Playback fails after upgrade to plex 1.4.1

[speedminion87]

Good Day to you all, and may I once again thank all of those involved in this project. Truly an amazing feature which should be part of plex by default.
Anyways, I'm hoping someone can shed some light on the latest issue when they have a moment,

I have had the remote transcode working perfectly up to version 1.3.4.3285.
After an upgrade to the latest 1.4.1.xxx release there seems to be something very slightly amiss.
I go through the usual steps of upgrade by, removing plex_transcode, upgrade plex, re-run prt install etc, I then restart plex for good measure.
When I try to play a file on my iphone for example, I can see it appear in Now Playing, and i can see that prt has started the transcode job on the remote server, but nothing actually plays.
Under Now playing it just says Buffering (this is over wifi where it worked moments before the upgrade) and just stays like that indefinitely until I press stop and it ends the transcode job, no errors to be seen.

I then rolled back to 1.3.4, followed the above steps and everything works great again, tried the upgrade once more, and again back to the buffering and no play.

So to summarise, after the 1.4.1 upgrade and re-install of prt...it seems to begin the transcode fine, but never seems to start playing, and according to plex its Buffering.

I hope this can be tested and fixed easily for now I have rolled again back to 1.3.4 and all is well again.

Thanks for all your support in this project
SpeedMinion.

[wnielson]

@dhruvb14 reported issues upgrading as well (with version 1.3.4.3285) (#51). I haven't had enough time to run through the upgrade process yet. I hope to have some time this week to try to diagnose the problem. For now, sit tight and don't upgrade until we have a fix!

[liviynz]

I can confirm this issue, it's a weird one that only seems to fail in my tests on remote nodes, I'll have to try and pin it down. They've made some large changes around GPU & DVR support although from my initial observations I suspect there's some variables changed/added as it gets all the way through to the decoder on the remote nodes then just doesn't run.

[Awarua-]

I'm having no problems with the current version, running on Plex 1.4.2.3400

[speedminion87]

Hi, Have tried today with 1.4.2.3400 and get the exact same symptoms, it appears to transcode, but according to plex its Buffering and never begins playing although transcode continues.
A permissions thing perhaps..? Fingers crossed someone can see what strange thing is happening here too.
Thanks again all looking forward to the solution.

[UsbBitMinter]

Im having the same issues as above. Any pointers? The transcoding starts and there are no errors I can find, but the client just keeps saying buffering.

[zachbunyard]

I'm running into this issue as well on 1.4.4.3495. Is this still being investigated?

[wnielson]

I have some time today to investigate. Stand by...

[wnielson]

@zfreak782 @UsbBitMinter @speedminion87 @Awarua-

I was able to get this working on fresh install of 1.5.0.3501-3b8374a5c. Fortunately the fix is very easy. All I had to do was ensure that the slaves are allowed to connect to the master without auth. To do this, go to the server settings via your browser, navigate to the 'Network' tab (make sure "Show Advanced" is on). Scroll down to "List of IP addresses and networks that are allowed without auth". In that box, put in your slave addresses or network.

For future reference, this is how I debugged this. On the master host open prt.conf and set the level parameter to DEBUG in logging > handlers > file_handler. With this setting enabled, you'll get verbose debug output from prt and ffmpeg. Now, on the slave that is supposed to be doing the transcoding, follow the log file: tail -f /tmp/prt.log. At the same time, follow the Plex Media Server.log file on the master. Cross referencing these files while trying to play a file is the best way to try to figure out what it wrong.

[ChoosenEye]

@wnielson not working for me. it's always trying to connect to localhost.
maybe the new Plex Transcoder (1.5.0) forbidden external/other IPs?

