Server Version#: 1.18.8.2527
Player Version#: latest
I’ve had no issues playing pretty much anything until tonight. Tried several times to start a movie and all I got was a black screen. Stopped, restarted, rebooted, killed the app, etc. all with the same result. Then I just hit the skip forward button and it started playing fine. It worked fine unless I stopped the thing and then it would act the same. Pausing and starting again seemed fine.
I also tried switching to the non-enhanced player and it did the same. All the while I could play the same file on iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV so I have a hard time believing it’s the file.
So after watching that, I tried start another and the same thing happened. Picked something else and it started fine. The only thing I see the same between the 2 that didn’t start properly is the audio. Both were PCM 5.1 with different video format in the same mkv container.
I checked the server dashboard when these seemingly froze and both appeared like they were playing with direct play on video/audio.
Any ideas and anything that would help figuring this out? Server logs are easy enough to obtain, but I have no idea on the Shield front.
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Just found the answer on reddit you need to go into settings/ advanced/ enable new video player/ turn to off/
issues resolved for me after that. bug with new server and new player.
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I said I had already tried that and it didn’t do anything at all. Same problem.
I’m going to try something else today to see if it has any affect. We shall see.
Well, what I tried had no affect on the problem. Also, if I try to resume a file having this issue the video pops up, server says it’s streaming it, but it won’t actually play unless I skip ahead. Pressing play will show show the pause icon so it thinks it’s doing something.
Anybody else want to take a stab at explaining this? Plex issue or Shield issue?
The mystery continues, but I think it has to be something in these particular files. Having PCM audio I would have thought most clients would be happy.
iPhone works. iPad works. ATV4K video works, but no audio (WTF?). Shield Pro won’t start, but will play after skipping ahead a few seconds. I totally thought I tried the ATV last night but obviously didn’t.
I guess I’ll try and re-rip these 2 movies and see if that clears it up. Also going to dig around my files and find more with PCM audio to see if there’s a problem there as well.
Forget my theory. Found a file with TrueHD that when started the video was juddery. Thinking it was the file I ripped it again while watching something else that played fine. Moved it to the server and… same damn thing. So I skipped forward and the damn thing started playing fine.
I’m thinking whatever this is has something to do with the Shield and Android. I also see a problem with video not starting in Hulu at random and that’s been confirmed to be a Shield problem. Honestly didn’t think this problem was related, but I can’t come up with anything else.
As for the ATV no audio thing, that may be related to something I forgot about so I’ll check that later when I haven’t been drinking. Cause you know, pandemic and all the rest of the poop show.
Server: 1.18.9.2578
Client: 7.30.1.16475 (90b25cf6)
So this problem with the Shield Pro (2019) continues on more and more files. I’d like to say it’s an Android problem, but I honestly have no idea.
To recap, some files when starting to play will either stutter a bit or appear to freeze. On the server dashboard it looks like the file is actually playing and all Direct Play so it’s not a transcoding issue. If I skip forward or back the file starts playing normally and doesn’t give me any other issues.
Also, as noted, I’ve tried both the enhanced player and the normal player and they both have the problem.
I’ve attached a server log snippet from the latest issue last night. If there’s a way to gather logs from the Shield and if that will help, let me know how.
Plex server log snippet 040120.txt.zip (209.0 KB)
Can you try with the latest beta (v7.31), or provide some client logs, please?
Server: 1.19.1.2589
Client: Nvidia Shield Pro - 7.30.1.16475
I’ve similar, if not the same issues. Hitting forward makes the video play, and sometimes the audio is out of sync, so I pause, hit back 10 seconds, and play, and the audio, for the most part seems to get into sync after that.
I’ve got no idea how to add the beta version of Plex to the Nvidia Shield Pro though.
EDIT: Sometimes the audio doesn’t play at all as well, and the same pausing, and hitting forward or back a few times, then playing so far, allows the audio to play.
How do you install the beta version on the Nvidia Shield Pro?
You can download the APK here, or sign up here to get them via Google Play
Thanks. I’ll do that shortly. Can you point me to how to capture client logs? Is that just turning on network logging in the app?
Never mind. I found directions for snagging the logs. Attached is a snippet from this morning that should show the anomaly twice on two different files. First one started to play, froze, and then I jumped ahead and it started to play again. Second one froze immediately and then I jumped ahead and it started playing.
shield logs 040203 snippet.txt (272.9 KB)
I got 7.31 sideloaded and it exhibited the same problem on the same files in both new or normal player. Maybe my clients logs from my last post helps. Still unsure if it’s Plex or the 8.1.1 OS.
On a different note and probably something I should report in another thread, something is wrong with HDR in 7.31. It looks similar to the color space switching bug Nvidia fixed in 8.1.1. Colors are way over saturated to the point of blowing things out. I switched back to 7.30 and things are back to normal. And yes for all I know I’m seeing things that aren’t there because I’m looking for issues. So take it or leave it.
Quite frankly HDR has been hit or miss for me, even on a calibrated set. I would almost prefer it if the industry said FU to HDR and just released things in 4K resolution only.
I’m also having similar problems on my nvidia shield pro - very frustrating.
Server: 1.19.1.2645 (running on Centos7 i7-4770 + Nvidia P2000)
Client: 7.31.0.16802 Nvidia shield Pro 2015
Client is on 1gbps LAN with both ipv4 and ipv6 enabled
Client is set to use Direct Stream
My symptoms:
Video intermittently not starting (just black screen - if I click I get the pause option)
Audio / Video out of sync intermittently (fixed by stopping and starting again)
What’s the latest on this? Still happening and haven’t seen anything for a new beta to test. Already on 7.31.
Have you tried v8.0.0 yet?
I have not. I’ll see if I can snag it today and see how it goes.
That would be a negative Ghost Rider. The pattern is full. 
Sorry… it just popped in my head. Still either not starting or freezing right after starting on some files with the server reporting that it’s still streaming. Skipping forward fixes it.