Xbox X: Fails to Play Some DVD-based Content

Plex Players
1

Server Version#: 1.29.0.6244
Player Version#: Client 5.47.1, Platform 10.0.22621.2216

Plex Media Server Logs_2022-10-16_12-43-29.zip (4.3 MB)

Certain DVD based content that has been compressed via (MakeMKV > Handbrake) fails to play on XBox. I have not experienced this with movies or Blu Ray based content, only select DVD show episodes (ST Voyager, Hercules, etc.). I compress all episodes with the same settings, however not every episode from a show will exhibit this issue.

When an episode that will fail is selected for play, the TV screen will go blank and display a message that no signal is detected - as if the Media Server is not sending data, or perhaps the Client is not rendering? I can select “back” on the controller and wait a couple seconds (this is slower than hitting back from content that will play correctly) to return to the episode list.

If I play the same content on a PC Web client, the video plays as expected with no issues, leading me to believe the Server is working correctly, but the client lacks capabilities.

For reference, here is the data from MediaInfo (yes, glorious Hercules…). The default sub likely has no data, I generally default to “forced only” and “default” in case there are any.:

General
Unique ID                                : 175174610252032345741339049353293778102 (0x83C96719D7ADFF557EC4EFD4B27ACCB6)
Complete name                            : G:\general\Hercules The Legendary Journeys\season 01\Hercules The Legendary Journeys (1995) - s01e07 - Pride Comes Before a Brawl.mkv
Format                                   : Matroska
Format version                           : Version 4
File size                                : 1 003 MiB
Duration                                 : 44 min 20 s
Overall bit rate                         : 3 161 kb/s
Encoded date                             : UTC 2021-10-18 03:26:56
Writing application                      : HandBrake 1.2.2 2019022300
Writing library                          : Lavf58.20.100
ErrorDetectionType                       : Per level 1

Video
ID                                       : 1
Format                                   : AVC
Format/Info                              : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile                           : High@L3.1
Format settings                          : CABAC / 13 Ref Frames
Format settings, CABAC                   : Yes
Format settings, Reference frames        : 13 frames
Codec ID                                 : V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC
Duration                                 : 44 min 20 s
Width                                    : 708 pixels
Height                                   : 478 pixels
Display aspect ratio                     : 4:3
Frame rate mode                          : Constant
Frame rate                               : 29.970 (30000/1001) FPS
Color space                              : YUV
Chroma subsampling                       : 4:2:0
Bit depth                                : 8 bits
Scan type                                : Progressive
Writing library                          : x264 core 157 r2935 545de2f
Encoding settings                        : cabac=1 / ref=13 / deblock=1:0:0 / analyse=0x3:0x133 / me=umh / subme=10 / psy=1 / psy_rd=1.00:0.00 / mixed_ref=1 / me_range=24 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=2 / 8x8dct=1 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / fast_pskip=1 / chroma_qp_offset=-2 / threads=6 / lookahead_threads=1 / sliced_threads=0 / nr=0 / decimate=1 / interlaced=0 / bluray_compat=0 / constrained_intra=0 / bframes=8 / b_pyramid=2 / b_adapt=2 / b_bias=0 / direct=3 / weightb=1 / open_gop=0 / weightp=2 / keyint=300 / keyint_min=30 / scenecut=40 / intra_refresh=0 / rc_lookahead=60 / rc=crf / mbtree=1 / crf=16.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=0 / qpmax=69 / qpstep=4 / vbv_maxrate=17500 / vbv_bufsize=17500 / crf_max=0.0 / nal_hrd=none / filler=0 / ip_ratio=1.40 / aq=1:1.00
Default                                  : Yes
Forced                                   : No
Color range                              : Limited
Color primaries                          : BT.601 NTSC
Transfer characteristics                 : BT.709
Matrix coefficients                      : BT.601

Audio
ID                                       : 2
Format                                   : AAC LC
Format/Info                              : Advanced Audio Codec Low Complexity
Codec ID                                 : A_AAC-2
Duration                                 : 44 min 20 s
Channel(s)                               : 2 channels
Channel layout                           : L R
Sampling rate                            : 48.0 kHz
Frame rate                               : 46.875 FPS (1024 SPF)
Compression mode                         : Lossy
Delay relative to video                  : -21 ms
Title                                    : Stereo
Language                                 : English
Default                                  : Yes
Forced                                   : No

Text #1
ID                                       : 3
Format                                   : VobSub
Codec ID                                 : S_VOBSUB
Codec ID/Info                            : Picture based subtitle format used on DVDs
Language                                 : English
Default                                  : Yes
Forced                                   : Yes

Text #2
ID                                       : 4
Format                                   : VobSub
Codec ID                                 : S_VOBSUB
Codec ID/Info                            : Picture based subtitle format used on DVDs
Duration                                 : 43 min 10 s
Language                                 : English
Default                                  : No
Forced                                   : No

Menu
00:00:00.000                             : :Chapter 1
00:06:43.270                             : :Chapter 2
00:25:30.729                             : :Chapter 3
00:31:49.708                             : :Chapter 4

Any assistance is appreciated.

2

Any word from Plex staff - or does someone know a different way to make a bug report (I used their suggested method with no results)? This is a pretty large bug that affects several series.

3

Did you turn on logging to server on in the app setting on the xbox? I don’t see those in your server logs

4

Thank you for the reply, much appreciated.

Yes, under Settings > General > “Enable Plex Media Server debug logging” is checked and I rebooted my server (overkill, but figured it was OK) after adjusting the setting and confirmed it was set afterwards.

I have just performed the same steps and captured logs based on Battlestar Galactica DVD s01e01. I left it to “play” for about 20 seconds. Here are the logs from that session:

Plex Media Server Logs_2022-10-29_12-39-09.zip (4.0 MB)

After the failure, I hit back to leave the playback and then shutdown the Xbox. Then I queried the logs after that was complete. Is there another process I should try?

5

@BigWheel do the above logs help at all?

6

Anyone else have insight on the dev team? I’m happy to re-encode things if something is invalid. Just not sure what settings would be ideal (especially since the same settings I currently use work for many DVDs).

7

@JovialPeon Those newer server logs still don’t contain any logs from the Xbox app. You need to enable logging in the app itself, see https://support.plex.tv/articles/206239048-xbox-one-logs/.

From the behaviour you’ve described you could also try disabling Display Mode Switching in the app video settings. A sample file that reproduces the issue might be helpful too.

8

Awesome, thank you Moussa.

I have enabled the Xbox logs and attached them as requested:
Plex Media Server Logs_2023-01-02_11-11-54.zip (881.8 KB)

Here is a small sample file that exhibits the issue (edit: attached as zip as Google seemed to want to post-process the mkv):

Thank you for mentioning the “Display Mode Switching” toggle. It is indeed what causes the failure and can be used as a workaround.

9

I just want to ask if you’re still experiencing this issue. I just downloaded your sample file and added it to my library. It played on the first trial with my Xbox.

EDIT I must say that when playing this file it is transcoding. The reason given is “Cannot direct play or stream. Application requires server subtitle render with vobsub.” During the time it played there were no subtitles displayed on screen though (switched from Forced to the full subtitles and still nothing). Turning them off resulted in direct play as expected.

image