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timmyc
Trending Lyricist I
December 1, 2021

Plex integration: "Unable to play '[track]' - the connection to Plex was lost"

  • December 1, 2021
  • 40 replies
  • 3424 views

Sonos version: 11.2.13

Plex version: 1.25.0.5282 (same issue encountered with 1.24.x.x)

Plex running in Docker container on an HP MicroServer serving music stored on same server. Plex app works fine and can browse/stream music from internal LAN and from outside LAN. Sonos app can browse music on Plex fine.

Until recently, I’ve been able to stream Plex music to SONOS without issues. It stopped working a couple of days ago. A new Plex update became available today and I’ve tried that with no success.

 

Problem description:

I believe the following are related issues as they started at the same time.

Variant 1:

Using the SONOS appFind and select track from Plex. When Sonos attempts to play track it reports error:

Unable to play track '<track name>' - the connection to Plex was lost.

Variant 2:

Using the Plex web app, the cast locates SONOS boxes but when trying to connect reports:

Playback Error
An error occurred loading the media being played on "<sonos device>".

 

Expected behaviour:

SONOS plays music as expected. Plex app is able to connect to and stream music to SONOS device.

 

Troubleshooting so far:

  • No errors detected in Plex logs
  • Tried rebooting all network devices
  • Tried reauthorising Plex with Sonos
  • Tried removing/re-adding Plex in Sonos (including removing app approval in Plex)

As far as I can tell, my network is fine. I was able to play tracks the other day and can’t play anything now. Plex app works as it should so don’t think the problem is there. I’ve run out of ideas to try now, and have been unable to get through to the support chat

Does SONOS or anyone else have any idea where I can go from here?

Thanks in advance.

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40 replies

melvimbe
melvimbe
December 1, 2021

Since the current version of S1 is 11.2.6, I assume you are on S2.  The current version of S2 is 13.4, so the first thing I would do is upgrade then retest.  No point in doing anything else before that.

Not sure if you’re up to date with Plex.

Danny
ratty
ratty
December 1, 2021

The OP has Play:5/gen1. 

melvimbe
melvimbe
December 1, 2021

The OP has Play:5/gen1. 

 

Then if on S1, I don’t know how OP is on version 11.2.13.

https://support.sonos.com/s/article/4941?language=en_US

Danny
ratty
ratty
December 1, 2021

That page is well out of date. The latest downloads for S1 are 11.2.13.

    timmycAuthor
    Trending Lyricist I
    December 1, 2021

    It's definitely 11.2.13. Yes, I'm stuck on S1 for now as I've got a couple of legacy devices. Don't think that's the issue though, as it's been working fine previously.

    Plex version is the latest.

     

    Ken_Griffiths
    Ken_Griffiths
    December 1, 2021

    I think the Plex issue maybe known to Sonos already, as there was a ticket open for investigation a short time ago. I’m basing that comment on this thread …

    I’m still seeing the issue too from time to time with my Plex server and plex-pass.

    timmycAuthor
    Trending Lyricist I
    December 2, 2021

    I think the Plex issue maybe known to Sonos already, as there was a ticket open for investigation a short time ago. I’m basing that comment on this thread …

    I’m still seeing the issue too from time to time with my Plex server and plex-pass.

    This was a separate issue that was resolved as far as I’m aware. There’s a thread on the Plex forum about it - seemed to be that Sonos’ Plex integration was passing a malformed request string to the Plex API which is now fixed. I’ve not seen this for a few weeks now. https://forums.plex.tv/t/unable-to-browse-music-using-sonos-with-pms-1-24-1-4931/740590

      timmycAuthor
      Trending Lyricist I
      December 12, 2021

      Quick update on this…

      Spent over an hour on the phone with Sonos support, who basically went through same troubleshooting steps I had. Very thorough and helpful but unfortunately couldn’t identify any issues their end and suggested it might be a ‘Plex account issue’. (Not entirely sure what that means!)

      Anyway, checked out the Plex logs again and there’s a couple of messages related to TLS:

      CERT: incomplete TLS handshake from <my router IP> no shared cipher

      Based on this, in Plex, I changed the TLS setting from ‘Preferred’ to ‘Disabled’, and boom, I can play music again!

      There’s also an option in Plex ‘Strict TLS’ which forces only the most secure ciphers, etc. This seemed to have no effect.

      I haven’t solved this fully, so need to investigate further, but my suspicion is that Sonos is using an older TLS cipher that’s been deprecated in the latest Plex version.

      Will update again when I find out more.

      Oh, one other issue - although I can now play music by disabling TLS (which I don’t want to do long term), the dreaded ‘Unable to browse music’ error has reappeared!

        timmycAuthor
        Trending Lyricist I
        December 13, 2021

        Addendum to my previous - I don’t actually have TLS set up on this setup, so not sure why my TLS was ‘preferred anyway’. Still, it’s another avenue to investigate when I get time.

          jeffrey1681
          Lyricist I
          January 12, 2022

          Starting this morning after Plex updated to v1.25.3.5385 I’ve started to have exactly the same “incomplete TLS handshake” message appear in the logs when trying to play anything from plex with Sonos. I have the same version of Sonos, 11.2.13 S1 and I can’t upgrade to S2 because I still have a Play5 (Gen 1).

           

          Was anyone able to find a solution that did not involve disabling TLS in plex?

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