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Help For A Desperate Noobie!


Mobileman22

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Mobileman22

Hi all,

 

So, I sorted out a new media box after my old trusty one died. I found out Media Browser as I know it was archaic and so I decided to build using MB3. Since the change I have had a few problems but seeing all users that are getting on fine I just need some help to get myself sorted. I am unsure what to explain so I will start from the beginning. Sorry if this gets a little long winded.

 

Setup:

 

HP Microline Server (12tb)  running unRaid (Located in spare room)

Shares set up for Movies, TV, Fitness Vids, Music Vids (drives set to spin down after one hour of non use - this may be an important bit of info!)

Custom build HTPC with SSD and 4gb ram (located under TV)

Running windows 7 ultimate, MB3 with Diamond theme and PowerDVD for playing blu-ray ISOs

 

I have the MB Server running on the HTPC as I don't know how to get it on to unRaid so the server and the MB Classic program are on the one box. I followed the MB guides and got some help on my first post from the mods and successfully got everything working... I was super happy.

 

The first problem I encountered was that if I turned the HTPC off and came back to it the next day I would fire it up from cold (Media Centre starts on boot) and go into MB3 and no folders would show. There showed a folder counter in the bottom left corner (0/5). The folders would never appear. To resolve I had to go into the MB Server, re-add the folder icon art and refresh each folder then I could re-open MB3 and navigate folders and watch films/tv. My personal resolve was to just set the machine to sleep when I had finished and this seemed to stop the problem 3 out of 4 times but still occurred some times. Ignoring this I tried to move on.

 

The bigger problem happened tonight! I started the machine up and all looked ok. There was an update for Chocolate (which I have since un-installed as I don't actually use it) which completed. I scanned through my library and selected a film and hit play.... but nothing happened. I hit it a few more times, nothing happened. I restarted MB3 - same issue, restarted MB Server - same issue. I tried to play a file through the server web interface and I got the message 'Invalid Source' (I have since found some posts on this which indicate this might just be IE10/11 issues so I am discounting that as a symptom of this problem). After a few other attempts to resolve (like disconnection the mapped drives for the media folders and re-loading) I could not fix this. I figured out how to get the error log up but I cant make head nor tail of it.

 

I would massively appreciate anyone's help on this. I have an impending operation that is going to leave me couch ridden for a possible 10 weeks so I want this to be working without issue (as I am sure you can imagine!)

 

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

PS. If I have done this in the wrong place or given the wrong info please let me know.

 

EDIT: I can play the films on the HTPC if I just use windows to browse to the file on the network drive and double click it.

MBClassic-2912014ce6f8ec989dd4735a8cc1a153da1c8ce.log

Edited by Mobileman22
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You said "mapped drives".  If you are really using mapped drives that may be the root of all your issues.  Change to using UNC paths.

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Mobileman22

@ebr

 

Thanks, I have changed the settings to have all the UNC paths now... the problem persists though. WMC loads up, I go into MB3 after a few mins then try to play a video... I select play and absolutely nothing happens. Any ideas?

 

I have attached another file in case this helps. I opened a few movies and tried to play so that should show on the text file I imagine.

MBClassic-301201442a9fcd46b2b4090b1d00669a08f1673.log

Edited by Mobileman22
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Most likely a codec problem.  What do you have installed?

 

It looks like WMC is not able to play the file.

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Mobileman22

@ebr

 

I have the k-lite codec pack installed. I can play the file in media player if I browse to the file and double click. I did actually reinstall k-lite last night when I was trying to resolve myslef. Its very odd. It was working fine the day before then just stopped yesterday... :-(

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Mobileman22

@ebr

 

It is indeed a 64 bit OS. I read the other thread. I am going to go home and uninstall k-lite. I will reinstall the x64 version and see if that makes a difference. Sorry for the noobness but what is LAV? Is it a better codec pack? I use K-lite and only really as my preference as I know how to turn the subs off!