2017-03-20 08:27:51,617 - prt - INFO - Launching transcode_local: ['/usr/lib/plexmediaserver/plex_transcoder', '-codec:0', 'mpeg4', '-ss', '668.893982', '-i', '/XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX', '-filter_complex', '[0:0]scale=w=min(512\\,iw):h=min(384\\,ih):force_original_aspect_ratio=decrease,format=pix_fmts=yuv420p|nv12[0]', '-map', '[0]', '-codec:0', 'libx264', '-crf:0', '16', '-maxrate:0', '1515k', '-bufsize:0', '3030k', '-r:0', '25', '-preset:0', 'veryfast', '-x264opts:0', 'subme=2:me_range=4:rc_lookahead=10:me=dia:no_chroma_me:8x8dct=0:partitions=none', '-map', '0:#0x01', '-codec:1', 'copy', '-copypriorss:1', '0', '-f', 'segment', '-segment_format', 'matroska', '-segment_format_options', 'live=1', '-segment_time', '1', '-segment_header_filename', 'header', '-segment_start_number', '0', '-segment_list', 'http://XXXXXXXXX:32400/video/:/transcode/session/XXXXXXXXX/seglist', '-segment_list_type', 'csv', '-segment_list_size', '2147483647', '-avoid_negative_ts', 'disabled', '-map_metadata', '-1', '-map_chapters', '-1', 'chunk-%05d', '-start_at_zero', '-copyts', '-y', '-nostats', '-loglevel', 'verbose', '-loglevel_plex', 'verbose', '-progressurl', 'http://XXXXXXXX:32400/video/:/transcode/session/XXXXXXXX/progress']

