Video preview thumbnail generation fails with certain Blu-ray rips (NOT re-encoded)

Plex Media Server
1

I have been discussing this on another thread, but now have concrete examples of straight-from-Blu-ray rips for which Plex fails to produce video thumbnail previews.

Discs from the Arrow label especially seem to cause this error: The Thing (1982 film/2017 release), The Exorcist III (2019 release) and Dream Demon (2020 release), Another is Little Joe (2019).

In all cases, the preview generator fails with an error along the lines of: “BaseIndexFrameFileManager: expected 4174 images, but found 0” (or sometimes more than 0 but less than the expected value). It seems as if the generator has a problem reading the correct amount of keyframes.

Looking at the logs, sometimes the generator reaches a certain percentage and then fails; in other cases, it doesn’t even start.

I have a theory that the error is tied to files that have been encoded with Open GOP settings, as these always seem to produce errors for me.

Video preview thumbnails are a real boon - they work for me on both Shield and my Samsung TV - so it would be great if someone could look into this.

2

We’re going to need log files at some point – so be ready
A sample of the file will also most likely be needed.

How were the discs ripped? (Rip & Remux -or- Rip & Encode )

3

Great, thanks. They’re pure rips to MKV, no encoding.

4

program(s) used?

5

DVDFab 11 (64-bit), v11.0.9.9.

6

Don’t know it.

I do know MakeMKV generates good rips

7

It’s not the MKV file that’s the issue - I’ve tried various methods and containers. It’s the format of the specific x264 coding presets used in the video that Plex doesn’t like. Note all these files play absolutely fine, it’s only video thumbnails that throw the error.

8

Please verify you have DEBUG logging enabled, VERBOSE logging disabled.

Now, please generate a test log set (start, play for 30 / attempt to play, and stop).
Wait 30 seconds
Download the logs from Settings - Server - Troubleshooting - Download Logs

Attach that ZIP file please so I can follow and see what you see.

9

Can you carve off a piece of that for me please? About 60 seconds worth at that bitrate? (use dd)

I will run it through my tools here.

10

Willl do, this evening (I’m in the UK). Appreciate it.

11

@ChuckPa, this is the other thread I mentioned:

@Volts there seems to have identified a possible issue with a lack of IDR frames in certain types of encoding (he mentions Arrow releases as well), and he’s opened a bug ticket with ffmpeg.

12

That explains what I saw in the logs as well (no IDR frames)
I appreciate knowing a ticket was opened upstream with FFMPEG.

13

@ChuckPa, the sample @Raelworld provided on that other thread is a good example of this issue.

Here’s a similar one. Fails to generate thumbnails in Plex.

https://ufile.io/9b2idqv8

% ffprobe -select_streams v -show_frames robocop.mkv | grep key_frame=1 | wc -l
58
% ffprobe -skip_frame nokey -select_streams v -show_frames robocop.mkv | grep key_frame=1 | wc -l
7
14

Thank you!

I’m downloading now and will put it into my test files as soon as complete.

15

That file has undergone some interesting manipulations.

