Video playback no longer works

[satyr 2]

I have the emby add-on running on two different Kodi boxes (A: Kodi 15.1 w/ Emby 1.1.39; B: Kodi 15.0 w/ Emby 1.1.13; most recent version of server). They've been running fine for a few months. A few hours ago, system A stopped playing back video. Movies and TV shows are all available for selection, and will sync properly with the server, but will not play when clicked. Oddly, music was still playing fine.

 

I hadn't done anything, so I figured it was a freak accident. After fully deleting and reinstalling Kodi and reinstalling the Emby add-on, the problem remains. System B works just as it did.

Interestingly, if I check the HTTP box in the Kodi A Emby config, it will play fine. But that's not checked in my B box. What affect can that be having? It appears to be a path identification issue, but I don't know how that would have started when nothing has changed (I've never used path substitution and Emby never had a problem finding my media and using direct stream).

 

Here's the Kodi log file for a single movie attempt:

 

19:03:18 T:5356  NOTICE: PLAY Called

19:03:18 T:5356  NOTICE: EMBY DownloadUtils -> logMsg : === ENTER downloadUrl ===

19:03:18 T:5356  NOTICE: EMBY DownloadUtils -> logMsg : URL: http://192.168.1.111:8096/mediabrowser/Users/c764fbde20fb448a88ff41f647e4bb74/Items/e94348850d1ea53b53483d614a60cc6c/Intros?format=json&ImageTypeLimit=1&Fields=Etag

19:03:18 T:5356  NOTICE: EMBY DownloadUtils -> logMsg : Header: {'Accept-Charset': 'UTF-8,*', 'Content-type': 'application/json', 'Accept-encoding': 'gzip', 'Authorization': 'MediaBrowser UserId="c764fbde20fb448a88ff41f647e4bb74", Client="Kodi", Device="Kodi", DeviceId="93EF21BDF7E5480A8727955AE81924E7", Version="1.1.39"', 'X-MediaBrowser-Token': '59cab8c5abe6446cb6a58f5c27b436fe'}

19:03:18 T:5356  NOTICE: EMBY DownloadUtils -> logMsg : URL: http://192.168.1.111:8096/mediabrowser/Users/c764fbde20fb448a88ff41f647e4bb74/Items/e94348850d1ea53b53483d614a60cc6c/Intros?format=json&ImageTypeLimit=1&Fields=Etag

19:03:18 T:5356  NOTICE: EMBY DownloadUtils -> logMsg : ====== 200 Success ======

19:03:18 T:5356  NOTICE: EMBY DownloadUtils -> logMsg : Response: {u'Items': [], u'TotalRecordCount': 0}

19:03:18 T:5356  NOTICE: EMBY PlayUtils -> logMsg : Can't verify path (assumed NFS). Still try direct play.

19:03:18 T:5356  NOTICE: EMBY PlayUtils -> logMsg : File is direct playing.

19:03:18 T:5356  NOTICE: plugin.video.emby stopped

19:03:18 T:3268   ERROR: PlayMedia could not play media: plugin://plugin.video.emby/movies/e94348850d1ea53b53483d614a60cc6c/?filename=Avengers Age of Ultron (2015).mp4&id=e94348850d1ea53b53483d614a60cc6c&mode=play

19:03:18 T:3268  NOTICE: DVDPlayer: Opening: /usr/destination/Movies/Avengers Age of Ultron (2015).mp4

19:03:18 T:3268 WARNING: CDVDMessageQueue(player)::Put MSGQ_NOT_INITIALIZED

19:03:18 T:4580  NOTICE: Thread DVDPlayer start, auto delete: false

19:03:18 T:4580  NOTICE: Creating InputStream

19:03:18 T:4580   ERROR: CDVDPlayer::OpenInputStream - error opening [/usr/destination/Movies/Avengers Age of Ultron (2015).mp4]

19:03:18 T:4580  NOTICE: CDVDPlayer::OnExit()

19:03:18 T:3268  NOTICE: CDVDPlayer::CloseFile()

19:03:18 T:3268  NOTICE: DVDPlayer: waiting for threads to exit

19:03:18 T:3268  NOTICE: DVDPlayer: finished waiting

19:03:18 T:3268  NOTICE: CDVDPlayer::CloseFile()

19:03:18 T:3268  NOTICE: DVDPlayer: waiting for threads to exit

19:03:18 T:3268  NOTICE: DVDPlayer: finished waiting

19:03:18 T:3632  NOTICE: EMBY Player -> logMsg : onPlayBackStopped

19:03:18 T:1888  NOTICE: EMBY LibrarySync -> logMsg : DB Version: 1.1.39

 

Clearly, there's a problem with the emby plugin, but I can't understand how this would have just started happening when nothing else was done. Any help is appreciated.

Edited September 14, 2015 by satyr

[Angelblue05 4130]

What file protocol do you use? Nfs or smb?

 

Kodi can't load the following path:

/usr/destination/Movies/Avengers Age of Ultron (2015).mp4

[satyr 2]

 

What file protocol do you use? Nfs or smb?

 

Kodi can't load the following path:

/usr/destination/Movies/Avengers Age of Ultron (2015).mp4

Everything is stored on a FreeNAS box, which is shared via CIFS/SMB

 

I saw that the plugin is where the failure is, and I'm thinking that it was falling back to the HTTP protocol when direct play failed before, without telling me. There must have been an update that I just got that changed that process.

Anyways, I'm pretty sure I need to utilize path substitution, but have not yet been able to set that up correctly.

Edited September 14, 2015 by satyr

[Angelblue05 4130]

You are correct. Previously, it was silently falling back to direct stream. Now it tells you. If you set play from http instead of smb in the options, you'd get the same result as before.

 

To set your paths, in emby dashboard > library > path substitution

 

You'd do a path substitution like this:

 

From: /usr/destination/Movies

To: \\networkshare\Movies

[satyr 2]

You are correct. Previously, it was silently falling back to direct stream. Now it tells you. If you set play from http instead of smb in the options, you'd get the same result as before.

 

To set your paths, in emby dashboard > library > path substitution

 

You'd do a path substitution like this:

 

From: /usr/destination/Movies

To: \\networkshare\Movies

Thanks for the clarification. It's working again.