2017-03-20 08:27:51,649 - prt - DEBUG - Rescanning for external libs: '/var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Codecs/7f7c2d3-1195-linux-ubuntu-x86_64/'
2017-03-20 08:27:51,657 - prt - DEBUG - Loading external lib /var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Codecs/7f7c2d3-1195-linux-ubuntu-x86_64/libaac_decoder.so
2017-03-20 08:27:51,686 - prt - DEBUG - Incompatible library versions.
2017-03-20 08:27:51,687 - prt - DEBUG - Failed to initialize library.
2017-03-20 08:27:51,692 - prt - DEBUG - Loading external lib /var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Codecs/7f7c2d3-1195-linux-ubuntu-x86_64/liblibx264_encoder.so
2017-03-20 08:27:51,706 - prt - DEBUG - Incompatible library versions.
2017-03-20 08:27:51,707 - prt - DEBUG - Failed to initialize library.
2017-03-20 08:27:51,716 - prt - DEBUG - Loading external lib /var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Codecs/7f7c2d3-1195-linux-ubuntu-x86_64/libdca_decoder.so
2017-03-20 08:27:51,727 - prt - DEBUG - Incompatible library versions.
2017-03-20 08:27:51,728 - prt - DEBUG - Failed to initialize library.
2017-03-20 08:27:51,730 - prt - DEBUG - Loading external lib /var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Codecs/7f7c2d3-1195-linux-ubuntu-x86_64/libvc1_decoder.so
2017-03-20 08:27:51,739 - prt - DEBUG - Incompatible library versions.
2017-03-20 08:27:51,739 - prt - DEBUG - Failed to initialize library.
2017-03-20 08:27:51,744 - prt - DEBUG - Loading external lib /var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Codecs/7f7c2d3-1195-linux-ubuntu-x86_64/libmp3_decoder.so
2017-03-20 08:27:51,750 - prt - DEBUG - Incompatible library versions.
2017-03-20 08:27:51,750 - prt - DEBUG - Failed to initialize library.
2017-03-20 08:27:51,755 - prt - DEBUG - Loading external lib /var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Codecs/7f7c2d3-1195-linux-ubuntu-x86_64/libh264_decoder.so
2017-03-20 08:27:51,769 - prt - DEBUG - Incompatible library versions.
2017-03-20 08:27:51,770 - prt - DEBUG - Failed to initialize library.
2017-03-20 08:27:51,773 - prt - DEBUG - Loading external lib /var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Codecs/7f7c2d3-1195-linux-ubuntu-x86_64/libeac3_decoder.so
2017-03-20 08:27:51,780 - prt - DEBUG - Incompatible library versions.
2017-03-20 08:27:51,781 - prt - DEBUG - Failed to initialize library.
2017-03-20 08:27:51,787 - prt - DEBUG - Loading external lib /var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Codecs/7f7c2d3-1195-linux-ubuntu-x86_64/libmpeg4_decoder.so
2017-03-20 08:27:51,806 - prt - DEBUG - Incompatible library versions.
2017-03-20 08:27:51,806 - prt - DEBUG - Failed to initialize library.
2017-03-20 08:27:51,815 - prt - DEBUG - Loading external lib /var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Codecs/7f7c2d3-1195-linux-ubuntu-x86_64/libtruehd_decoder.so
2017-03-20 08:27:51,822 - prt - DEBUG - Incompatible library versions.
2017-03-20 08:27:51,823 - prt - DEBUG - Failed to initialize library.
2017-03-20 08:27:51,826 - prt - DEBUG - Loading external lib /var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Codecs/7f7c2d3-1195-linux-ubuntu-x86_64/libhevc_decoder.so
2017-03-20 08:27:51,841 - prt - DEBUG - Incompatible library versions.
2017-03-20 08:27:51,841 - prt - DEBUG - Failed to initialize library.
2017-03-20 08:27:51,844 - prt - DEBUG - Loading external lib /var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Codecs/7f7c2d3-1195-linux-ubuntu-x86_64/libac3_encoder.so
2017-03-20 08:27:51,849 - prt - DEBUG - Incompatible library versions.
2017-03-20 08:27:51,849 - prt - DEBUG - Failed to initialize library.
2017-03-20 08:27:51,852 - prt - DEBUG - Loading external lib /var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Codecs/7f7c2d3-1195-linux-ubuntu-x86_64/libmpeg2video_decoder.so
2017-03-20 08:27:51,860 - prt - DEBUG - Incompatible library versions.
2017-03-20 08:27:51,860 - prt - DEBUG - Failed to initialize library.
2017-03-20 08:27:51,864 - prt - DEBUG - Loading external lib /var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Codecs/7f7c2d3-1195-linux-ubuntu-x86_64/libmsmpeg4v3_decoder.so
2017-03-20 08:27:51,873 - prt - DEBUG - Incompatible library versions.
2017-03-20 08:27:51,873 - prt - DEBUG - Failed to initialize library.
2017-03-20 08:27:51,878 - prt - DEBUG - Loading external lib /var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Codecs/7f7c2d3-1195-linux-ubuntu-x86_64/libaac_encoder.so
2017-03-20 08:27:51,883 - prt - DEBUG - Incompatible library versions.
2017-03-20 08:27:51,883 - prt - DEBUG - Failed to initialize library.
2017-03-20 08:27:51,887 - prt - DEBUG - Loading external lib /var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Codecs/7f7c2d3-1195-linux-ubuntu-x86_64/libac3_decoder.so
2017-03-20 08:27:51,895 - prt - DEBUG - Incompatible library versions.
2017-03-20 08:27:51,895 - prt - DEBUG - Failed to initialize library.
2017-03-20 08:27:51,906 - prt - DEBUG - ffmpeg version git-2016-11-11-4b2f00a Copyright (c) 2000-2016 the FFmpeg developers
2017-03-20 08:27:51,906 - prt - DEBUG -   built with gcc 4.8.2 (GCC)
