[TM-TWIN-OE] 4.2.10 only - CPU overload on media playback pause or stop

[Piranha]

@Birdman - I have tried to create a small .mpg file as per your instructions, but unlike Harry Potter (on the TV for the grandchildren at the moment!) I don't really speak Python, Linux very well ! Many thanks for your advice - I will be trying again tomorrow, although I don't see how it will help anyone solve my problem.

I just hope some others with TM Twins experiment and prove its not just me being senile!

 

[Piranha]

@Rob van der Does - I will have another attempt tomorrow to create a small snippet from a .mpg file, but to be honest, I don't understand what it will prove. I have tested best part of a hundred .mpg files this morning, using releases 001, 003, 005, 007, 009 AND 010.

The ONLY release that gives rise to the problem is 010! I assume that other TM Twins (and some other boxes) should exhibit the same issue with .mpg files - I hope that others with more knowledge than I will report this problem too!

 

[Piranha]

@bbbuk - in my experiments so far, I have tried dozens of selected mpg files in various 4.2 releases, trying the same files in each release. ONLY release 010 gives rise to the problem, using EXACTLY the same test files.

Glad you agree - if these files ALL behave OK in ALL releases EXCEPT 010, then surely the cause has to be a change in that release!

BTW - playback of these files in release 010 is NOT a problem - just stopping or pausing them! Weird!

 

[Piranha]

@IAmATeaf - the problem I am having is EXACTLY as you have said:

"Anyway here's a snippet of from the logs, as pointed out by a previous poster the box stops logging when it freezes and the other thing worth pointing out is that when I pressed stop the screen goes black with the film in a window in the top right, the film carries on in this window for a good 30 seconds before it also eventually stops."

It seems to me that your ET1000 has the same issue with release 4.2.010 - can you confirm that this DOESN'T happen in 009 and earlier please?

 

[IAmATeaf]

I'll try with 009 but my boys are watching the footie at the mo. Just out of interest do you have external .srt subtitles files for your videos. Noticed the error messages in the log excerpt that I posted so am wondering if might be related to the subtitles.

 

[Piranha]

I'll try with 009 but my boys are watching the footie at the mo. Just out of interest do you have external .srt subtitles files for your videos. Noticed the error messages in the log excerpt that I posted so am wondering if might be related to the subtitles.

I can honestly say I haven't got a clue what the answer to your question is! Most of these mpg files are just movies via the KodiDirect plugin.

BTW - all of the multiple installations of release 010 I have done this last few days gives rise to the very annoying NARrative audio by default! In all versions of Vix from early days to date I have never had to make any changes to AutoLanguageSelection during setup - only with release 4.2.010!

Reading all latest posts, there are a number of people who are having the same or similar issues to myself with this latest release, so I hope that there is a light at the end of the tunnel!

 

[IAmATeaf]

Just realised there's an update to 011 so will also give that a try

 

[Rob van der Does]

@Rob van der Does - I will have another attempt tomorrow to create a small snippet from a .mpg file, but to be honest, I don't understand what it will prove. I have tested best part of a hundred .mpg files this morning, using releases 001, 003, 005, 007, 009 AND 010.

What it will prove is if the file pays fine on other boxes. If so, this is a MB-twin issue only.

The ONLY release that gives rise to the problem is 010! I assume that other TM Twins (and some other boxes) should exhibit the same issue with .mpg files - I hope that others with more knowledge than I will report this problem too!

We heard you and we believe you

 

[birdman]

What it will prove is if the file pays fine on other boxes. If so, this is a MB-twin issue only.

The OP has a TM Twin.
The MBTwin report was me saying that all was OK for me.

 

[birdman]

Just out of interest do you have external .srt subtitles files for your videos. Noticed the error messages in the log excerpt that I posted so am wondering if might be related to the subtitles.

I noticed that too. I also wondered what it had to do the MP3 code...which is what is doing the reporting.

 

[Piranha]

What it will prove is if the file pays fine on other boxes. If so, this is a MB-twin issue only.
We heard you and we believe you

About to start trying to create a small mpg file from one of the group of test files I've tried with 4.2.010 - which might seem straight forward to everyone following this thread, but is rocket-science to an old retired mechanical engineer like me!

As Birdman points out, my boxes are TM Twin OE!

