Topic: Cover art comes up as a black box! (Read 5022 times)

sapnho · « **on:** December 12, 2004, 11:18:17 am »

I am having a really strange problem since I reinstalled my jukebox software: The cover art in MC 10 (latest) comes up as a black box. Even when I look at the folder.jpg file through MC images, it is black. In reality of course, it isn't!

Can anyone point me in the right direction?

KingSparta · « **Reply #1 on:** December 12, 2004, 11:26:38 am »

is the cover art inside the file or external?

if it is external what is the path to the art in the image field?

is all art black?

if it is internal art maybe you should remove the internal black art (not African american art, thats another subject)

sapnho · « **Reply #2 on:** December 12, 2004, 11:32:20 am »

The cover art is external and works perfectly when I use my other computer. The files are stored on a network server as folder.jpg. All images whatsoever are black.

KingSparta · « **Reply #3 on:** December 12, 2004, 12:06:11 pm »

if it is external then you should have a path to the file in the image field.

you should check to make sure that path is correct and if it brings up an image that is not black in that computer.

it may not be getting the info it needs, and comes up black due to that.

sapnho · « **Reply #4 on:** December 12, 2004, 12:19:07 pm »

What is even more confusing is that when I put NetRemote on top of Media Center, the image is displayed perfectly, so somewhere down there MC is handling the picture correctly it is just not showing...

I checked the path, it is correct. ? ? ?

KingSparta · « **Reply #5 on:** December 12, 2004, 12:21:17 pm »

all my art is local never had it located on another computer on a local network.

sapnho · « **Reply #6 on:** December 12, 2004, 12:30:57 pm »

Quote from: KingSparta on December 12, 2004, 12:21:17 pm

all my art is local never had it located on another computer on a local network.

That shouldn't really make a difference, should it?

KingSparta · « **Reply #7 on:** December 12, 2004, 01:10:33 pm »

well i don't think the paths are the same

sapnho · « **Reply #8 on:** December 12, 2004, 02:14:15 pm »

But King, why would it then show perfectly in NetRemote? After all this app gets all its data from MC. Strange thing. Should I reinstall and hope for a miracle?

sapnho · « **Reply #9 on:** January 02, 2005, 08:11:01 am »

I need to bring this one up again as I still haven't found a fix: What basically happens is that all images, be it cover art of other jpgs are displayed as black boxes in MC10 (latest). If I use any other program to look at the jps, it comes up fine.

Any ideas what could be causing this? ? ? ?

Here is a screenshot of what it looks like:

My settings are this:
Media Center 10.0.173 -- C:\Program Files\Media Center 10\

Microsoft Windows XP Workstation 5.1 Service Pack 2 (Build 2600)
Centaur Unknown 594 MHz MMX / Memory: Total - 490 MB, Free - 201 MB

Internet Explorer: 6.0.2900.2180 / ComCtl32.dll: 5.82 (xpsp_sp2_rtm.040803-2158) / Shlwapi.dll: 6.00.2900.2180 (xpsp_sp2_rtm.040803-2158) / Shell32.dll: 6.00.2900.2180 (xpsp_sp2_rtm.040803-2158) / wnaspi32.dll: N/A
Ripping / No CD drives found.
Digital playback: Yes / Use YADB: Yes / Get cover art: No / Calc replay gain: Yes / Copy volume: 32767
Eject after ripping: No / Play sound after ripping: No

Burning / No burners found.
Test mode: No / Eject after writing: Yes / Direct decoding: Yes / Write CD-Text: Yes
Use playback settings: No / Normalization: None

KingSparta · « **Reply #10 on:** January 03, 2005, 05:29:15 am »

no clue

sapnho · « **Reply #11 on:** January 03, 2005, 04:29:54 pm »

Anybody else a good guess? I mean this is really strange!

JimH · « **Reply #12 on:** January 03, 2005, 04:32:56 pm »

Can you view the files in IE?

Did the location of your thumbnails change? Is it correct? You can force a rebuild thumbnails in options.

sapnho · « **Reply #13 on:** January 04, 2005, 01:28:07 am »

Quote from: JimH on January 03, 2005, 04:32:56 pm

Can you view the files in IE?

Yes, I can. Bright and nice! Have a look at the screenshot below. Even in MC the file is visible in thumbnail folder view, but in preview (and actual) it is black.

Quote

Did the location of your thumbnails change? Is it correct? You can force a rebuild thumbnails in options.

The location didn't change. I still forced a rebuild but that didn't change anything.

I would like to add that this happens on both EPIA ME6000 machines which I recently built to replace existing hardware. I have done a fresh install on both machines. It is also interesting that I can only select PixOs skin under skin manager. All others show up as -guess what - a black box! All other programs work like before and looking at jpg with other programs show the full color picture as it should be! Please help!

