# Plex no longer working on bolt for me



## Gavroche (May 27, 2007)

Since the latest update to Plex Media Server (windows) Plex no longer works on the Bolt for me. When I attempt to play a video, the video will start playing as normal but the 3 dots in the middle the screen and the overlay UI don't go away... the video will play for a few minutes then will stop with the message "The video did not start playing in time." (even though it was already playing). This happens regardless of what video I try to play.

It all worked fine before plex media server wanted me to update it yesterday. (version* 1.4.3.3433)*

Is anyone else having this issue?


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## Casco5842 (Sep 5, 2016)

I'm having the same problem. I tested using plex app built into my samsung tv without issue so it appears to be the Tivo version of the app


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## Gavroche (May 27, 2007)

Grrrr...... Yes, same here. I also have a Samsung TV and Plex is fine, but of course that is a different app (and I kind of hate it, interface-wise). Glad to know the problem is not just me. I guess we'll just have to wait for a fix (again) like we all had to when Plex would crash on the bolt when browsing.

It's too bad because it actually has been working quite well on the bolt (I also have a Premiere and a Mini... but Plex has never worked well on those, if at all).

One thing I have noticed is that with the Samsung Plex app I can get 5.1, and with the Tivo Plex app I have never been able to, no matter how I set it up. Hmmm...


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## jcthorne (Jan 28, 2002)

Working fine today on my Bolt. Is it specific videos or all of them. Mine are all stored in a directly streamable format so none of them require transcoding or even remuxing.


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## mbhforum (Mar 7, 2016)

It's been happening to me on my Tivo Bolt and Minis. I don't run a Plex Media Server, but I stream from a couple friends and it's happening on most movies. In troubleshooting with one of them, it appears to be larger file sizes (better quality). I have played around with all of the client settings on Tivo and nothing is working. I also opened up a case with Tivo support to make them aware of it. I guess I will resort to Netflix for now


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## Gavroche (May 27, 2007)

It happens to me even on very small files (trailers, for example). No change since yesterday.


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## Gavroche (May 27, 2007)

jcthorne said:


> Working fine today on my Bolt. Is it specific videos or all of them. Mine are all stored in a directly streamable format so none of them require transcoding or even remuxing.


What Plex Server version are you running? It only started happening after I upgraded to 1.4.3.3433. Does anyone know if there is a way to roll-back to the previous version?

I'm also curious if this is just a problem with the Windows Plex Server or if it happens regardless of which platform you're running the Plex server on.


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## Casco5842 (Sep 5, 2016)

Started with 1.4.3.3444 upgrade. I'm running on OS.


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## jcthorne (Jan 28, 2002)

My server is running 1.4.3.3433 on windows 7. The tivo can stream fine from it or from the Plex Cloud server.

Again, all of my videos stream directly. No transcoding or remuxing.


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## lessd (Jan 23, 2005)

Had the same problem, transcoded the DVDs to H.264 from MPG4 (using H.264 40 instead of 41) and the problem went away. My Plex server is built into my Netgear router, I have a SSD plug into the Router to store the movies on.


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## Meatball (Jan 12, 2007)

Having the exact same problem here. Plex Server on a Windows Machine streaming to a Roamio OTA box and after about 30 seconds of a video I get the video overlap pop up that won't go away.

Also, for the last few months I've noticed a _really long_ delay for most videos to start, like in the range of 2-3 minutes. The Plex app just hangs and eventually the video starts streaming.


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## phox_mulder (Feb 23, 2006)

I had the same problem crop up last night, right after my Plex server updated.
Couldn't get anything to stream to any of my Roamio's for more than 30 seconds-ish without the popup overlay showing up, then the crash screen saying the video didn't start playing in time.

Did a quick search, and found the previous version online, uninstalled Plex on my Windows 10 desktop, reinstalled the previous version, and everything streams just like it did last week.
Just have to remember not to let it upgrade till the next version is released, maybe.


pphox


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## jcthorne (Jan 28, 2002)

Plex has pushed an update to the Tivos to fix this problem. Plex on Roamio and Bolt that were having this error should now be fixed.


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## Gavroche (May 27, 2007)

Indeed... is working again!


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## Chuck43 (Jun 1, 2017)

As of May 31st, it is no longer working again. Getting no audio through the Tivo roamio Plex app as well as the Tivo Mini. Also movies no longer play on my Sony Bravia Smart TV plex app. I guess it's not too smart. . After the Tivo started with the problem above, I updated the server to the latest version even though Plex settings indicated I was running the latest version (which I wasn't). I am now running Version 1.5.6.3790.

BTW: Everything is running fine on the server itself. All videos and music are playing fine.


