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[tzr916]

Just built a new MC Tv server machine. Used Backup/Restore Library from previous MC server. All settings came across fine but seems there's a strange bug in the new server machine- If I'm watching a recorded show and press PAUSE, after some amount of time (less than 10 minutes) the screen just goes all black. Pressing PAUSE again, to resume playback, doesn't do anything. Pressing INFO does not bring up anything. I have to press STOP, and it then goes back to the theaterview show information page.

Couldn't find any such setting in MC. Any ideas?

[muzicman0]

haven't seen that, but the first place I would look is in the power settings.  is it set to turn off the display after a certain amount of time?  Alternatively, check screen saver as well.  both are just guesses.

[JimH]

If you pause video, MC will wait 10 minutes, then stop playback.  Press play to start again.

[tzr916]

It's not windows 10 power or screen settings.

If you pause video, MC will wait 10 minutes, then stop playback.  Press play to start again.

So it just stops playback and does what? is it supposed to go to all black screen? and not respond to any button except PLAY?

[RoderickGI]

Relatively new functionality.

23.0.3 (6/13/2017)

1. NEW: Video playback stops when paused for 10 minutes.

There is a thread discussing the issues of leaving a video paused for a long time, and the consequences. I think when moving between the Server and Clients? The change was requested.

If that doesn't completely explain it, check your TV settings to see if it is set to blank the screen after a certain time of not receiving a signal. I have noticed a change in the way my TV sets colour balance since I installed MC23, so there may be some change in MC or madVR that is causing your TV to blank out if the video is paused then stopped.

Perhaps check by powering their TV off then on. If you get an image back your know the TV was blacked out.

[tzr916]

Ah, that's why I never saw this happen before! Where is this thread discussing the issues?

And again, what is this new "feature" actually supposed to do by design? Stop the video playback and do what? Show what on the screen? nothing? not even go back and show the theaterview page? Strange implementation, if you ask me. There's already a MC setting for fade out screen for burn-in, why is this even needed if you can turn on the fade out screen?

Can we please make this "feature" optional in the settings, not just forced on everyone? Maybe, similar to the live tv time-shifting pause buffer time limit?

[RoderickGI]

Where is this thread discussing the issues?

I don't know. Search is your friend.

And again, what is this new "feature" actually supposed to do by design? Stop the video playback and do what? Show what on the screen? nothing? not even go back and show the theaterview page?

I don't know. I assumed that it would be the equivalent of pressing the stop button.

There's already a MC setting for fade out screen for burn-in, why is this even needed if you can turn on the fade out screen?

 You are assuming burn in was the reason for the change. I don't think it was. You need to find and read the thread. Does fade out work if a video is paused? I didn't think so. Only when on menus I thought. Haven't tested on paused videos.

Can we please make this "feature" optional in the settings, not just forced on everyone?

There may be good reason. You need to find and read the thread.

Maybe, similar to the live tv time-shifting pause buffer time limit?

I know there is a Time Shift Buffer size setting, and that if you pause live TV for that long, MC either stops or starts losing old data. Can't remember which. But that is a different issue.

[marko]

This has been annoying us recently too.

Playback may stop, but all we as users know is that the screen went black.

Here, we pause and resume using the "OK" button on the remote. This has no effect while at this black screen.
Pressing the "Play" button kicks the movie off again.
Multiple presses of the menu button (on the remote) eventually lands the girls in a place they recognise and they can start over again. This is not going down well with them (nor me, as I get the squealing and abuse from them )

The only thread I can find in the time immediately prior to the build release date, that appears relavent, is this one: Prevent Long Pause, but it's not exactly a 'busy' thread?

The disorientating factor is the blank, black screen. Some "Press Play To Resume" text or something there would help. That, or a return to the details screen playback was started from, as if "Stop" had really been pressed? Though I'm sure they won't like that either...

[RoderickGI]

Okay, I just paused a video and left it for 20 minutes. Came back to a black screen. Turned off the TV and then back on. Still a black screen. Pressed Play on the remote and the movie started where I left it paused, as Marko said.

So I guess that is all by design.

I assume that a Stop button press would actually stop the movie and take you back to the menu. Testing that now. DONE: Pressing Stop on the remote does take MC back to the Theatre View menu where the video was launched from.

Marko that could have been one of the threads, but I thought there was more discussion, so there may be another. Maybe it was put on the list back in MC22 days. I do think it was to do with hard drives sleeping and MC crashes though. I guess it is a new thing to learn: Black screen while everything is turned on means MC has automatically stopped a paused video.

Maybe the function was over thought, and a simple Stop would have been better, dropping MC back to the Theatre View menu, which would then fade after a while.

[JimH]

We should tune this and fall back to Theater View.

The problem I've seen many times at home is that someone pauses a DVD, then ejects the disc by pushing the button on the tray.  A day later, MC still thinks it is playing and gets hung up while waiting for a disc that isn't there.

