Receive session_key from PlexPy when paused. Use session_id to create sub-script to wait for X time then check if transcoding still paused. If so, kill.

create_wait_kill_trans.py

'''
kill_transcode function from https://gist.github.com/Hellowlol/ee47b6534410b1880e19
PlexPy > Settings > Notification Agents > Scripts > Bell icon:
        [X] Notify on pause

PlexPy > Settings > Notification Agents > Scripts > Gear icon:
        Playback Pause: create_wait_kill_trans.py

PlexPy > Settings > Notifications > Script > Script Arguments:
        {session_key}


create_wait_kill_trans.py creates a new file with the session_id (sub_script) as it's name.
PlexPy will timeout create_wait_kill_trans.py after 30 seconds (default) but sub_script.py will continue.
sub_script will check if the transcoding and stream's session_id is still pause or if playing as restarted.
If playback is restarted then sub_script will stop and delete itself.
If stream remains paused then it will be killed and sub_script will stop and delete itself.

Set TIMEOUT to max time before killing stream
Set INTERVAL to how often you want to check the stream status
'''

import os
import platform
import subprocess
import sys
from uuid import getnode
import unicodedata

import requests

## EDIT THESE SETTINGS ##

PLEX_HOST = ''
PLEX_PORT = 32400
PLEX_SSL = ''  # s or ''
PLEX_TOKEN = 'xxx'

TIMEOUT = 30
INTERVAL = 10

REASON = 'Because....'
ignore_lst = ('test')


def fetch(path, t='GET'):
    url = 'http%s://%s:%s/' % (PLEX_SSL, PLEX_HOST, PLEX_PORT)

    headers = {'X-Plex-Token': PLEX_TOKEN,
               'Accept': 'application/json',
               'X-Plex-Provides': 'controller',
               'X-Plex-Platform': platform.uname()[0],
               'X-Plex-Platform-Version': platform.uname()[2],
               'X-Plex-Product': 'Plexpy script',
               'X-Plex-Version': '0.9.5',
               'X-Plex-Device': platform.platform(),
               'X-Plex-Client-Identifier': str(hex(getnode()))
               }

    try:
        if t == 'GET':
            r = requests.get(url + path, headers=headers, verify=False)
        elif t == 'POST':
            r = requests.post(url + path, headers=headers, verify=False)
        elif t == 'DELETE':
            r = requests.delete(url + path, headers=headers, verify=False)

        if r and len(r.content):  # incase it dont return anything
            return r.json()
        else:
            return r.content

    except Exception as e:
        print e


def kill_stream(sessionId, message, xtime, ntime, user, title, sessionKey):
    headers = {'X-Plex-Token': PLEX_TOKEN}
    params = {'sessionId': sessionId,
              'reason': message}

    response = fetch('status/sessions')

    if response['MediaContainer']['Video']:
        for a in response['MediaContainer']['Video']:
            if a['sessionKey'] == sessionKey:
                if xtime == ntime and a['Player']['state'] == 'paused' and a['Media']['Part']['decision'] == 'transcode':
                    sys.stdout.write("Killing {user}'s paused stream of {title}".format(user=user, title=title))
                    requests.get('http://{}:{}/status/sessions/terminate'.format(PLEX_HOST, PLEX_PORT),
                             headers=headers, params=params)
                    return ntime
                elif a['Player']['state'] in ('playing', 'buffering'):
                    sys.stdout.write("{user}'s stream of {title} is now {state}".
                                     format(user=user, title=title, state=a['Player']['state']))
                    return None
                else:
                    return xtime
    else:
        return None



def find_sessionID(response):

    sessions = []
    for s in response['MediaContainer']['Video']:
        if s['sessionKey'] == sys.argv[1] and s['Player']['state'] == 'paused' \
                and s['Media']['Part']['decision'] == 'transcode':
            sess_id = s['Session']['id']
            user = s['User']['title']
            sess_key = sys.argv[1]
            title = (s['grandparentTitle'] + ' - ' if s['type'] == 'episode' else '') + s['title']
            title = unicodedata.normalize('NFKD', title).encode('ascii','ignore')
            sessions.append((sess_id, user, title, sess_key))
        else:
            pass

    for session in sessions:
        if session[1] not in ignore_lst:
            return session
        else:
            print("{}'s stream of {} is ignored.".format(session[1], session[2]))
            return None


if __name__ == '__main__':

    startupinfo = None
    if os.name == 'nt':
        startupinfo = subprocess.STARTUPINFO()
        startupinfo.dwFlags |= subprocess.STARTF_USESHOWWINDOW

    response = fetch('status/sessions')

    try:
        if find_sessionID(response):
            stream_info = find_sessionID(response)
            file_name = "{}.py".format(stream_info[0])
            file = "from time import sleep\n" \
                   "import sys, os\n" \
                   "from {script} import kill_stream \n" \
                   "message = '{REASON}'\n" \
                   "sessionID =  os.path.basename(sys.argv[0])[:-3]\n" \
                   "x = 0\n" \
                   "n = {ntime}\n" \
                   "try:\n" \
                   "    while x < n and x is not None:\n" \
                   "        sleep({xtime})\n" \
                   "        x += kill_stream(sessionID, message, {xtime}, n, '{user}', '{title}', '{sess_key}')\n" \
                   "    kill_stream(sessionID, message, {ntime}, n, '{user}', '{title}', '{sess_key}')\n" \
                   "    os.remove(sys.argv[0])\n" \
                   "except TypeError as e:\n" \
                   "    os.remove(sys.argv[0])".format(script=os.path.basename(__file__)[:-3],
                                                       ntime=TIMEOUT, xtime=INTERVAL, REASON=REASON,
                                                       user=stream_info[1], title=stream_info[2],
                                                       sess_key=stream_info[3])

            with open(file_name, "w+") as output:
                output.write(file)

            subprocess.Popen([sys.executable, file_name], startupinfo=startupinfo)
            exit(0)

    except TypeError as e:
        print(e)
        pass

@blacktwin Fantastic! Everything works as expected now. Great work! I'll unleash the script on my 20 users and report back if any issues, never know what scenarios might unfold when users actually start using things..

