Resume Works 50% of the Time

[Luke 37046]

if someone can post a sample video that would be helpful

[tornadotj 6]

This is the movie info, displayed on the extender.

 

 

This is the extender, paused. It washed out, but the slider says 0:43, as in it knows how far in it is.

 

 

Same movie, paused on the HTPC which the extenders are tied to:

 

[tornadotj 6]

Oh, one thing I forgot to add, I don't know if it is related, but my remote no longer works when I'm on the main menu of a VIDEO_TS rip. I can't move around or click OK to start the movie. This is on the main HTPC or the extenders.  I don't recall, but it seems like it worked before this last update.

[techywarrior 688]

For the VIDEO_TS rips you should go into the MBC settings and in playback check the box that says "disable new player for ISO" (I can't recall the exact wording but it should be obvious when you see it).

That is why the video player interface looks different in the two screenshots. Ebr said that he is falling back to the user metadata in MBC in the new player so that may be why it shows up on the main HTPC machine. On the extender it is using the generic WMC player.

[tornadotj 6]

I set the extender to use the generic interface as suggested in an earlier post in this thread. It doesn't work either way though. The screenshot was to illustrate that the extender thinks the movie length is 0:00.

 

I know where the setting is you are talking about for the VIDEO_TS issue. It's "Disable for DVD Rips". I'll fix that, thanks!

Edited December 31, 2014 by tornadotj

[ebr 14910]

Based on that info, I go back to my original conjecture that your item is streaming from the extender due to improper access from that Windows user.

[tornadotj 6]

Tell me what you would like to see a screenshot of and I'll paste it. Library is set to go to the IP address of the server, \\192.168.1.1\Videos. The HTPC is called "DVR", and Mc-DVR has full access to the Videos folder - I know that's legacy MB2 stuff, but it is there. Is there another user that needs to be configured for access to the Videos folder when using an extender?

[Latchmor 584]

Hi @@tornadotj, see below on the dashboard when something is transcoding you get the red transcoding progress bar as well as the green playing progress bar. I was using the browser below but I would guess that MBC shows the same.

 

Hovering over the devices also says Direct or Transcoding too 

 

[tornadotj 6]

I checked, under Sharing, it is set to Everyone/Full Control. Under Security, I added Everyone, and granted Read/Execute, Read, and List Directory. Still the same 0:00 issue.

 

I hadn't seen that on the dashboard before. I'll start a movie then check the dashboard, then report back. I don't know why it would be transcoding at this point.

[techywarrior 688]

Hi @@tornadotj, see below on the dashboard when something is transcoding you get the red transcoding progress bar as well as the green playing progress bar. I was using the browser below but I would guess that MBC shows the same.

 

Hovering over the devices also says Direct or Transcoding too 

 

 

FYI, the mouseover hover doesn't work on computers with touchscreens (don't know why since the other mouseover boxes work on touchscreen computers)

[tornadotj 6]

OK, here's what I have. The HTPC is showing Direct Playing on the movie it is showing, but the XBOX says Transcoding on its movie. Actually, that makes sense when I think about it, because the XBOX can't directly play MKV files. But, my understanding is that the XBOX should be letting the HTPC do the work, that's how it worked in MB2, and this issue didn't exist.

 

No problems with touch screens here, the MB3 server is on WHS 2011.

 

Rob

Edited December 31, 2014 by tornadotj

[ebr 14910]

If it is transcoding from the extender that probably means that account can't see your network share.  Extenders use hidden Windows user accounts.

[tornadotj 6]

I don't know how that's possible, the network share is visible by all the devices I have in the house. I'm still thinking it is transcoding because the XBOX can't play MKVs. I'd prefer the transcoding to happen on the HTPC then the video be sent to the extender, the way it works with regular TV and recorded shows, and the way it worked in MB2. It had an account in those days I had to set up also, the Mc-DVR account I mentioned earlier.

[ebr 14910]

Post an MBC log when you play something on the extender.

[tornadotj 6]

Note that 1.6 is the real IP address of the MBC (htpc) server. 

MBClassic-31122014fd76ec5ccf4c4782a06cfacb2e1d8b8d.log

[ebr 14910]

Yeah, this line right here:

2014-12-31 14:59:35.8495,Info,,Internal Player about to play Die Hard(http://192.168.1.6:8096/mediabrowser/videos/d57fd539f49a1711862cba9f4f79ba25/stream.asf?Params=;d585418d67e84955b625caadb0692c5c;d57fd539f49a1711862cba9f4f79ba25;false;msmpeg4;wmav2;1;;29872000;128000;2;;;;0;;635556563758495698;;; ,40,Worker thread for Play Action

Tells me that the extender could not directly access that item on your server so it is streaming it.  This points to either a permissions or other access issue.

 

If you play the same item on the host PC, it should show that it is directly accessing the file instead.

 

This is the root of your problems so we need to figure out why the extender user cannot access the media.

[Macburp 109]

I found this article from way-back-when on extender permissions very useful and have never had an issue with permissions on my extender -

 

http://www.hack7mc.com/2009/05/fixing-customization-error-when-using-media-browser-on-an-extender.html

 

Hope it helps.

[agentvasz 0]

So I feel somewhat silly, but I just found the log files.  It appears that the movies are being transcoded that won't resume or fast forward.  I'm not sure why since the format is .wmv.  I'm using windows media center and these files were the only files that did resume in the past.  I assumed it was because of a codec issue with the other file types.  Now it appears that the files native to the extender are being transcoded.  I'm at a loss for why. I have located the log files and a few meta data files that appear to be incomplete - even though they are complete in the meta data manager in the online UI.  The online UI also plays and resumes without an issue.

 

Other posts have also suggested that the extender is having trouble accessing the files.  I have them on a Drobo, not sure why they would have trouble accessing files on a device that is designed to share files.  

transcode-bd46ba6c-818a-4c0e-8040-2165b619c092.txt

server-63555667200.txt

CHRISTMAS VACATION.dvdid.xml

mcm_id__tt0097958-5825.dvdid.xml

[ebr 14910]

We don't use those xml files and they were not created by us.

[agentvasz 0]

Must have been from another program that I uninstalled.  Will they interfere with MediaBrowser?

[ebr 14910]

No, they shouldn't interfere.

 

Again, the root of the problems are that the items are streaming instead of direct playing so we need to figure out why the extender can't access them.

 

However, resume should still work even if streaming.  It is just the seeking that may not.

[tornadotj 6]

I know that DVDFab will create those XML files, as it is what I use for ripping my DVDs. 

 

The article for setting up rights is how I set mine up when I was using MB2. 

[agentvasz 0]

Ok that makes sense as I use DVDFab for ripping.  I've been ripping most files as .M2TS, but it appears that when I play an older file in a different container, the resume works more often.  Should I just stop using M2TS and use higher bitrate .h264?  Or should I try and find a better codec pack and see if that solves the .M2TS problem?

[techywarrior 688]

That's strange as I rip all my media as M2TS using DVDFab. I have it set for h264 and ac3. Never had it create those XML files or ever had a problem with resume. Could be a difference in setting though. I can't remember what codec pack I installed anymore. I may just have used lav since that seems to be what is recommended by MB devs at the moment.