Can't Play Videos After Server 3.0.5768.7 Update

[Truc0773 1]

Emby for WMC will no longer play any video files after the server automatically updated to 3.0.5768.7.  Works fine in web browser client.  But I get no response when clicking the Play button in Emby WMC classic client (version 3.0.283.0).

 

Example, trying to play 2 Fast 2 Furious.  Nothing happens after pressing Play.  I can continue to navigate to other movies, but none of them will play.  

 

Driving me nuts trying to figure out what's wrong.

 

Thanks in advance for the help.

 

MBClassic-27102015152898ef9c1747f790e294cb248cdec6.log

server-63581543091.zip

[Luke 37006]

have you always had emby for wmc setup to transcode your content through the server? please note, this isn't necessarily your problem as it should be ok to do that. but it does make things a lot more difficult for the video player to cope with.

 

i noticed your tv and movie paths on the server are setup as d:\Movies., d:\tv. if you can share those paths on your network, then emby for wmc can play those files directly over the network without having emby server try and convert them on the fly.

 

in order to accomplish this, you need to do two things:

 

- first, share those folders on the network in windows

- Configure path substitution in emby server. If you read the bottom of this wiki page, there is an example using your same path of D:\Movies

 

https://github.com/MediaBrowser/Wiki/wiki/Library%20Setup

[ebr 14903]

You should definitely setup path substitution as Luke suggested and you should also upgrade EMC to .286.

[Truc0773 1]

Thank you for the speedy replies. 

 

This is a new setup that we want to use offline, without access to internet or even a network for that matter.  Right now, we're connected to internet at another location to download artwork and metadata to store locally in the folders in the library before we make that transition to offline operation.  We did have shares created for the folders with Path substitution for the UNC paths to the corresponding drive paths, but somehow, they mysteriously disappeared.  I've recreated them.  If D:\TV Shows has a space in it, do I have to enclose it in quotes ("D:\TV Shows") in the Path Substitution definition?  I use underscores in the share name to represent a space (\\Mom-PC\TV_Shows1).

 

On Mr. Ebr's recommendation, I've also installed the new version of Emby WMC .286 and I've restarted the service.  It took 1 hour 13 munutes and 34 seconds to do the media library scan, and now I have 100% CPU utilization for MediaBrowser.ServerApplication.exe.  So Emby WMC is not loading at all right now due to the CPU being maxed out I guess.  I'll be patient and wait for it to finish whatever it's doing and then try again.

 

Back to the running Emby Server and WMC on the same box while disconnected from the network.  What should I do to make certain that sort of setup works?  We're moving this computer to a place that has no network or internet at all.  Just want to watch the movies and shows that are on the local hard drive.  Does the path substitution even matter in that case?  Do I need to create a static IP address on the network adapter and modify the hosts file?  I assumed localhost would still resolve to 12.0.0.1 if there is no DNS server to be reached.  But would the share names still resolve properly?

 

 

[ebr 14903]

If you are going for totally disconnected and on one machine then do not use UNC paths or path substitution.

[Truc0773 1]

If you are going for totally disconnected and on one machine then do not use UNC paths or path substitution.

OK.  I've deleted the Path Substitution and am only using Drive letter paths.  

 

I've stopped and restarted the Service, and re-ran the library scan.  

 

Tried to play.2 Fast 2 Furious again, and same results.  No response whatsoever.  I've played them from the web client and they work just fine there.  Attached are new logs.

 

I normally run the application as a service, but yesterday, someone unknowingly started the Emby Server application before the service could start and it automatically updated to the latest Stable version and that's when the problems started.  It might be total coincidence.  I like these new features.  I just want my EMC to work again.

 

EDIT:  Do I need to re-register the Emby Server service since the version updated automatically?  

server-63581637161.txt

MBClassic-28102015b05b214c4de64ba994d62a98d3a1a0a4.log

server-63581637284.txt

Edited October 28, 2015 by Truc0773

[Truc0773 1]

OK.  I think I figured out (one of the) problems.  It seems that trying to play video files in EMC full screen mode while a Team Viewer remote control session is active can cause a problem with playback.  After my friend disconnected his Team Viewer session, movies began to play!  Weird.

 

But I am still having problems with videos simpnly not responding to the play button even when not using team viewer and when not in full screen mode either.  Sometimes I will play a movie, and stop pl;ayback.  the next time I push play, it will not respond.  Or if I switch to another movie to play, it will not respond.

 

See Jurassic Park 2 at 5:45pm in the attached log.  There are other examples present in the log as well.  

 

Any ideas?

 

Thanks for the help.

