Client halts occasionally

[KarZan]

I have not found any reason or any pattern when or in which situations this happens but the client can hang several times during a playback of a recording. This may happen in full screen and window mode. If client has stopped responding changing between full screen and window mode leaves screen blank (white). It can only be stopped (i.e. alt+F4). Sometimes after restarting the client playback can be resumed where it hang but sometimes the playback starts from the beginning.

This is what is last in the log
20:19:47.000437 [debug]  Command - processing message 25
20:19:47.000437 [debug]  Command - Sending message to viewman
20:19:47.000437 [debug]  VVideoRec - Message received
20:19:47.000437 [debug]  Command - processing message 25
20:19:47.000437 [debug]  Command - Sending message to viewman
20:19:47.000437 [debug]  VVideoRec - Message received
20:19:47.000453 [debug]  Command - processing message 25
20:19:47.000453 [debug]  Command - Sending message to viewman
20:19:47.000453 [debug]  VVideoRec - Message received
20:19:47.000468 [debug]  Command - processing message 25
20:19:47.000468 [debug]  Command - Sending message to viewman
20:19:47.000468 [debug]  VVideoRec - Message received
20:19:47.000484 [debug]  Command - processing message 25
20:19:47.000484 [debug]  Command - Sending message to viewman
20:19:47.000484 [debug]  VVideoRec - Message received
20:19:47.000500 [debug]  Command - processing message 25
20:19:47.000500 [debug]  Command - Sending message to viewman
20:19:47.000500 [debug]  VVideoRec - Message received
20:19:47.000515 [debug]  Command - processing message 25
20:19:47.000515 [debug]  Command - Sending message to viewman
20:19:47.000515 [debug]  VVideoRec - Message received
20:19:48.000875 [notice] Core - Window closed, shutting down...
20:19:48.000875 [notice] Core - Window closed, shutting down...
20:19:48.000875 [debug]  VVideoRec - Pre stopPlay
20:19:48.000875 [debug]  Player - Stop called lock
20:19:48.000875 [debug]  Player - Switch state from 1 to 6

Any idea?

[MartenR]

I think it can be a picky video decoder, which freezes if there are reception errors in the recording.
Also network problems might be the origin.
Please tell me, the video decoder in use and your network setup.

Marten

[KarZan]

I am not quite sure which decoder I had earlier but I did have PowerDVD5 installed. I then installed K-Lite Codec Pack because I suspected the codecs. There were no change. I then thought I would use graphedit to check the codecs but there were no DVD Navigator (I used graphedit directx 9.0 build 021204 and tried to follow the instructions on http://www.linuxtv.org/vdrwiki/index.php/How_to_determine%2Cwhich_MPEG2-Decoder_Vomp_for_Windows_uses_or_if_I_have_an_compatible_MPEG2_decoder_filter_installed). How can I check what decoder womp uses?

On network side I do have firewall on both machines but on both I've allowed all traffic on local net (192.168.1.0/24). I have not tried without firewalls. I have a 10/100 D-Link switch.

[MartenR]

OK, if we could not determine the client easily, we skip this until the new version with new filter handling is ready to release.
When does the problem happen are there big changes in the picture: something like action...

Marten

[KarZan]

As I mentioned in my first post I have not been able to see any pattern on the behaviour. It may even have something to do with the video drivers because when this appears windows kind of stops responding (or at least there is no screen update) for a few seconds and the whole screen goes black for a second or so. After that all returns normal except the womp client has stopped responding and the womp window is all white. But I do not know which occurs first or which causes what. What I do know is that if I view in window mode and switch to another window it most likely halts in some seconds. But it does halt in full screen also without switching to another program. I'll try to watch some TV program if I can reproduce the problem.

[MartenR]

Is there a program that changes the screen resolution?
Vomp would not recover, if this happens.

[KarZan]

No there is not. And now I left a channel on for a couple of hours and there were no crash. Next I'll try a recording on full screen. I know I have had problems with watching recordings but I will test this once more to be absolutely sure.

I tested with a recording on full screen and I noticed that it freezed after about 5 mins of watching. The picture actually freezes as if it were paused. After switching to window mode womp screen turns all white.

[MartenR]

Hmm, I think this is a problem with the mpeg decoder(audio or video).
Actually there is no difference between Fullscreen and window mode.
The vomp fullscreen mode is actually only a window scaled to fullscreen and not a real directx fullscreen mode.
The white window only means that the mpeg decoder is not painting.

For me it would be interesting, if you can reproduce it. So if you play back the crashing recording, does it crash at the same position?

I'm also thinking about sending you and development version, where the mpeg decoder can be selected to get more insights.

Marten

[KarZan]

I have not yet been able to reproduce the crash in the same position of the recording. There is also this resume problem while crashing and that is that sometimes resume starts from the beginning of the recording and sometimes from where it crashed. Can mpeg decoder have an impact on this?

\\Kartsa

[MartenR]

Can mpeg decoder have an impact on this?

Sure it can, I'll send you a development version of vomp, where the decoder can be selected by hand.
For this please send me your email adress per PM.

Marten