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Mobileman22

@ebr

 

Ok, 3 hours of work later.... no dice. I have now uninstalled K-Lite, reinstalled, uninstalled then uninstalled MB3 and server, reinstalled and still no joy. LAV seems to be part of K-Lite but I have uninstalled everything and just installed LAV and still no joy....

 

I load up MB3, navigate to movies then open a folder and click play but nothing happens. Latest attempts logs added in case they show anything new or different since changing to LAV.

 

I am desperate now for this to be working.... I have spent 2 nights on it now and don't seem to be making any progress... :-(

 

EDIT: Added screen grab as per instructions in other thread.

MBClassic-30120144823ddfa41e24d9dad0f3daabbbd3ea7.log

post-2031-0-79726300-1391114240_thumb.png

Edited by Mobileman22
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Disorganise

When you double click I imagine it opens windows media player.....that's 32 bit and was the same confusion for me.

try right clicking and opening in windows media centre instead. WMC is 64 bit. If it fails to play then there's probably a codec issue like I had.

 

there's a long guide here that I haven't had chance to go through completely yet but it looks useful.

http://mediabrowser.tv/community/index.php?/topic/4305-mbc-and-codecs-understanding-the-media-foundation/&do=findComment&comment=65156

 

at then there's the link to the lav set up thread I originally followed. For me the issue was the media foundation which the thread I posted above talks about.

 

If the file plays in WMC when u right click then it's not codec related and I'm out cos I'm noob too!

 

Sent from my GT-I9305 using Forum Fiend v1.1.7.

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Disorganise

This is the LAV guide I followed to the letter. It didn't fix my AVI problem which is why I poked around the media foundation bit, but it's a good guide I think and gets you the tool to look at the settings.

http://www.thehtpc.net/htpc-tips-and-tweaks/media-center-lav-filters-and-external-subtitles/

 

Sent from my GT-I9305 using Forum Fiend v1.1.7.

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Mobileman22

@Disorganise

 

Thanks for your input... I am getting quite upset now so appreciate your help. I think I have made things worse now though. I uninstalled and re-installed WMC and Windows Media Player in case they were broken... now when I try to open and .avi file I get the error message that WMP has stopped working and I need to close the program (was this what you were getting as per your post?). I will remove everything again and start from the guides you have listed.

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Disorganise

yip. that's the error I was getting.

 

I'll try and update my post with a screen shot of the setting I changed to fix it so it can be a reference. but won't be until tomorrow I'm afraid

 

Sent from my GT-I9305 using Forum Fiend v1.1.7.

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Disorganise

Actually it was WMC that was giving the error not wmp. sorry if that confused.

 

Sent from my GT-I9305 using Forum Fiend v1.1.7.

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Mobileman22

@Disorganise @@ebr

 

So, I followed all the guides linked. I can play AVI files through WMC but not MKV files. When I dragged them to the graphstudio program they showed the video going to Microsoft DTV-DVD video decoder. I checked all the boxes next to them in the MS codec tweek section of Win7DSFilters program and they now show as going through LAV and play fine in media player but still wont play in WMC.....

 

This is going to be a rebuild isn't it.. maybe even as x86 to get past these problems!

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Disorganise

Don't give up!

The fact AVI plays and mkv do not just means there's an association missing somewhere. which should be fixable.

 

unless someone with more knowledge chimes in, I'd try going back to the filter tweaker, and set the preferred decoder for mkv to LAV instead of merit. I think that forces it to LAV.

you only need to fiddle the 64 bit side too as WMC uses the 64 bit from what I understand.

 

Sent from my GT-I9305 using Forum Fiend v1.1.7.

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Mobileman22

Update from a very tired person.....

 

I removed all the LAV stuff, all the other codec I could find and reinstalled K-Lite (the newest bundle is X64 and X86). Once installed I opened WMC then MB3, I played the beginning of 3 x MKV files fine. I then tried an AVI file and it wouldn't play... no errors, just wouldn't play. Now when I try any other files the same thing happens. Log file attached. What the hell is happening??? :-(

 

 

MBClassic-301201437440a0c7f754d28a957465a434894f2.log

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Mobileman22

Don't give up!

