Server Version#: 1.41.2.9200-c6bbc1b53
Windows 10/32GB/A2000 12GB dedicated bare metal
Player Version#: Latest available on Roku app store
Lifetime Plex Pass holder
Hello all! I am finally breaking down and asking for help on this perplexing issue (lol). I have been trying on and off for months to make this (what I thought would be easy) work. Please let me describe what I am trying to do.
I bought a Samsung 40" 4K TV and placed it on the wall of my kitchen to be used as a digital picture frame. The sole purpose of this TV is to connect to my dedicated plex server (on the same LAN) and play random pics and videos from my collection 24/7. I have verified I do not have any extremely long filenames, special characters or any unsupported file formats.
I installed the Plex app on Samsung WebO/S and connected to my Plex server. It starts playing the pictures or movies randomly for a couple hours and then stops… I thought the problem was with WebO/S so I purchased a 4K ROKU for the TV. Loaded up the latest Plex app on the 4K ROKU, connected to my Plex server and it does the exact same thing. It plays just fine for a couple hours and then stops. Having to restart the pictures every 2 hours kills the immersion of a digital picture frame. Plex should be able to do this.
It seems like I just need a setting that says “Automatically retry” and/or “Automatically Skip to the next file on Error” so it just keeps going. I know there are reports of having movies stop exactly at 2 hours, I don’t know if this is the same issue I didn’t honestly time it but all I know is that in a couple hours or so when I walk by the TV again it has consistently stopped every single time.
I even set up a simple test folder with just a small number of JPEG photos, no movies just a few known good pictures Plex has no problem playing (if I manually view). I set that on slideshow and sure enough, same issue. It doesn’t seem to matter what kind of media type, it just runs for a little while and then crashes back to the plex menu.
Is there any way to fix this?
Thank you all kindly in advance!
I found this previous reply and I just wanted to include it here and mention that this is a dedicated server running 24/7. It is server class hardware mounted in a rack with a UPS. None of the disks are allowed to sleep ever. I know a lot of people have reported same/similar issues. This may not even have anything to do with my specific issue because I am not playing individual content longer than 2 hours. I am willing to stick with this problem until a solution can be found. I will do whatever is needed. Thank you.
Blockquote anon18523487[Jun 2021]Playback Stops at 2:00:00 - #5 by anon18523487)Plex has a 2 hour limit if the file needs to be transcoded and the duration of the file can’t be determined. This can happen if your media drive is asleep and you try playing before it has fully woken up. Stopping and starting the playback should fix it or make sure the drive is awake before you start the playback.
I am trying to fiddle with these settings but so far I don’t find anything in here that helps. Another similar post suggested increasing this setting’s value but that did not help.
I simplified my test folder down to only 10 medium sized pictures… and sure enough it still stops playing them after a couple hours. The Plex app is still running, just back to the library selection screen… Plex really cannot do something this simple? Please tell me if I am doing something wrong. Ty
Ok this is interesting… As a test I loaded up Plex (app) on my old laptop running windows 10 and played the same test folder repeating/shuffle on full screen. So far it has been running flawlessly for well over 2 hours.
This appears to isolate the issue to the Plex app when running on WebOS or ROKU.
I guess I could purchase a Mini-PC and use that instead of WebOS or ROKU but could this be fixed? Are there BETA versions of the Plex app on WebOS/ROKU or ways to load older versions?
What you see is intended behavior.
Look in the settings of the Roku Plex client, if you find one for “passout protection”, in a section named “Player experience” (or similar).
Looking at the description of that “Passout Protection”, it really does seem to fit the issue that I am having. I have confirmed the setting is set to never stop. I am of course signed into my account and I am a Plex Pass holder. It seems my account is possibly ignoring this setting and acting as if I am not a Plex Pass holder.
Anyone know where I could look to get some logs that would capture passout protection to try and dig into what is happening here?
If it works on my laptop flawlessly it seems to completely rule out my server as being the issue. It seems that it has to be something with the ROKU Plex App.
By default auto-playing content will not continue to auto-play the next item, if it’s been more than 2 hours since the user last interacted with the app. This is to help prevent content from continually playing if you fall asleep. Choices are:
I don’t see anything else. All the power saving options are disabled also. Is there a way that this can be reported as a bug? It seems to me that the Passout Protection feature is broken. Can I log an official support ticket somehow? Ty
ok I have been experimenting with a Mini-PC running Windows 11 23H2 (Windows Plex App Version 1.100.1.221-94aa83fb) and I have found that the Plex app works far better on a windows mini-pc vs Roku or WebOS for use with a slideshow.
On PC, Passout protection appears to be working as expected as I don’t see the same issue where it stops playing media after 2 hours (as it does on Roku/WebOS) however it does eventually do something else annoying. The windows plex app will at some point minimize the screen for some reason showing the slideshow in a small window on the bottom bar. It is still running just as if you hit the “down arrow” on the full screen interface to minimize it forcing me to have to click the up arrow to bring it back to full screen.
I am going to try Linux next to see if the behavior is better under that OS.
I installed Ubuntu 24 LTS Desktop Linux on my Mini-PC and loaded up Plex HTPC 1.68.2.259-3095e860 from the app store. So far this is the best experience and it just keeps playing the slideshow.
Under this Ubuntu platform passout protection seems to be working as expected and so far it has never “minimized” as it does under Windows 11 either.
In my “test” folder I had dumped around 22K photos. It played through every one of them and stopped at the end because I didn’t select repeat. I wonder if there is a way to set repeat as the default.
There are issues with the mini PC not being powerful enough @ 4K resolution especially playing video. If passout protection was fixed on Roku 4K or WebOS it would solve the issue… I don’t want to keep throwing money at this. Is there some other way I should be trying to get support for this issue?
Is a “digital picture frame” outside the scope of Plex?? IMO it seems to be one of the best ideas/compliments to someone running a Plex server… especially with cheap 4K TVs available.
I wanted to follow up that I decided to hook up the Roku 4K once again and to my surprise the passout protection was working. I didn’t update or change anything, I don’t know if something might have been patched but it seems to be working now… Hmm