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## bootman_head_fi (Aug 3, 2008)

You may need to reinitialize your server with your account. 
ie. start over but since you have your files it isn't as bad as it sounds.
It took my less than 5 mins to delete my server from my account and add it back in.
Sure the metadata had to be rebuilt but doing that solved all my instability issues.


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## Chuck43 (Jun 1, 2017)

Thank you. Completely uninstalled Plex Media Server and deleted all files associated with Plex. Took a very short time. Re-installed and re-added all the libraries. Everything is working fine now except for the Tivo Plex app which has no audio. See the following for that issue: BUG: Plex for TiVo Suddenly Has No Audio.


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## jcthorne (Jan 28, 2002)

I just played a few videos on via plex on my Bolt. Vids with aac and ac3 audio both play fine. Mine are all stored as mp4 files which stream to tivo natively without transcoding.

Running media server 1.7.2


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## jcliff (May 24, 2017)

I'm running *Version 1.7.2.3878 *Plex server.

Recently, videos that will play perfectly via Kodi, Plex for Kodi, streaming to my PC, Plex for Android, or Plex for Roku, won't play correctly on the Tivo.

For example, I recorded "In a Valley of Violence" off the air, and converted it to MP4/AAC. In Plex for Tivo, the audio is out of sync. So it's not quite like the above bug where there's no audio at all.

Weirdly, if I "optimize" it or transcode it, the audio will sync. It's just the direct stream that's off, and only on Plex for Tivo.

Anyone ever experienced something like that before? It's a first for me. I'm not sure why it would only affect Tivo.

It's also not consistent which videos will play perfectly and which won't. Sometimes higher quality/high bitrate will work, sometimes lower won't... I'm a bit befuddled.

Worst-case scenario I'll just stop using the Tivo apps, but there's something to be said for the convenience.


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## jcthorne (Jan 28, 2002)

Please post more information about the file you are trying to play. Perhaps with a mediainfo listing we can determine the problem. Plex has long done a very poor job of processing files for tivo. If the files are stored in a format that they direct stream to the tivo, they work fine. If not, there is often trouble. The problem is on the plex side and it has not gotten better in at least the last year.


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## jcliff (May 24, 2017)

In the case I'm describing, direct stream is the issue. If I use Plex's built-in transcoder, the audio is fine. I encode everything to h.264 and AAC audio, and it's only recently that any issues have arisen.

The files play perfectly on every version of Plex except the one for Tivo. I was curious if similar to people having the above no audio issues, anyone has had out of sync audio issues.

Here's an example:



> Video
> ID :
> 1
> Format :
> ...


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## jcthorne (Jan 28, 2002)

mkvmerge indicates you are building an mkv file not mp4. Mkv files do not direct stream to tivo they have to be remuxed on the fly. That combined with variable frame rate video is going to have audio sync issues on tivo. Remux the file into an mp4 container that is streaming optimized, the VFR video should be fine on Bolt if the audio is in sync in the file.

Plex on the Tivo has always been lackluster as far as video file compatibility. As long as Plex insists on using the same version player they use for other Opera based systems, it will never get better. Plex simply does not properly remux on the fly for Tivo. Only works reliably if the files are already optimized for direct streaming. The good side is, files built that way stream well to most other devices as well with far less overhead.


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## jcliff (May 24, 2017)

Plex for Tivo (for newer devices like the Bolt, at least) can direct play the MKV. It's a compatible container. The video inside it is a h.264 encoded video and AAC audio perfect for streaming. And dozens of my other MKVs, made exactly the same way, work great. I prefer using MKV containers, even though similar things can be accomplished via MP4, because I find tools like MKV Merge easy to work with when I want to add/remove/edit subtitles or do other basic editing tasks.

In these specific cases, the audio and video *only* sync when Plex is re-encoding them on the fly. Which is what I think is odd.

I have a fairly good grasp of Plex and encoding. While I appreciate the advice, I'm not seeking a technical solution, because my other video files work fine. I was just wondering if anyone else had noticed audio sync issues lately, in addition to the aforementioned no audio issues. That would make me think it was a recent update. Otherwise, it may be something to do with these specific source files. As a further test, I've got the same shows set to record again so I can compare.


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## jcthorne (Jan 28, 2002)

Suit yourself. My plex implementation works just fine for all 40k files on my server. 

As I said, the problem you are encountering is the combination of MKV with VFR video. Plex simply does not remux it correctly on the fly for Tivo. Never has. The same streams, in a streaming optimized MP4 file will direct play.

MKV with a VFR video stream is NOT a compatible file for Tivo to stream natively. Streaming optimized MP4 is. Don't care what Plex thinks. Its been this way for some time.


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