JimH · « **Reply #14 on:** January 04, 2005, 06:47:34 am »

I'm still not convinced it's an MC bug. It's possible, but we should see it more often.

Is the video card the same in both PC's? If so, can you test another?

sapnho · « **Reply #15 on:** January 04, 2005, 06:57:43 am »

Quote from: JimH on January 04, 2005, 06:47:34 am

Is the video card the same in both PC's? If so, can you test another?

It's the on-board VGA which is the same on both units. I don't have another card available unfortunately.

What strikes me is that MC is the only program where this effect comes up. Possibly an incompatibility with my EPIA ME 6000? I am happy to try all sorts of things, just let me know what to change...

JimH · « **Reply #16 on:** January 04, 2005, 07:23:15 am »

I'm sorry, but you may have to chase this on your own. I really don't know what the problem is.

Fred1 · « **Reply #17 on:** January 04, 2005, 07:29:26 am »

sapnho,

i don't think it is the EPIA ME 6000.
I use the same board and everything works well.

Fred

sapnho · « **Reply #18 on:** January 04, 2005, 07:42:52 am »

That is good news! What could it be?

Just a thought: Does MC require any kind of MS plug-in like Direct X or something similar which I may not have installed?

Matt · « **Reply #19 on:** January 04, 2005, 08:43:00 am »

Could you test with a new, empty library? It's possible the thumbnails got corrupted somehow.

Also, do you see the image when you double-click to play it inside of MC?

sapnho · « **Reply #20 on:** January 04, 2005, 09:16:49 am »

Quote from: Matt on January 04, 2005, 08:43:00 am

Could you test with a new, empty library? It's possible the thumbnails got corrupted somehow.

Did that, with no luck, however. I also erased and rebuilt the thumbnails. Same result.

Quote

Also, do you see the image when you double-click to play it inside of MC?

When I click on the image, I get a full screen black box with the filename displayed bottom right!

Here's another good one:

Matt · « **Reply #21 on:** January 04, 2005, 10:09:59 am »

What if you put the same folder.jpg files on a local drive?

Thanks.

sapnho · « **Reply #22 on:** January 04, 2005, 10:14:43 am »

Quote from: Matt on January 04, 2005, 10:09:59 am

What if you put the same folder.jpg files on a local drive?

This is all on the local drives.

Matt · « **Reply #23 on:** January 04, 2005, 10:36:51 am »

We need to know if it's the drawing or decoding that has problems.

Do bmp, png, or gif files draw properly?

Since the skin load and draw correctly, it makes me think it's the jpg decoding on that one machine.

Thanks for any clues.

sapnho · « **Reply #24 on:** January 04, 2005, 11:16:04 am »

Quote from: Matt on January 04, 2005, 10:36:51 am

We need to know if it's the drawing or decoding that has problems.

Do bmp, png, or gif files draw properly?

I just checked all three and the answer is no, they also show up as black boxes.

Quote

Since the skin load and draw correctly, it makes me think it's the jpg decoding on that one machine.

Only the PixOS skin loads correctly all other show as black.

JimH · « **Reply #25 on:** January 04, 2005, 11:19:05 am »

Quote from: sapnho on January 04, 2005, 11:16:04 am

Only the PixOS skin loads correctly all other show as black.

Did you try actually loading them?

sapnho · « **Reply #26 on:** January 04, 2005, 11:43:42 am »

No. The screen preview showed a black picture and I didn't want to end up with a pitch black version of MC...

Matt · « **Reply #27 on:** January 04, 2005, 01:53:28 pm »

Quote from: sapnho on January 04, 2005, 11:16:04 am

I just checked all three and the answer is no, they also show up as black boxes.

Only the PixOS skin loads correctly all other show as black.

Check other formats by viewing file fullscreen with MC's image playback. Thumbnails are always JPEG, so you can't test GIF, PNG, etc. that way.

sapnho · « **Reply #28 on:** January 04, 2005, 02:06:52 pm »

You must be a clairvoyant Matt! I just checked the other formats in your described way and guess what: they show up! I then again checked the jpg files in that way but they are still black. So bmp, png and gif work, jpg does not.

Master, I am ready for the next test!

joeberg · « **Reply #29 on:** January 13, 2005, 11:00:31 pm »

I am having the same problem with my JPGs showing up as all black. I installed MC (10.0.175) a few days ago on MCE2005 and haven't been able to get it to show anything other than a black box. I can see the JPGs if I view them from windows, but not from MC. The hardware is Epia M9000 with integrated video.

I installed MC on another computer (XP Pro) and can see the JPGs fine when viewing the same images from the disk. I can also share out my library from the Epia (using Media Server) to the working box and see the images that reside in the Epias library. The I still cannot see the images on the Epia when I try the reverse.

I have updated my drivers and bios, changed adapter settings, resolution, and color depth with no change. It won't display the images embedded or not embedded, it makes no difference. I even setup the Epia as a media server.

