Vizio App fails to load certian videos then crashes basic TV functions

[rob_whitetactical_com]

Server Version#: 1.23.2.4656
Client Version#: 5.16.1
Platform Version#: 2.2.0-2111.0005
Server OS: Ubuntu 16.04
Server CPU: Intel(R) Core™ i5-3330 CPU @ 3.00GHz

I have a problem with my Vizio Plex app after the last Vizio TV update. It will play some movies and some movies it will not. The problem arises when you try to play a movie with a certain encoding you will get the spinning circle and the movie will never start. After this happens the TV will no longer stream any content from Netflix, Prime, Disney+, etc. They all get the spinning circle and the movie/show never loads. Now you still have connectivity because you can get the icons and descriptions of the content you are trying to play. This is the same for all the streaming apps (plex, prime, netflix, disney+). Whats more some basic TV functions stop working. You can’t change Inputs…it does nothing. You can’t press the home button to get back to the “smartcast” screen. The only way to resolve this is to power off the TV, unplug the TV, press and hold the power button on the TV down for 3-5 seconds and then plug the TV back in.

Once you do this everything works fine until you try to play one of those videos in Plex that cause the issue. These problematic videos played fine on the vizo before the last update and will still play fine on FireTV, PC, or Android phones. It’s not the actual video, but rather the encoding I believe. You can play some videos and it works fine. Here are some basics on what it will and will not play.

Won’t Play
Codec H264
Bitrate 14830 kbps
Language English
Bit Depth 8

Codec H264
Bitrate 14122 kbps
Bit Depth 8

Will Play
Codec H264
Bitrate 7324 kbps
Bit Depth 8

I have not had a chance to experiment any more with what it will and will not do because it causes the TV to “crash” and I have to restart it. I did try doing a factory reset of the TV which triggered the TV to update to the latest version and that had no effect on the situation.

I love the Vizio app and hate to have to put a FireTV stick into a perfectly good Smart TV to be able to watch Plex. I will gladly provide any other info, just ask.

[rob_whitetactical_com]

Crickets…I can’t be the only one.

[ruuk]

It sounds like for some reason the media is revealing an error in the TVs player that’s causing issues with the TV. I’ve seen this happen when initially testing codecs when I tried to play some codecs or variations the TV couldn’t handle.
Nothing that you listed looks like it would be problematic, so it seems like it’s either something about the files it doesn’t like (e.g. errors in the encoding that the Vizio TV specifically can’t handle, but other players can) or something about the audio.
If you’ve changed the audio settings to allow codecs, that could possibly cause this, otherwise I’ll need chipset listed in Settings → About and information about the audio in these files.

[rob_whitetactical_com]

I have not changed the audio settings to my knowledge.

I have 2 of these TV’s and they are identical, bought on the same day. The other one works fine, but it is not at the same software/firmware version.

This is the info on the client/TV that does NOT work:

This is the info on the client/TV that does work:

So…clearly, the one that does work has not been updated.

Here is the codec info on the file that will not play on the new update and plays fine on the old version.

[ruuk]

It sounds like Vizio broke something with one of their updates then, but just to double check if I can see something else could you open the web browser client and then on the poster or details page hit the 3 dots button, select Get Info, and from the bottom of the dialog select View XML and then share that XML with me? I especially want to see the audio codec details, but that will give me everything to look at. Thanks!

[rob_whitetactical_com]

Sure thing. I just did a factory reset on the TV that is not working and went through the setup process again and once done…it still does the same thing. The firmware version is newer on the TV that does not work. Plex did update to client 5.17.0, platform and chipset remain the same as the 1st pic I posted. So the platform of the client is different on the working/non-working TV.

Here is the XML:
xml.txt (72.5 KB)