Server Version#: 1.43.0.10162
Player Version#: v4.12.4 - ios 14pro
Issue: When I added a 242MB song (master version, duration: 6 minutes 5 seconds) to my Plex Media Server and played it using the Plexamp on my iOS device, the song duration displayed as 6 minutes 6 seconds. Additionally, the song seemed to have been transcoded incorrectly, resulting in choppy playback. However, when I played the same song directly through the web version of Plex or Synology’s built-in AudioStation, there were absolutely no issues.
The likely culprit is the source file. The duration different is small enough to be a rounding error, but the choppy playback is most likely an issue with the source file. You can try playing it without transcoding on Plexamp and see if it plays well.
I haven’t heard of instances where the Opus transcoder is failing. If you’ve changed the conversion bitrate try the default value.
I deleted the music library again and re-added it, but the issue persisted. I tried playing a different song on Plexamp, and it was still corrupted.
I troubleshooted as follows: Since the Plex Media Server beta channel cannot be downgraded, I reinstalled the server and upgraded it to the latest public version. Then, I played the song on Plexamp. Although it transcoded to 6 minutes and 7 seconds, the song no longer stuttered, and the issue was resolved.
So, it’s either a problem with my server upgrading to the latest beta version or an issue with the latest version of FFmpeg on the server, as the beta logs mentioned that FFmpeg was upgraded.
I’ve now downgraded to the latest stable version. The logs from that time should no longer be available, as I uninstalled the package and reinstalled it.
Yes, the songs I uploaded have always played normally on the PMS web interface, whether it’s the public or beta version.
Have you tried uploading this song to the latest PMS beta and then playing it using Plexamp? If it works fine, then I might be an outlier. Because when I re-added my music library to scrape metadata, I played a song that originally worked perfectly in Plexamp (around 30MB, also FLAC format) and it stuttered and got corrupted.
Maybe the issue arose after I upgraded PMS from public to beta myself. I hope it’s just an isolated case.
Oh I was wrong, PMS was transcoding to opus. Silly Plex Web, doesn’t indicate when it’s transcoding, only when it direct plays.
Anyways, transcodes play fine for me. I tried different output settings incase it was specific to that, but none of them showed any type of corruption.
That file plays fine for me, either direct play or transcoded by my Windows PMS.
However, I’m having issues with the file when playing directly on my computer with a normal music player. It plays but I can’t skip around. Doing that causes playback to immediately stop. Reencoding the file and it works fine on it’s own or inside Plex. I think there may be an issue with the original file.
Do you have another file that produces this issue I can test?
I’m very sorry, but I no longer have a testing environment available. I’ve downgraded back to the PMS public version, and so far, the issues I mentioned earlier haven’t resurfaced. Regardless, I’ve seen the Plexamp team’s approach to handling problems, and they’re truly responsible. That’s fantastic.
Additionally, if possible, you can try to recreate the scenario where this issue occurs: upgrading PMS public to the beta version, re-adding the music media library, and playing music using Plexamp over a 5G network connection. I was using IPv6 public internet to access the domain name pointing to PMS on my Synology NAS. (At the time, I employed simple control variables and elimination methods. I also played a song that had previously worked fine in Plexamp before the beta update, and it exhibited the same issue, leading me to this conclusion.)
I tested those 2 files and I don’t notice any corruption with either of them. The m4a file is fine, but the flac file shows the same issue of not allowing me to skip in my normal music player. I wonder if this might be a combination of something odd with the file and the new transcoder on the Synology.
