External Player broken by yesterdays server update

[plazma 13]

** SOLVED **

 

This issue is caused by the latest version 3.2.0.0 moving from using path substitution to the new method of other location, however sadly post upgrade the path substitution settings are lost and the re-entered in again for smb to work once more.

 

So if yours has stopped working, this is the reason why.

 

You can see the proper formatting for this in my post here

 

Additionally it appears currently if there is not smb path the "Generic" external player profile can not be used.

 

 

Server update broken playback in wmc:

 

Hi,

 

It appears the latest public stable server release (3.2.0.0) has broken the ability to use external players in emby wmc.

 

I do use mpc-hc, however i have the profile set to generic and have written a script between as this allows me a little more control over controlling mpc-hc and to also ensure things stay focused properly under certain situations (something i know other and myself have had issues with at times in the past when using the mpc-hc default method).

 

Anyway upgrade just the server yesterday and now the generic profile is ignored and instead it attempts to play the file directly in wmc as if the profile does not exist (this is the same on two emby wmc installs and the only thing that changed was the server upgrade).

 

I tried to see if i could temporarily switch back to the default mpc-hc profile until its fixed and whilst this launched i just got a black screen (suggesting no media url/path was passed).

 

I deleted the profile for generic, and re-created and the same thing, its just flat out ignored, as i said the built in setting for mpc-hc also does not fix the issue as it appears it maybe (im only guessing) not passing the media url as nothing plays/loads and just get mpc-hc open with no data/media.

 

If this is something can be looked into.

 

General ramble and a bit of a moan below:

 

Are you guys still testing new server versions with WMC before release? As previously an update in December broken emby wmc, when new data (i only tested with video) was added to mixed folders and the data was inside a sub folder (resulting in no data when the item was accessed). Strangely this only effected WMC, all other places could see thumbnails, web/kodi/droid client all could access the media just fine.

 

Where as the wmc client just got no data, i had worked out that doing a manual meta update on the item would fix it for wmc so did not report the issue as i did not have much time through the end of December and jan.

 

However i noticed this was fixed late jan with the version prior to 3.2.0.0 and noted having a glance at the chance log that an issue with music folders not populating correctly nearly exactly matched the issue with wmc content i was having...

 

Anyway, dont think of it as an all out moan, its just an observation that its strange that both of these bugs to get through the beta stage and into the public branch, suggesting that new versions are no longer being tested with emby when its in beta.

 

I do appreciate that you now have your own redeveloped replacement app/program now, but i prefer to use wmc for a number of reasons and have no plans to switch.

 

I just dont what us remaining emby wmc who fell in love and supported media browser from way back get forgotten and left by the way side in the name of progress else where.

Edited February 9, 2017 by plazma

[ebr 14910]

What "profiles" are you talking about?

[plazma 13]

The profiles in "Emby for WMC Configuration" (external player profiles) i can take a screen shot if you would like.

 

* UPDATE *

 

Screen Shot Added:

 

*Note: For what ever reason under chrome from linux upload image from computer does not work on the forum, it kept on telling me to fill in the url, so i uploaded it with postimage instead.

Edited February 9, 2017 by plazma

[ebr 14910]

My best guess without seeing any logs or specific examples is that this is a path substitution issue and updating to the beta server may solve it for you.

 

If it does, then you need to go into each of your libraries and enter the "Optional network location" for each folder path.  Then this won't happen to you again.

[plazma 13]

I dont think its a path substitution issue, although i could be wrong as when i use the generic profile the exe launcher is never called what so ever.

 

If it had been a path substitution issue surely it would be called, but would pass over the wrong path when the call was made.

 

I already use path substitution on the linux server hosting emby, this is already configured and has been working just fine for a very long time... as i said the only thing that changed between it working and not working was updating the server, prior to that everything worked just fine.

[ebr 14910]

I already use path substitution on the linux server hosting emby, this is already configured and has been working just fine for a very long time... as i said the only thing that changed between it working and not working was updating the server, prior to that everything worked just fine.

 

 

And one of the things that changed in that server release is how legacy path substitutions are handled...

[plazma 13]

Ok so i see now that this has changed, one observation here would be as the old path substitution system has been replaced now with a simplified network path, as the original method was to derive the network path via substitution it would have made more sense once the upgrade had taken place for emby to simply derive the correct path from the original substitution address and populate the correct values. Instead of removing the substitution section and then leaving the new alternative path empty.

 

The other thing is it would make more sense is the text below also gave an example address for the network path, in my case my server is on 192.168.250.10 and one of the the folders is called Inbox.

 

So ive tried entering both

 

\\192.168.250.10\Inbox

 

And also (as i there is no example and i dont know if i need to terminate the path manually);

 

\\192.168.250.10\Inbox\ 

 

However i get the same exact thing as before emby for wmc still completely ignores the generic player profile.