[tzr916]

I've got a 2nd screen (8 inch LCD) attached to my server machine that I use to monitor cpu usage, cpu temp, network activity, and ceton tuner usage. I just had the "black screen from extended pause feature" happen and when I looked at the cpu usage it was pegged at 100% 

I stood there for 30-40 seconds and watched, but the cpu usage never went down. Then I pressed PAUSE on the remote and the video started playing again... immediately the cpu usage dropped to 60% (because of recording 3 channels and running 2 comskip scans). I will try to duplicate during an idle time, to see if the cpu usage soars again due to the "black screen from extended pause feature".

We should tune this and fall back to Theater View.

Does this "feature" apply to live tv? Or only shows/videos? If it also affects live tv, and you're considering having it fall back to Theaterview- is the tv channel still going to be paused? Where does it fall back to? The guide?

[Hendrik]

Does this "feature" apply to live tv? Or only shows/videos? If it also affects live tv, and you're considering having it fall back to Theaterview- is the tv channel still going to be paused? Where does it fall back to? The guide?

It should go whever it goes when you press Stop on a remote control.

[tzr916]

It should go whever it goes when you press Stop on a remote control.

But still be pausing live tv, right? Having it actually stop live tv, rather than keeping it on pause, would be a mistake, I would think.

[tzr916]

I've got a 2nd screen (8 inch LCD) attached to my server machine that I use to monitor cpu usage, cpu temp, network activity, and ceton tuner usage. I just had the "black screen from extended pause feature" happen and when I looked at the cpu usage it was pegged at 100% 

I stood there for 30-40 seconds and watched, but the cpu usage never went down. Then I pressed PAUSE on the remote and the video started playing again... immediately the cpu usage dropped to 60% (because of recording 3 channels and running 2 comskip scans). I will try to duplicate during an idle time, to see if the cpu usage soars again due to the "black screen from extended pause feature".

Just duplicated this behavior:
Playing a show I recorded last night cpu is at 15% (recording one channel).
Immediately after I press pause cpu is still at 15% and stays there.
After 4.5 minutes of pause cpu suddenly jumps to 65% (screen not black yet), and after 60 seconds it settles down to 35%-40%.
After 10 minutes of pause the screen goes black and cpu is still around 35%-40%.
Doesn't change until I press pause on remote to resume playback, at which point cpu drops back to 15% and stays there.

[Hendrik]

But still be pausing live tv, right? Having it actually stop live tv, rather than keeping it on pause, would be a mistake, I would think.

Like I said, it does whatever it does when you press the Stop key on your remote. So what does that do?

[tzr916]

Like I said, it does whatever it does when you press the Stop key on your remote. So what does that do?

It stops and is no longer pausing live tv, which is a big mistake. It needs to stay on pause after the 10 minute timeout. If not, get rid of this whole thing, or make it an optional setting in MC.

[RoderickGI]

It stops and is no longer pausing live tv, which is a big mistake. It needs to stay on pause after the 10 minute timeout. If not, get rid of this whole thing, or make it an optional setting in MC.

I have to agree with this, although I might have tried a more positive approach to the message. 

I pause Live TV when say the phone rings, talk for however long it takes, which could be an hour. My Time Shift buffer is set to four hours, so I know I can just return to the program, or more often, return to the HTPC and hit Record, so that the program is recorded from the beginning, which works because I use the JTV recording format.

The increased CPU usage is a bit of a worry as well.

I think this functionality needs a bit more thought. Maybe only activate it if a file is being played, and if the source is a networked or optical drive? Regardless, stopping a paused Live TV session will result in lost Time Shift files for me. 

[Yaobing]

I did some tests with the latest beta build.  Paused TV did not seem to get stopped (after more than 2 hours in paused state).  Video playback did get stopped and returned to the same place where video was started.  The latter behavior requires build 34 and newer.  With build 33 I think you would just get a black screen after paused for 10 minutes.

[marko]

Is there any possibility that the time-out could be extended?

45 minutes to an hour perhaps? 10 minutes is not a long time really...

[RoderickGI]

Just to be sure I paused Live TV for 1 Hour 18 Minutes, then hit play and the playback continued from where it was paused. MC showed the Time Shift amount.

So no worries with Live TV, or losing Time Shift data. This was on my HTPC which is currently running MC23.0.35 Server.

[Yaobing]

I checked recent code changes on this matter.  Indeed it was only for video file playback.  Not for live TV.

[tzr916]

I did some tests with the latest beta build.  Paused TV did not seem to get stopped (after more than 2 hours in paused state).  Video playback did get stopped and returned to the same place where video was started.  The latter behavior requires build 34 and newer.  With build 33 I think you would just get a black screen after paused for 10 minutes.

Yes, 10 minutes of pause falls back to Theaterview but.... still getting CPU usage skyrocketting when pause goes beyond ~4 minutes 

No recording in progress
Just watching recorded show CPU ~10%
Press PAUSE, CPU ~10%
After about 4 minutes of pause, CPU goes to 30-40%
After about 10 minutes of pause, falls back to theaterview, CPU still at 30-40% and stays there until press BACK button, then CPU drops down to ~5%