Plex audio cuts out after 18 seconds on Arch distro

[jpwhale]

While playing a Plex album the audio cuts out abruptly after a short while, more specifically after app. 17-18 seconds. I have no idea if this is a timeout issue, or buffer issue, or PCM issue or whatever.

Any ideas how to identify the problem, or what configuration is needed to test/fix this?

tizonia 0.19.0. Copyright (C) 2019 Juan A. Rubio
This software is part of the Tizonia project <http://tizonia.org>

Debug Info:
	    * [Boost 1_72]
	    * [TagLib 1.11.1]
	    * [MediaInfoLib - v19.09]

Installed from Arch AUR

[tizonia]

Hi!, thanks for taking the time to report an issue.

I've just done some testing. My Plex server is at version 1.18.5.2309 and I can't see any audio cuts. It works fine for me.

Are you using this version, or something older?

[jpwhale]

Thank you for your time!

I'm using plex 1.18.6.2368.

I have a sneaky feeling it's a problem on my machine. I get a weird volume indicator dbus message when it happens. I'm just not tech savvy enough to figure out why.

Do you know if using the plex API like this requires plex pass? I do have that, and I have updated the token after getting it, but I wondered if it might be related.

[tizonia]

Do you know if using the plex API like this requires plex pass? I do have that, and I have updated the token after getting it, but I wondered if it might be related.

The plex pass is not required to use the API.

I've got a Manjaro VM. I'll try to test with it when I have some time and report back.

[nettosama]

Same thing happens to me. Also using Arch, installed from AUR, and same debug info. It mutes after 18-20 seconds. Progress bar keeps going, but no audio.

[tizonia]

Hi @jpwhale / @nettosama

I've been able to reproduce it on my Manjaro VM. I can't reproduce it on Ubuntu.

Apparently, the audio buffer used by Tizonia while streaming from Plex on Manjaro is not enough for some strange reason (however, it is sufficient on Ubuntu).

On my Manjaro tests, I am able to avoid the cuts by changing the default buffer value from 60 seconds to 600 seconds. This is the only value I have tested. It might get fixed with something smaller than 600.

tizonia-openmax-il/config/src/tizonia.conf.in

Line 161 in eed901e

# plex.buffer_seconds = size of the audio buffer (in seconds) to use

I'll keep this issue open for now to investigate some more.

[nettosama]

Posting here again, changing the buffer value to 600 indeed made it play the song past the 18 seconds, and I it played correctly several songs, but it stopped again at the 4th song, each song being around 4:30 mins. It happened twice, when playing a playlist.

[tizonia]

Hi @nettosama

Thanks for trying this. I'll reopen, there must be some other problem in there that seems to be only reproducible with the Arch/Manjaro dependencies.

[tizonia]

Hi @jpwhale / @nettosama

Just a little update. I've got a fix that's looking promising. Hopefully, I'll get it in a new release very soon.