[chuck@lizum user-Volts.505]$ ffmpeg -i robocop.mkv 
ffmpeg version 4.2.4-1ubuntu0.1 Copyright (c) 2000-2020 the FFmpeg developers
  built with gcc 9 (Ubuntu 9.3.0-10ubuntu2)
  configuration: --prefix=/usr --extra-version=1ubuntu0.1 --toolchain=hardened --libdir=/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu --incdir=/usr/include/x86_64-linux-gnu --arch=amd64 --enable-gpl --disable-stripping --enable-avresample --disable-filter=resample --enable-avisynth --enable-gnutls --enable-ladspa --enable-libaom --enable-libass --enable-libbluray --enable-libbs2b --enable-libcaca --enable-libcdio --enable-libcodec2 --enable-libflite --enable-libfontconfig --enable-libfreetype --enable-libfribidi --enable-libgme --enable-libgsm --enable-libjack --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libmysofa --enable-libopenjpeg --enable-libopenmpt --enable-libopus --enable-libpulse --enable-librsvg --enable-librubberband --enable-libshine --enable-libsnappy --enable-libsoxr --enable-libspeex --enable-libssh --enable-libtheora --enable-libtwolame --enable-libvidstab --enable-libvorbis --enable-libvpx --enable-libwavpack --enable-libwebp --enable-libx265 --enable-libxml2 --enable-libxvid --enable-libzmq --enable-libzvbi --enable-lv2 --enable-omx --enable-openal --enable-opencl --enable-opengl --enable-sdl2 --enable-libdc1394 --enable-libdrm --enable-libiec61883 --enable-nvenc --enable-chromaprint --enable-frei0r --enable-libx264 --enable-shared
  libavutil      56. 31.100 / 56. 31.100
  libavcodec     58. 54.100 / 58. 54.100
  libavformat    58. 29.100 / 58. 29.100
  libavdevice    58.  8.100 / 58.  8.100
  libavfilter     7. 57.100 /  7. 57.100
  libavresample   4.  0.  0 /  4.  0.  0
  libswscale      5.  5.100 /  5.  5.100
  libswresample   3.  5.100 /  3.  5.100
  libpostproc    55.  5.100 / 55.  5.100
[matroska,webm @ 0x563f9a983600] Stream #8: not enough frames to estimate rate; consider increasing probesize
[matroska,webm @ 0x563f9a983600] Stream #9: not enough frames to estimate rate; consider increasing probesize
[matroska,webm @ 0x563f9a983600] Stream #10: not enough frames to estimate rate; consider increasing probesize
[matroska,webm @ 0x563f9a983600] Stream #11: not enough frames to estimate rate; consider increasing probesize
[matroska,webm @ 0x563f9a983600] Could not find codec parameters for stream 7 (Subtitle: hdmv_pgs_subtitle (pgssub)): unspecified size
Consider increasing the value for the 'analyzeduration' and 'probesize' options
Input #0, matroska,webm, from 'robocop.mkv':
  Metadata:
    title           : RoboCop.1987.ARROW.REMASTERED.DC.1080p.BluRay.REMUX.AVC.DTS-HD.MA.5.1-FGT
    encoder         : libebml v1.3.10 + libmatroska v1.5.2
    creation_time   : 2020-01-27T18:34:13.000000Z
  Duration: 01:43:18.24, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 301 kb/s
    Chapter #0:0: start 0.000000, end 590.798542
    Metadata:
      title           : Chapter 01
    Chapter #0:1: start 590.798542, end 1027.735042
    Metadata:
      title           : Chapter 02
    Chapter #0:2: start 1027.735042, end 1460.000208
    Metadata:
      title           : Chapter 03
    Chapter #0:3: start 1460.000208, end 2034.866167
    Metadata:
      title           : Chapter 04
    Chapter #0:4: start 2034.866167, end 2714.336625
    Metadata:
      title           : Chapter 05
    Chapter #0:5: start 2714.336625, end 3305.552250
    Metadata:
      title           : Chapter 06
    Chapter #0:6: start 3305.552250, end 3700.279917
    Metadata:
      title           : Chapter 07
    Chapter #0:7: start 3700.279917, end 4124.453667
    Metadata:
      title           : Chapter 08
    Chapter #0:8: start 4124.453667, end 4646.266625
    Metadata:
      title           : Chapter 09
