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Emby Classic for WMC crashes when playing Dolby Digital 5.1


aziz

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Hi,

 

I have not been on the community for a while, which generally means I am happy with my system, and busy watching movies (as was designed)...

 

However, I have always had this problem with playing Dolby Digital audio movies.. it just crashes my entire WMC... it does a complete restart (so, maybe you can call it graceful crash).  Was not a big problem in the past as majority of movies are 2 track AAC... but recently, all my movies are in Dolby Digital, which is a Problem...

 

Initially, (1 year ago), i though it must be codec problem, and i played with that, and asked everyone to help, including Shark007, whom codec package i am using, with no success...

 

I was experimenting yesterday, and i decided to try to "switch off" the new look player on Emby, i.e. use the default WMC player interface, and guess what... the crashes stopped...

 

So, it appears that the Emby interface player has a bug when playing Dolby Digital Audio...  here is how to recreate this problem.

 

play a Dolby digital 5.1 movie, and it will work fine initially, but if you try to skip forward using chapter or even just skip button, initially, it will slow the video down, and sometime (1 out 5 times) it will crash the entire WMC, and it will restart WMC again.

 

I understand that Emby for WMC is not a focus right now, as WMC is not developed further, but it sure would be nice if this can be fixed...  many thanks

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I can't reproduce that and have never seen anyone else report it so it must be something environmental.  Perhaps video drivers...?

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Hello Cheif Bottle Washer,

 

OK.. so, i can recreate this at will... Does it help if i capture this on video and post it here??

 

I also agree with you, it must have something to do with my set up, as most likely it will be different to your setup... but i can assure you all the drivers and other components are up to date (nvidia drivers)

 

Also, the problem is most likely magnified by the New Emby interface Player, as the crashes stop if i disable the new Emby interface player, which is the work around i have at the moment, but I actually "Love" the new interface, and would like to have it enabled..

 

What do you suggest??

 

my setup.

 

Currently, I have

1- Standard WMC, X64 version windows 7

2- I use Shark007 (fantastic by the way) for all my codec needs (i can play any format without any issues)

3- I use FFdshow for audio decoding, and I use Dolby Digital Pass Through (instead of processing) as I have an AVR capable of decoding Dolby Digital.  (if i disable Dolby digital pass through and process everything, crashes stop.)

 

What do you recommend??  (apart from continue with the workaround :-) )

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My suggestion would be to try to eliminate all those codec packs and, especially, what you've done with ffdshow.

 

Remove all of that and just install LAV (that's what Shark is using anyway) and then see if the problem still occurs.

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Hi ebr,

 

OK... It took me whole day, but i managed to remove all the Shark007 packaged codecs, and returned the machine to just Windows 7 WMC, and did some testing, but the problem is still the same.. So, I don't think you recreated the problem I have.. but in a nutshell... When you do a Dolby digital pass through, using LAV or FFDSHOW, then the audio will cut 100% of the time when using chapter forward, and it will crash 40% of the times when using EMBY new player.  If using windows WMC payer, then it works.  It appears to be a EMBY new look player that is screwing up here, as the same configuration without emby new player does work.  (i guess, all i am looking for is taking ownership of the problem, even it is not going to be solved.. it took me 1 years of diagnosing, and it would be nice to finally find the "guilty" code.

 

I have done the following tests.

 

1- Windows 7 WMC without can any codecs installed can't play Dolby Digital 5.1 MP4 files.

 

2-  I have installed LAV codecs and tried two test.

     2.1 playing MP4 Dolby Digital 5.1 files with Dolby Digital "pass through" DISABLED, i.e. LAV process the audio and sends out PCM to AVR -  This works - and it also worked on FFDSHOW and Shark007.

     2.2 playing MP4 Dolby Digital 5.1 files with Dolby Digital "pass through" ENABLED, i.e. LAV does not process audio (Dolby Digital), it just sends it out as is to AVR - This cuts out the sound 100% of the times when using chapters, and crashes WMC 40% of the times, but only when you are using the emby New look Player.  Standard WMC player works just fine.

 

So, the workaround is to use standard WMC player, which i am doing...

 

However, i am trying to get closure one this topic, and need a confirmation that it is the Newlook EMBY player that's the issue, and not something i am doing wrong..

 

Can you please confirm.

 

Thanks ebr.

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I am using the channel change buttons to make the skip bar go to the next chapter section, followed by pressing OK when i want to use that chapter.

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I don't use the mouse as i only use the MS remote on this setup.  I can either use the channel up/down button, which kills the sound, and some times crashes Media Center (but not windows), or if i use the forward button, then the sounds and video slows down for split second, but continues working (and rarely crash media center).

 

This does not happen if i don't use the new player interface.. (again.. the new interface is wonderful, if it worked all the times, and it does if the video is not Dolby Digital sound)

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muppets4

I don't know if this helps, but maybe worth a try.

 

In windows 7, when I go into configuration-> sound. I can configure my speakers to be stereo or 5.1 (and some other modes). When I choose 5.1, I get weird errors. I just let it at stereo and let the codecs sort it out.

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