An interesting note... I am also using NetRemote (new user to both NR and MC) and when the images are sourced from the Epia, I cannot see the album covers on my Axim (they are black), but it works fine from my other box. This is very odd since my the axim only shows the files sent from MC and shouldn't depend on video drivers, etc. Does anyone have any suggestions that I could try? I am trying to put together a demo for Monday using the Epia since it is such a tiny box and very portable, but I need the album covers to work for the full effect.

BTW, other image files, BMP, GIF work fine.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

JB

sapnho · « **Reply #30 on:** January 14, 2005, 01:31:32 pm »

It seems like there is an incompatibility between Media Center and EPIA boards.

sapnho · « **Reply #31 on:** February 12, 2005, 08:12:40 am »

I just installed the latest MC 11 build on the VIA machine and the cover art still comes up as a black box. Anybody found a solution in the meantime?

joeberg · « **Reply #32 on:** February 12, 2005, 09:10:05 am »

I never did find a a solution. I tried everything I could including v11 and different video driver versions. I eventually gave up. I have never had any graphics problem like this with any other application on an Epia board and I have used quite a few. Its too bad too, because the mini-ITX platform would be a great one to use as a media server due to its small size, etc... I am either going to have to use different software or look for another platform to run it on. Hopefully someone can come up with a fix for it in MC soon.

geisiqve · « **Reply #33 on:** February 17, 2005, 04:25:50 pm »

Hi Sapnho
I have the same problem so you, but I use:
MC11 and use a Mini-ITX mpia M10000 motherboard width integrate graphic card (Via/S3G Unichrome IGP Driver versjon 6.14.10.133 Date 06.05.2004)

After I have read all the contributions, special when I read Freds contribution, and I think I self I remember, I have look the picture in my own earlier test. So I have now take a step by step test.

Start with Bios 1.13
Install XPpro with out any sp.
Install installRite 2.5c (A test program for looking the changes in all software)
Install MC11 testing OK
Install Via 4 in 1 drivers v. 4.43 and Graphic drivers v. 16.94.39.14
Test, MC11 OK
Upgrade Bios to v.1.16. Test MC 11 OK
Install all newest drivers for the motherboard. Test, MC11 OK.
I have also a Leadtek WinFast TV2000XP installed. I install all the newest drivers and software for the card.
Test, MC11 OK.
Install XP Sp.2
Test, MC11 before reboot OK
Reboot. Test, MC11 Black picture
Uninstall XP sp.2 Test, MC11 OK.

Run Windows update and install all security patches before sp1. Test, MC11 OK.
Install XPsp1a. Test, MC11 OK.
Install all windows patsh x. sp2 Test, MC11 OK.

I have also test the MC11 on my HP Compaq NC6000 laptop with XPpro and SP2 included all patch, where MC11 is OK.

So my conclusion is, there are an incompatibility between Media Center and Windows XPpro w. SP2 installed on a Mini-ITX EPIA boards.

So I hope Jim and Mat can test and find a patch for this problem before finalising of MC11 release, because mini-ITX EPIA board is weary nice to use with Multimedia.

I hope that can help you sapnho and joeberg

With sincere regards

Geir

sapnho · « **Reply #34 on:** February 18, 2005, 11:04:07 am »

Yes, it would be really nice if the JRiver team found the problem especially after your detailled analysis. The EPIA boards are great for silent computing!

KingSparta · « **Reply #35 on:** February 18, 2005, 01:15:35 pm »

buy a new computer

JimH · « **Reply #36 on:** February 18, 2005, 01:52:34 pm »

This isn't likely to be a problem with MC. More likely the video driver.

GHammer · « **Reply #37 on:** February 18, 2005, 02:22:56 pm »

Quote from: geisiqve on February 17, 2005, 04:25:50 pm

Install Via 4 in 1 drivers v. 4.43 and Graphic drivers v. 16.94.39.14

I see two issues with the VIA:

Version 455vp1:
"The changes to this driver, compared with the VIA Hyperion 4in1 v4.53 are:

* This driver will not update the AGP driver if the system is running WinXP SP2, in line with Microsoft’s recommendations concerning AGP drivers."

In version 4.53:

"The new Hyperions also include an updated AGP driver to version 4.43ap1."

I'm thinking there is an issue with the VIA AGP, and, perhaps in the version you have installed as it seems to fail with SP2.

sapnho · « **Reply #38 on:** March 28, 2005, 01:30:34 am »

Quote from: JimH on February 18, 2005, 01:52:34 pm

This isn't likely to be a problem with MC. More likely the video driver.

I don't know what you guys did but since the two last builds of MC11, this problem is fixed. Cover art is displayed in beautiful colors again and the days of the black box are gone. Please keep it this way!

Thanks!!!

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Author Topic: Cover art comes up as a black box! (Read 5022 times)