Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[lalittle]

EDIT  This issue started with build 208.  Please read later posts for the most recent information on this.

I've been using the Orban plugin to play AAC+ files for a while now.  I've installed it on a few different systems and it's always just worked -- AAC+ streams from sites like Shoutcast simply play in MC after installing the plugin.  I have one system, however, where it isn't working, and I've been tearing my hair out trying to figure out why this is the case.  As far as I can see, everything is set up exactly the same way compared to the other systems.  When I try to play an AAC+ stream on this particular system, however, MC gives me an error saying that MC encountered errors when trying to play the file, and gives me these "Error details":

DirectShow: The media type of this file is not recognized. Code=80040240

I've tried playing with LOTS of directshow settings with no success, and once again, as far as I can tell, EVERYTHING is set up the same way as it is on the working systems (which is to use all the default values.)  The stream I'm using to test this is the same one on all the systems as well.  I confirmed that the Orban plugin is installed correctly on the system and is working by using Windows Media Player to play the same stream -- this works fine.  It's just MC that is giving me these problems.

The really annoying this is that this issue is now effecting the system where the streams DO play.  This is due to the fact that my Media Server client can no longer play AAC+ streams when MC is utilizing the server's library.  If I switch the client to the local "default" library, the exact same streams will play fine, but as long as I'm using this system as a client in a Media Server setup (which is the way I ALWAYS use it), the streams give me the error quoted above.  This means that I have to switch libraries just to listen to an AAC+ stream on the client.

Can anybody lend some help with this?  I've tried looking at the error logs and comparing them between a system where the streams play and the one where they don't, but I can't figure anything out from this.  Is there perhaps somebody I could send the log to who can help with this?  I can clear the log just before trying the stream so it's not too long.

Thanks for any help with this,

Larry

[lalittle]

I've discovered a big piece to this puzzle.  The clue was the fact that the Playing Now screen came up when trying to play AAC+ streams.  I checked the Tag Window, and the AAC+ stream was listed as a "video" file in the "media type" field.  I changed this to "audio," and this stream now plays on both the server and the client.  Unfortunately, the change only effects this single stream -- MC still thinks other AAC+ streams are "video," and the error still occurs when trying to play these files.

Does anybody know why MC incorrectly classifies AAC+ streams as video by default, and how I can get it to globally see these files correctly as audio files?

Thanks,

Larry

[lalittle]

I've now noticed that this appears to effect more than one system.  For some reason, some of the AAC+ streams are correctly identified by MC as "audio" media type and play fine.  I think that the ones that play may have been the ones that were added in my "Favorites" list, but I can't be sure anymore.  Most of the AAC+ streams, however (all the "new" ones I try), are incorrectly identified as "video" and do not play.

Larry

[lalittle]

Any feedback on this?  Could somebody possibly confirm that AAC+ streams should be seen by MC as "audio" media type and not "video" -- i.e. that this is in fact a bug.  Is there a way to fix this within the MC settings, or is this a bug that needs to be fixed in a new build?

Thanks,

Larry

[lalittle]

Same problem with build 213, and it's NOT isolated to just one system.

Larry

[lalittle]

PROGRESS:  I have discovered that this problem started with build 208.  AAC+ streams work fine in build 207, but when I update to 208, the problem suddenly starts.  I tried going back and forth between these two builds and I got consistent behavior -- the streams work with 207, but not with 208.  (Note that you need to test more than one stream to properly demonstrate the issue -- my test group consisted of 3 streams, and I always started with one and ended with another in my tests.)

I also noticed that when I first change to 208 and play an AAC+ stream, "JRThumb.exe" accesses the Internet (my firewall warns me of this even though I let it through.)  I'm not sure if this is an important observation, but I noticed this in the changelog for 208:

11. Changed: DirectShow and QuickTime file analysis (importing, updating from tags, etc.) runs in JRThumb.exe to shield Media Center against bad filters.

I was thinking that this may be related to MC thinking the files are video rather than audio streams.  Again, this may have nothing to do with the issue -- it was simply a pattern that I noticed.

The changelog also says this:

5. Changed: Metadata from a playing stream will not change field values in the database.

This may also be effecting the issue.

The bottom line is that as of 208, AAC+ streams are considered to be "video" media type rather than "audio," and this causing an error and preventing MC from playing these streams.

Thanks for looking into this,

Larry

[lalittle]

Just in case anyone is following this, according to a post from JR in the beta forum, this issue will be fixed in the next beta build (which will most likely be 214.)  Since this issue started with build 208 and the non-beta version is at 207, this issue shouldn't effect the non beta users -- the next build posted here should have this issue fixed.

Larry