Timeshifting video with subtitles reliably crashes MP 1.6.. status and known issue? (1 Viewer)

[will_ssi]

Hi MP community,

Appologies that my first post here is to seek help. I've been using MP 1.6, server and client, happily for over a year (you can see my system specs), so I want to thank the community for providing MP.

I recently had a hardware failure that corrupted my OS system files to the point where a format and reinstall was necessary (Win7 x64). Now that I've reinstalled, I'm considering a different front-end for one reason: timeshifting videos while subs were displayed crashed the front end almost 100% of the time. That's crash crash, as in MP's crash handler would pop up. It didn't matter whether I was viewing recorded TV (ATSC) or downloaded videos using different wrappers (.mp4, .avi) with external .srt files. If I timeshifted it while the subs were displayed, in MP, MP crashed. Pausing the video while subs were displayed would freeze the MP front end ~50% of the time.

I googled around, couldn't find an answer, and so we learned to turn off subs before timeshifting.

I was using MP 1.6 very conventionally, as a single-seat OTA PVR (ATSC, I'm on mainland US) using mc2xml and grabbing subs from the OTA steam through the server config. I had a set of folders it scanned for external videos I downloaded into it, and a blu-ray player integrated into the build with PowerDVD 10 handling the decrypt-playback. It worked as a great front-end for everything but Netflix/Hulu/Amazon/HBOGo.

I saved a bunch of logs from the crash, but they were all on the OS drive that was reformatted last night. If it helps, I was using the standard release of K-Lite Codec Pack v10.something, which I installed before MP1.6 so that any codec-specific changes made by the install would stick. I default to ffdshow, and I tried all the different codec and filter options for video rendering, none helped. Also, this problem was only in MP. Using Media Player Home Cinema, we never had an issue with subs.

I recall from the logs that the error was related to the drawing, caching and clearing of 'graphs'. This thread might be related, but I don't know.

So here's my question: is this a known issue, and is there a way to handle it? Now that I'm reinstalling, I'm considering a different front end like Kodi. The thing is, I really don't want to switch from MP, especially since development has continued on MP1.

Sorry for the wall-o-text.

 

[HomeY]

Hi and welcome will_ssi

To help you out more, we need at least a proper set of (debug) logs.
I would suggest to install our latest (1.12) version and go from there. Start MP with the WatchDog shortcut on your desktop, and select first option.
See if run into the issues as described, and when it does, attach the debug logs (zip on desktop) here.

So here's my question: is this a known issue, and is there a way to handle it?

And to answer your question: I'm unaware of a crashing frontend based on subtitles.

 

[will_ssi]

Thanks HomeY. As I wrote that, I thought to myself "I should just install it and see if it still crashes".

If it isn't a general issue, I bet the problem lies in the codec pack install before MP's. What do other uses use for codec packs, and do they install it before or after MP is setup?

 

[HomeY]

What do other uses use for codec packs, and do they install it before or after MP is setup?

It's best to avoid codec packs, since they can result in some really nasty issues.

I'd suggest to only install the LAV filters (which you can select during install) and use LAV Video / Audio / Splitter for everything.

 

[mm1352000]

Just out of interest, do you know what type of "subtitles" are we dealing with here? I mean, traditionally US TV has "closed captions" rather than "subtitles" (I think the difference is more than semantics). There is certain configuration required in order to get CCs working in MP. Do you remember if you had attempted to apply that configuration?

 

[will_ssi]

Just out of interest, do you know what type of "subtitles" are we dealing with here? I mean, traditionally US TV has "closed captions" rather than "subtitles" (I think the difference is more than semantics). There is certain configuration required in order to get CCs working in MP. Do you remember if you had attempted to apply that configuration?

Yes, that's the configuration I was using for viewing CC from my OTA ATSC. I assume its the same plugin that was rendering the subs from videos that had .SRTs that we watched through MP.

 

[mm1352000]

I assume its the same plugin that was rendering the subs from videos that had .SRTs that we watched through MP.

SRT subtitles and closed captions are very different and are handled totally differently.
So to be clear: which of these did you have to enable to cause crashes?

 

[will_ssi]

I assume its the same plugin that was rendering the subs from videos that had .SRTs that we watched through MP.

SRT subtitles and closed captions are very different and are handled totally differently.
So to be clear: which of these did you have to enable to cause crashes?

To be clear: I used the configuration you linked, which involved CC parser, to display the CC's from my OTA ATSC stream.

The system crashed in these two usage scenarios:

1. timeshifting those same ATSC steams with CC's displayed. To avoid this issue, all I had to do stop displaying CCs (not disable the plugin or change any configuration) before time-shifting.
2. timeshifting videos being watched through MP that were displaying subtitles via a .srt file. These are videos that were downloaded from external sources, .mkv, mp4, etc. To display the subs in MP I include an identically named .srt file in the video's folder, i.e movie.mkv and movie.srt.

 

[mm1352000]

Interesting and unusual!
I concur with HomeY's responses. I read and answer quite a lot of problem reports, but I'm unaware of crashing issues with SRT subtitles and CCs. Upgrading to 1.12 seems like a sensible thing to do, and I'd also recommend to avoid codec packs if possible.

 

[will_ssi]

Interesting and unusual!
I concur with HomeY's responses. I read and answer quite a lot of problem reports, but I'm unaware of crashing issues with SRT subtitles and CCs. Upgrading to 1.12 seems like a sensible thing to do, and I'd also recommend to avoid codec packs if possible.

I'm going to set it up today, so I'll let you know what happens. Maybe it'll help another user in the future. Lots of people use codec packs.