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[jmlogan]

All:

I have been using JRiver Media Center since customer since 2006 (MC 11), and I buy the upgraded version every year, although I may wait a while to install it.

Case in point: I just upgraded from MC 16 to MC 18 on my main music server.  I did so primarily because I was experiencing a problem with Soundspectrum's "Winter Wonders" visualization software, and I wanted to see if the problem continued with the new version of MC (it has, but that's Soundspectrum's problem, not yours).

In any case, I have noticed since installing MC 18 that it's memory usage increases over time, quite dramatically.  I took a look at my server this morning, on which MC 18 had been running only since 12/24, and the MC18 process ("Media Center 18.exe") was using over 3GB of memory (this is on a Windows 7 system with 8GB of memory installed).

Upon reboot, MC 18's memory usage dropped to less than 100MB.  However, a few hours later it is now approximately 470K, although the software has been essentially idle since reboot.  I have 3 zones defined, with a playlist of between a few hundred and a few thousand tracks in each zone, each zone has been on pause since reboot, yet the memory usage has more than quadrupled.

I would appreciate any insights as to what may be going on and/or some additional troubleshooting steps that I can take to help determine the cause of the problem.  Thanks in advance.

Jim Logan
26 December 2012

[JohnT]

Thanks for the detailed report.  JRiver is out of the office until Monday but we'll look into this memory usage issue at that time.

[marko]

No extra zones set up here, but my MC server, after running 24/7 for 6 days is showing just shy of 41,000 K, ~900 handles and 44 threads. When minimised, the memory usage drops to ~16,000 K.

[jmlogan]

@JohnT - Thank you for your reply.  Please let me know if there is any information I can collect to aid in problem determination.

@Marko -

I observe exactly the same stable behavior when I run MC 16 on my music server (although the memory figures are more like 120K and 40K respectively).  It can run for literally months without these figures changing noticeably.

However, if I run MC 18 with exactly the same library, playlists, etc., the memory footprint starts increasing immediately, and will exceed 3GB within a couple of days.  I have been forced to roll back to MC 16 due to this problem.  Why it happens is a complete mystery to me.

JML
28 December 2012

[gappie]

could it be that mc was still analyzing audio, building thumbnails etc etc. even than i guess it should not be that high  ? but still it would make a big difference.

 
gab

[Matt]

In any case, I have noticed since installing MC 18 that it's memory usage increases over time, quite dramatically.  I took a look at my server this morning, on which MC 18 had been running only since 12/24, and the MC18 process ("Media Center 18.exe") was using over 3GB of memory (this is on a Windows 7 system with 8GB of memory installed).

That's not right.

We have to try to remove complexity to figure out what might be causing this.

Does memory usage only increase if you play?  What if you leave the program stopped for a day?

Does disabling auto-import in Options > Library & Folders make any difference?

Once we know the answer to those questions, we'll know what to check next.

Thanks.

[jmlogan]

@Matt -

Thanks for the reply.

In answer to your first question, idle or playing makes no difference.  When I first installed MC 18, as I said in my original post, I had playlists in 3 zones PAUSED and after 2 days the memory usage was 3GB +.  When I stopped and restarted it, I sat and watched it using Task Manager and the memory started increasing immediately and just kept going up almost linearly, whether something was playing or not.  Query: is STOPPED different from PAUSED?  I only tried it with PAUSED.

As to AUTO-IMPORT, I have it set to auto-import a single folder, which has not had anything added to it recently.  I will try again with AUTO-IMPORT turned off and report back.

JML
28 December 2012

[JohnT]

Also try it with playback stopped rather than paused.

[jmlogan]

All -

I started MC 18 about 2+ hours ago, with the same 3 playlists that I had been using before, but this time I never pushed PLAY on any zone (so all 3 have been stopped since startup).  I just checked the memory usage, and it's about 6MB, which dropped to 3MB after maximizing/minimizing the MC18 window.  This is totally different behavior from what I got before, when I started MC 18, pressed PLAY on each zone and then PAUSED each zone.

Just to be perfectly clear, in case it makes any difference, I am actually not clicking on anything in the UI.  I have a startup script in Girder that starts all 3 zones playing when MC loads, and then automagically pauses a zone if no speakers in the house are connected to it.  Net result should be the same as clicking PLAY in each zone, then PAUSE in each zone, but its done through WM messages.  In the test I describe above, I disabled that Girder startup script.

Do you still want me to check it with AUTO-IMPORT off?

JML
28 December 2012

[Matt]

That means something about playback is using memory.

What are your audio devices?  An audio driver is loaded in process, so could cause a leak.

Also, what output mode are you using in Options > Audio?  Does switching output modes make playback use less memory?  WASAPI - Event Style would be a good mode to try.

Finally, does disabling from memory playback in Options > Audio help?

Thanks for your help on this.  It would be great to get it solved.

