From 25945b8fead989cca09a23983623b63ce36dcc0c Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Christian Cleberg Date: Mon, 8 Jan 2024 20:11:17 -0600 Subject: feat: total re-write from Emacs org-mode to Zola markdown --- content/blog/2023-07-19-plex-transcoder-errors.md | 64 +++++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 64 insertions(+) create mode 100644 content/blog/2023-07-19-plex-transcoder-errors.md (limited to 'content/blog/2023-07-19-plex-transcoder-errors.md') diff --git a/content/blog/2023-07-19-plex-transcoder-errors.md b/content/blog/2023-07-19-plex-transcoder-errors.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0a5e616 --- /dev/null +++ b/content/blog/2023-07-19-plex-transcoder-errors.md @@ -0,0 +1,64 @@ ++++ +date = 2023-07-19 +title = "How to Avoid Plex Error: 'Conversion failed. The transcoder failed to start up.'" +description = "Learn how to avoid Plex conversion errors caused by subtitles." ++++ + +## Plex Transcoder Error + +Occasionally, you may see an error in your Plex client that references a +failure with the transcoder conversion process. The specific error +wording is: + +```txt +Conversion failed. The transcoder failed to start up. +``` + +## Debugging the Cause + +In order to get a better look at what is causing the error, I'm going +to observe the Plex console while the error occurs. To do this, open the +Plex web client, go to `Settings` > `Manage` > +`Console`. Now, try to play the title again and watch to see +which errors occur. + +In my case, you can see the errors below are related to a subtitle file +(`.srt`) causing the transcoder to crash. + +```txt +Jul 19, 2023 16:49:34.945 [140184571120440] Error — Couldn't find the file to stream: /movies/Movie Title (2021)/Movie Title (2021).srt +Jul 19, 2023 16:49:34.947 [140184532732728] Error — [Req#7611/Transcode/42935159-67C1-4192-9336-DDC6F7BC9330] Error configuring transcoder: TPU: Failed to download sub-stream to temporary file +Jul 19, 2023 16:49:35.225 [140184532732728] Warning — [Req#760d/Transcode] Got a request to stop a transcode session without a valid session GUID. +Jul 19, 2023 16:49:45.561 [140184532732728] Info — [Req#7648] AutoUpdate: no updates available +Jul 19, 2023 16:51:23.402 [140184510081848] Info — Library section 1 (Movies) will be updated because of a change in "/movies/Movie Title (2021)/Movie Title (2021).srt" +``` + +## Solving the Error + +In my case, I simply removed the subtitle file because it was not +critical to keep. You may also avoid this by turning off subtitles if +you don't want to delete the file. + +```sh +rm -rf "/movies/Movie Title (2021)/Movie Title (2021).srt" +``` + +Once the subtitle is removed from the directory or subtitles are turned +off, try to play the title again. At this point, it should play without +error. If not, reopen or refresh your Plex client and the Plex server: + +```sh +sudo systemctl restart plexmediaserver.service +``` + +## Related Discussion + +Looking at [a related Plex forum +post](https://forums.plex.tv/t/subtitles-crashing-plex-transcoder-samsung-q80-tv-with-or-without-hardware-transcode/741441/2), +it seems that `.srt` subtitles are the core issue here. +However, Plex does not seem to have a resolution that fixes these +errors. + +Unfortunately, I would suggest converting subtitle formats, burning the +subtitles into the title, or simply removing subtitles when they cause +crashes. -- cgit v1.2.3-70-g09d2