Certain videos no longer playing on Samsung TV

[binary512]

No longer able to play certain videos (possible renderer file issue???). Using UMS v15.2.0 with FFMPEG 8.0.1 (also tried native FFMPEG that comes with UMS 15.2.0).
In this log file, the video trying to play is "A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965).mp4"
It plays fine when using the VLC app on the Firestick, so I know the video file is good. There are other videos that do not play and I suspect it is the same issue with this video.

A separate issue, which I can submit a separate Topic, is that thumbnail pictures only show on about 5% of all videos. It used to show on all of them.

I have seen errors about "No Hls configuration to transcode" sometimes....may be of some help.
Log file is attached.
Kurt

[mik_s]

These 2 issues appear to be the same thing so that is fine.

I think it might be an unintended consequence of fixing transcoding problems caused when remuxing but no longer matched the transcoding profile.

The conf does list 2 transcoding profiles which is supposed to switch to the other one for when HLS does not work but it might not be working.
I even saw that UMS was saying FFmpeg is not compatible for basic videos which would explain the thumbnails not being made as FFmpeg is used for that.

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Getting engine for resource "A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965).mp4"
Engine "FFmpeg Video" is incompatible
Returning compatible engine "FFmpeg HLS Video"

I'll need to do some testing but I'm having renovations done to my home at the minute so have not had time to do any yet.

Could you try some things for me?
I noticed your transcoding engines priority has been changed so the FFmpegHlsVideo engine is second on the list when the default is last.
Could you move it back to the bottom and see if that changes anything?

That video should play without transcoding and the logs confirm it should be streamed but it might be sending HLS headers to the TV which could be causing it.

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Final verdict: "A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965).mp4" will be streamed

Can you try playing from the #--TRANSCODING--# folder with "no transcoding" option and see if that works.

Another thing you could do is edit the Samsung-TV-2021-2.conf and change

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TranscodeVideo = HLS-MPEGTS-H264-AAC, MPEGTS-H264-AAC

to

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TranscodeVideo = MPEGTS-H264-AAC

to see what happens.
If it does work it will be helpful to see the logs of it working so I can confirm my suspicions.

[binary512]

Thank you for the response. Here are the results of your requests...

Re: I noticed your transcoding engines priority has been changed so the FFmpegHlsVideo engine is second on the list when the default is last.
Could you move it back to the bottom and see if that changes anything?
Ans: Done. Video still does not play.

Re: Can you try playing from the #--TRANSCODING--# folder with "no transcoding" option and see if that works.
Ans: The "No Transcoding" option does not play properly either.

Re: Another thing you could do is edit the Samsung-TV-2021-2.conf and change
TranscodeVideo = HLS-MPEGTS-H264-AAC, MPEGTS-H264-AAC
to
TranscodeVideo = MPEGTS-H264-AAC

Ans: Changed as requested. Video still does not play.

Also, thumbnails are now showing on more than 90% of videos...good enough for me.

I noticed the following WARNing in the log file at startup...although permissions on this directory are "Full Control" for SYSTEM, USERS and ADMINISTRATORS.
07:42:23 WARN Insufficient permission to execute "C:\ProgramData\FFMPeg" for transcoding engine AviSynth/FFmpeg

New log file attached.
Thank you.
Kurt

[binary512]

Any more ideas? I am stuck not being able to play videos that used to work..
Thanks.

[mik_s]

Sorry not had time to dig into this. I'll see if I can have a look at the weekend.

[mik_s]

Sorry for the delay.

I think I found the issue.
I think it is due to to the alternative FFmpeg you used as a temporary fix in the previous version but the path to it is still set.
I'm not sure if you have deleted that FFmpeg since then, but the logs are saying it does not have permission to run it.

