Arch Linux User Repository

Hmmm ... the plot thickens. It looks like what's actually happening is timeouts. Plex server starts downloading temp files to that directory (e.g. libmp3_decoder.so.tmp-f944-e353-230e-119a) but then times out part way through and deletes the file. Again, not sure why. I wound up having to download all the codecs manually with curl.

I think that you're right that it can write to that directory, but I can't figure out why. There's plenty of disk space (24gb). The Codecs/b077134-1269-linux-ubuntu-x86_64 dir is writeable by user plex. When I delete the Codecs dir, plex recreates it OK. But for some reason codecs can't get downloaded there.

Every time it tries to download a codec it says "Error issuing curl_easy_perform(handle): 28", "HTTP simulating 408 after curl timeout", "Codecs: Download failed: Failed to download 'https://downloads.plex.tv/codecs/b077134-1269/linux-ubuntu-x86_64/libh264_de coder.so': 408"

Note that I recently upgraded from version 1.5.5.3634-1 to 1.10.1.4602-1. I'm guessing that has something to do with my issue ...

@darose Cool, sounds like an easy fix. My codecs are in /var/lib/Plex Media Server/Codecs/

Maybe Plex is having trouble writing to that directory, check permissions and disk space. Also check any proxy/web settings to make sure Plex can reach the internet.

Alternatively, you can download the files and install them yourself, but it'll probably die again if and when it needs to update them.

It looks like the server is trying to download those codecs itself and failing.

Jan 17, 2018 21:08:56.492 [0x7f50b9bf8700] DEBUG - HTTP requesting GET https://downloads.plex.tv/codecs/b077134-1269/linux-ubuntu-x86_64/libmpeg4_decoder.so ... Jan 17, 2018 21:09:31.779 [0x7f50b9bf8700] ERROR - Codecs: Download failed: Failed to download 'https://downloads.plex.tv/codecs/b077134-1269/linux-ubuntu-x86_64/libmpeg4_decoder.so': 408 Jan 17, 2018 21:09:31.780 [0x7f50b9bf8700] ERROR - Error configuring transcoder: Decoder install failed: mpeg4

I'm not sure why.

@darose Go to Settings, click Show Advanced. Go into Debug and try enabling/disable Direct Play and/or Direct Stream.

It's possible your machine is missing video codecs for h.264 or AAC... I'm not sure what package offers those. This wiki might help: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/codecs

I'm also unsure if it's your client or your server that is missing the codecs, probably the client tho.

The web player keeps giving me errors (in firefox 57.0.4):

Playback Error Conversion failed. A required codec could not be found or failed to install.

Anyone maybe have a suggestion why?

Please do not add configuration files for things such as firewalld. This is not Ubuntu where every package makes magic configuration changes/additions to other parts of the system.

You guys can add such config examples to the arch wiki page for Plex if there is one or you can make an informational forum post. Adding such a file here is a slippery slope, what if I use shorewalld instead or maybe iptables? Do we add a config hook for those here too? Just my 2 cents

@raqua @tmoore

Countervote - please add the firewalld service description. Interoperability hooks files are designed as such so that:

1) If you use the service, you get automatic interoperability 2) If you don't use the service, the hook file is benign/ignored

@tmoore For those of us who do use firewalld, the file is far from useless, and I don't see a compelling/meaningful impact on non-firewalld users besides a few kilobytes of extra storage.

@raqua, where do you think such a service description would belong?