MP 1.5 - Volume won't change (1 Viewer)

[Kui]

Hello,

I recently updated my HTPC to version 1.5.0 from version 1.3.0, and now i've runned into small but annoying dilemma.

Problem is when HTPC resumes from standby, the volume won't change. This happens frequently, sometimes several times per day or not once, seems to depend "what mood" my HTPC is...

So simply if starting TV after standby, pressing vol+ or vol-, i see the volume bar (in StreamedMP skin) moving correctly, but the sound stays on same state.

My HTPC is connected from GPU's HDMI to TV's HDMI, the sound worked totally fine with MP 1.3.0.
Althou i've had this problem couple years ago, but it seemed "to be fixed" when i changed motherboard and GPU, and installed MP 1.3.0, but now the annoying devil is back!

I can "fix" this sound issue by these steps:
1. Close MP (going to desktop)
2. Putting volume to 0 and then back up to 100
3. Close TV
4. Open TV
5. Open MP
-->Issue gone! Until it happens again (sometime) soon.
^^Can't quarantee those steps are all required anyway, but those does the trick.

As this problem didn't happen with MP 1.3.0, it's not my TV causing it.

I don't have logs (yet), but one thing i wanted to ask, does logs in MP even "log the volume changes", or does logs help in this case..? I will try to collect logs soon if they could help.


Thanks alot,
Kui

 

[fleshforfantasy]

Hello Kui,

do you have no sound or is the volume level getting stuck? Is this only in MP (and only in the TV section, maybe try in music) or system wide? It looks like a familiar problem to me.

flesh

 

[Kui]

Hello flesh and thanks for answer,

My volume level is getting stuck. So it just won't change, althou there is sound (volume level depends what it was before last standby).

I start believing this is a hardware or TV related, just my feeling of it... But when I had MP 1.3, and restart MP after resume from standby, this practically never happened, so I have pretty mixed feelings... Due to my busy schedule, I haven't collected any logs yet, so I understand that the team cannot help me/us for now atleast.

This problem happens when after standby opening TV, i haven't tested music or any other than TV after standby, but for sure I will throw few test as you mentioned that.

Yesterday volume got stuck, so i closed MP, and opened it again, and the problem was fixed, so i didn't need to change volume levels while on windows desktop, as i stated on first post.

Btw, our system specs looks quite same, so that's why i suspect the hardware related reason for this. I have updated all the HDMI/GPU/sound drivers that there is, so that aspect could perhaps be ruled out.

Does this problem sound same as you have, flesh?


Thanks and happy new year,
Kui

 

[fleshforfantasy]

Hello Kui and a happy new year,

hmm, I think we have different problems. I will try to describe mine

1. When the system start from hibernite, sometimes I have absolute no sound. Not in MP, not in any other application. The device for HDMI sound is missing in the volume device section (Wiedergabegeräte). A simple restart solve this problem but it's annoying. I suspect, it has to do how the system is turned on. I have a switchable power strip and TV and PC are turned on together. Maybe it whould be better to let them directly conneced on power in standby. But the problem is rare and I can live with that.

2. Another Problem was, that the volume level is stuck in TV and video section. Music and radio works fine. I found, that this belong to the audio renderer setting in the codec and renderer section. Since I'm using "Default Direct Sound Device" instead of "MediaPortal - Audio Renderer" the volume level works correct now. As mentioned, it is probably another problem than yours, but it would be worth a try.

Good luck and best regards, flesh

 

[CyberSimian]

I have a switchable power strip and TV and PC are turned on together.

I am no expert in these matters, but when a Windows PC is hibernating, it is still consuming a tiny amount of power. It must do this because a hibernating PC can still respond to a "magic packet" received via the ethernet port. So there must still be a small part of the PC circiutry that is active, waiting to detect the magic packet and power up the PC.

If you allow your PC to hibernate, and then cut the mains power to it via your switchable power strip, your PC will not be in the correct hibernation state, which might lead to errors when it is subsequently powered up.