2017-03-20 08:27:51,907 - prt - DEBUG -   configuration: --libdir=/data/jenkins/pms-deps-universal-v2/BUILD_TAG/linux-ubuntu-x86_64/output/pms-depends-linux-ubuntu-x86_64-release-b6abb09/lib --prefix=/data/jenkins/pms-deps-universal-v2/BUILD_TAG/linux-ubuntu-x86_64/output/pms-depends-linux-ubuntu-x86_64-release-b6abb09 --disable-bzlib --disable-ffplay --disable-ffserver --disable-ffprobe --disable-avdevice --disable-schannel --disable-vda --disable-debug --disable-doc --disable-shared --pkg-config-flags=--static --arch=x86_64 --enable-muxers --enable-gpl --enable-version3 --enable-gnutls --disable-encoders --disable-decoders --disable-hwaccels --enable-libass --enable-librtmp --disable-devices --disable-lzma --disable-iconv --disable-protocol=concat --enable-libzvbi --enable-libvorbis --enable-libopus --external-decoder=h264 --enable-decoder=png --enable-decoder=apng --enable-decoder=bmp --enable-decoder=mjpeg --enable-decoder=thp --enable-decoder=gif --enable-decoder=dirac --enable-decoder=ffv1 --enable-decoder=ffvhuff --enable-decoder=huffyuv --enable-decoder=rawvideo --enable-decoder=zero12v --enable-decoder=ayuv --enable-decoder=r210 --enable-decoder=v210 --enable-decoder=v210x --enable-decoder=v308 --enable-decoder=v408 --enable-decoder=v410 --enable-decoder=y41p --enable-decoder=yuv4 --enable-decoder=ansi --enable-decoder=alac --enable-decoder=flac --enable-decoder=vorbis --enable-decoder=opus --enable-decoder=pcm_f32be --enable-decoder=pcm_f32le --enable-decoder=pcm_f64be --enable-decoder=pcm_f64le --enable-decoder=pcm_lxf --enable-decoder=pcm_s16be --enable-decoder=pcm_s16be_planar --enable-decoder=pcm_s16le --enable-decoder=pcm_s16le_planar --enable-decoder=pcm_s24be --enable-decoder=pcm_s24le --enable-decoder=pcm_s24le_planar --enable-decoder=pcm_s32be --enable-decoder=pcm_s32le --enable-decoder=pcm_s32le_planar --enable-decoder=pcm_s8 --enable-decoder=pcm_s8_planar --enable-decoder=pcm_u16be --enable-decoder=pcm_u16le --enable-decoder=pcm_u24be --enable-decoder=pcm_u24le --enable-decoder=pcm_u32be --enable-decoder=pcm_u32le --enable-decoder=pcm_u8 --enable-decoder=pcm_alaw --enable-decoder=pcm_mulaw --enable-decoder=ass --enable-decoder=dvbsub --enable-decoder=dvdsub --enable-decoder=ccaption --enable-decoder=pgssub --enable-decoder=jacosub --enable-decoder=microdvd --enable-decoder=movtext --enable-decoder=mpl2 --enable-decoder=pjs --enable-decoder=realtext --enable-decoder=sami --enable-decoder=ssa --enable-decoder=stl --enable-decoder=subrip --enable-decoder=subviewer --enable-decoder=text --enable-decoder=vplayer --enable-decoder=webvtt --enable-decoder=xsub --enable-decoder=libzvbi_teletext --enable-encoder=flac --enable-encoder=alac --enable-encoder=libvorbis --enable-encoder=libopus --enable-encoder=mjpeg --enable-encoder=wrapped_avframe --enable-encoder=ass --enable-encoder=dvbsub --enable-encoder=dvdsub --enable-encoder=movtext --enable-encoder=ssa --enable-encoder=subrip --enable-encoder=text --enable-encoder=webvtt --enable-encoder=xsub --enable-encoder=pcm_f32be --enable-encoder=pcm_f32le --enable-encoder=pcm_f64be --enable-encoder=pcm_f64le --enable-encoder=pcm_s8 --enable-encoder=pcm_s8_planar --enable-encoder=pcm_s16be --enable-encoder=pcm_s16be_planar --enable-encoder=pcm_s16le --enable-encoder=pcm_s16le_planar --enable-encoder=pcm_s24be --enable-encoder=pcm_s24le --enable-encoder=pcm_s24le_planar --enable-encoder=pcm_s32be --enable-encoder=pcm_s32le --enable-encoder=pcm_s32le_planar --enable-encoder=pcm_u8 --enable-encoder=pcm_u16be --enable-encoder=pcm_u16le --enable-encoder=pcm_u24be --enable-encoder=pcm_u24le --enable-encoder=pcm_u32be --enable-encoder=pcm_u32le --cc='ccache gcc' --extra-ldflags=-L/data/jenkins/pms-deps-universal-v2/BUILD_TAG/linux-ubuntu-x86_64/output/pms-depends-linux-ubuntu-x86_64-release-b6abb09/lib --extra-libs='-lgcrypt -lgpg-error -ldl'
2017-03-20 08:27:51,908 - prt - DEBUG -   libavutil      55. 24.100 / 55. 24.100
2017-03-20 08:27:51,908 - prt - DEBUG -   libavcodec     57. 41.102 / 57. 41.102
2017-03-20 08:27:51,908 - prt - DEBUG -   libavformat    57. 37.100 / 57. 37.100
2017-03-20 08:27:51,908 - prt - DEBUG -   libavfilter     6. 45.100 /  6. 45.100
2017-03-20 08:27:51,908 - prt - DEBUG -   libswscale      4.  1.100 /  4.  1.100
2017-03-20 08:27:51,908 - prt - DEBUG -   libswresample   2.  0.101 /  2.  0.101
2017-03-20 08:27:51,908 - prt - DEBUG -   libpostproc    54.  0.100 / 54.  0.100
2017-03-20 08:27:51,909 - prt - DEBUG - Rescanning for external libs: '/var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Codecs/7f7c2d3-1195-linux-ubuntu-x86_64/'
2017-03-20 08:27:51,933 - prt - DEBUG -     Last message repeated 21 times
2017-03-20 08:27:51,933 - prt - DEBUG - Unrecognized option 'crf:0'.
2017-03-20 08:27:51,933 - prt - DEBUG - [tcp @ 0x2a4b8e0] Connection to tcp://127.0.0.1:32400 failed: Connection refused
2017-03-20 08:27:51,933 - prt - DEBUG - Error splitting the argument list: Option not found
2017-03-20 08:27:51,934 - prt - DEBUG - [tcp @ 0x2a49ec0] Connection to tcp://127.0.0.1:32400 failed: Connection refused

