Plex unable to playback some videos files

[dcmleung]

I've successfully upgraded from 11.1 U6 to 11.2, and subsequently to 11.2 U1. I had my Plex plugin (warden) working fine, but wanted it manageable within 11.2 UI, so I migrated it to iocage using the migrate_warden.py script. My clients see the plexmediaserver fine after migrating to iocage, but I found some videos which played fine under 11.1 U6 (can't confirm if the same videos worked while jail was warden on 11.2) to not playback properly on my iOS Plex app. Tested in Safari on OSX 10.14 and they also do not playback in browser.

The migrated Plex Server jail was a slightly older (didn't record the version number) than the available iocage plugin 1.14.0.5470, and I felt it'd be nice if it's a native 11.2 Plugin rather than the 10.3-RELEASE Jail, so I decided to redeploy a new Plex server in 11.2 U1 to see if the above issue will be resolved. Setup new Plex server 1.14.0.5470 plugin (11.2-RELEASE-p7), but the same issue persist on these videos. I used the PMS_Updater.sh script to upgrade to 1.14.1.5488, and same issue.

Every mp4 I've tested can play back, but avi, divx, mkv I've sampled are not playing back in OSX Safari nor iOS Plex app.

I never used the OSX Plex app previously, but downloaded it to test, and interestingly, the same files which fail to play in Safari and iOS Plex app start playing on OSX Plex app.

Seeking help. Any ideas? Transcoding? Permission to storage? (I searched and found how someone's transcoding failed due to transcoding temp directory setting)

Thanks.

 

[samuel-emrys]

I think your guess is a reasonable characterisation to start with; it does seem like it would be transcoding related. To confirm, replicate the behaviour and have a look through the most recent logs to see if anything stands out as an issue. This is probably going to give you the most information about the nature of your problem. I'm not sure where these are located in a plugin jail, so you could try executing find / -name "Plex Media Server".log to find the location. There are other logs within this directory that might be worth looking at as well. If they don't show anything, try increasing the logging level (Server Settings > General > "Enable debug logging"/ "Enable verbose logging") and going through this process again

 

[dcmleung]

Thanks for the reply. I had done this, and the Error entries point to Transcoder. I didn't want to post to mislead or jump to conclusions because (I might be wrong), it seems to point to the file, however the same file plays fine on OSX Plex app.

Code:

Jan 01, 2019 13:43:28.667 [0x80c448900] DEBUG - Beginning read from two-way stream.
Jan 01, 2019 13:43:32.774 [0x80b928800] DEBUG - Statistics: Flushing 30 expired bandwidth entries, 0 expired media entries.
Jan 01, 2019 13:43:33.668 [0x80c335200] ERROR - [Transcoder] [mpeg4 @ 0x802ff2f00] 1. marker bit missing in 3. esc
Jan 01, 2019 13:43:33.669 [0x80c335200] ERROR - [Transcoder] [mpeg4 @ 0x802ff2f00] Error at MB: 165
Jan 01, 2019 13:43:33.682 [0x80c335200] ERROR - [Transcoder] [mpeg4 @ 0x802ff3900] ac-tex damaged at 5 24
Jan 01, 2019 13:43:33.682 [0x80c335200] ERROR - [Transcoder] [mpeg4 @ 0x802ff3900] Error at MB: 1109
Jan 01, 2019 13:43:33.692 [0x80c335200] ERROR - [Transcoder] [mpeg4 @ 0x802ff2500] Error at MB: 1094
Jan 01, 2019 13:43:33.697 [0x80c335200] ERROR - [Transcoder] [mpeg4 @ 0x802ff2f00] P cbpy damaged at 7 14
Jan 01, 2019 13:43:33.698 [0x80c335200] ERROR - [Transcoder] [mpeg4 @ 0x802ff2f00] Error at MB: 651
Jan 01, 2019 13:43:33.760 [0x80c335200] ERROR - [Transcoder] [ac3 @ 0x802fc5d00] exponent -1 is out-of-range
Jan 01, 2019 13:43:33.761 [0x80c448900] ERROR - [Transcoder] [ac3 @ 0x802fc5d00] error decoding the audio block
Jan 01, 2019 13:43:33.763 [0x80c448900] ERROR - [Transcoder] [ac3 @ 0x802fc5d00] frame sync error
Jan 01, 2019 13:43:33.764 [0x80c448900] ERROR - [Transcoder] Error while decoding stream #0:1: Invalid data found when processing input
Jan 01, 2019 13:43:33.772 [0x80c448900] ERROR - [Transcoder] [ac3 @ 0x802fc5d00] expacc 127 is out-of-range
Jan 01, 2019 13:43:33.773 [0x80c448900] ERROR - [Transcoder] [ac3 @ 0x802fc5d00] error decoding the audio block
Jan 01, 2019 13:43:33.777 [0x80c448900] ERROR - [Transcoder] [ac3 @ 0x802fc5d00] exponent -1 is out-of-range
Jan 01, 2019 13:43:33.778 [0x80c448900] ERROR - [Transcoder] [ac3 @ 0x802fc5d00] error decoding the audio block
Jan 01, 2019 13:43:33.789 [0x80c448900] ERROR - [Transcoder] [ac3 @ 0x802fc5d00] invalid bitstream id

Too many DEBUG messages, but I also spot things like GET and such over ports - I have my clients and my Plex in different network segments so to eliminate, I tried with my MacBook in the same network as my Plex Server and this doesn't resolve the issue. Does Plex need to interactively download/install components (ex. codec) on demand? Still, this does not explain why my working Plex from 11.1 U6 warden also failed to play these files. (Thus my suspicion of something with the jail such as permissions)

 

[samuel-emrys]

Thanks for the reply. I had done this, and the Error entries point to Transcoder. I didn't want to post to mislead or jump to conclusions because (I might be wrong), it seems to point to the file, however the same file plays fine on OSX Plex app.

Code:

Jan 01, 2019 13:43:28.667 [0x80c448900] DEBUG - Beginning read from two-way stream.
Jan 01, 2019 13:43:32.774 [0x80b928800] DEBUG - Statistics: Flushing 30 expired bandwidth entries, 0 expired media entries.
Jan 01, 2019 13:43:33.668 [0x80c335200] ERROR - [Transcoder] [mpeg4 @ 0x802ff2f00] 1. marker bit missing in 3. esc
Jan 01, 2019 13:43:33.669 [0x80c335200] ERROR - [Transcoder] [mpeg4 @ 0x802ff2f00] Error at MB: 165
Jan 01, 2019 13:43:33.682 [0x80c335200] ERROR - [Transcoder] [mpeg4 @ 0x802ff3900] ac-tex damaged at 5 24
Jan 01, 2019 13:43:33.682 [0x80c335200] ERROR - [Transcoder] [mpeg4 @ 0x802ff3900] Error at MB: 1109
Jan 01, 2019 13:43:33.692 [0x80c335200] ERROR - [Transcoder] [mpeg4 @ 0x802ff2500] Error at MB: 1094
Jan 01, 2019 13:43:33.697 [0x80c335200] ERROR - [Transcoder] [mpeg4 @ 0x802ff2f00] P cbpy damaged at 7 14
Jan 01, 2019 13:43:33.698 [0x80c335200] ERROR - [Transcoder] [mpeg4 @ 0x802ff2f00] Error at MB: 651
Jan 01, 2019 13:43:33.760 [0x80c335200] ERROR - [Transcoder] [ac3 @ 0x802fc5d00] exponent -1 is out-of-range
Jan 01, 2019 13:43:33.761 [0x80c448900] ERROR - [Transcoder] [ac3 @ 0x802fc5d00] error decoding the audio block
Jan 01, 2019 13:43:33.763 [0x80c448900] ERROR - [Transcoder] [ac3 @ 0x802fc5d00] frame sync error
Jan 01, 2019 13:43:33.764 [0x80c448900] ERROR - [Transcoder] Error while decoding stream #0:1: Invalid data found when processing input
Jan 01, 2019 13:43:33.772 [0x80c448900] ERROR - [Transcoder] [ac3 @ 0x802fc5d00] expacc 127 is out-of-range
Jan 01, 2019 13:43:33.773 [0x80c448900] ERROR - [Transcoder] [ac3 @ 0x802fc5d00] error decoding the audio block
Jan 01, 2019 13:43:33.777 [0x80c448900] ERROR - [Transcoder] [ac3 @ 0x802fc5d00] exponent -1 is out-of-range
Jan 01, 2019 13:43:33.778 [0x80c448900] ERROR - [Transcoder] [ac3 @ 0x802fc5d00] error decoding the audio block
Jan 01, 2019 13:43:33.789 [0x80c448900] ERROR - [Transcoder] [ac3 @ 0x802fc5d00] invalid bitstream id

Too many DEBUG messages, but I also spot things like GET and such over ports - I have my clients and my Plex in different network segments so to eliminate, I tried with my MacBook in the same network as my Plex Server and this doesn't resolve the issue. Does Plex need to interactively download/install components (ex. codec) on demand? Still, this does not explain why my working Plex from 11.1 U6 warden also failed to play these files. (Thus my suspicion of something with the jail such as permissions)

This is beyond my expertise. It's obviously finding errors, but at least in what you've shown here there's no indication of what's causing it. It might be worth also making a thread on the plex forums.

 

[ThreeDee]

can you access the files directly and play them via VLC or whatever video player of your choosing?

 

[Chris Moore]

I have found some videos that need to be 'pre-transcoded' by something like HandBrake https://handbrake.fr/ so that they will play properly.

 

[dcmleung]

Yes, they play with VLC on OSX and even the Plex OSX app, but not in web browser nor iOS app. Keep in mind these same video files played fine on 11.1 U6 in the warden jail.

I am not ruling out networking as the migration seemed to have changed the use of vnet (not an expert, but I found I needed to disable that now). I also found in my new 11.2 iocage jail that I can get Plex to fix matching of media - I used to be given some choices, but now the list is empty as though it’s not even connecting to sources like imdb, etc.

 

[LT_Dragon]

I have the same fault. But I decide to go with a new install from the plugin using 11.2-R-p7, instead of migrating. (using PlexPass plugin)
All video files play when access directly from the HD.
But if it is not a MP4 then it will not play on any plex platform.
As well as plex will not update any metadata (no data shown in manual Match either), so the only a still pic from the video file (all video formats {so it can read it}) is being shown with the file name.
I can access and play mp4 from both mobile app and Web app
( I have plex working on my old freenas 10.? (same Video files) and using PMS-Update with Plexpass with no issues)

so dcmleung issue may not be from migration.
I'll keep playing and install the std plex plug and see if I get the same fault.

Cheers

 

[dcmleung]

@LT_Dragon
Yes those are the exact same symptoms I have with my Plex plugin, both migrated and native iocage.

I also relaxed my firewall rules and check the allow.raw_sockets option to allow ping and know I have outbound connectivity.

I also booted back to my 11.1 U6, and despite previously migrated to iocage, the warden created Plex is still there, and when I booted back to 11.2, it was somehow accessible again. THAT Plex is working perfectly fine with all videos and metadata working.

The metadata lookup just blinks away and doesn’t seem to query. Is that possibly needing some temp storage which is not accessible? (Permission, etc?) I also realize iocage networking to be quite different from my warden Plex networking, both of which are beyond my understanding.

 

[LT_Dragon]

Here's an interesting thing I have found some spare time and now installed the Plug in "Plex Media Server" (not the plexpass) and it all works.
I looking over the newly working install, found it had set it up with VNET and Berkeley Packet Filter.

I have now edited my Plex pass install "
-- Basic Prop --
turned on VNET
set IPv4 Interface to vnet0

--Network Prop --
vnet0_mac added two mac address

It now is up and working
Metadata and all videos play...
Hope this works for you @dcmleung
Happy watching

Cheers LT

 

[dcmleung]

@LT_Dragon
Thank you, that worked!

 

[DrKK]

This is very interesting, and I imagine something that others out there may experience.

Can you guys perhaps show some screenshots of what you changed or something? I'm confused as to exactly what went wrong, why some clients played, why some did not, etc.

That way, whoever comes later might learn something.

 

[dcmleung]

I guess my issues all along stem from networking as this change fixed these issues. These fixes (checking vnet box, using vnet0 for ipv4 interface) are actually documented in other Plex setup guides, although they don’t mention the consequences of not having network setup this way (mp4-only, metadata)