Blank screen (no video), audio fine (1 Viewer)

[IanJ]

MediaPortal Version: 1.2RC
MediaPortal Skin: Maya
Windows Version: Win7 32-bit
CPU Type: Intel i7 (860)
HDD: 128gb SSD
Memory: 4gb
Motherboard:
Video Card: ATI HD5570
Video Card Driver:
Sound Card:
Sound Card AC3:
Sound Card Driver:
1. TV Card: 2 * Hauppauge WinTV NOVA-HD-S2
1. TV Card Type: DVB-S
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: Astra 28.2E
HTPC Case: Antec Fusion case (black)
Cooling:
Power Supply: 600W
Remote: Hauppauge 45 button
TV: Samsung 55" LED
TV - HTPC Connection: HDMI

Hi all,

At night I usually stop live TV and turn off my TV leaving MediaPortal at the main menu. I don't put the PC to sleep, and I have no screensavers, power shutdown or anything enabled.
In the mornings I simply turn on the TV and am presented with the MediaPortal main menu.

I am using a GEFEN HDMI detective so that as far as the TV is concerned the PC thinks the TV is always on.

However, some mornings when I go to tune to a channel I'll get a completely blank screen, but I get the audio for that channel. I have to STOP the live TV to get back to the MENU abd then try again usually with a different channel, and sometimes it can take 4 or 5 goes before I get video......from then on it's fine. It will never happen again until the following morning.
Sometimes MP will actually completely crash if I don't get off the blank screen quick enough.

Latest episode was 6:15 this morning, and I have looked through the logs and found lots of errors in TsReader-2011-10-31.Log.

I have attached a few log files............any ideas?

Note:
tvserver_error.log = empty
no error.log exists

I'm running 1.2RC and have tried tsreader.ax from 1.2.1, and also a bug fix tsreader.ax for a FFWD fix, but all get the same problem.

I have a SSD for drive C: but use a normal HDD as drive E: and the TimeShiftBuffer is configured to save on E:
I am currently playing with the Advanced Power settings of my PC......most stuff is disabled, but I notice that the HDD is set to sleep after 20mins innactivity, so have changed that to zero thus disable.

General statement - MP needs to be more reliable. Less focus on bells n whistles, more focus on robustness.

Ian.

 

[Paranoid Delusion]

General statement - MP needs to be more reliable. Less focus on bells n whistles, more focus on robustness.

Hi Ian

So which bit of feature freeze have you missed the past year, bug fixes have been the core priority for the team, yes there have been changes, but these were mainly to make things cleaner codewise, even down to the new default skins.

Plugins and skins are the responsibility of their creaters, hopefully these also do not give you issues, but if they do tell them.

No video, we always need all logs, use debug mode option 3 for this please, otherwise we do not have a complete picture, long distance diagnosis is hard enough.

Regards

 

[mm1352000]

Hi IanJ

I think you know the rules. I strongly suspect this is a tuner/decryption problem and I can see you're using MDAPI. Sorry but you're not going to get help here unless you can reproduce the problem without MDAPI.

mm

 

[IanJ]

Hi,

I strongly suspect it is NOT mdapi related.

1. It happens with FTA channels.
2. It never happened before 1.2RC

I will, if I can find the time, provide full logs mdapi free. In the meantime I have disabled any/all sleep modes on my 2nd HDD and this morning there was no problem........and if I can repeat this say 10 days worth on the trott then I suspect I'll have found the problem............here's hoping.

The blank screen problem I have highlighted is not unique to me, I have seen other complain including on other forums.....just google it.

PS. The biggest problem I find with plugin bugs is that the original authors have gone......a shame really but all part n parcel of open source dev. However, I still think there are core issues with MP especially on the TV server side.

Ian.

 

[mm1352000]

Hi again IanJ

Just a few comments in response...

1. It happens with FTA channels.

When MDAPI is in use it affects all channels as the stream passes through it regardless of whether it is actually actively descrambling or not.

2. It never happened before 1.2RC

Okay.

I will, if I can find the time, provide full logs mdapi free.

I look forward to that.

In the meantime I have disabled any/all sleep modes on my 2nd HDD and this morning there was no problem........and if I can repeat this say 10 days worth on the trott then I suspect I'll have found the problem............here's hoping.

Yes, fingers crossed. HDDs have been known to produce similar symptoms if they are working hard while timeshifting/recording. If the 2nd HDD is your timeshifting drive then make sure the timeshifting folder is excluded from virus scans and Windows defender checks. Same goes for the recording folder.

The blank screen problem I have highlighted is not unique to me, I have seen other complain including on other forums.....just google it.

Sure, I've seen it reported here too. In my experience about 9 times out of 10 it seems to be poor codec choice (or codecs not configured at all ) and the other time it is firewall issues or other random things.

However, I still think there are core issues with MP especially on the TV server side.

Not to get off topic but have you got specific TV Server issues in mind?

mm

 

[IanJ]

Hi all,

Unfortunately, it's not the HDD......all sleep modes turned off and it still happens.

Status: Still testing........and believe me i'll get to the bottom of it.

Not to get off topic but have you got specific TV Server issues in mind?

mm

Not quite a TV Server issue, but how about random mediaportal.exe.config corruption.......resulting in the "side by side" startup error.
Irrespective of any problem or mis-configuration of any software the config files should NEVER be allowed to be corrupted. If they do then it's a sure sign the backend isn't stable/robust enough.

Ian.
[25+ years in Oil & Gas software/hardware development]

 

[Owlsroost]

The TsReader.log you posted is full of 'Pes 0-0-1 fail' messages - this usually means the stream is scrambled/encrypted (so TsReader can't understand the PES packet headers). You could try the 'noStopMod29' TsReader from here - https://forum.team-mediaportal.com/793746-post149.html - it recovers better from the errors.

If they do then it's a sure sign the backend isn't stable/robust enough.

Ian.
[25+ years in Oil & Gas software/hardware development]

Time to use your experience to investigate the problems ? - it's open source after all

Tony

 

[IanJ]

Hi all,

Tried the noStopMod29 TsReader fix, no difference.

Tries various video codecs, no difference.

Had a further look through the logs and noticed an IFC error (Intelligent Frame Correction) and so upgraded to the latest version. No more errors in the logs and whilst it's very early days.......so far no blank screen.
So, here's hoping that the blank screen was in fact IFC squeezing/stretching the frame to zero thus blank.

Ian.

 

[mm1352000]

Thanks for reporting back Ian.

 

[IanJ]

Hi,

Ok, the problem still exists, so I don't think it's related to IFC.

What I do notice is that once TV is up and running then I can change channel a million times and it's fine. But if I STOP live TV for a few minutes, or go off and play music (MP3's via MP) for a while then when I try to start live TV again then thats when it will more often than not happen.....but not every time. In other words, that extra bit of time to get going when you first tune to a channel.

Ian.