    Chapter #0:9: start 4646.266625, end 5149.644500
    Metadata:
      title           : Chapter 10
    Chapter #0:10: start 5149.644500, end 5644.055083
    Metadata:
      title           : Chapter 11
    Chapter #0:11: start 5644.055083, end 6198.233708
    Metadata:
      title           : Chapter 12
    Stream #0:0(eng): Video: h264 (High), yuv420p(tv, bt709, progressive), 1920x1080 [SAR 1:1 DAR 16:9], 23.98 fps, 23.98 tbr, 1k tbn, 47.95 tbc
    Metadata:
      title           : RoboCop.1987.ARROW.REMASTERED.DC.1080p.BluRay.REMUX.AVC.DTS-HD.MA.5.1-FGT
    Stream #0:1(eng): Audio: dts (DTS-HD MA), 48000 Hz, 5.1(side), s32p (24 bit) (default)
    Metadata:
      title           : RoboCop.1987.ARROW.REMASTERED.DC.1080p.BluRay.REMUX.AVC.DTS-HD.MA.5.1-FGT
    Stream #0:2(eng): Audio: dts (DTS-HD MA), 48000 Hz, stereo, s32p (24 bit)
    Metadata:
      title           : RoboCop.1987.ARROW.REMASTERED.DC.1080p.BluRay.REMUX.AVC.DTS-HD.MA.5.1-FGT
    Stream #0:3(eng): Audio: dts (DTS-HD MA), 48000 Hz, 4.0, s32p (24 bit)
    Metadata:
      title           : RoboCop.1987.ARROW.REMASTERED.DC.1080p.BluRay.REMUX.AVC.DTS-HD.MA.5.1-FGT
    Stream #0:4(eng): Audio: ac3, 48000 Hz, stereo, fltp, 192 kb/s
    Metadata:
      title           : RoboCop.1987.ARROW.REMASTERED.DC.1080p.BluRay.REMUX.AVC.DTS-HD.MA.5.1-FGT
    Stream #0:5(eng): Audio: ac3, 48000 Hz, stereo, fltp, 192 kb/s
    Metadata:
      title           : RoboCop.1987.ARROW.REMASTERED.DC.1080p.BluRay.REMUX.AVC.DTS-HD.MA.5.1-FGT
    Stream #0:6(eng): Audio: ac3, 48000 Hz, stereo, fltp, 192 kb/s
    Metadata:
      title           : RoboCop.1987.ARROW.REMASTERED.DC.1080p.BluRay.REMUX.AVC.DTS-HD.MA.5.1-FGT
    Stream #0:7(eng): Subtitle: hdmv_pgs_subtitle (default)
    Metadata:
      title           : English-PGS
    Stream #0:8: Video: mjpeg (Baseline), yuvj444p(pc, bt470bg/unknown/unknown), 120x176, 90k tbr, 90k tbn, 90k tbc (attached pic)
    Metadata:
      filename        : small_cover.jpg
      mimetype        : image/jpeg
    Stream #0:9: Video: mjpeg (Baseline), yuvj444p(pc, bt470bg/unknown/unknown), 213x120, 90k tbr, 90k tbn, 90k tbc (attached pic)
    Metadata:
      filename        : small_cover_land.jpg
      mimetype        : image/jpeg
    Stream #0:10: Video: mjpeg (Baseline), yuvj444p(pc, bt470bg/unknown/unknown), 600x882, 90k tbr, 90k tbn, 90k tbc (attached pic)
    Metadata:
      filename        : cover.jpg
      mimetype        : image/jpeg
    Stream #0:11: Video: mjpeg (Baseline), yuvj444p(pc, bt470bg/unknown/unknown), 1067x600, 90k tbr, 90k tbn, 90k tbc (attached pic)
    Metadata:
      filename        : cover_land.jpg
      mimetype        : image/jpeg
At least one output file must be specified
[chuck@lizum user-Volts.506]$

Notice all the attached images? I’ve never seen those on pure ripped videos from the disk.

Who’s been mucking with this?

16

DVD FAB

MakeMKV wouldn’t have these issues…

The files were borkened on day one - they’re still borkened - it’s not a bug - it’s DVD FAB.

DVD FAB - $54
MakeMKV - $0
Handbrake - $0

… and there you go…

1 Like
17

MkvToolnix (and GUI) - $0

… since all the tools are being listed.

MakeMKV to rip, MKVToolNix to filter out what’s not needed (final remux)

HandBrake = re-encode = evil

18

that’s a matter of opinion - yours…lol

Even evil doers know where to start - and it ain’t with DVD FAB.

19

:roll_eyes:

:rofl:

1 Like
20

I can filter out pretty much what’s not needed:
like all those languages and subs I don’t speak or read with MakeMKV - and I can even murder that embedded Title Field that’ll hang like a decomposing albatross around your neck until the bucket is kicked if you don’t.

I can show everyone how in 10 seconds… all ya gotta do is ask…

:wink: