SOLVED Jellyfin playback error on TrueNAS Core

[simos.sigma]

Hello TrueNAS community!!!

First of all I would like to inform you that I am totally newbie with this "TrueNAS" staff so please be patient with me, I'm still learning.

Intro: Well I decided to convert a very old PC into a server 100% for home use. In order to test that this particular system can meet the requirements of "TrueNAS Core" and what I want to do, I tentatively placed a 120GB SSD as a system disk, a 500GB HDD as a pool disk, and I installed "TrueNAS Core" on the SSD.

After reading the necessary instructions and doing various tests regarding "TrueNAS Core", I then made the necessary final settings regarding storage, pools, datasets, etc. and proceeded to install the "Jellyfin" community plugin. I added the user ID "868" to any dataset (with ACL permissions) I wanted "Jellyfin" to access, I set Jellyfin's mount points, I created a movie library which contained two or three movies just for testing, I tried to play the movies, on my main computer and also on two "Chromecast" devices I have and everything worked flawlessly.

After seeing that this particular system can handle what I want to do, I installed another 128GB SSD, removed the 500GB HDD and replaced it with a 4TB HDD. So now I have two 120GB SSDs and a 4TB HDD. I cleaned up all three drives, to be completely empty, I reinstalled "TrueNAS Core" on first SSD, I set the second SSD as the pool for my plugins and the 4TB HDD as the pool for my media files.

The issue: I reinstalled "Jellyfin", I followed exactly the same steps as the first time, I created a movie library again which contained the same two or three movies just to test, I tried to play the movies but now I got this message: "Playback Error - This client isn't compatible with the media and the server isn't sending a compatible media format."!!!

I searched but I didn't find something that solved my problem. Then I started looking into the Jellyfin's settings. I noticed that in "Dashboard" > "Playback" > "Transcoding" of "Jellyfin", the "FFmpeg path" field is empty!!! And I remembered that the first time I did the first installation this field was saying "ffmpeg".

I searched and I found that in the "FFmpeg path" field I should set the "/usr/local/bin/lffmpeg" path. I did it and now it gives me this message: "We're unable to find FFmpeg using the path you've entered. FFprobe is also required and must exist in the same folder. These components are normally bundled together in the same download. Please check the path and try again."!!! I searched the internet again but couldn't find something...

Any idea what should I do? Is the "FFmpeg path" the problem after all?

The system I installed "TrueNAS Core" on contains the following:
MB: 4Core1600Twins-P35
LAN: Onboard 1000baseT
CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU E7400 @ 2.80GHz
RAM: 6GiB
VGA: GeForce 9500GT
Drives: 120GB SSD (System disk with 16GB swapped), 120GB SSD (plugins pool) and 4TB HDD
TrueNAS Core Version: TrueNAS-13.0-U5.3
Jellyfin Version: 10.8.10_2

It seems strange to me because in the second installation I did exactly what I did in the first. Both for TrueNAS and for Jellyfin.

Thank you for your time!!!

 

[winnielinnie]

You'll have better future use if you manually create your own jail, rather than use the "Plugin".

"Plugins" on TrueNAS Core are deprecated and no longer recommended.

 

[simos.sigma]

You'll have better future use if you manually create your own jail, rather than use the "Plugin".

"Plugins" on TrueNAS Core are deprecated and no longer recommended.

Do you mean to create my own jail for "Jellyfin"? How can I do this? And how can I do this if "Jellyfin" plugin isn't installed?

 

[sretalla]

Do you mean to create my own jail for "Jellyfin"? How can I do this? And how can I do this if "Jellyfin" plugin isn't installed?

In the Jails section in the GUI, Add. Name it something (like jellyfin), pick the latest release, on the next screen choose VNET and DHCP (or specify an address if you prefer), then finish.

Edit it... on the Jail Properties, tick allow_raw_sockets and allow_mlock

Start it.

Connect to the Shell.

Type pkg install jellyfin

Type y a couple of times...

Type sysrc jellyfin_enable=YES

Type service jellyfin start

Now you have a jellyfin jail.

Connect to it on the jail's IP address on port 8096

http://jail.ip:8096/

 

[simos.sigma]

Worked!!! Thank you so much!!!

One more question... As I mentioned in my initial post, I have installed a 120MB SSD as a pool for the plugins only. All this we did just now, installed there or somewhere else?

 

[sretalla]

I have installed a 120MB SSD as a pool for the plugins only. All this we did just now, installed there or somewhere else?

Plugins are jails.

Jails can only live in one pool.

I guess that says it's on the SSD.

You can check that with ls /mnt/<SSDpool>/iocage/jails (where you replace <SSDpool> with whatever your pool name for the SSD is.

 

[simos.sigma]

For those who are beginners, like me, I would like to add something to sretalla's instructions. In case we want our jail to run automatically every time we open the server we should use the following command when we are setting up the jail.

Code:

iocage set boot=on jailname

 

[sretalla]

In case we want our jail to run automatically every time we open the server we should use the following command when we are setting up the jail.

Or make sure the Auto-start box is ticked when creating the jail (which I think is the default).

 

[simos.sigma]

Or make sure the Auto-start box is ticked when creating the jail (which I think is the default).

Yes, I checked it again and you are right!!! I just didn't see it because "Auto-start box" is available only if we use the "Advanced Jail Creation" button and I created it using "Next" button which takes you step by step but doesn't show all available options.

Ah, and it isn't ticked by default!!!

 

[sretalla]

Ah, and it isn't ticked by default!!!

OK, good to know.

 

[gyfer]

update or new jail install libtasn1 to version 4.19.0 , and that broke ffmpeg
if you try to run ffmpeg in jail, it will have error message as follow :
ld-elf.so.1: /usr/local/lib/libtasn1.so.6: Undefined symbol "strverscmp@FBSD_1.7"

To resolve this issue, you need to install libstasn1-4.18.0 or older pkg to restore ffmpeg
I created a script for your convenience: https://github.com/gyferlim/ffmpeg-6.0.1-FreeBSD

Any input is welcome