Topic: Theater View menu jumbled-unresponsive if MC is running but unused for a while (Read 1851 times)

CountryBumkin · « **on:** May 27, 2018, 10:21:57 am »

I'm still having a problem with Theater View not working properly when MC is running but not used for a while (a couple of days).
I reported it here back in MC23: https://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php/topic,112003.0.html
This has been going on for a long time now on both my MC client machines (bedroom and family room).

I'm sure I'm not the only one seeing this issue - but I think many MC users are using MC daily so they don't see this issue. I use the program less frequently. it may be a couple of days before I use MC depending on which computer/room. I leave the computer running all the time with MC program running in Theater View screen. I just turn off the TV or change inputs, but never turn off computer/MC.

I was hoping with MC24 going to OpenGL, that would fix the issue - but it has not.

I do know that when the screen is jumbled up and Theater View is not responding correctly, I just need to exit Theater View and reenter it and the problem is fixed. I do not need to restart MC or the computer to correct the problem. It is 100% a Theater View issue, not a computer issue.

Does anyone know why this is happening?
I would be happy if there was a way to just restart MC with my remote to temporarily fix this. Currently I have to get up and fetch a keyboard and then exit and restart Theater View.

tzr916 · « **Reply #1 on:** May 27, 2018, 01:31:35 pm »

Yep, happened in MC23, still happens in MC24. Also hoped OpenGL would resolve, but no change. Have 3 bedrooms- one that gets used every day works fine, the other two might sit for 3 or more days making theater view unresponsive, only way out is Esc Esc to drop to Standard mode then go back to Theater view.

CountryBumkin · « **Reply #2 on:** May 27, 2018, 04:57:01 pm »

Perhaps MC just needs a built in "refresh" timer to restart Theater View after 24 hours of sitting idle.

I hope one of the developers has a spare machine he can leave running to test this. I imagine the developer's machines are constantly getting used so they don't see this problem.

JimH · « **Reply #3 on:** May 27, 2018, 05:16:47 pm »

Can you tie this problem to specific video hardware?

Hendrik · « **Reply #4 on:** May 27, 2018, 05:29:40 pm »

I may have an idea why its happening, we'll try a change in the next build and see if it does anything.
If this is the case, we probably can't prevent the problem entirely, but I can try to push it from a couple hours to maybe 200 000 years, so hopefully you wouldn't run into it anymore.

CountryBumkin · « **Reply #5 on:** May 27, 2018, 06:19:28 pm »

H, I appreciate your time looking into this. Any improvement no matter how small is welcome.

Jim, I only have two client computers, but both experience this same issue. One is running an Intel i3-4330 with a GeForce GTX-750Ti card; the other is an Intel i3-3225 with GeForce 750Ti.
I don't see this on my "server" computer (which is on 24/7) but that machine is always set to Standard View.

Thanks.

tzr916 · « **Reply #6 on:** May 27, 2018, 06:28:09 pm »

Both of the machines that I have this issue on are AMD Radeon 5450.

tzr916 · « **Reply #7 on:** July 29, 2018, 09:17:35 am »

This: 24.0.33 Adjusted expired time tracking in OpenGL Theater View to try to prevent failure after long time of idle.

Plus this: 24.0.36 OpenGL Theater View could use more CPU then expected since 24.0.34.

Equals: Back to square one. Same issue on Clients that are idle, left in Theater View for a few days. Requires restarting MC to get back to normal.

wer · « **Reply #8 on:** August 03, 2018, 05:14:48 pm »

I think I can help you with this. I noticed a similar behavior with MC, but it's nothing new, it goes back years. I also have a Radeon card, so it might be an issue with the Radeon drivers, or with MC; there's no way to know for sure.

But there's an easy work around... You can restart theater view on an automated basis, and restarting MC itself, or the media server, is unnecessary.

This assumes you keep your MC in theater view all the time...

Just go into task scheduler, and create a task to run a batch file at the same time every day, some unobtrusive time like 5am.

Here's the contents of the batch file which should run from your JR Media Center program directory:
mc21 /mode standard
mc21 /sleep 2000
mc21 /mode theater

That's it. You can change "mc21" to whatever the name of your version's executable is.

This uses MC's command line syntax to make it do things. The first line exits from theater view, but leaves MC still running. The second line waits 2 seconds, and the third line restarts theater view. The execution won't interrupt any streaming or audio playback, but of course if someone were looking at the screen trying to use theater view when it ran, they would see it.

I've been using this for quite a long time now, and it works well. Whatever the cause of the instability, it seems to be in the theater-view/directx/video driver software, and not in the MC core application. Since implementing this, my MC server stays up for months, and whenever I go to use it via theater view, it's always right there ready and waiting nicely.