[zachbunyard]

@wnielson
Yes! That fixed the issue for me. Thank you for the speedy response! However, I noticed some serious distortions in video and timing being off in the audio. In some movies, the stream would get distorted for a second and then just stop, though I can still see the transcoder pumping into the transcode directory. I have yet to be able to try the debugging steps you outlined though. I will report back with my findings when I have the chance.

[wnielson]

@ChoosenEye

You're getting an Incompatible library versions error. You should be seeing something like instead:

2017-03-19 19:06:07,002 - prt - DEBUG - Rescanning for external libs: '/var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Codecs/7f7c2d3-1195-linux-ubuntu-x86_64/'
2017-03-19 19:06:07,004 - prt - DEBUG - Loading external lib /var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Codecs/7f7c2d3-1195-linux-ubuntu-x86_64/liblibx264_encoder.so
2017-03-19 19:06:07,006 - prt - DEBUG - Loading external lib /var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Codecs/7f7c2d3-1195-linux-ubuntu-x86_64/libh264_decoder.so
2017-03-19 19:06:07,009 - prt - DEBUG - ffmpeg version git-2017-03-14-7f7c2d3 Copyright (c) 2000-2016 the FFmpeg developers

Your ffmpeg looks old--you're on git-2016-11-11-4b2f00a but the new version is git-2017-03-14-7f7c2d3. I think you need to remove plex_transcoder and then reinstall PRT:

sudo rm -f /var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application\ Support/Plex\ Media\ Server/Codecs/*/*.so
sudo rm -f /usr/lib/plexmediaserver/plex_transcoder
sudo dpkg -i /location/of/new/package/plexmediaserver.deb
sudo prt overwrite

[wnielson]

@zfreak782
I haven't noticed distortion. If this persists, please post your logs.

[zachbunyard]

@wnielson Sorry for the delay! Life gets busy. Using the debug instructions you provided, I selected a movie to watch and captured the logs. I'm seeing a large number of connection refused errors in the prt.log. It looks like it's trying to connect through the Plex port (32400). How should I proceed?