Unreliable Duo

[hyperjase]

I'm having lots of different issues which all result in having to reflash the Duo. I was quite impressed to begin with but small niggling issues have made me disappointed with my purchase. I find that trying to watch an MKV file from the drive will often result in having the VIX spinning logo appear, usually a lock up followed by a turn off-on followed by no sound (last time this happened I had to update to get it working again). I understand that these are Linux based but does anyone else have such issues? I'm frustrated that the box crashes quite often and it takes time to reflash each time to attempt to resolve these problems.

I've also found that usually after switching off-on the mounts will screw up (usually the usb stick I have specifically for the epg, picons and swap file) and will have to re-initialise it to make it work correctly (it never usually shows up as mnt/usb but as mnt/sdb1 until I re-initialise).

Also MiniDLNA (which is perfect for my streaming option) never appears to refresh the database correctly. With no settings changed for days on end, it won't add new files. For whatever reason, it's working now but don't hold out hope that it will refresh again.

I have an internal 1tb 3.5 sata drive installed and a 8gb usb stick in the rear for epg, picon and swap files.

Any pointers to resolving these problems would be appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[Rob van der Does]

Wow, so many questions in one thread.
ad 1: behaviour on MKV is dependant on the codecs used. Please re-encode them (using a program like 'Handbrake' and the H264 codec).
ad 2: Please provide debug logs. As this is not a known issue we can't do anything without logs. And please make sure you mounted all devices via the mount-manager.
ad 3: Please see if the plugin 'DNLA-server' (available from the feeds) does a better job.

 

[hyperjase]

Thanks for getting back to me - I'll put #1 down to a dodgy encode (I will try another to confirm) - but is there any better media player for the VU+? I've had a look and nothing else really looks suitable.

#2 - In the /var/volatile/log folder is a "messages" file - is this the file you need (I have spotted quite a few lines with AUDIO_CONTINUE:bcm7335->audio_pid_hndl is null 0 0 on. I've also noticed the start of the messages file begins at Jan 1 01:00:31 - most of the lines after this remain on that date/time.

#3 - Thanks I'll give that a try (although MiniDLNA appears to behaving now - always the case!)

 

[hyperjase]

Update - just found these lines with the message file:

Jan 1 01:00:31 vuduo user.debug kernel: nand_read_bbt: Bad block at 0x02560000
Jan 1 01:00:31 vuduo user.debug kernel: nand_read_bbt: Bad block at 0x04460000
Jan 1 01:00:31 vuduo user.debug kernel: nand_read_bbt: Bad block at 0x054c0000

Should I be worried?

 

[Larry-G]

The media player functionality for all STB's is hardware based, no media player you add will allow you to play any thing that is not supported by the hardware codecs and you cant add software codecs either.

 

[Rob van der Does]

ad 2: Debuglogs must be enabled via the menu (and the box must be restarted after that). The location can also be set and will e.g. be /home/root/logs

 

[hyperjase]

Thanks - I've set them up so when it starts again I'll post the logs here.

 

[hyperjase]

It just locked up and rebooted while watching an MKV file - I've attached the log file.

 

[hyperjase]

And just locked up again! It's more than just one MKV file .... I have no idea what causes this but it's bloody annoying.

 

[Rob van der Does]

Your crashlog shows an out-of-memory status. This is not an uncommon situation for a DUO.
I suggest to use a swap-file (VIX --> SwapFile manager) and see how you go from there.
If you the still have the same problem, you could use the CacheFlush plugin (available via the feeds).

 

[hyperjase]

Many thanks for this - I have actually set up a swap file manually (it doesn't appear to create one through the menu). I used the standard 128mb version, this is working from the USB stick I have dedicated for EPG and Picons.

Should I increase the file size of this?

Many thanks for getting back to me.

 

[Rob van der Does]

Well, I would just see if this helps. If not, you might indeed increase the size.