Video preview thumbnails are no longer being generated automatically

Plex Media Server
, ,
1

Server Version#: 1.21.3.4046
Player Version#: 4.49.2

I am at a loss to work out why Plex server is no longer automatically generating video preview thumbnails after a TV recording. The catch is, when I restart the server it will work normally for a few hours and then stop generating the preview files unless I restart the server again. If you force the ‘analyze’ function, it will work randomly but usually fails.

Has anyone else noticed this issue?

I’ve checked the permissions and I believe It has nothing do to with permissions.

1 Like
2

Has anybody else experienced this issue?

3

Still no luck with the latest version 1.22.0.4163. Any ideas please?

4

I’m still having the same issue with 1.22.3.4392. Plex admins, are you able to help please?

5

I can confirm it’s still happening in 1.22.3.4392. Same as you I have to restart plex before adding content in order to get thumbnails.

6

Have you not upgraded to 1.23.0.4497 ?

There are reports of a lot of fixes.

7

I have not upgraded. I’m currently on 1.22.3.4392. I’ll upgrade tonight.

8

I am on 1.23.0.4497 and still seeing this issue on server-freebsd.
Can I attach my log bundle here or should I PM it to someone?

I have reproduced the issue exactly.
An episode is added, video thumbnails are not generated. (S2, E1 of Love, Death, & Robots)
I restart Plex via “iocage restart plex.”
Another new episode is added to Plex, video thumbnails are generated for that new episode. (S2, E2 of Love, Death, & Robots.)

Thumbnail generation doesn’t seem to work for more than a day at a time now unfortunately.

9

Unfortunately the issue still persists. I’m currently running the latest 1.22.3.4523 and am still seeing the same problem. It’s pretty frustrating to say the least.

10

I adjusted my Scheduled Tasks schedule to test this further - it is currently 12PM-1PM. A scheduled video thumbnail generation task took place and it scanned my whole library & attempted to generate thumbnails for a few files about 15 minutes ago. This task completed.
I then added new media - Made For Love S1E1 - video thumbnails were NOT generated. Approximately 12:30PM, inside the Scheduled Tasks window & newly added media - thumbnails should definitely be generated.

It seems like after the Scheduled Task runs, it completely breaks the “generate thumbnails on media addition” option. Again, I have logs that I can provide.

As Jase mentioned - this is incredibly frustrating. Definitely one of the reasons I ascribe to the “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” mentality when it comes to Plex. I didn’t start having this issue until after I upgraded my Plex version to ~ 1.18/1.19 on 01-02-2021. Unfortunately I don’t recall the exact version I installed on this day, I just know it was this day because I have a FreeNAS snapshot of my jail from that day. Since then, I have been keeping my Plex server updated in the hopes this is fixed. As mentioned in a previous post, I am now on 1.23.0.4497 & the issue persists.

EDIT: Now outside of the Scheduled Task window and thumbnails are not generated when new media is added.
Made For Love S1E7 added approximately 1:50PM - no thumbnails generated.
Love, Death, & Robots S1E2 added approximately 1:52PM - no thumbnails generated.
Plex server restarted via “iocage restart plex.”
Love, Death, & Robots S1E4 added approximately 1:54PM - thumbnails generated.
Love, Death, & Robots S1E5 added approximately 1:54PM - thumbnails generated.

I am adjusting the Scheduled Task window once again, now to 2PM-3PM, so it will run in 5 minutes and generate thumbnails for Made For Love S1E7 & Love, Death, & Robots S1E2. However, I suspect that it will also break thumbnail generation for new media once again (I have media ready to add so I can test this and will provide logs once complete.)

EDIT 2: Scheduled Task thumbnail generation completed - thumbnails generated for Made For Love S1E1, S1E7 & Love, Death, & Robots S1E2.
I notice that it also attempts a number of movies/TV shows repeatedly - examples include Ben-Hur, Memento, Robocop. It seems like these fail during the Scheduled Task thumbnail generation - not sure if this has something to do with the issue.
With Scheduled Tasks complete, I have decided to add new media - added Love, Death, & Robots S1E6 at approximately 2:28PM - no thumbnails generated.
Restart plex via “iocage restart plex” at 2:30PM.
Added Love, Death, & Robots S1E7 at 2:31PM, after server restart - thumbnails generated.

