issue is resolved.

It was perplexing me that I have been using the rp4 for a month and everything was working well. And it wasnt dropping any dmesg errors. I just got the thing in early January.

So I googled the dmesg error of:
[ 1054.666039] bcmgenet fd580000.genet eth0: Link is Down

I was specifically targetting a possible error in the service bcmgenet.

My fix:
I put my sd card into my ubuntu laptop and ran fsck on it.

I retransferred a new copy of my videos of big bang theory, and reindexed it in plex.

Everything works great , I have no intermittant playback issues anymore.

Thank you very much for your help.

Sincerely,
Steve

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