@blacktwin Well, that didn't take long.. and I'm not sure if this is Plex's fault or the script.

• Pausing Direct Play works as expected. Script runs, no subscript is created.
• Pausing Transcoded stream works as expected. Script runs, creates subscript and so on..
• Pausing Direct Stream (Both Video and Audio) does not work as expected.

Even though both video and audio is direct streaming subscript is created with a different looking filename than transcoded streams:

e.g: C92380AF-653B-45B0-BA0D-2BA31207D2A3.py

(Transcoded streams get e.g oaxwa5ca4rhvw4pooqs17dgz.py)

I've only had one user with this scenario yet, but user paused/resumed a few times and quit the stream before timeout and I got these errors:

PlexPy Notifiers :: Script error:
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "C92380AF-653B-45B0-BA0D-2BA31207D2A3.py", line 15, in
WindowsError: [Error 2] Systemet finner ikke angitt fil: 'C92380AF-653B-45B0-BA0D-2BA31207D2A3.py'

(Norwegian for did not find file).

..and finally

PlexPy Notifiers :: Script error:
Traceback (most recent call last):
    File "C92380AF-653B-45B0-BA0D-2BA31207D2A3.py", line 11, in
        x += kill_stream(sessionID, message, 600, n, 'REDACTED', 'REDACTED', '10')
    File "C:\drzoidberg33-plexpy-786a374\scripts\create_wait_kill_trans.py", line 83, in kill_stream
        if response['MediaContainer']['Video']:
KeyError: 'Video' 

Subscript did not delete itself after timeout.

Could this be related to a change within Plex 1.7.5? The reason I ask is because when I checked the
Status -> Now Playing within Plex it says Transcoding (!) and for both Video and Audio it says Direct Stream (!).

PlexPy says Direct Stream all over at the same time.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/1b3xtid7uj7ynj9/tc_ds.jpg?dl=0

Will let the script run and watch what happens.

@csy7550 thanks for the report. It could be that the subtitles are being transcoded? Maybe? I'll look into the other issues.

@blacktwin this episode in particular had no subtitles at the moment so that can't be it.. and I know plex correctly states that video is being transcoded if subtitles are burned in the stream.. I can't be 100% sure, but I think something has changed within Plex, because I'm positive Plex "now playing" said "direct stream" before when both video and audio where direct stream.. now it says transcoding like in the picture I posted even though both video and audio is clearly direct streaming..

@blacktwin I can now confirm that script also kills direct streams. No subtitles involved. Did not get any errors this time like before,
but Plex still states video is direct streaming and audio is direct streaming, but "overall" transcoding like in the picture I posted.

Direct play, no problem.

edit: posted on plex pass forum, maybe it's a bug within plex.

@blacktwin no bug within Plex, but I think I know why direct streams also get killed. It's because Plex uses the transcoder to remux the file since most of the time direct stream is when container isn't supported by the client. Had a look at the sessions xml while direct streaming. Maybe you could change what "decision" to look for with the script.

<Part audioProfile="lc" id="90193" videoProfile="high" bitrate="1492" container="mkv" duration="1316449" height="480" width="720" decision="transcode" selected="1"> <Stream bitrate="1492" codec="h264" default="1" height="480" id="292626" language="English" languageCode="eng" streamType="1" width="720" decision="copy"/> <Stream bitrateMode="cbr" channels="2" codec="aac" default="1" id="292627" language="English" languageCode="eng" selected="1" streamType="2" decision="copy"/> </Part>

and

<TranscodeSession key="/transcode/sessions/868ek8sb2yvfjrvsowbhwkmj" throttled="1" complete="0" progress="14.699999809265137" speed="0" duration="1316449" remaining="11211" context="streaming" sourceVideoCodec="h264" sourceAudioCodec="aac" videoDecision="copy" audioDecision="copy" protocol="http" container="mkv" videoCodec="h264" audioCodec="aac" audioChannels="2" transcodeHwRequested="0" transcodeHwFullPipeline="1"/>

I think "videoDecision" is the way to go. Let me know what you think.

edit: I can see that technically this is a bit outside the box as the script clearly states it is for killing transcoded sessions, and direct stream is sort of a transcoded stream, but there is little to none cpu usage when direct streaming so why kill it.. and direct streamed video does not count when using "max transcode" setting in Plex, only transcoded video does. This is the main reason I like this script so much, as I have many users and I've set max transcodes to 6 within Plex. Sometimes you could end up with 4 out of 6 streams paused for a long time, while server still got free resources, but a new transcoded stream wont start since max is set to 6. This is where the script comes in VERY handy.

edit2: "videoDecision" may be a bad idea, just saw a session xml for direct play, and the tag is not available then.

@csy7550 so you're good? :)

@blacktwin Well, it works :-) but an exception for direct streams would be great.. no reason for killing direct streams :-)

@csy7550 If you want, you can try this script. It is kinda the same as this one but set to kill all paused streams and uses PlexPy's Activity to check the stream instead of the xml. Just change line 111 from:
if a.state == 'paused' and xtime == ntime: to if a.state == 'paused' and a.video_decision == 'transcode' and xtime == ntime: to include the check for transcoding. Again, that way you're relying on PlexPy definition instead of my definition based on the xml.