Hope this helps...

CountryBumkin · « **Reply #9 on:** January 01, 2019, 03:43:38 pm »

I'm still having this problem with MC after leaving it running, unused, for a couple of days (TV shut off but with computer left running on the Theater View screen).

As you know from the above thread and my previous threads, when I go to use MC after a couple of days, the Theater View screen is sort of stuck - and unresponsive, although I can see some of the background movie covers moving when I try to move around on the screen.

It's been like this for a while (years) now - it may just be that my hardware is old and this is not a software issue, but I believe there were a couple of ideas (you, JRiver) were going to try. I have not seen any mention of any fixes for this. Are there any?

Just thought I'd mention this again.
Thanks

JimH · « **Reply #10 on:** January 01, 2019, 03:51:44 pm »

I don't know if anything was tried. Hendrik might.

Did you try wer's workaround above?

CountryBumkin · « **Reply #11 on:** January 01, 2019, 05:34:43 pm »

I have not tried it (or seen it) - until now. I just set it up.
If this does the trick perhaps JRiver might consider just building it into the program (as an 'option" to auto-refresh theater view every 24 hrs).
I'll report back in a week.

JimH · « **Reply #12 on:** January 01, 2019, 05:35:21 pm »

I'm not sure it's an MC problem.

tzr916 · « **Reply #13 on:** January 01, 2019, 05:52:24 pm »

Quote from: tzr916 on July 29, 2018, 09:17:35 am

24.0.33 Adjusted expired time tracking in OpenGL Theater View to try to prevent failure after long time of idle

This was tried but didn't help.

wer · « **Reply #14 on:** January 07, 2019, 09:59:19 pm »

CountryBumkin, did my work around mitigate your issue?

CountryBumkin · « **Reply #15 on:** January 08, 2019, 12:05:04 pm »

Quote from: wer on January 07, 2019, 09:59:19 pm

CountryBumkin, did my work around mitigate your issue?

I'm not sure yet. I setup the Task last week but have not gone back to see if it worked. I'll check tonight.

CountryBumkin · « **Reply #16 on:** January 10, 2019, 06:03:53 am »

The workaround seems to work. I have not had the unresponsive menu problem when going back to MC after a few days of it sitting idle.

However the workaround leaves multiple copies of MC running. It looks like each time the bat file runs (task scheduler) it creates/leaves Media Center 24.exe "running". I found this out when I closed/exited MC and tried to start again (got message about MC already running).

the screenshot is with MC completely closed and exited.

wer · « **Reply #17 on:** January 10, 2019, 01:07:25 pm »

You'll need to look for other causes for that. My method doesn't cause that on my system, and I've been using it for years.

Check for multiple processes after a clean reboot, after your MC is launched. Then try executing the commands manually. If doing that immediately spawns extra processes, then I would wonder if your version of MC has a bug that leaves extra processes when an MCC command is executed.

swiv3d · « **Reply #18 on:** January 11, 2019, 04:29:50 pm »

You might check whether you have tools>options>general>advanced> Allow multiple instances to run at one time selected

RoderickGI · « **Reply #19 on:** January 11, 2019, 07:44:42 pm »

I'm wondering if you could simplify that batch file down to just one line;

mc24.exe /mode theater

or if that didn't work, try

mc24.exe./MCC 22001,1

Both of which I would expect to just refresh the Theatre View instance, although maybe they wouldn't if MC was already running in Theatre View. If that did work, then you could set the task up in MC, under "Services & Plug-ins > Scheduler" instead of using Windows Task Scheduler. That would have the advantage of being carried forward in upgrades, although the MCxx.exe version would still need to be changed. That might fix the issue, without the side effects.

I would guess that the instances of "Media Center 24.exe" left running are actually called by mc24.exe and then never being closed. The above suggestion, running the task from within MC, may also have that side effect.

But in a little testing I did with Wer's batch file and variations of it, the batch process closes as expected, leaving no "Media Center 24.exe" instances behind. So I can't test for your situation CountryBumkin.

wer · « **Reply #20 on:** January 12, 2019, 01:08:07 am »

If I recall, I tried the one line version first, but it didn't resolve the wonky theater view when theater view was already running. Also, without the sleep, the command to reenter theater view was not processed properly by MC.

I didn't try to find the minimum required sleep time. The batch file as given has proven completely reliable, running nightly, for well over a year now.

I never tested this with the allow multiple instances setting turned on in MC, but if that were the problem, it would imply that that feature is problematic with issuing mcc commands; (since obviously a new process hanging around for each command is unacceptable) but I've never heard of any such limitation.

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Author Topic: Theater View menu jumbled-unresponsive if MC is running but unused for a while (Read 1851 times)

swiv3d