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Movies Won't Play On iPads (with app)


chrismp

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I really hope that someone can help.  I've used MB3 since about January and had no issues until a month or two ago.  I use MB3 primarily to watch my movies (mp4/m4v) on the iPads via the media browser app (latest update).  Previously, I had no issues watching movies both within my network and externally.  Then, all of the sudden, playback stopped working on most movies and I can't figure out the cause.  I have an iPad 2 (iOS7) and an iPad Mini (iOS8) and both have same issues.  I am able to see the library and select the movie, but the movies just won't load. Just get the spinning wheel and sometimes I have to manually kill the app to get out of it.  It doesn't happen with all movies, but it happens with most.  To clarify, if a particular movie doesn't work, it never works and if a movie works, then it always works.  Server (Version 3.0.5395.0) is on a Windows 7 64bit machine.  If I use Safari to access the server, I am able to play all the movies fine. I am okay with doing this but that process is not so easy for the other people in the house. 

 

I've uninstalled the app and MB3 Server and started from scratch but had no luck.

 

I love this program when it works and I really hope that someone can help me with this.

 

Attached is the log that I think that you need.  I looked at the transcoding logs (I enabled them) but it doesn't create a log when movies fail on the iPad; it doesn't get that far.

server-63549186123.zip

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  • 2 weeks later...

Am I posting this issue incorrectly?  Is there not anyone out there that can assist? I guess there is no benefit from having a "lifetime supporter membership".

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Apologoies, we must  have just missed this. Since there's a new server out, let's start over. Try again on that and then report back. thanks.

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I tested it out and I am having the same issues.  Can you tell me what logs you need to see?  Thanks again for the help with this; I really appreciate it.

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I really hope that someone can help.  I've used MB3 since about January and had no issues until a month or two ago.  I use MB3 primarily to watch my movies (mp4/m4v) on the iPads via the media browser app (latest update).  Previously, I had no issues watching movies both within my network and externally.  Then, all of the sudden, playback stopped working on most movies and I can't figure out the cause.  I have an iPad 2 (iOS7) and an iPad Mini (iOS8) and both have same issues.  I am able to see the library and select the movie, but the movies just won't load. Just get the spinning wheel and sometimes I have to manually kill the app to get out of it.  It doesn't happen with all movies, but it happens with most.  To clarify, if a particular movie doesn't work, it never works and if a movie works, then it always works.  Server (Version 3.0.5395.0) is on a Windows 7 64bit machine.  If I use Safari to access the server, I am able to play all the movies fine. I am okay with doing this but that process is not so easy for the other people in the house. 

 

I've uninstalled the app and MB3 Server and started from scratch but had no luck.

 

I love this program when it works and I really hope that someone can help me with this.

 

Attached is the log that I think that you need.  I looked at the transcoding logs (I enabled them) but it doesn't create a log when movies fail on the iPad; it doesn't get that far.

Hi, I seem to be having the same issue - I've just downloaded the Ipad app on an Ipad2 running IOS8.  TV shows seem to be playing ok but most movies just sit on the loading screen.  

 

I've been using MB on PC and xbox for a long time with no issues, it's only on the Ipad this is happening.

 

 

 

Thanks

 

 

Edited by Soviet
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Also, just checked our other ipad (it's a 3) and it is working fine. BTW I notice that the ipad that is not working is also showing files that are not in the library that I've set up for it but the one that is working is only showing files from my Kids folder - both are logging in as the same user.

 

Since it is working on one I'll try reinstalling the one that isn't working ... seems to have fixed it.

Edited by Soviet
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I've tried to reinstall on all the iPads without any success. One of the minis is probably not the latest because they just came out with new ones but it is pretty new.  I've attempted to change users and permissions in order to see if it made any difference, it didn't, and every once in a while it takes the app a few minutes to display the correct movies (not a big deal). I've checked to make sure that the movies that don't work (most of them) are actually available.  I can access them via the browser, just not the app.   

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  • 2 weeks later...
kevinmd88

My iPad and iPhone both have had a similar issue for several months (sorry, can't pinpoint an exact time period/starting point). There are times I'll sit down with either device and tap on a movie to watch, to sit at the spinning cursor wheel for over an hour, yet playback never starts. I have to double-tap to slide and close the app. Bring it back up, and it still won't load. On my end at least, it doesn't seem to matter what video I pick. I have definitely experienced this both on iOS 7 and iOS 8. And on the other hand, there have been times where it would start playing immediately. Also doesn't matter whether I'm on my local network or a remote one. Obviously I expect much lower "speed" on a remote network but then I sat down to watch a 7-second home video taken with an old, low-quality digital camera; an hour later it was still "loading."

 

Willing to provide any logs that may help... This effectively renders the apps on either platform useless

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  • 1 month later...
chrismp

So, I think that I actually figured out the problem, although I am not really sure that I understand it.  While troubleshooting, I was accessing the movies on the ipad via safari.  Things were working well and I decided to look at the video quality/connection speed using the settings.  It was set pretty low so I decided to increase it; I think that I set it to 30Mbps.  When I did that and then restarted the movie, it had some issues starting up similar to what I was seeing in the app. I dropped it down a bit and it played right away. Seeing that I decided to try the same thing on the Ipads. The ipads were set to speeds of 6Mbps or higher.  I dropped them all down to 3Mbps and tested quite a few movies (including ones that didn't work previously) and they all worked.

 

I just did some more testing using 3Mbps and 6Mbps in the app; all tested at 3 worked but I got mixed results with 6.  Odd thing is that "300, Rise of the Empire" worked at 6 but Toy Story (cartoon) wouldn't.

 

All that said, I am really happy that it is working but I don't understand why that setting was causing it not to work.  I've tested all my wifi devices and I know that I get much better speeds than 3Mbps.  I know that the server can handle it because I've tested streaming from my laptop using "video quality" setting of "Direct" and 25Mbps and it streams without an issue over wifi. I also tested the ipad again via the browser and it was able to do the 30Mbps when I tried it again.

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I'm experiencing a similar problem. Playback's working great on my server (with Media Browser Theater), but on the iPad the picture freezes after about 8 seconds every time. This happens even if I'm on the same network as the server, or trying to watch the content from an external network. After seeing this thread, I tried changing the WiFi Quality setting from 6 MB/s to 3 MB/s on the iPad app, and now everything works like a charm... :wacko:

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