[jmlogan]

Matt -

Happy to provide any additional information to help you track this down.

I am using a Creative SoundBlaster X-Fi card for multi-zone output using ASIO.  There is also a VIA sound chipset on the motherboard, but I'm not using it for JRiver.

"Play files from memory..." is already disabled.

FWIW, MC 18 has been running for several hours, initially in STOPPED mode, but a couple of hours ago I pressed PLAY on Zone 1, and then went into and out of Theater View, and so far I see no increased memory usage.  Not clear to me what's triggering it.

I will experiment with WASAPI - Event Style mode and see if it makes a difference.

JML
28 December 2012

[Matt]

I am using a Creative SoundBlaster X-Fi card for multi-zone output using ASIO.  There is also a VIA sound chipset on the motherboard, but I'm not using it for JRiver.

I use an X-Fi with ASIO on my main machine, and have never noticed this.  So 'audio driver' may be a bad guess.

FWIW, MC 18 has been running for several hours, initially in STOPPED mode, but a couple of hours ago I pressed PLAY on Zone 1, and then went into and out of Theater View, and so far I see no increased memory usage.  Not clear to me what's triggering it.

Are you always showing Theater View?  It uses the video driver, so opens another vector for troubles.

How many files are in your library?

Sorry if it seems like I'm throwing darts.  That's what we have to do until we find a cause and effect.

[jmlogan]

Matt -

Theater View is the normal use case.  Just to add another piece of data, when in Theater View, the visualization option is usually set to G-Force (or some other product from Soundspectrum).  The video hardware is an on-board AMD Radeon HD 4290 with Catalyst 12.6 drivers.

There are 4,961 tracks in my library - audio only - mostly APE.  The playlist in Zone 1 has 3,174 tracks; Zone 2 - 330; and Zone 3 - 543.

I'm OK with dart-throwing - I'm pleased to see the keen interest in troubleshooting.  Thanks for your help.

JML
28 December 2012

[Matt]

Theater View is the normal use case.  Just to add another piece of data, when in Theater View, the visualization option is usually set to G-Force (or some other product from Soundspectrum).

Try playing in Theater View without G-Force.

If it still leaks, try playing in Standard View.

If it doesn't leak, G-Force is the key.

[jmlogan]

Matt, et. al. -

After some further experimentation, it appears that my MC 18 memory problems are related to a combination of Theater View, Display View and use of the visualization options, specifically 3rd party add-ins from Soundspectrum, G-Force and Winter Wonders.

The significant memory leak I observed initially appears to have been related to using Soundspectrum's Winter Wonders 2013 visualization within MC 18.  When using this visualization in Theater View/Display View, MC 18's memory use grew from 135MB to 900MB over about 12 hours.  Please note that this leak does not occur with MC 16, even when using the Winter Wonders plug-in in the same way.

Using the G-Force visualizer seems to result in a much smaller, but still measurable, growth in memory use.  When using MC 18 in Standard View with the cover art visualization, memory usage was stable at approximately 30MB for several hours (with music playing).  Switching the visualization option to G-Force caused the memory footprint to jump immediately to 62MB, but again it stayed stable at or near that value for several hours.  Switching to Display View (from within Standard View) caused another jump to about 84MB, but again the memory use stayed at or near that value for several hours.  Next, I switched to Theater View, then selected Display View from within Theater View (still with G-Force visualization).  Memory jumped immediately to 148MB.  Over about 12 hours, that value grew to 230MB.  Again, using MC 16 this increase in memory use is not observed.

So, it appears something is going on with the way MC 18 interacts with 3rd party visualizers in Theater View/Display View.  I am going to have to revert to MC 16 until/unless this problem is found and corrected.  I understand that this may be difficult/impossible due to more than one company's SW being involved.  Please let me know if there is more troubleshooting information I can provide, and Happy New Year to all...

Jim Logan
31 December 2012

[Matt]

I've emailed Andy O'Meara of SoundSpectrum.  Hopefully he'll be able to help.

[KaiDedo]

Hello,
I also have dramatic RAM problem like Mr @jmlogan. My English is weak, I use the automatic translation.
I give my PC-description - below some tips. 
German version of my letter I adds. From the version MC14 I`m your fun and Customer. MC17 has had no problems like today's ones.
I want to show that other Customers also have this topical problem.
I greet You
Kai Dedo

Important data of my operating system:

   Microsoft Windows 7 Home premium 32 bits SP1
  CPU
   Intel Core 2 duets E7600 3.06 GHz 31 °C
   Wolfdale 45nm technology
  RAM
   4.00 GB of binary canal DDR2 400 MHz (6-6-6-18)
  Motherboard
   MSI Boston (Socket 775) 38 °C
  Graphic arts
   Non-PnP monitor (standard) (1366x768@60Hz)
   ATI Radeon HD 5570 (Sapphire/PCPartner)
  Hard disks
   596 GB of western Digitally WD6400AAKS-65A7B2 WDC ATA Device (SATA) 36 °C
  Optical disk drives
   HL-DT-ST DVD-RAM GH40L ATA Device
   ELBY CLONEDRIVE SCSI CdRom Device
   ELBY CLONEDRIVE SCSI CdRom Device
  Audio
   Microsoft High definition audio-device
                                           ASIO4ALL with MC18 and in DSP studio iZotope Ozone 5 Advanced