To be clear, PLAYING the files is OK - the problem arises when pausing or stopping playback

Users of a few other box types have posted about the same or similar problem, so I'm sure a solution will be found eventually!

 

[Piranha]

MPEGTest file created as requested!

1. Many thanks to Birdman for the code - must have made a syntax error on the first attempt but the resulting help screen showed me the error of my ways - Eureka!

2. This file plays, pauses and stops on 4.2.009 as normal.

3. This file plays on 4.2.010, but either pausing or stopping causes black screen with mini-screen in top right-hand corner, spinner comes up and the box does not recover, no matter how long it is left in that state before powering off.

4. HOWEVER! When I try to attach the file I get 'Invalid file format' - other than changing the .mpg extension to something that is acceptable I'm not sure how to proceed! HELP!

 

[IAmATeaf]

You'll need to upload it somewhere like Dropbox as it'll be too big to do it directly to the forum.

 

[Piranha]

You'll need to upload it somewhere like Dropbox as it'll be too big to do it directly to the forum.

Thanks @IAmATeaf - but the upload problem is the file extension not being permitted in the first place. The file size (48MB) might also be an issue, but I will await guidance from Rob van der Does, who asked for a snip of one of my mpg files for test purposes.

BTW - for those of us that grew up in the post-war years, what you of the current generations know instinctively comes hard and with much overheating of depleted grey-matter! I try very hard to understand as much as I possibly can about the technology in play in our Internet-based world, but I doubt I could figure out how to upload a file to Dropbox and then (presumably) create a link to that file!

How I wish I was younger!

 

[Piranha]

Attempt to upload zipped MPGTest.mpg file

OK! Next attempt!View attachment MPGTest.zip

 

[birdman]

3. This file plays on 4.2.010, but either pausing or stopping causes black screen with mini-screen in top right-hand corner, spinner comes up and the box does not recover, no matter how long it is left in that state before powering off.!

It plays fine for me (now on 4.2.011).
NOTE - although this has a .mpg suffix it actually has an h.264 video stream with an AAC audio one.

Your description of what happens seems to indicate the issue is around it redrawing the MovieSelection screen.
I do have a memory of the Menu options for this screen being re-ordered (but can't remember whether that was in 4.2.010 or 4.2.011), but can't see why that would affect the screen itself.
What skin re you using?

 

[Piranha]

It plays fine for me (now on 4.2.011).
NOTE - although this has a .mpg suffix it actually has an h.264 video stream with an AAC audio one.

Your description of what happens seems to indicate the issue is around it redrawing the MovieSelection screen.
I do have a memory of the Menu options for this screen being re-ordered (but can't remember whether that was in 4.2.010 or 4.2.011), but can't see why that would affect the screen itself.
What skin re you using?

1. Do not see 4.2.011 for TM Twin yet!

2. I normally use OpenVix-Blue-HD for skin, but have tried with the default Vix-Night-HD skin and it doesn't make any difference.

3. Your description of the snippet properties might mean a lot to others, but I'm afraid they are totally lost on me my friend!

4. Re-drawing of the MenuSelection screen seems to me a fair description of where the fault initiates (says I, who hasn't really got a clue!), just about to read through the logs on my box that has release 4.2.010 on it to see what I can find there, after re-creating the issue multiple times.

 

[Piranha]

Not sure if this will work, but am trying to post the appropriate Logs extract for the problem I'm experiencing in release 4.2.010:

