lost connection, MP to TV (1 Viewer)

[infinite.loop]

Needless to say, if anyone has any ideas as to what could fail that breaks both MP and Wmp, I would be grateful.

Both MediaPortal and WMP use the same, windows inbuilt system for mediaplayback -> DirectShow.
For some unknown reason, DirectShow is not working for you anymore after a resume. And as far as I know, we never had such an errorreport in the past.

I am now 99.9% sure that there is something wrong with your basic windows install. Because MediaPortal can not kill DirectShow.

A possible test would be:

1. turn off MediaPortal autostart
2. (re)start your system
3. go to windows explorer
4. play some file
5. let your system sleep/hibernate
6. resume
7. again play some file
8. (repeat that as often as you have to do currently to encounter the error)

I am very sure that you will encounter the same problem - and since MP was not involved in that test, the issue is somewhere else inside the system.

A complete reinstall could be worth a test. And if you create an image of your PC first, or use a spare HDD, then you can easiely go back to the currnet install.

 

[cewillis]

turn off MediaPortal autostart

And TVservice process.

(repeat that as often as you have to do currently to encounter the error)

As I said,

This is after working for from zero up to several days, and from 1 up to dozens of standby/resume cycles after a reboot.

In other words, there is no 'as often as you have to do currently to encounter the error'. If I do that test for N days, with X standby/resume cycles/day, and no problem, it doesn't prove anything.

But I'll try it for a while --
then rebuild.

Thanks,
Cal

 

[cewillis]

Test conditions:
Reboot every day at 5:00 am as usual. Neither MP or TV start. Old .ts file recorded by TVserver.
Test results so far:
2 reboots, 75 standby/resumes cycles, Wmp plays .ts file correctly every time. No problem. I don't think it's going to fail.

When I get to 3 reboots and 100 cycles without error, I think I will let MP and TV start, but not try to playback, and repeat the above test.

 

[cewillis]

After 3 days, 3 reboots, and over a 100 standby/resumes cycles with no problems, Wmp failed immediately after the first resume of the day.
So -- delete partition, complete reinstall of Xp and Sp3, install of all 'critical' MS updates (one of the most obnoxious processes ever), apply dvb-fix, install MP, and use BackUpSettings again, things are back to normal (except remote won't put system into standby anymore).
I'll report back in a week if all is well, or sooner if the original problem is still there.

Cal

 

[cewillis]

the ORIGINAL problem is STILL there!!!

The original problem is still there: original described as-

At first glance, the symptoms appear to be that MP hangs up when starting a recorded TV playback. In more detail, the MP time display stops incrementing, but no playback starts. If I hit stop on the remote to stop play back, the time display comes back to life at the correct time, and MP is still functional -- unless I try to start another playback - then the same thing happens.
If I leave it 'hung up' long enough, I eventually get a 'MP has encountered a problem and must be terminated' (something like that) message from Windows.
Stopping and restarting MP *and TV* does not fix the problem. The only fix I've found is reboot.

BUT NOW -- Wmp continues to play the .ts files fine, many times, right after the above MP failures, and before reboot.

So with respect to the suggested test sequence:

When the issue happens again:

1. restart TVService
2. start MP
3. try again to play the file inside TV->recordings --- FAILS, as above

if that still fails:

1. try and play the file inside the Videos section --- FAILS, as above

if that also fails:

1. go to windows exlorer, doubleclick the recorded *.ts file and tell windows to play it with the Windows MediaPlayer -- WORKS fine.

If that fails as well, then we are looking at an issue inside your windows installation / problem with too many resumes from standby/etc. - maybe that put directshow is in a noneworking state.


Debug logs attached. Now what?

(I don't know why the log still says 'Last install from WindowsUpdate is dated NEVER !!!', unless it's because I updated directly from the MS update site, and do not have automatic update turned on. I have install ALL recommended updates.)

 

[infinite.loop]

I am really out of ideas here.
I tried to reproduce the issue you reported on my WinXP TestPC - and I am unable to reproduce it.

The log does not show much info either.

Just do be sure, you play the file with MS Windows MediaPlayer, and not with MediaPlayerClassic. Right?

 

[cewillis]

I am really out of ideas here.
I tried to reproduce the issue you reported on my WinXP TestPC - and I am unable to reproduce it.

The log does not show much info either.

Just do be sure, you play the file with MS Windows MediaPlayer, and not with MediaPlayerClassic. Right?

Not sure what MediaPlayerClassic is, but when a file fails with MP, it now plays correctly with Windows MediaPlayer 11.0.5721.5280. (see first attached image)

We should have identical software installed now, right?, so does that mean the problem has to be a setting?

I've also attached images of my codec and renderer settings. I took these to be the most simple settings, and they seem to work fine (when MP is working). Are these settings acceptable, or could any of then possibly be causing the problem? Are there any other settings which could potentially cause playback failure when MP tries to start it normally?

Do you mean that none of the logs files show anything out of the ordinary at all? (or that they are incomplete somehow?)

Many thanks for continuing to look at this.
Cal

 

[infinite.loop]

Your codecsettings are looking fine. And the logs do not show anything strange for me.

The point I do not get is why the playback works in WMP and fail in MP.
Both are using Windows DirectShow.......

 

[cewillis]

Good news. As of today, 2/20, it's been one full week, with many recordings and playbacks -- WITHOUT the old problem showing up. I can live with that frequency.
(however, today for the first time ever - no sound. Restarted MP with no reboot fixed that)

edit:
Then today, 2/21, MP broke again, same way. And again, Wmp plays files fine.