Bizarre command repeat issue (1 Viewer)

stevie_j_b

Portal Member
February 3, 2009
13
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Home Country
United Kingdom United Kingdom
TV-Server Version: 1.0 Release
MediaPortal Version: 1.0 Release
MediaPortal Skin: StreamedMP
Windows Version: Vista Home Premium 32-bit
CPU Type: AMD Athlon 64 X2 4450e
HDD: Hitachi Deskstar 250GB
Memory: Kingston 2GB Kit (2x1GB) DDR2 800MHz
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-S2H 780G
Video Card: As above
Video Card Driver: Catalyst 8.1
Sound Card:
Sound Card AC3:
Sound Card Driver:
1. TV Card:
1. TV Card Type:
1. TV Card Driver:
2. TV Card:
2. TV Card Type:
2. TV Card Driver:
3. TV Card:
3. TV Card Type:
3. TV Card Driver:
4. TV Card:
4. TV Card Type:
4. TV Card Driver:
MPEG2 Video Codec:
MPEG2 Audio Codec:
h.264 Video Codec:
Satelite/CableTV Provider:
HTPC Case: Antec Fusion Remote Veris
Cooling:
Power Supply:
Remote: Harmony One, setup as Soundgraph remote
TV: Panasonic TH-37PX80
TV - HTPC Connection: HDMI


Hi all, thanks for taking the time to read this.

Firstly I must caveat this by stating that this doesn't appear to be a MP specific problem, but I hope there are some thoughts about the cause of the problem!

As you probably know by the number of posts on this particular forum, the Antec Fusion comes with the iMon VFD display/receiver/remote combo. I had attempted to setup the Harmony as a MCE remote, using this input option within the iMon software, but it was very intermittent in it's behaviour. I therefore set the Harmony up to mimic the standard iMon remote. This worked fine, really, and generally I don't have problems. I have MP set up as a program within the iMon software, with bindings set accordingly. I'm not using the IR Suite, as Shortcuter works out of the box with the iMon.

Occasionally, the entire thing goes (technical term incoming) wappy. Say, for example, I had the Music section open, and I'd selected an artist, and had the album highlighted (in thumbnail view). If I then pressed enter on the remote, selecting the album, and at this time it decided to go wappy, the screen would cycle from song selection view (in list) back to album view, over and over again at a rate of roughly 4 cycles a second. In list view, the first option is the back-up command, therefore this behaviour is indicative of an enter command being constantly applied.

This behaviour replicates itself all over MP, but in file structures it is easiest to witness. In Moving Pictures or TV Series, multiple enter commands just play shows! It isn't just the enter command, it can occur on anything such as directional buttons.

It's a remote issue, surely? However, I can place the remote out of view (and the Harmony isn't sending commands, as the icon on-screen shows when it is) and the cycling continues. Adding another problem to the mix, this behaviour occurs on the desktop also. If, when this occurs (as I only use my HTPC for MP), I alt-F4 on the wireless keyboard I have stashed away, if I press the Windows key, or Ctrl+Alt+Del to bring up Task Manager, as soon as the window opens it closes instantly. The multiple press problem basically manifests itself throughout the system - but only occasionally!

I have no idea what triggers it, nor what solves it, but it loses significant WAF when it occurs. To be honest, it screams iMon problem to me, but I am very interested whether others here have suffered a similar problem, or know of any fault-finding steps to pin down the problem. I'm extremely close to buying a MCE compatible USB reciever to be honest, as while I like the VFD, the remote aspect is a pain to get working without trouble.

Many thanks
 

mobius1980

Portal Member
January 26, 2009
38
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Home Country
I'm not sure how to help really but I had the exact same issue... I'm using the Veris mini and Imon however I purchased the new Harmony One remote to replace the poor functions of the Veris (sorry, my opinion).

Anywho, I seemed to fix it by adjusting the delay rates within the Logitech setup. I know that probably doesn't help you too much unless you use the logitech remotes as well but I can confirm that it seems to be something to do with the delay rates on the remote.