The tuners in my HTPC do not work correctly with Windows sleep state, so I have to use hibernation, which requires powering up the HTPC using the power button on the system unit. This is annoying, but I have not yet found a solution that will allow me to use the remote control to power up the HTPC from hibernation.

-- from CyberSimian in the UK

 

[Kui]

Hello flesh and CyberSimian!

2. Another Problem was, that the volume level is stuck in TV and video section. Music and radio works fine. I found, that this belong to the audio renderer setting in the codec and renderer section. Since I'm using "Default Direct Sound Device" instead of "MediaPortal - Audio Renderer" the volume level works correct now. As mentioned, it is probably another problem than yours, but it would be worth a try.

I have actually changed after your (quoted) post my Audio Renderer and using it for 5 days now, and haven't experienced ANY problems what so ever since. So could almost say that my sound problem is fixed now...
To be precise, my audio renderer was the "Default DirectSound Device", and I switched it to "DirectSound: Samsung-1 (NVIDIA High Definition Audio)", and the sound is still coming from my TV via HDMI cable to GPU.

Also tested the "MediaPortal - Audio Renderer", but the volume change didn't work at all for some reason, so ditched that one.

If you allow your PC to hibernate, and then cut the mains power to it via your switchable power strip, your PC will not be in the correct hibernation state, which might lead to errors when it is subsequently powered up.

I agree with CyberSimian with this, i've read somewhere that hibernate still needs abit power, so it could lead to problems if power switch is turned off. Just I don't have anything solid information about this..

@fleshforfantasy, in my mind, you should avoid to switch the power on/off frequently, atleast for your HTPC, but also TV won't take much power when it's in standby, just few watts.


Thanks for your answers and help,
Kui[DOUBLEPOST=1389031959][/DOUBLEPOST]Hi again,

The tuners in my HTPC do not work correctly with Windows sleep state, so I have to use hibernation, which requires powering up the HTPC using the power button on the system unit. This is annoying, but I have not yet found a solution that will allow me to use the remote control to power up the HTPC from hibernation.

I'm not totally sure how experienced MP user you are, so gotta ask few things..
What tuner/tuners you have?
Have you asked any help/searched same style issues on forums?

There is quite alot different settings/fine tuning in TV-Server configuration which might help you (well, just to know what settings to change first, obviously ).

Perhaps you should test PowerScheduler's setting "Reinitialize TV controller on wakeup (also reinitialize tuner)"...

Just those thoughts came in my mind, don't be offended if you are experienced MP user and these things are familiar to you, just trying to help.


Cheers,
Kui

 

[CyberSimian]

I'm not totally sure how experienced MP user you are, so gotta ask few things..

Thank you for your interest. I am currently a Windows Media Center user. I installed MP 1.4 and played with it for a few hours, but I am an MP novice! I am contemplating migrating from WMC to MP.

What tuner/tuners you have?

I have two TBS6284 DVB-T/T2 quad-tuner cards (but use only one -- see below), plus two Pinnacle 2000i DVB-T dual-tuner cards.

Have you asked any help/searched same style issues on forums?
There is quite alot different settings/fine tuning in TV-Server configuration which might help you (well, just to know what settings to change first, obviously ). Perhaps you should test PowerScheduler's setting "Reinitialize TV controller on wakeup (also reinitialize tuner)

I have two problems with my TBS6284 cards:

(1) The card in the 4x PCI-Express slot works OK when woken from sleep. But the card in the 1x slot disappears from Windows "Device Manager" when woken from sleep. Same problem occurs with the 16x slot (the one usually used for the graphics card, which works correctly in the 16x slot!).

(2) The sleep problem can be avoided by using hibernation -- both TBS cards are present in "Device Manager" on wake from hibernation. But there is a more subtle problem when both cards are active -- the tuners interfere with each other! Example: WMC will be recording on tuner "A", but when tuner "B" is activated to make a second recording, it causes a momentary interruption to the recording on tuner "A". Strangely, this does not occur if there is only one TBS6284 card in the PC.