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Custom executable path for FFmpegProgramInfo FFmpeg: [bundled = "FFmpegExecutableInfo [executablePath=C:\Program Files\Universal Media Server\bin\ffmpeg.exe, available=null, version=null, errorType=null, errorText=null, protocols=null]", (*)custom = "FFmpegExecutableInfo [executablePath=C:\ProgramData\FFMPeg, available=null, version=null, errorType=null, errorText=null, protocols=null]"] was initialized to "C:\ProgramData\FFMPeg"
Insufficient permission to execute "C:\ProgramData\FFMPeg" for transcoding engine AviSynth/FFmpeg

From your UMS.conf

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# Path to ffmpeg (absolute or relative from project.binaries.dir)
# Example: /usr/bin/ffmpeg
# Default:
#     Win: win32/ffmpeg.exe
#     Mac: osx/ffmpeg
#     Linux: ffmpeg + system PATH
ffmpeg_path = C:\\ProgramData\\FFMPeg

I think it is the location that is the problem as an executable should not be allowed to run in the ProgramData folder.

Changing it to just

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ffmpeg_path =

should fix it so it will use the included FFmpeg which should have all the previous issues fixed
(although I think I found a new one stopping and resuming a video with subs)

Interestingly it does initialise using the included FFmpeg then switches to the custom path, I guess this is detect the GPU and return the available options for encoding.

However when transcoding using [AviSynth/FFmpeg] it ignores the custom path so it was actually starting here, but the avs script it created for this probably referenced the other location so still failed.

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Starting "C:\Program Files\Universal Media Server\bin\ffmpeg.exe" -y -loglevel info -i "C:\Users\Kurt\AppData\Local\Temp\UMS\ums-avs-A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965).mp4.avs" -bufsize 78000k -maxrate 77000k -crf 16 -ab 320k -c:a aac -c:v libx264 -preset superfast -level 31 -pix_fmt yuv420p -f mpegts \\.\pipe\ffmpegvideo_83_1766068769431
ffmpeg version 2025-07-21-git-8cdb47e47a-essentials_build-www.gyan.dev Copyright (c) 2000-2025 the FFmpeg developers
...
...
[in#0 @ 0000012477054080] Error opening input: Unknown error occurred
Error opening input file C:\Users\Kurt\AppData\Local\Temp\UMS\ums-avs-A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965).mp4.avs.
Error opening input files: Unknown error occurred

It probably does not exist any more but see if there is a "C:\Users\Kurt\AppData\Local\Temp\UMS\ums-avs-A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965).mp4.avs" file and attach it here so I can check.
It should just be a small text file.
It might be nothing but it could be it is not working as intended

[binary512]

Thank you for the response.

I discovered the problem and fix for the ffmpeg_path setting. It was not a permissions issue for C:\\ProgramData\FFMPeg.
In UMS.CONF, the line was...
ffmpeg_path = C:\\ProgramData\\FFMPeg
when instead, it should have been...
ffmpeg_path = C:\\ProgramData\\FFMPeg\ffmpeg.exe

I had this exact configuration running on another one of my servers and it was not getting the security warning. When I changed it on this server's UMS.CONF file to match, and the warning went away.
I have removed to setting temporarily to troubleshoot, so the line now looks like...
ffmpeg_path =
as you instructed.
--------
I checked for the existence of the following file: "C:\Users\Kurt\AppData\Local\Temp\UMS\ums-avs-A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965).mp4.avs"
This directory is empty.
--------
I also changed the following line back to the original...
TranscodeVideo = HLS-MPEGTS-H264-AAC, MPEGTS-H264-AAC
It does not play, except from the TRANSCODE folder, it does play the FFMPEG HLS video option.
(see log file #1)

When using the config...
TranscodeVideo = MPEGTS-H264-AAC
It still does not play. And in the TRANSCODE folder, there is no option for FFMPEG HLS video option.
(see log file #2)

Both log files are attached.
Definitely something to do with HLS video or the order in which things are processed...

[mik_s]

The HLS is working properly from what I can tell.
Fixing the FFmpeg path has solved the problems with thumbnails and the HLS configuration errors from before.
Everything else looks normal so it should be working.