J River Media centre 18/0/103 
           
                            My library has approx. 16.000 data i.e. main data .mp3, .flac, a little bit .avi, mp4. in summa summarum = all 312 GB.
I use standard view, no visualization.
                                                       
My audio-system: High definition audio device of Microsoft standard of the operating system with ASIO4All.
Program is solidly all Thumbnails are built.
RAM Load of 40 mb to 426 mb in approx. 4.6 hours rises. I use never theatrical view, DLNA and TV via MC18.
RAM is occupied so dramatically with music reproduction. Without reproduction RAM load also slowly grows..
IMPORTANTLY: After new start of Windows everything, old 426 mb in the working memory remains. MC 18 starts with this load. (!!!)
I use 1 zone and 1 Media Centre 18.exe at the same time. I have only 1 zone.
 I love MC - on the separate partition - I anew installed Windows. I have anew tested MC18.
On quite new operating system M18 with this mistake works.  No success... 
Kai Dedo

Fuer jeden Fall - deutsche Version:

Hallo,
ich habe auch dramatisches Problem wie Herr @jmlogan. Mein Englisch ist schwach = ich nutze die automatische Uebersetzung.
Ich gebe meine PC-Daten an- unten einige Hinweise. Den Rest hat @jmlogan sehr gut uebergeschrieben.
Deutsche Version meines Briefes ich lege bei. Von der Version MC14 ich bin Euer Fun & Customer. MC17 hat keine Probleme wie heutige gehabt.
Ich will zeigen, dass andere Customers auch dieses aktuelle Problem haben.
Ich gruesse Euch
Kai Dedo

Important Daten von meinem Betriebssystem:

         Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 32-bit SP1
      CPU
         Intel Core 2 Duo E7600 @ 3.06GHz   31 °C
         Wolfdale 45nm Technologie
      RAM
         4,00 GB Dual-Kanal DDR2 @ 400MHz (6-6-6-18)
      Motherboard
         MSI Boston (Socket 775)   38 °C
      Grafik
         Nicht-PnP-Monitor (Standard) (1366x768@60Hz)
         ATI Radeon HD 5570 (Sapphire/PCPartner)
      Festplatten
         596GB Western Digital WDC WD6400AAKS-65A7B2 ATA Device (SATA)   36 °C
      Optische Laufwerke
         HL-DT-ST DVD-RAM GH40L ATA Device
         ELBY CLONEDRIVE SCSI CdRom Device
         ELBY CLONEDRIVE SCSI CdRom Device
      Audio
         High Definition Audio-Gerät
                                           ASIO4ALL bei MC18 und in DSP-Studio iZotope Ozone 5 Advanced

J River Media Center 18.0.103 
       
                            Meine Bibliothek hat ca 16.000 Daten d.h. Hauptdaten .mp3, .flac, etwas .avi, mp4. in Allgemeinem 312 GB.
Nutze standard Ansicht keine Visualisierung.
                             
Mein Audio-System: High Definition Audio Geraet von Microsoft = Standard vom Betriebssystem mit ASIO4All.
Programm ist stabil alle Miniaturen=Thumbnails gebaut sind.
RAM Belastung von 40MB bis 426MB in ca 4,6 Stunden steigt. Nutze niemals Theateransicht, DLNA und TV via MC18.
RAM ist belegt so dramatisch bei der Musikwiedergabe. Im Ruhestand RAM - Belegung auch langsam waechst.
WICHTIG: Nach neuem Start der Windows alle, alte 426 MB im Arbeitsspeicher bleiben. MC 18 startet mit dieser Belegung.(!!!)
Nutze 1 Zone und 1 Media Center 18.exe in der selben Zeit= gleichzeitig.
 Ich liebe MC - auf der separaten Partition - ich neu installierte Windows. Ich habe MC18 neu getestet.
Auf ganz neuem Betriebssystem M18 mit Diesem Fehler arbeitet.   
Kai Dedo

[Matt]

KaiDedo, is your issue related specifically to G-Force and Winter Wonders?

If not, please start a new thread.

426MB of memory isn't necessarily a problem, especially if you use from memory playback.

[KaiDedo]

Hi Matt,

I have NO G-Force and Winter Wonders in the system. What has to act ' from memory playback '?
This setting is over with me.
M18 coarse problems with RAM does - day for day stores more.
On other thread no time has.
Thanks for prompt however useless answer.
Kai Dedo