I’m running Plex server on Linux Mint 17.1, and normally viewing through Plex Classic on Roku 2/3. I upgraded from 1.7.5.4035 to 1.9.7.4460 last night in the hope that it would fix my ongoing problems with transcoding .avi files. It didn’t fix the transcoding problem although it did seem to be having a more of a crack at it, finally loading and starting to play after a minute or so but then immediately going to “loading” again. Assuming I was no worse off I then went to view a TV series and noticed that all the thumbnails were missing when viewing all the episodes in the series.
Is this a known problem with the latest Plex server release?
I’ve gone back to 1.7.5.4035 for the time being, but I would also eventually like to get to the bottom of the .avi problem - it seems particularly bad with DivX-encoded files (of which I have quite a few, before I discovered Handbrake and mp4).
I’ll be quite happy to upgrade to 1.9.7 again if I can resolve the thumbnail problem, and then maybe re-investigate the avi issue.
There is no known problem with 1.9.7 and thumbnails else there would be many complaints about it.
There are well known problems with AVI files because of their fragility. DivX adds to the problem.
If you can recreate your problem playing an AVI and then capturing the log files (Settings - Server - Help - Download Logs) immediately thereafter and attaching here, we can take a look for something systemic.
There are a few ninjas , @cayars comes to mind, who can help you remedy the AVI problem without need of HandBrake
Thanks for the reply - attached are the logs after I upgraded to 1.9.7 and attempted to play one of my DivX AVIs. I also analysed the library before trying to play. It took a very long time to load, but eventually began playing - with no sound! I attempted to fast-forward a bit to check if there was sound further on, but after about a minute of trying to reload it gave up with “Unable to play video”.
Thanks for the logs.
This is why AVI files are problematic. In this case, the ac3 data was not written correctly (incorrect audio / video timestamps) and the transcoder is refusing to process bad data
Nov 27, 2017 22:45:18.811 [0x7f9c42bfc700] ERROR - [Transcoder] [ac3 @ 0x20ab980] frame sync error
Nov 27, 2017 22:45:18.815 [0x7f9c423fb700] ERROR - [Transcoder] Error while decoding stream #0:1: Invalid data found when processing input
Nov 27, 2017 22:45:18.824 [0x7f9c58fff700] ERROR - [Transcoder] [ac3 @ 0x20ab980] frame sync error
Nov 27, 2017 22:45:18.828 [0x7f9c4dbf4700] ERROR - [Transcoder] Error while decoding stream #0:1: Invalid data found when processing input
Nov 27, 2017 22:45:18.837 [0x7f9c473ff700] ERROR - [Transcoder] [ac3 @ 0x20ab980] frame sync error
Nov 27, 2017 22:45:18.847 [0x7f9c4f3f7700] ERROR - [Transcoder] Error while decoding stream #0:1: Invalid data found when processing input
Nov 27, 2017 22:45:18.867 [0x7f9c42bfc700] ERROR - [Transcoder] [ac3 @ 0x20ab980] frame sync error
Nov 27, 2017 22:45:18.872 [0x7f9c423fb700] ERROR - [Transcoder] Error while decoding stream #0:1: Invalid data found when processing input
Nov 27, 2017 22:45:18.886 [0x7f9c5efff700] ERROR - [Transcoder] [ac3 @ 0x20ab980] frame sync error
Nov 27, 2017 22:45:18.890 [0x7f9c4dbf4700] ERROR - [Transcoder] Error while decoding stream #0:1: Invalid data found when processing input
Nov 27, 2017 22:45:18.901 [0x7f9c58fff700] ERROR - [Transcoder] [ac3 @ 0x20ab980] frame sync error
Sorry I should have clarified - on TV shows which play fine, when I go into the series which shows the episode numbers, the selected episode should have a thumbnail, but none of them load. If I select the episode I get the synopsis and a thumbnail, and from there I can play the episode perfectly.
You can try this and clear the Agent caches. After doing so, attempt to analyze one series (Right -click analyze) and then refresh the metadata for that series.
I can’t see how to analyse a TV series (right click on the web interface brings up the standard browser options)? I’ve tried refreshing the metadata from the … on the TV series, that hasn’t made any difference. In any case, when I went back to 1.7.5 last night the thumbnails were working fine again, so there shouldn’t be anything wrong with the analysis or metadata?
Sorry, I missed your post about the incorrect AC3 data. This being the case, can you tell me why these AVIs all played fine on version 0.99, which I used for a long time until the agents stopped working?
