MP Client on VMware Workstation 9? (1 Viewer)

[flat_eric]

Has anyone managed to get a MediaPortal Client (1.2.3) running fully on VMware Workstation 9?

I've set up a Windows 7 Home Premium guest and installed the MediaPortal Client on the VM. This is curently a very simple MP install with no add-ins or skins.

The MP install ran without error, and both the MP Configuration and MediaPortal applications startup without error and appear to run fine.

The problem comes when I attempt to stream TV off my HTPC.

MP happily steps into the TV menu and will display the TV guide which it grabs off the HTPC, but when I switch the TV to On, the TV preview window remains blank - there is also no sound. If I attempt to select the TV channel off the guide, there is a short delay, and then the VM screen goes blank. When this happens, I can get back to the TV guide simply by pressing the Esc key, so MP is still running happily.

I've read in earlier threads that older versions of VMware Workstation had poor support for DirectX and that this caused MP to fail to stream, but my understanding is that VMware has now been improved, so had figured that this would be a fairly simple install.

I was hoping to be able to use a VM for testing my MP upgrade to 1.3 before running it on my HTPC, so would really appreciate any wisdom that can be shared that will help me solve this.

Cheers
flat_eric

 

[xetic]

Have you install the VM Plugins on the guest (W7 HP)?

 

[flat_eric]

Sorry, I'm not sure I understand what you're asking? I haven't installed any VM plugins, other than the standard VMTools, and I can't find any reference to any VM plugins for Windows 7.

Would you please provide a bit more information so I can investigate further.

Thx

 

[xetic]

Sry i mean the VMTools

 

[flat_eric]

After a fair bit of mucking about I've managed to get the MP Client working on VMware Workstation 9 / Windows 7.

The problem turned out to be associated with the default network (NAT) that VMWare sets up when you create the guest. From my somewhat limited understanding of how the MP Client and Server interact it appears that using the NAT configuration was somehow blocking the MP Server from sending the TV stream to the client. This may have also been associated with a firewall setting, however changing the VMware guest network adapter to "Bridged" via VMTools fixed the problem.

The standard MP Client install, extended with the LAV Filters is now working nearly 100%. There's a slight sound / video synchronisation gap on High Def TV which I figure is probably associated with extra level of processing performed by the VM. I'm going to investigate this further and will report back if I resolve it.

 

[TiboTv]

Hi,

I made a virtual machine on VMWare 9 (the virtual machine runs WinXP SP3) to test beta version of MP to get my official machine with a stable version.
I'm actually running MP1.3RC on the virtual machine with last directx, mediaplayer 11 and vmtools installed and I've got a problem to play videos (music is ok).

In the error log, I found these messages :

2013-02-25 15:45:56.372125 [ERROR][MPMain(1)]: d3dapp: An error occured in OnResize - System.NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.
  at Microsoft.DirectX.Direct3D.Font.OnResetDevice()
  at Microsoft.DirectX.Direct3D.Font.OnParentReset(Object sender, EventArgs e)
  at System.EventHandler.Invoke(Object sender, EventArgs e)
  at Microsoft.DirectX.Direct3D.Device.raise_DeviceReset(Object i1, EventArgs i2)
  at Microsoft.DirectX.Direct3D.Device.Reset(PresentParameters[] presentationParameters)
  at Microsoft.DirectX.Direct3D.Device.OnParentResized(Object sender, EventArgs e)
  at System.Windows.Forms.Control.OnResize(EventArgs e)
  at System.Windows.Forms.Form.OnResize(EventArgs e)
  at MediaPortal.D3DApp.OnResize(EventArgs e)
2013-02-25 15:57:45.887750 [ERROR][MPMain(1)]: VideoPlayer9: Exception while creating DShow graph Creating an instance of the COM component with CLSID {51B4ABF3-748F-4E3B-A276-C828330E926A} from the IClassFactory failed due to the following error: 80040273.	at MediaPortal.Player.VMR9Util.AddVMR9(IGraphBuilder graphBuilder)
  at MediaPortal.Player.VideoPlayerVMR9.GetInterfaces()
2013-02-25 15:58:01.059625 [ERROR][MPMain(1)]: VideoPlayer9: Exception while creating DShow graph Creating an instance of the COM component with CLSID {51B4ABF3-748F-4E3B-A276-C828330E926A} from the IClassFactory failed due to the following error: 80040273.	at MediaPortal.Player.VMR9Util.AddVMR9(IGraphBuilder graphBuilder)
  at MediaPortal.Player.VideoPlayerVMR9.GetInterfaces()

Any ideas?

If you want other log files, just tell me.

Thanks for help.

 

[Andreas26]

hi tibotv,

i dont know vmware 9 yet. still using 8. but theres a option called "accelerate 3d" graphics in virtual machine settings. by creating a vm its turned off by default.

 

[TiboTv]

In fact in vmware 9, there's also a option "accelerate 3d" in this option is turned on in my virtual machine settings.

Any other idea?

 

[Scythe42]

The exception is a bug in current MP 1.3.0 code when resizing Windows on XP.

The DirectShow Error 80040273 translates in this context to VFW_E_DDRAW_CAPS_NOT_SUITABLE. The CLSID is the VMR9 renderer.

Basically the way MP setups the graph is not compatible with VMWares's "VM SVGA II" adapter.

 

[TiboTv]

Thanks. I'll give a try with VMWare running Win7 to see if the problem is the same.