Random channel change failures (1 Viewer)

[SimondusMaximus]

MediaPortal Version: 1.1.0 Final server and 2 clients
MediaPortal Skin: Blue3 and Fidelity
Windows Version: Windows 7 x32 Home clients, x64 Pro Server
CPU Type: Atom 330 clients, AMD 965 Server
HDD: OEM 150GB clients, Raid 1 & Raid 5 on server
Memory: 2GB clients, 6GB server
Motherboard: Zotac in clients, ASUS in server
Video Card: nVidia ION onboard Zotac
Video Card Driver: Latest nVidia drivers 258.96
Sound Card: On mobo
Sound Card AC3:
Sound Card Driver:
1. TV Card: Blackgold 3500
1. TV Card Type: DVB-T
1. TV Card Driver: latest
2. TV Card: Kworld dual USB
2. TV Card Type: DBV-T
2. TV Card Driver: latest
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: MPC-MPEG2
MPEG2 Audio Codec: MPC-MPA
h.264 Video Codec: MS DTV
Satelite/CableTV Provider:
HTPC Case:
Cooling:
Power Supply: Zotac 90 watt
Remote: Logitech Harmony 555
TV: Toshiba Regza 32" 1080p
TV - HTPC Connection: HDMI


Hi all,

Firstly thanks for the MP final release. The upgrade on my server went without a hitch and a clean install of all my clients was nice and easy. It's been running superbly so many thanks for all your efforts and hard work.

However, and I doubt this is anything to do with the Final release version, but every now and then when changing TV channels, the picture freezes and will sit there indefinitely until I either stop the timeshift buffer, change channel again, or rewind the buffer. I can then zap the buffer to present time and channel will display without problems, but if I wait too long to do this, MP freezes completely and I have to end the process through task manager.

It tends to happen to some channels more than others such as Channel 4+1, Dave Ja Vu, others around the same location in my list, and some others I can't quite remember, but it's very random and I can't see a set pattern.

I've attached my client and server logs but let me know if I'm missing anything. It happened during this set of logs around 16:57, changing between Dave Ja Vu or Channel4+1 or Sky, I think. I thought it might be related to reception through my TV aerial, but because the timeshift buffer is working fine whilst the channel is "hanging" on the client, and I can skip back and then forward to the live point, I think that can be ruled out.

So any help or suggestions, as always, would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for your help, and keep up the good work!

Cheers
Si

 

[dedi]

Sounds like the same issue I have observed. Same for me, random picture freeze (sound is playing) on channel switch until stop/channel change (sometimes need multiple changes).

Sorry no logs until tomorrow.

 

[arion_p]

Had a quick look at your logs. You are probably experiencing 0002914: When using RTSP, audio/video format change may cause video playback to hang in a loop - MediaPortal Bugtracker

Unfortunately at the moment we do not have a solution, or workaround.

 

[arion_p]

I can confirm this. Same for me, random picture freeze (sound is playing) on channel switch until stop/channel change.

Your issue is different, audio keeps playing. Plus you posted no logs.

 

[SimondusMaximus]

Thanks for replying arion_p. That bugtracker certainly has the exact symptoms I'm experiencing. Though it says "MultiSeat using UNC are not affected because in that case the file is kept open while the graph is stopped and restarted, so no seeking takes place." Is this referring to the configuration.exe /debugoptions settings?


Cheers
Si

 

[arion_p]

Yes, exactly.

 

[SimondusMaximus]

Cool, I'll give it a try. Thanks again.

 

[kjd01]

Please excuse me if this is a stupid idea. I am not a coder, so this is just a thought of mine and I know this sounds like a really rough fix, but considering there doesn't sound like there is a fix in the short term it might be worth a try.

Everytime the channel is changed could the program after changing the channel then send a skip forward of ?? time to get to the end. This is how I manually fix the problem, by changing channels then skipping forward. OSD shows END and the TV starts working again. I am pretty certain I only press the skip button once everytime, which is 15secs.

As I stated I am not a programmer, just a normal user trying to get a solution to this problem. If you need me to test, get logs etc just let me know I am more than happy to help.

 

[arion_p]

That could be a workaround. I don't know what other side effects it may have.

 

[SimondusMaximus]

Hi all,

I can confirm what kjd01 mentioned above - when the channel change fails, skipping forward to the end of the buffer works every time, and I didn't seen any side effects from doing this.

However, I configured the debug options to point to the timeshift location via a UNC path and after a couple of days rigorous testing, I haven't seen a single channel change issue. Everything is working very smoothly indeed!

I love it when a plan comes together!

Cheers
Si