The fact AVI plays and mkv do not just means there's an association missing somewhere. which should be fixable.

 

unless someone with more knowledge chimes in, I'd try going back to the filter tweaker, and set the preferred decoder for mkv to LAV instead of merit. I think that forces it to LAV.

you only need to fiddle the 64 bit side too as WMC uses the 64 bit from what I understand.

 

Sent from my GT-I9305 using Forum Fiend v1.1.7.

 

 

As far as I can see, MKV is not listed....

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Mobileman22

Right... 5 hours and no joy. I am conceding and going to bed. One last question.... I seemingly cant fix this myself so I am just going to rebuild it. The question is... if I rebuild as 32 bit will there be no chance for these problems? Is this just because I am using 64 bit? Will there be a noticeable difference if I got 32 bit? (I have SSD drive and 4gb ram so guessing it shouldn't make much difference

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Mobileman22

@Disorganise

 

Thanks immensley for your input sir. Its very much appreciated. I have run MB2 on Windows 7 x64 for about 3 years with no issues at all. I always just install k-lite then everything jsut works. I knew how to change the settings in DirectVobSub if subtitles came up etc so all was well. For some reason, after a couple of weeks using MB3 fine it just suddenly went wrong. Given that x64 is probably not giving me any benefits I will change over to x86 this weekend and reinstall everything (bit of a ballache as I cant remember how I got PowerDVD to play blu-ray images but I will work it out!)

 

Maybe if I only have x86 then codec will not get confused and all will be ok. I think my only fear is how I will react if I rebuild and the problem persists! I am on the raggady edge as it is with fear of the impending hospital trip!

 

Thanks again peeps. I will let you know how I get on.

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How much memory is in the machine?  The main difference between x86 and x64 is the amount of addressable memory.  x86 has a max of 4GB.  I build all my HTPCs in 32bit just because it is simpler and they don't need any more memory than that.

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Mobileman22

Hi there,

 

I have 6gb memory but have rebuilt as x86 because I want the highest chance of success and the lowest amount of things that can go wrong... the current update is:

 

Spent all last night rebuilding machine. So far, MB3 and server are on and all files seem to be playing... except ISO's. If I play a DVD ISO it asks if I want to play in WMC or PowerDVD. If I select PowerDVD it plays fine but has no sound. If I choose WMC I get sound but the picture is very jerky and un-watchable. If I try to play a Blu-Ray ISO then PowerDVD fires up as I would expect and sound is perfect... but the picture is again jerky. I have a gigabit switch and lan here and all used to be ok so not sure what this is. I have tried messing around to no avail. I have the newest version of Catalyst control center and drivers for my Radeon HD graphics card (sound and vid go through the HDMI port on the card to the Amp (Sony which can decode and play all types of sound (DTS, 5.1, 7.1 etc))

 

Not sure what else to try at this point... a different issue to the first one but an issue none the less. I have Virtual Clone drive installed to mount the media but I get another strange mount message coming up. Is there a built in mounter in MB3 now? Should i uninstall VCD if this is the case?

 

Cheers.

 

I will get there eventually..... like British Rail!

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mranim8or

Since you just rebuilt the machine its odd you're still having problems. Have you tried (temporarily) putting the server and client on the same machine, with 1 or 2 of your ISOs to test with?  This way you could quickly eliminate network problems as a possiblity.  When I run into problems like this I like to narrow it down as much as possible.

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Might not be a solution but have you tried setting up an external player such as VLC or MPC-HC to see whether they play the content properly. If so that may also eliminate network issues as a cause of your problem. Personally I use MPC-HC anyway as it requires no codec packs and seems more stable than the default player anyway. I have just set it to close at the end of the movie or when by pressing Esc. Even if you decide to continue trying to get the default player working, atleast you can still use your machine.

Edited by c0m3r
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