That video is a very standard one as it is as SD MP4 with that should normally play on just about anything and UMS has correctly set it to stream.
To confirm can try putting it on a USB drive and playing directly on the TV.

As only HLS is working the problem is something else, I think the format type being sent to the TV is incorrect for anything but HLS.
I have a suspicion on what it could be as something is not lining up as expected, but I know nothing about this data so not sure.
Someone else said their PS3 stopped playing too and that could be related as I could not see anything else wrong there too.

It makes sense the HLS option is not available if the HLS profile is not enabled.

Since you have been doing a lot of testing with this it could be some of your settings could be at fault, or even the database entries.
Make a backup of C:\ProgramData\UMS then do a clean install (click advanced) of UMS to reset everything. You can restore the backup in the future if you want to quickly restore the settings or your database once we have eliminated that as a problem, but you don't have to if you don't care about played status of thing you have already watched.

Screenshot 2026-01-18 142829.png (17.54 KiB) Viewed 392401 times

Screenshot 2026-01-18 142931.png (25.36 KiB) Viewed 392401 times

If that still does not improve things then try going back a few versions (doing clean install each time) to when it did work and post logs of it so I can compare.

In the meantime you could get the current version to work if you force transcode of everything which will use HLS and this should be just as good as streaming and allow subs and audio tracks to be changed on the fly. I think you just need to set this box to * to force everything to transcode.

Screenshot 2026-01-18 143731.png (8.7 KiB) Viewed 392401 times

[binary512]

Re: That video is a very standard one as it is as SD MP4 with that should normally play on just about anything and UMS has correctly set it to stream.
To confirm can try putting it on a USB drive and playing directly on the TV.

Ans: The video plays fine from the USB drive.

Re: In the meantime you could get the current version to work if you force transcode of everything which will use HLS and this should be just as good as streaming and allow subs and audio tracks to be changed on the fly. I think you just need to set this box to * to force everything to transcode.

Ans: When making the change to force Transcoding of everything, nothing works.

I did a CLEAN install of the latest v15.3.
There are new log file errors that may help troubleshooting. Log file attached.
The video plays from the #TRANSCODE# folder for "HLS video" only. (1st play)
The video does NOT play from the normal folder. (2nd play attempt)

I have gone back to version 14.6 and the video is still not playing, except from the #TRANSCODE# folder.

Another note, when using the GUI, with v14.6, it shows FFMPEG HLS Video v7.0.0.0.
With v15.3, it shows FFMPEG HLS Video 0.0.0. (not a typo, it is showing version 0)

Lastly, I noticed that when using the web interface (localhost:9001) to change settings, under Server Settings, almost everything is gone. The ONLY option that shows is "Disable Subtitles".
I cannot change or even view any of the Video Files Engines. I can only see and change them via the GUI.

Thank you for your assistance.

P.S. I think that FFMPEG is not recognizing the video as HLS. If it did, it would work properly, since the video can be played from the #TRANSCODE# folder. To test this theory, I move the "FFMPEG HLS Video" up in the order of Video File Engines to be first, followed by "FFMPEG Video". It still did not work. So it appears the video is not being recognized properly.?
Your thoughts...

[mik_s]

Lastly, I noticed that when using the web interface (localhost:9001) to change settings, under Server Settings, almost everything is gone. The ONLY option that shows is "Disable Subtitles".
I cannot change or even view any of the Video Files Engines. I can only see and change them via the GUI.

There is the option to show advanced settings that will unhide them. The the option in the conf only changes the old GUI.
When installing it should have asked whether to hide advanced settings and should have applied to both GUIs, but maybe installer cannot alter the setting if it is stored in the browser.

Screenshot 2026-01-18 195713.png (21.57 KiB) Viewed 394381 times

I tested setting * to force transcode and it worked on my PS4. In theory it should be using HLS as the default transcoding engine for you so that should have worked.
I suspect it might have made the choice not to use HLS in this case for some reason. Could you do logs of this too?
I guess if you removed the MPEGTS-H264-AAC profile from the conf then it would have no option than to use HLS.
Then again it could just be the transcoding engine priority so moving "FFmpeg HLS Video" to the top of the engine list should do this too.

