Server Version#: 1.20.1
Player Version#: 7.6.1 on iPad Pro 12.5 iOS 14.0.1
NAS Device: QNAP TS-453D
CPU: Intel Celeron J4125 2GHZ
Firmware Version 4.4.3.1421 (09/07/2020)
8GB Memory
Router: Netgear Nighthawk X10 R9000
Firmware version V1.0.5.18
Greetings Everyone!
After the last two Plex Media Server updates I discovered my videos experience a strange small frame skip or stutter, regardless of video length or size, at more or less the same time - a bit after the 16 minute mark - and only on my iPad Pro (my Sony TV, w the Android OS, is directly plugged into the network by Ethernet and unaffected).
If I reverse each video after the small skip, the section plays smoothly with all frames intact. I don’t believe this is a buffering issue, and my WIFI (100mbps) is strong. Even more strangely, videos experience the same small skip at the same time, regardless of their length or size: a half hour episode will skip in the same place as a forty-five minute episode or 2 hour long movie.
The problem started about a month ago, and I was hoping would clear up with further updates from Apple, QNAP or Plex. But after all of these updated, I still experience the same issue.
Would anyone know the cause? I’ve tried reinstalling the Plex media server, and have trouble determining anything further.
If there isn’t a fix, is there a way we could submit the issue for further inquiry and future resolution?
I’m attaching some logs in case those would be helpful, and would be glad to provide any further information.
That’s super weird. Mostly commenting to agree that’s weird.
Does it only happen if you start from 0? Or does it also happen after 16 minutes of playback, if you continue a video you had previously watched part of?
And does it happen every 16 minutes, or just once?
Are your videos all from the same source? Ripped, or downloaded, or recorded? Or from different sources?
Does it happen if you enable the old player? What if you download a video to the iPad?
I haven’t noticed this on an ATV 4K, and the iPad Pro is WAY more powerful. I do have an iPhone.
Good questions, Volts! And I think I can answer most of them. That said, I will need to investigate tonight whether the small skip occurs around 16 minutes of playback or the 16 minute mark from zero. I just can’t remember accurately, and your question is important.
…Oddly, the small skip appears to happen just once, most of the time; so if a video is an hour long, the skip occurs only around the first 16 minutes, then no segments after (although I do recall once or twice experiencing a skip around 22 minutes; that may have been a followup skip, or the original skip, late in coming - again, I’m less than certain). As soon as I reverse, the missing frame is always there and plays smoothly.
The videos are from many different sources - ripped dvds and blurays, downloads - and bundled in the mkv format. The files vary significantly in size and length, but are usually H264 1080p.
If transferred straight to the iPad, and played via VLC, there are no anomalies (I don’t have a PlexPass, so can’t download directly through the app).
I was able to download a much older version of the Plex Media Server (1.16.6.1592) from QNAP, but haven’t installed it yet. I did notice the problem began in the version right before the current release (Plex Media Server 1.20.1); but my NAS also updated its firmware around the same time.
It’s one of those weird little bugs I was hoping would just disappear in time, but still no luck!
My apologies for the delay in following up re that final unanswered question: because the problem requires approximately 16-20 minutes of playback, trying various scenarios have taken a bit of time.
That said, I did discover an intriguing element concerning the problem: the subtle video skip only occurs sometime much later after a fast forward action of some kind. Often during a television series I’ll watch the cold open then skip the theme song / title sequence by thirty seconds, a minute or a minute and a half; any use of the 30 sec fast forward button causes the subtle video skip approximately 16-20 minutes later.
If I refrain from skipping the tile sequences, and allow the videos to play uninterrupted, the skip does not manifest.
Also, the skip does not appear if I resume a video stopped and saved during a previous viewing; so jumping in at the ten minute mark, or the twenty minute mark, will not produce the skip.
Thank you, again, for your good questions, which have allowed me to at least observe additional variables in the problem.