MBClassic-28102015032d7712b4c3498a96050d3cb62c3889.log

[ebr 14903]

Your logs are filled with these messages during playback:

2015-10-28 17:45:05.6815,Debug,,HandlePropertyChange was not able to access MediaTransport. Defaulting values.,1,Application
2015-10-28 17:45:05.7775,Debug,,HandlePropertyChange was not able to access MediaTransport. Defaulting values.,1,Application
2015-10-28 17:45:05.8845,Debug,,HandlePropertyChange was not able to access MediaTransport. Defaulting values.,1,Application
2015-10-28 17:45:05.9985,Debug,,HandlePropertyChange was not able to access MediaTransport. Defaulting values.,1,Application

Which then means that we have no control over the playback (since we cannot access the transport control in WMC) which means we can't determine when the first playback stops which then results in the following error when trying to play something else:

2015-10-28 17:45:09.2566,Warning,,Player didn't stop - trying to[sic] continue anyway.,1,Application
2015-10-28 17:45:09.2566,Info,,Internal Player playing The Lost World: Jurassic Park,1,Application
2015-10-28 17:45:09.2586,Debug,,Calling MediaCenterEnvironment.PlayMedia: D:\MOVIES\Jurassic Park 2 - The Lost World (1997)\Jurassic Park 2 - The Lost World (1997).mp4,1,Application
2015-10-28 17:45:09.2726,Error,,Error playing item:  ( Exception.  Type=Microsoft.MediaCenter.AddIn.ApplicationControlDisabledException Msg=Operation is not valid due to the current state of the object. Src=ehshell Method=HandleReturnMessage Line=0 Col=0 [n] StackTrace= [n]  [n] Server stack trace:  [n]    at MediaCenter.Extensibility.ExtensibilityAutomation.EnforceApplicationPermission(String method,, Boolean bThrowOnError) [n]    at MediaCenter.Extensibility.ExtensibilityAutomation.Microsoft.MediaCenter.Hosting.Infrastructure.ITargetThreadInvokeMessageFilter.ProcessMessage(TargetThreadInvokeMBRO obj,, IMessage msg) [n]    at Microsoft.MediaCenter.Hosting.Infrastructure.TargetThreadSink.SyncProcessMessage(IMessage msg) [n]    at Microsoft.MediaCenter.Hosting.Infrastructure.SinkHelpers.SyncDispatch(IMessageSink sink,, IMethodCallMessage msgMethodCall) [n]  [n] Exception rethrown at [0]:  [n]    at System.Runtime.Remoting.Proxies.RealProxy.HandleReturnMessage(IMessage reqMsg,, IMessage retMsg) [n]    at System.Runtime.Remoting.Proxies.RealProxy.PrivateInvoke(MessageData& msgData,, Int32 type) [n]    at Microsoft.MediaCenter.AddIn.HostControl.PlayMedia(MediaType mediaType,, Object media,, Boolean addToQueue) [n]    at Microsoft.MediaCenter.MediaCenterEnvironment.PlayMedia(MediaType mediaType,, Object media,, Boolean addToQueue) [n]    at MediaBrowser.PlaybackController.CallPlayMediaLegacy(MediaCenterEnvironment mediaCenterEnvironment,, PlayableItem playable) [n]    at MediaBrowser.PlaybackController.CallPlayMediaForPlayableItem(MediaCenterEnvironment mediaCenterEnvironment,, PlayableItem playable) [n]    at MediaBrowser.PlaybackController.PlayPlayableItem(PlayableItem playable) ),1,Application

All of that meaning that something is not working properly with your WMC environment.  Make sure all windows updates are applied and that your video drivers and codecs are up to date.  You could also try re-installing WMC.

[Truc0773 1]

 

OK.  I uninstalled the LAV v .66 codecs and reset the Media Foundation and preferred decoders back to defaults.  Worked for a little while, then started not playing any movies again.  So Ill try re-installing WMC as you suggest and report back.

[Schimi 26]

[ebr 14903]

It's possible to install the previous server version to verify that? If i back from work i test it with the dev release but the previous version would help verify that not changed on my pc

 

If there is no transcoding involved then the server version will have no impact.

[Truc0773 1]

Well, I ended up just reinstalling Windows and setting everything back up from scratch.  Now everything is working.  I think we missed a step in the Windows Media Center setup in extras (some cable TV activation) that may install some video codec or some special proprietary thing.  Anyway, it's working again like a champ.  And we updated to the latest version of everything in the process.

 

Thank you for pointing me in the right direction.

[Luke 37006]

Well done. Glad its' all working now.