Imon Manager has some settings for this in settings>speed>repeat delay area. Imon wouldn't hold my settings changes but have a crack at that.

I hope this has at least narrowed down the issue. Sorry I couldn't help more.
 

stevie_j_b

Portal Member
February 3, 2009
13
0
Home Country
United Kingdom United Kingdom
Thanks for the reply,

Your situation sounds quite similar considering you are using the Harmony One also!

I've played with the delay rates already on the Logitech Software, dropping them down to 0, and for the most part it works fine. It's only occasionally that it starts going freaky, and the strange thing is that it continues to occur even when I remove the remote from the equation by hiding it under a cushion!

Unless the iMon somehow erroneously caches entries and then fires them into the system randomly, it's either a communication fault between the remote and the receiver, or it's a problem with the iMon software. I'll take a look at the iMon Manager settings later to see if that alters things, as you mention.

I was going to try using the Veris remote tonight to attempt to replicate or isolate the fault - did you experience this issue before moving to the One, or after? And I completely agree, the remote isn't the greatest.
 

mobius1980

Portal Member
January 26, 2009
38
0
Home Country
The only other thing I can think of (I don't mean to point fingers here) is that if you happen to be using the StreamedMP skin with Moving Pictures etc.

Perhaps there is a bug in that which we both seem to get.

The other thing may be raising the logitech Harmony One delay settings up just slightly, try and break Media Portal, then try move the delay settings a little higher until your find the sweet spot.

I am at work at present but when I get home I will find out exactly what my Logitech Delay Settings are at and if you replicate that and see if you have the same luck.

I am very new to Media Portal and only seemed to get this sorted out by luck so if anyone else out there has some more sound ideas, by all means, jump on in.
 

stevie_j_b

Portal Member
February 3, 2009
13
0
Home Country
United Kingdom United Kingdom
Did you have any update regarding your settings?

I've tested using different delay settings within the Harmony software, and I've adjusted the iMon delay settings but it seems to lose these randomly. It's quite frustrating! I've played with the Veris remote a little bit and that does not cause this repeating issue, so it must be down to the communication between the two.

Does anybody else have the Harmony set up as an iMon pad within MediaPortal? I tried using it as a MCE remote, but this gave intermittent behaviour - and it's a pain to setup correctly! I'm extremely close to buying a MCE receiver, as it's getting quite frustrating.
 

mobius1980

Portal Member
January 26, 2009
38
0
Home Country
Hi there....

Sorry to say I haven't been able to fix the problem. Thought it was gone but it then started happening more and more frequently so now I have ditched MP just temporarily.

I was reading around some other posts for errors that sounded similar and found one that seems to be limited to StreamedMP, Media Stream etc (common link is they all have the funky transitions from windows and intensive rewriting of code). I don't know much on the technical side about the error at all but it does sound quite similar to our shared problem so it may very well be that the problem is MP based (or more specifically the funky plugins and skins).

One question for you... Disable Moving Pictures and MP TV series and try using just the basic functions of MP (including the stock standard skin). What I mean is effectively bring MP back to it's original (post install) setting and give that a try. I suspect that will probably fix it.

It's not a great fix as you loose all the great functions and features that make MP so great but the software fix is said to be scheduled in the next update of MP (MP 1.1) which is supposed to be released mid March.

Now I'm just hoping it is the same error and that the fix is released in the next update.

Let me know if you have no luck with the basic functions of MP idea.
 

mobius1980

Portal Member
January 26, 2009
38
0
Home Country
Great news (I hope)... There is a new version out of StreamedMP along with Moving Pictures and TVSeries. This seems to have fixed my problem... I HOPE!!!

I haven't had the crash or strange "take over of controls" issue since.

Suggestion: (This is what I did)

- Uninstall MediaPortal.
- Uninstall StreamedMP.
- Delete the cache within Programs Data / Team Media Portal/
- Reinstall Media Portal (1.0.0.0).
- Reinstall the new StreamedMP (streamedmp - Google Code) making sure you get SteamedMP Beta v0.5.361.
- Setup Moving Pictures first and then reboot computer (may not be necessary).
- Setup TVSeries but make sure you only do a couple of fanart changes at time and then restart MP (It seems to crash if you do too many fanart changes at a time).

