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Troubleshooting#

YouTube "Video unavailable" Error#

The Problem:
When playing trailers or music within the app, you might encounter a black screen with the message: "Video unavailable, watch on YouTube."

The Cause:
YouTube blocks embedded playback for certain copyrighted videos (especially music) when the website requesting it uses a raw, numeric IP address (e.g., http://192.168.1.15:8000 or http://127.0.0.1:8000).

The Solutions:
To fix this, you need to access Media Journal using a named URL instead of numbers. You have a few options depending on your setup:

  1. Host Machine (Localhost):
    If you are on the same computer where the app is installed, simply use http://localhost:8000 instead of the IP address.

  2. Tailscale (Private Remote Access):
    If you use Tailscale to access the app across your devices, you can use your Tailscale machine name or MagicDNS URL instead of the IP address. (See Remote Access)

  3. Cloudflare Tunnels (Public Remote Access):
    If you expose the app to the internet using a real domain name (e.g., https://your-domain.com), YouTube videos will work perfectly across all devices. (See Remote Access)

  4. Local DNS:
    If you only want to fix this on your home network without exposing the app, you can set up a local DNS (either in your router settings or by running an app like Pi-hole). This allows you to assign a custom local name like http://mediajournal.local:8000.