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More => Old Versions => JRiver Media Center 18 for Windows => Topic started by: DanielBMe on November 17, 2012, 03:14:06 pm

Title: Theaterview problem with playing a movie from network drive that is sleeping
Post by: DanielBMe on November 17, 2012, 03:14:06 pm
I'm having a problem in Theaterview when I select a movie to play that is stored on a networked drive that happens to be sleeping.  When I click play, I get the prompt for "Resume or start from beginning".  If I select either, I can see my drive spin up, the sound from the movie starts, but the "Resume or start from beginning" doesn't go away and I can't see any of the movie playing. 

If I hit CNTRL-ALT-DEL to bring up the taskmanager, if I just simply click Cancel without actually doing anything, the video goes back to Theaterview and I can now see the movie.  I can easily reproduce this.  Somehow Theaterview or MC is not ...pausing long enough or well...I don't really know.  I don't have this problem with MyMovies and WMC.  I'm not using mapped drives but instead the full path to my server.

On other problem I noticed with Theaterview, when trying to exit, it frequently gets stuck at the prompt to exit Theaterview after selecting it.  Once again I have to do the whole CNTRL-ALT-DEL to bring up the taskmanager, just simply click Cancel without actually doing anything and it goes back to MC.

Title: Re: Theaterview problem with playing a movie from network drive that is sleeping
Post by: DanielBMe on November 18, 2012, 08:56:56 pm
I tried disabling the resume prompt.  Didn't help.  Now when I play a movie where the drive is sleeping, the movie overview stays onscreen but I can hear the music from the movie playing.  Once again a CTRL-ALT-DEL then cancel displays the movie

Am I the only one having this problem or is it a known bug?
Title: Re: Theaterview problem with playing a movie from network drive that is sleeping
Post by: kensn on November 18, 2012, 09:26:25 pm
Disclaimer: This is not going to be a lot of help... ::)

My collection lives on a nas box that spins the drives down after 15 mins of no use, I do use mapped drives though. I often start a movie from a client and while it takes a couple of seconds to wake up the drive, it does start normally.
I am wondering if the problem is not entirely related to the drive being asleep. What happens if you access the drive from windows to wake it up and then try to start a movie?

Ken

Title: Re: Theaterview problem with playing a movie from network drive that is sleeping
Post by: DanielBMe on November 18, 2012, 09:34:40 pm
If I spin up the drives first, then there's no problem.  It works fine.  To be honest, it doesn't happen all the time.  It's hit or miss as to whether or not it will play properly or not.

I also find it curious that when I stop playing a movie, rather than taking me back to the movie details it takes me all the way out to the main movie library.  However, if I am watching  tv series, start an episode, then stop it, it takes me back to the episode overview.

I seem to be having a whole set of little problems with Theaterview that I simply didn't have with MyMovies and WMC.  I have 2 more weeks for the trial before I make my decision and right now I have no idea what I'm going to do...
Title: Re: Theaterview problem with playing a movie from network drive that is sleeping
Post by: kensn on November 18, 2012, 09:46:57 pm
I found this recent quote from MAtt I knew I had read recently:

"Windows can be really slow to resolve an unavailable UNC path.  We cache the result, but you might need to wait a minute.

Type \\Server (replace with the real name) in the Windows run box to test what I'm saying.

Please start a thread if you'd like to discuss more."

I am not sure if this is a pc that is off or in sleep mode only. I do know that there are many here who have NAS boxes though. Like my disclaimer said .. not a lot of help :P

Ken
Title: Re: Theaterview problem with playing a movie from network drive that is sleeping
Post by: DanielBMe on November 18, 2012, 09:50:35 pm
No, the server is an Unraid Linux server that is powered up and running 24x7.  Only the drives go to sleep.

I also find that when browsing my movies, it appears MC will start spinning up all my drives for some odd reason.  When it does so, I do have to wait a full minute until I can do anything.  It's really frustrating I have to admit.
Title: Re: Theaterview problem with playing a movie from network drive that is sleeping
Post by: hEdly on November 19, 2012, 04:04:33 pm
I had a similar issue (with SageTV) on an old Buffalo NAS; it would cause the software to crash.  I ended up having to get in there and stop it from spinning the disks down.

I would do that.  The disks spinning don't cause too much wear and tear on the drives.  Most motors are good for like 30,000 hours; that's just under 3.5 years.  I have some drives in an HTPC that have been running all day every day for about that long.  The drives in my server are also around that old.  No problems yet <says knocking wood>.
Title: Re: Theaterview problem with playing a movie from network drive that is sleeping
Post by: fitbrit on November 19, 2012, 09:19:16 pm
No, the server is an Unraid Linux server that is powered up and running 24x7.  Only the drives go to sleep.

I also find that when browsing my movies, it appears MC will start spinning up all my drives for some odd reason.  When it does so, I do have to wait a full minute until I can do anything.  It's really frustrating I have to admit.

Have your split levels been configured well in unraid? If not, you might be ending up with the sidecar and cover art files on different disks than the movie file, causing MC to spin up many more disks than necessary.
Title: Re: Theaterview problem with playing a movie from network drive that is sleeping
Post by: DanielBMe on November 20, 2012, 08:17:51 am
No, nothing is split.  I have all the necessary files and cover art stored in the same folder.  Even if it were the case, it really should cause Theaterview to hang. 

I recall a similiar problem TMT or MyMovies had a few years ago.  When playing a movie from a sleeping drive it would hang.  They did manage to correct it though and I haven't had any problems since.