THEN HOPEFULLY YOUR PROBLEM IS SOLVED!!!

All the best and please let us know if that worked or not, I'm interested to see if you have had good results with this as well. ;)
 

mobius1980

Portal Member
January 26, 2009
38
0
Home Country
Just a little update regarding my previous post and the benefit of the updated StreamedMP pack... IT STILL CRASHES (and goes haywire).

Sorry if I got you excited about a fix that doesn't exist yet.

I have tried several other skin packs (other than the basic ones) such as Monochrome, Indigo Blue etc and they all get this crash. The only ones that don't seem to crash is the simple skins like the default MP skin.

I'm no software tester but that leads me to believe that it is a MP issue in it's handling of certain skin features. There are several registered MP issues set to be fixed in MP 1.1 to be released in March so may just have to wait for that.

I apologise again if you wasted a heap of time carrying out my suggestion from the previous post, it was working great for a little while and now crashes every time.

:sorry:
 

stevie_j_b

Portal Member
February 3, 2009
13
0
Home Country
United Kingdom United Kingdom
It's interesting that the Soundgraph forums have the odd post about this, but with no reply! I've experienced this bug when on the windows desktop, with MediaPortal closed, so it seems to indicate that the problem lies within the iMon software rather than MediaPortal itself. The problem is, nobody on these sources has indicated exactly what settings they use (i.e. do they have MediaPortal installed? What iMon version are they using? Are they using the iMon remote settings, or the MCE compatibility variant?

It's the one thing I cannot fix in the entire setup, and it's rapidly getting frustrating. It took me ages to get the keybindings sorted for the iMon remote, so I don't want to test with the MCE compatibility function unless I know it'll work! I might go and visit ebay soon, and put this down as a bad idea ;)
 

mobius1980

Portal Member
January 26, 2009
38
0
Home Country
I agree 100%, sell up the damn iMon c#$p and try another receiver type. I was so excited when I got mine, a feeling that has quickly worn off since trying to get it to work nicely with the Logitech One and Media Portal.

Just out of curiousity, have you been able to recreate the error in Mediaportal when just using the mouse for navigation? Not sure if that will be a definative test or not but if it happens that way, you can bet it's a Media Portal issue and not iMon (I'll give that a try tonight).

I'm not sure where we can go for help from here... Neither of us have had much luck from other users (IF YOU ARE READING, PLEASE HELP STEVIE_J_B AND MYSELF).

I might jump on the iMon site and try to post a new inquiry about this and see if that gets any feedback.

I did find this post which sounded very similar to our problem, have a read and if you get a second, let me know if this resembles your issue: https://forum.team-mediaportal.com/1-0-rc4-svn-builds-298/control-focus-unstable-since-rc4-49559/







Ok... I've just done some more reading (while I should be working, :D).

Found this thread: https://forum.team-mediaportal.com/streamedmp-301/crashes-basichome-screen-streamedmp-rc4-50221/index5.html and more importantly, the post on page 5 from ltfearme in reference to the previous post which states that changing StreamedMP config to use standard home (unticking "basic home" from the config/general tab) seems to stop the error from occuring.

I have not tested this and there are no guarantees that this is the same error that you and I have (we may not even share the same error) but certainly worth a try and I can confirm that I am:

1./ Using StreamMP
2./ Config set to Basic Home
3./ Most common occurance of the error is when returning to home screen
3./ Crash seems to apepar the same way as noted in the thread.

So my issue does resemble a lot of the factors that others have said cause this error.

If this does work (the real fix to be able to use Basic Home is said to be in MP 1.0.1) we can at least use this skin and it's features until the update comes out. There is also some talk of a new XML file that can be downloaded to move the Standard Home screen menu to the left to partially mimic the Basic home screen.

Will try all this tonight and get back to you. If you get on to it before I do, let me know how you go... As one of the guys said, "Basic Home screen is not as pretty but stable is better".

Fingers crossed!!!
 

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