So, IMO, that confirms that the Scheduled Tasks are impacting the “new media addition” setting. I have an absolute crapload of logs from this troubleshooting. I will zip them all up and PM them to you, @ChuckPa

1 Like
11

I can’t seem to find a Message button on @ChuckPa 's profile :slight_smile: So I am attaching logs here.
Please let me know if you need anything else.
Plex Logs.zip (11.6 MB)

12

@Pow4Life181 I just can’t believe when I hit the upgrade the MetaData button that my whole 1TB cache drive doubled in size to the point that my Unraid server froze. Not even a warning that the ‘upgrade’ would take up extra volume space. So now, I’m totally F***ked. I am now rebuilding my whole system from scratch. It’s not only Plex that I host. This really has messed up my entire system!

Also my Plex DVR stopped working completely not recognizing my tuners. Wiped out my entire guide data. Another rebuild.

13

Hi @ChuckPa - have you had a chance to review the logs/do you need anything else from me?

Thanks

14

@Pow4Life181

Sorry for being so busy.

May 17, 2021 12:00:49.587 [0x80a63dc00] DEBUG - Activity: updated activity 4b541a88-19b6-4eea-a5c1-373f63799b41 - completed 0.0% - Detecting intros
May 17, 2021 12:00:49.588 [0x810021000] DEBUG - Activity: registered new activity 2df8fa2d-1bbb-4a45-a996-8abc2c3f3145 - "Generating video preview thumbnails"
May 17, 2021 12:00:49.588 [0x810021000] DEBUG - [JobRunner] Job running: FFMPEG_EXTERNAL_LIBS='/usr/local/plexdata/Plex\ Media\ Server/Codecs/fa235d6-3855-freebsd-x86_64/' X_PLEX_TOKEN=xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxL' '/usr/local/share/plexmediaserver/Plex Transcoder' '-codec:v' 'h264' '-skip_frame:v' 'nokey' '-i' '/usr/local/plexdata/Plex Media Server/media_mount/TV/Love, Death & Robots/Season 02/Love, Death & Robots - S02E02 - Ice.mkv' '-threads' '0' '-nostats' '-q' '3' '-loglevel' 'quiet' '-filter_complex' '[0:V:0] fps=fps=0.500000:round=up,scale=w=320:h=240:force_original_aspect_ratio=decrease [out]' '-map' '[out]' '/usr/local/plexdata/Plex Media Server/Media/localhost/2/9afafcefc08767092bdf918292573316bb0f4a5.bundle/Contents/Indexes/tmp/img-%06d.jpg' '-progressurl' 'http://127.0.0.1:32400/video/:/transcode/session/bif/2df8fa2d-1bbb-4a45-a996-8abc2c3f3145/progress'
May 17, 2021 12:00:49.589 [0x810021000] DEBUG - [JobRunner] Jobs: Starting child process with pid 72957

can you check that

usr/local/plexdata/Plex Media Server/media_mount/TV/Love, Death & Robots/Season 02/Love, Death & Robots - S02E02 - Ice.mkv

has thumbnails as shown here?

15

No worries @ChuckPa - thanks for taking the time.

I can confirm that file does have thumbnails.

16

Interesting.

So it seems to be selective about thumbnails?

Can you discern any differences or perhaps have a name I can look for in your logs?

I’m not sure what to be looking for because I’m not seeing any error messages.

I’m not the developer here so don’t really know what to look for but I do see a lot of ‘thumbnailing’ messages. It is generating thumbnails.

17

Yes, it seems to generate thumbnails when new media is added, up until the scheduled task runs.
The scheduled task runs, generates thumbnails, and then all new media going forward (plus scheduled task runs) don’t generate thumbnails.

18

Help me rephrase? I’m trying to define the problem.

  1. Newly added media is detected, scanned, and thumnails generated.
  2. If thumbnail generation for this newly added media is not complete by the time Scheduled Tasks run, Thumbnail generation is interrupted.
  3. Previously queued media is not processed during Scheduled Tasks period nor is processing resumed after Scheduled Task completion

Is this accurate ?

19

1 - Correct.
2 - I am not sure if the thumbnail generation is interrupted by the Scheduled Task run, per se, but it does seemt o impact all thumbnail generation going forward, per bullet point #3.
3 - Correct. Processing is not resumed for any “queued media” or any new media after Scheduled Task completion, unless the server is restarted.
4 - If the server is restarted, thumbnail generation will occur for newly added media, up until the Scheduled Tasks run - repeat from top, etc…

Hope this helps - happy to answer any other questions to help define the issue or provide any other logs.

20

Yes, That helps a great deal and helps bracket the conditions where it stops and how to make it resume.

Thank you.

I’ll write this up and submit your logs with it, referencing this thread for the devs.