[VU+ Duo] No sound when playing non-VU content, however ....

[musohead]

I'm having some video playing problems with my genuine VU+ Duo running the latest Vix 3.0.806 image.
Everything runs fine until left overnight. The next day there is no sound until a channel is changed (there is a picture). Then the TV side is fine, however .....

There is still a problem with playing video not recorded on the VU. Bear with me as this is all a bit odd and the following sequence is the nearest I've got to in trying to identify what's happening:

- When first playing a non-VU video (e.g. downloaded video) there is no sound, just picture.
- I then play a video that was recorded on the VU, it plays perfectly.
- Now for the odd bit, the original non-VU video will now play perfectly. Bizarre?

The above can also be achieved by initially rebooting the VU. Obviously I don't want to do that every day.

There is a secondary problem that may be related, although this happens even after just rebooting the VU. Some (very few) videos play back with sound but no picture. This sounds like the right software decoder is not installed or is out of date. Does anyone know how to load the latest decoders? Are they normally contained within the Vix image or do they have to be downloaded separately?

I would greatly appreciate help with either problem, including any comment on whether they are related.

Thanks in advance,
Ed

 

[Burnham]

How full is your memory - Have a look at menu - information - memory. Check the free RAM memory and the free FLASH memory.

The latest ViX images have so many great features and options, but if you load a few of them they do tend to fill up the memory in the poor old Duo leaving you with not enough to do some basic functions.

 

[BubbleBalls]

I have had two instances of totally unexplainable events "haunt" my Duo within 18 months. I couldn't find any info on them and because they seemed so trivial (in the grand scheme of things) I did not report them here as no other users had the same issues. A fresh USB flash with settings back up fixed one and a clean install fixed the other. Maybe something became corrupt along the way.

For media playback - you need to be specific in what you put on the Duo. It is not a media player and so cannot handle all codecs etc. If I use downloadable video I stick to certain filetypes from certain containers - it took me a while but I now know what I can use on it and it is no inconvenience for me. If you must use certain videos then transcoding them is an option.

Use of a swap file helped stabilise my Duo. Use of Casheflush plugin helped stabilise the Duo (though this plugin is only needed if your Duo suffers memory leak)
I also use a USB tuner which I found can lose channels after an extended timeframe and a reboot is required. I use the timer menu to auto reboot at 6am each day.

It took me some time to understand my Duo's capabilities/limitations but set up as it is now, it is rock solid.

Without a fresh install I would imagine VIX would need the logs at times of your issues. You could enable debug logs and recreate the situation.


Tapatalker

 

[Rob van der Does]

How full is your memory - Have a look at menu - information - memory. Check the free RAM memory .....

For understanding (free) RAM in Linux you must be an expert. There's no easy way to establish that.
Doing some maths (free RAM = free + cached + buffered) gives you a rough idea.

 

[musohead]

The VIX menu shows my RAM status as:
Total memory: 138380
Free memory: 8400
Buffers: 1784
Cached: 37568
Total swap: 0
Free swap: 0

Does that look OK?
Ed

 

[musohead]

Thanks BubbleBalls for your response (all the way from nearby in Ireland!).
Your comments re being selective on what encoded video types I use were useful. I hadn't realised it was limited. I wonder if the supported types are listed anywhere. It can be hard to say when so many are in an AVI wrapper.

Can you be specific as to what you mean by a 'clean install'.
I have installed a fresh VIX download from a USB memory stick. Is that 'clean' enough?
Should I try not restore settings and/or not reload plug-ins?

Is there anything underneath (in a software sense) VIX in the raw VU+ Duo that also needs to updated?

Thanks
Ed

 

[Rob van der Does]

The VIX menu shows my RAM status as:
Total memory: 138380
Free memory: 8400
Buffers: 1784
Cached: 37568
Total swap: 0
Free swap: 0

Does that look OK?
Ed

It shows roughly 45MB RAM available.
IOf that's enough will of course depend on what you want to do.

Having said that: the DUO can have notorious RAM issues. So activating a swap would be one of the first things to do (preferably on a build in HDD).

 

[BubbleBalls]

Clean install for me is USB flash(can be done through menu) with settings restore. If issue is not resolved then clean install with no restore (does not take long)
I use MKV .264 for current vids from Web. Handbrake for personal recorded stuff.
I think VIX image contains up-to-date info for the Duo.

When I got the Duo I, like a child with a new toy, began testing everything on it, throwing everything I could at it. Of course it buckled, but it still performs perfectly, when I give it files it can handle.



Tapatalker

 

[Burnham]

You said on your first post that "Everything runs fine until left overnight. The next day there is no sound until a channel is changed"

Irrespective of your other issues playing non-VU videos there is clearly something wrong with your VU+ Duo.

I suggest you install a fresh VIX download from a USB memory stick and then set everything up from scratch - do not enact the restore settings options.

If you still get the no sound problem after that, there is probably a hardware situation with your old Duo.