< 14990.939> [eServiceMP3] construct!
< 14990.942> [eServiceMP3] playbin uri=file:///media/hdd/movie/MPGTest.mpg
< 14991.142> [eServiceMP3] starting pipeline
< 14991.378> [Skin] processing screen MoviePlayer:
< 14991.523> [GUISkin] warning, skin is missing element state in <class 'Screens.InfoBar.MoviePlayer'>
< 14991.532> [GUISkin] warning, skin is missing element eventname in <class 'Screens.InfoBar.MoviePlayer'>
< 14991.588> [Skin] processing screen InfoBarMoviePlayerSummary:
< 14991.608> [GUISkin] warning, skin is missing element statusicon_summary in <class 'Screens.InfoBarGenerics.InfoBarMoviePlayerSummary'>
< 14991.660> [eServiceMP3] state transition NULL -> READY
< 14991.689> [eDVBDB] getBouquet failed.. no path given!
< 14991.708> [Pixmap] setPixmapNum(0) failed! defined pixmaps: []
< 14991.722> [Pixmap] setPixmapNum(0) failed! defined pixmaps: []
< 14991.732> [Notifications] RemovePopup, id = ZapError
< 14992.746> [DVBCAHandler] no more services
< 14992.762> [eServiceMP3] state transition READY -> PAUSED
< 14992.783> [eServiceMP3] loading cuesheet
< 14992.802> [eServiceMP3] cutfile not found!
< 14993.047> [eServiceMP3] async-done - 1 video, 1 audio, 0 subtitle
< 14993.053> [eServiceMP3] AUDIO STRUCT=audio/mpeg
< 14993.064> [eServiceMP3] audio stream=0 codec=MPEG-4 AAC audio language=und
< 14993.195> [eServiceMP3] async-done - 1 video, 1 audio, 0 subtitle
< 14993.198> [eServiceMP3] AUDIO STRUCT=audio/mpeg
< 14993.202> [eServiceMP3] audio stream=0 codec=MPEG-4 AAC audio language=und
< 14993.215> [eServiceMP3] state transition PAUSED -> PLAYING
< 14993.233> [eServiceMP3] async-done - 1 video, 1 audio, 0 subtitle
< 14993.236> [eServiceMP3] AUDIO STRUCT=audio/mpeg
< 14993.240> [eServiceMP3] audio stream=0 codec=MPEG-4 AAC audio language=und
< 14993.933> [eDVBResourceManager] release cached channel (timer timeout)
< 14993.936> [eDVBLocalTimerHandler] remove channel 0x1760d68
< 14993.940> [eEPGCache] remove channel 0x1760d68
< 14993.949> [eDVBResourceManager] stop release channel timer
< 14994.256> [VideoHardware] setting aspect: 16:9
< 14994.262> [VideoHardware] setting wss: auto
< 14994.269> [VideoHardware] setting policy: panscan
< 14994.277> [VideoHardware] setting policy2: letterbox
< 14996.970> [eDVBFrontend] try to close frontend 0
< 15000.940> [eInputDeviceInit] 1 77 1
< 15000.945> [InfoBarGenerics] KEY: 119
< 15000.949> [ActionMap] InfobarSeekActions pauseService
< 15000.953> [eServiceMP3] pause
< 15004.129> [gRC] main thread is non-idle! display spinner!


Seems to have worked! Apologies if this is not the correct way of doing this sort of thing!

 

[Rob van der Does]

It's indeed a h264 coded file with aac sound, 1280x536p24. As this is non standard, it will be played with the help of GStreamer, as I was already afraid of (as playback via the hardware never gives any issues).
- First of all I tried playing it on my PC (using several mediaplayers). There I see already issues when pausing/fast-forwarding etc. This is a bad sign: a PC has seldom problems with playback of any files.
- Next I tried to play back on several boxes, using several images (ViX/PLi/ATV): all with issues.
- Then I recoded the file, using the program 'Handbrake' with default settings. And: voilà, all players work fine (PC & STB's).

So I repeat my standard advice: Always make sure the encoding of your files is correct. A recording made by the box will always be correct, most files 'found on the internet' are not.

PS: If a file did play fine under a previous version/other image that doesn't mean the file is correct. In that case you may be lucky that playback just happens to be fine.

 

[birdman]

- First of all I tried playing it on my PC (using several mediaplayers). There I see already issues when pausing/fast-forwarding etc. This is a bad sign: a PC has seldom problems with playback of any files.

I played it with mplayer and vlc on a Linux system. Neither reported anything amiss.

There is one oddity I see.
The log for this clip (and another log posted elsewhere) showed these lines (or similar) on starting playback:

< 14990.939> [eServiceMP3] construct!
< 14990.942> [eServiceMP3] playbin uri=file:///media/hdd/movie/MPGTest.mpg
< 14991.142> [eServiceMP3] starting pipeline

However, when I playback the clip I get:

< 303.927> [Navigation] playing 4097:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:/media/hdd/Externals/MPGTest.mpg

and never any mention of anything to do with "eServiceMP3".

So, what are people doing to play this back? I just navigate to it in the MovieList and press OK.