The last version before 1.0.0 was 18+ months ago at 0.9.17.3 . If you refer to 0.9.9, it is unreasonable to expect such a version to still work.
18 months ago, at 0.9.17.0, ARMv5 and PPC systems were discontinued because they didn’t have enough CPU power to run PMS.
Since then, database schema and features have forced growth. With growth, eventually something will be deprecated and eventually fail to work.
As the metadata storage changed, eventually your version of PMS must have fallen below the minimum . At present 1.5.3 was a mandatory upgrade for all codecs which makes 1.5.3 now the minimum version which will work with Plex.tv
Sorry, I couldn’t remember the exact number, 0.9.9 sounds correct. I understand that as things progress software will become obsolete, the change in the way the agents work forced me to upgrade. I don’t really understand your reference to ARMv5 and PPC as I am running PMS on a Linux system with a quad-core Intel processor? What I was trying to say is, that under 0.9.9 these files transcoded fine but now they don’t, which suggests to me that the transcoder has been broken somewhere along the way. I obviously don’t fully understand the intricacies of the software, but I can’t see how the metadata etc. can affect the transcoding process?
Hello,
Glad to see this conversation. I have been struggling with a very similar issue. I have both an Nighthawk X10 – AD7200 R9000 running Plex Version 1.9.2.4285 and an HD home run extend - no TV database at all - just off air recordings. Perfect thumbnails in both parts of the TV folder - “All TV shows” perfect, “By Folder” perfect. It is still on the same version and works great.
The R9000 is when I decided Plex was in my future and our family multimedia solution.
So invested in a 20 TB QNAP TVS i5 882 with two 1TB SSDs and when it arrived I installed Plex ver.1.7.4035. again, perfect thumbnails in both parts of the TV folder - “All TV shows” perfect with artwork and tittles", and “By Folder,” same perfection.
An upgrade came along to 1.9.6.4429, and the “All TV shows - seasons”, showed perfect artwork and titles, but the “TV shows “By Folder” has nothing but grey blocks with Sxx and Exx. I tried a clean install and loaded the same 3 recorded episodes on 1.9.7.441, then repeated the process on 1.10.0.4516 (11/23) and then again with 1.10.0.4523 (11/27).
No luck. I reported all of this on my posts and was seeking a QNAP ver.1.7.4035., which no longer exists anywhere that I can find. You cannot see this on this issue on the server, but see it on the clients (Nvidia shield, Fire TV, Fire Stick and Mi Box) and only in the “TV Shows” and “By Folder”
So, as a work around, since I cant use the TV Shows “By Folder” anymore as the client has no information or artwork, but the metadata has to be on the client (Nvidia and Fire TV) since I get perfect artwork and titles using “All TV shows” By Season”
When I load the same 3 recorded episodes on the R9000, its perfect again.
Is it possible that I have a default setting wrong? or a write permission issue? Its my first month with QNAP, I know every little about the OS as I am a 20 year windows guy.
Appreciate any insight here as how to fix my issue. But I am fine with my workaround for now, but thought I should report this again. One other thing, my neighbor just became a Plex pass subscriber on Windows 10 and has the same thing he didn’t know it was supposed have artwork with the TV folder, and he showed me the work around he uses on his Shield.
This may be a problem and its very early (~2 weeks) old. Client side only, so many may not realize it yet. Not sure.
Thanks for your kind help!
One other thing to add . Both systems use an HD home run extend for recording TV and Movies, and the movie folder (same hierarchy) works perfectly artwork - titles and artwork inside the movies I record which also creates a folder. Thought that might help isolate the issue here with the TV Folder.
Appreciate the help here.
Thanks!
On QNAP, PMS runs as the admin/root user. Permissions are not a factor.
Please attach your log files which you capture while force refreshing the metadata. This will highlight the errors and provide current data.
I guess this is the end of this thread then. I’ve gone back to 1.7.5 to solve the thumbnail issue and converted all my DivX .avis to mp4 using Handbrake. Maybe I’ll think about trying another update in a year or so…
Thank you ChuckPA,
I am new at this so I hope I did this right. I refreshed metadata in the TV Shows, downloaded the log files and attached the zip file.
I sure hope it shows you what I am seeing on the Client side (Nvida, Fire TV) and only in the “By Folder”
This has me really puzzled, acting like a “nested folder issue” but if others don’t have it - cache issue?
Best and thanks again.
Harry