Where exactly does it say FFMPEG HLS Video 0.0.0 ? Could you post a screenshot?
I don't have anything that can play HLS so can't see for myself. This just might be a cosmetic bug as HLS is the only thing working so the problem is something else.

Since the videos can play from USB it does confirm that streaming should work but for some reason the TV is not liking it.

Did 14.6 work before with those videos outside the transcode folder? I remember some problems happened after going from 13.6 to 14.12, could you check both those versions too? Do you have any other TVs you can test on?

I tried streaming some test video on my old F series Samsung with a similar format to your video and those worked fine, and the thing I was suspecting is the same on mine so that was not it.
One difference might be the headers requesting the video is missing transferMode.dlna.org: Streaming in yours. I don't know if this is what it should be though.

This is what yours asks for

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============================= MEDIA HTTP SERVER REQUEST BEGIN ================================
HEAD /ums/media/5ef96039-f773-4686-8322-dd66a1004a7e/1024/A-Charlie-Brown-Christmas-1965-.mp4 HTTP/1.1

HEADER:
  getcontentFeatures.dlna.org: 1
  Host: 192.168.112.50:5001
  Connection: close
============================= MEDIA HTTP SERVER REQUEST END ==================================

============================= MEDIA HTTP SERVER RESPONSE BEGIN ===============================
HTTP/1.1 206 (non-chunked)

HEADER:
  Server: Windows_11-amd64-10.0, UPnP/1.0 DLNADOC/1.50, UMS/15.2.0
  Date: Sat, 17 Jan 2026 13:29:07 GMT
  Content-Type: video/mp4
  Content-Range: bytes 0-335210183/335210184
  ContentFeatures.DLNA.ORG: DLNA.ORG_PN=AVC_MP4_MP_SD;DLNA.ORG_OP=01;DLNA.ORG_CI=0;DLNA.ORG_FLAGS=01700000000000000000000000000000
  Accept-Ranges: bytes
  Connection: keep-alive
  Content-Length: 335210184
============================= MEDIA HTTP SERVER RESPONSE END =================================

and this is mine

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============================= MEDIA HTTP SERVER REQUEST BEGIN ================================
GET /ums/media/0c845881-00d2-1000-9438-f47b5ebe1def/2551/Magnum-PI-2018-S05E01-WEBRip-x264-ION10.mp4 HTTP/1.0

HEADER:
  Range: bytes=48-
  getcontentFeatures.dlna.org: 1
  transferMode.dlna.org: Streaming
  Host: 192.168.1.177:5001
============================= MEDIA HTTP SERVER REQUEST END ==================================

============================= MEDIA HTTP SERVER RESPONSE BEGIN ===============================
HTTP/1.0 206 (non-chunked)

HEADER:
  Server: Windows_11-amd64-10.0, UPnP/1.0 DLNADOC/1.50, UMS/15.4.0-SNAPSHOT
  Date: Sun, 18 Jan 2026 21:08:34 GMT
  TransferMode.DLNA.ORG: Streaming
  Content-Type: video/mp4
  Content-Range: bytes 48-437749064/437749065
  ContentFeatures.DLNA.ORG: DLNA.ORG_PN=AVC_MP4_HP_HD;DLNA.ORG_OP=01;DLNA.ORG_CI=0;DLNA.ORG_FLAGS=01700000000000000000000000000000
  Accept-Ranges: bytes
  Connection: keep-alive
  Content-Length: 437749017
============================= MEDIA HTTP SERVER RESPONSE END =================================

Has your TV had any firmware updates?


Another possible thing I was thinking of might have been your network speed but yours is excellent

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Renderer Samsung AU8000 65 TV has an estimated network speed of 84.79723177033493 Mb/s