 

So i went back and tested it with removing the generic profile and setting it for mpc-hc (this appeared to actually launch mpc-hc on my other wmc client).

 

Trying the address with the termination \ it opens mpc-hc and says opening... then gives up and closes without it opens and then instantly closes again.

 

So out of curiosity i threw together a script to capture what was actually getting passed, and it appears its actually passing the http url when in mpc-hc mode, but as i said generic mode (which in my cases is also an autohotkey script) does not even get launched.

 

So here is what happens when i tried with the alternative network address above with no folder termination:

 

And then with folder termination:

 

Its strange the url looks identical, not sure why the first time i tried it did different things... in any rate we can see the smb path is not being passed.

 

Which suggests there is possibly two issues one, the smb (alternative path not being used) and also the generic profile being ignored completely.

 

Out of curiosity i added in the path as:

 

smb://192.168.250.1/Inbox

 

and re-tested with the autohotkey dump script and the mpc-hc profile and still got the same as above.

 

I dont really want to have to switch to beta to over come these issues, and will simply use the web player until its fixed and pushed out to the standard release branch.

Edited February 9, 2017 by plazma

[ebr 14910]

It is trying to stream from the server.  This means the EMC machine is not able to access the paths as you've entered them.

[plazma 13]

So what is the proper convention for entering the details the windows way (which i tried) or the linux/mac way (smb://) which i also tried, as there is no guide text as what to enter there im shooting blind fold.

 

Assuming the first method i tried (\\server\share) was correct it could also mean its not passing the smb path at all.

 

As far as im aware when using the external player it will pass either or... so it must also mean the generic profile being ignored is a separate problem.

[Luke 37046]

Hi @@plazma, go into Emby library setup, then click on a library, then click on a folder. From there you can edit the corresponding network path for that particular folder. Apologies for the disruption. I think we may have just been a little too hasty in deprecating the older way of doing it. thanks.

[plazma 13]

Hi Luke, i have discovered the new location and tried with:

 

\\192.168.250.10\Inbox

\\192.168.250.10\Inbox\

smb://192.168.168.250.10/Inbox

smb://192.168.168.250.10/Inbox/

 

Nothing worked so far.

 

As i said in the thread above i think there is two issues, the first is the smb path is not getting passed, the second is its not even attempting the "Generic" profile, however the "MPC-HC" profile, does attempt to launch, just the smb path is never provided.

 

I can live with the Generic profile being broken for the time being as i can use the mpc-hc profile and simply ignore the additional parameters that get passed.

 

However the smb path not being passed is a bit of an issue.

 

Regarding the upgrade, as i said it would have made more sense (as the original path substitution data was previously saved) that on re-launch of emby-server (post upgrade) it would have been better for it to detect the existence of the data, derive the smb paths (using the old method) and then pre-populate the new full paths (instead of being blank), its just as observation but its going to cause more issues for other people not realizing the change and then being also left with no data filled in the new network location field.

 

I dont think wmc is even getting passed the smb path, ive seen this happen when other people have configured the smb path wrong previous, what used to happen is it would first try the smb path and then fail after 10 seconds and revert to http, instead it just plays the http directly (if no profile or if generic external player profile is selected) and as i said when using mpc-hc all im getting is the http path, regardless of what i try.

[Luke 37046]

Try entering the correct path, then use the web app to view the detail screen of a video. at the bottom of the detail screen you'll see the corresponding output path. so what you'll want to do is make sure that is correct.

[plazma 13]

Hi Luke, it appears ive worked out the issue with the SMB Path, your right it was not the correct path, i had neglected to remember i moved stuff to a sub folder a few months back for the inbox, sadly as the path substituition section was now gone i had not noticed.

 

What was interesting is the difference between generic playback and using mpc-hc (which notably would not play the http streams), and the generic profile, one loaded the other did not. so maybe this is something that could be looked into as it means people using the generic external player option would be unable to use a player that supported http playback if they were not on the same network and/or were unable to use smb.

 

Another idea like you have the popups informing you of new items added and also media browser theatre in wmc, is to also create a popup (overlay) when you try and reach something and the smb path is incorrect, just a suggestion that might make it easier to diagnose for others.

 

Finally i would add some text on the new other (alternative) location entry page giving an example of a proper path.

 

For other discovering the issue the correct formatting (as expected) is the windows style :

 

\\hostname\share or \\hostname\share\folder

 

or if using ip address: \\xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx\share eg: \\192.168.1.30\share

 

The new way is definitely a better way of doing things, its just a shame it did not convert the path substitution values over correctly post upgrade.

 

Thanks again to Luke and ebr for overcoming the issue post upgrade.

Edited February 9, 2017 by plazma

[Luke 37046]

Thanks for reporting back.