I have come to the conclusion that the motherboard BIOS in my Dell XPS420 is defective in some way, and cannot handle correctly the PCI-Express version 1.0a protocol that the TBS cards use. This is why I use only one of the TBS cards, plus the two Pinnacle 2000i cards (these are PCI cards, not PCI-Express). Sadly the Pinnacle cards are DVB-T only (not DVB-T2).

One of the features of MP that I really like is that it uses only a single tuner when making multiple simultaneous recordings of channels that are on the same MUX (WMC cannot do this -- it uses a separate tuner for each channel, even if they are on the same MUX!). With MP, one TBS card would be sufficient.

-- from CyberSimian in the UK

 

[Kui]

Hello,

Wow, you have an army of tuners there! No wonder if there is some problems with some of them then..

Yep, that sounds a hardware related problem, so might be very little that can be done for it, well perhaps someday you could test other mobo..

Tried to Google solution for waking up PC from hibernation with remote, but didn't find any solution for it, so can't help at all then

One of the features of MP that I really like is that it uses only a single tuner when making multiple simultaneous recordings of channels that are on the same MUX (WMC cannot do this -- it uses a separate tuner for each channel, even if they are on the same MUX!). With MP, one TBS card would be sufficient.

Yep, love that thing on MP too! Many times I have faced a situation that I have 3 or even 4 programs recording at same time, but still my old work-horse Hauppauge Nova-T dual tuner can record them all with ease!


Cheers,
Kui

 

[mm1352000]

Hello folks

But there is a more subtle problem when both cards are active -- the tuners interfere with each other! Example: WMC will be recording on tuner "A", but when tuner "B" is activated to make a second recording, it causes a momentary interruption to the recording on tuner "A". Strangely, this does not occur if there is only one TBS6284 card in the PC.

Hmmm, I wonder if this is just due to the way WMC loads tuners.
Does the same happen with MP's TV Server?
If so, have you tried preloading the tuners? That should solve the problem.

mm

 

[CyberSimian]

Tried to Google solution for waking up PC from hibernation with remote, but didn't find any solution for it

I am aware of two ways of making a PC wake from hibernation using an IR remote control (unfortunately neither is practical for me):

(1) I believe that Intel manufacture one or more motherboards specifically for HTPC use, and these motherboards have a special header socket that will wake the PC from hibernation when connected to the appropriate IR receiver board. (These motherboards won't fit in my Dell PC case!)

(2) There is the Simerec device which can learn the on/off IR signal, and in response perform the equivalent of pressing the power button on the system unit (i.e. wake the PC from hibernation):
http://www.simerec.com/
But this requires you to connect the Simerec device to the low-voltage power cable that extends from the motherboard to the power switch on the PC. My Dell PC uses a proprietary ribbon cable containing about 10 wires, and it is impossible to identify the wire that should be connected to the Simerec device. (Sigh)

-- from CyberSimian in the UK[DOUBLEPOST=1389267480][/DOUBLEPOST]

Hmmm, I wonder if this is just due to the way WMC loads tuners. Does the same happen with MP's TV Server? If so, have you tried preloading the tuners? That should solve the problem.

Thank you for the suggestion. I will see if I can find my notes describing the testcase that reproduces the problem with WMC. But I want to perform a fresh install of MP (1.5 or 1.6 -- I currently have 1.4_pre installed) before doing any testing.

It did cross my mind that this could be a problem with the TBS driver (and so MP might suffer the same bug), but in the end I reluctantly concluded that there was probably a more fundamental problem, as evidenced by the TBS card in the 1x PCI-Express slot disappearing from "Device Manager" on wake from sleep. This might also be a driver problem, but it is clearly not related to any specific media-center software. If it is a motherboard BIOS problem, I don't feel justified in badgering TBS for a fix (I won't know whether it is a motherboard problem until I try the two TBS cards in a different motherboard, something that I cannot do at present).

-- from CyberSimian in the UK