Topic: Asio freezes MC (Read 4495 times)

lreghina · « **on:** February 16, 2011, 09:31:47 am »

Hello everybody,

I'm new to MC. It looks like a great software, but i wasn't able to explore it because I have a big problem.
When I listen to something, I'm in "Playing now" and, after a while, I stop it, MC freezes and I have to kill it. Pause it it's ok.
After I restart MC I cannot play with ASIO it give an error, and I have to go on "Control Panel"/"Sounds and audio devices" and disable the device and enable it. Doing this I can play again ASIO on MC.

I think it's ASIO because I don't have this problem with kernel streaming.

Here is the description of my system:
- XP sp3, with library pointing to flac files on a NAS, with a mapped drive
- IE 7 (maybe this is the problem?)
- USB to SPDIF converter, Edirol UA-1EX, linked with the SPDIF input of a DAC MAGIC

My audio settings in MC are in this moment (i tried a lot of settings):
- use large hardware buffers (i tried without and it didn't work)
- buffering 0,39sec ( I had also 1 sec and it didn't work)
- pre-buffering 2sec( i also test it with 6 sec)
- play silence for hardware synchronization 1/2 sec ( I also test it with none)
- play files from memory UNCHECKED (I also test it checked)
- output format: resample: all sources, sample rate 96khz

I test it with 44.1khz, 96Khz it's the same. I used foobar on ASIO for long time and I never had a problem playing on ASIO, so I don't think it's the driver, or maybe MC use it differently. I have the last version of the driver, so I cannot do nothing on this matter

I'm out of ideas. Can anybody help me?

Thanks in advance

JimH · « **Reply #1 on:** February 16, 2011, 09:40:31 am »

Welcome to the forum. Nice report. What version of MC are you using? 15.0.174 is available on the download page.

You might take a look here:
http://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Audio_Output_Modes
and here:
http://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/DAC_Settings

A driver is the most likely cause of the problem. This is an unusual combination:

Quote

- USB to SPDIF converter, Edirol UA-1EX, linked with the SPDIF input of a DAC MAGIC

ASIO4ALL is worth a try.

IE7 is not a problem.

lreghina · « **Reply #2 on:** February 16, 2011, 09:46:18 am »

Thank you for your quick response.
I forgot to mention the most important thing :-) Yes, I am on 15.0.174

For me ASIO is a must. It sounds great, better than foobar, in my opinion.

Why do you say that Edirol UA-1EX / DAC MAGIC it's an unusual combination?

Matt · « **Reply #3 on:** February 16, 2011, 09:49:26 am »

To make sure I understand, ASIO plays fine, pauses fine, but hangs on stop?

You mentioned that Foobar works. Are you using ASIO in Foobar, or some other output method?

Could you check the ASIO option in Options > Audio > Output mode settings... > Display diagnostics when starting ASIO and then report what it says here?

What's the actual hardware that the computer is talking to, like the make and model of the "USB to SPDIF converter"? Do you have the latest ASIO driver for it?

Thanks.

JimH · « **Reply #4 on:** February 16, 2011, 09:51:03 am »

Is it two manufacturers? Or one?

An adaptor from USB to SPDIF is unusual (for me).

lreghina · « **Reply #5 on:** February 16, 2011, 10:06:17 am »

@ Matt: yes, it's eaxctly how you described; it plays fine, pauses fine, but hangs on stop; hangs for a lot of time and I have to kill it
Yes, on foobar I'm using ASIO
The hardware it's Edirol UA-1Ex that it's all I can tell about it

On display diagnostics I have:
Device Edirol UA-1EX (0 channel shift)
Buffer type: 18 (19200- samples)
Output format: 96000 Khz - 2 channels
Post Output Ready: 1
Asio Start Return Value: 0 (Should be 0)
Plugin Open Return Value: 0 (Should be 0)
BufferL 56995904

@ JimH
My DAC is Dac Magic. I don't like how it's sound on USB, so I have to use it on SPDIF. I have a SPDIF output on my laptop, but its soundcard is not so good, and it's upsampling everything on 48Khz. So, in order to have bit perfect I have this USB to SPDIF convertor.

Matt · « **Reply #6 on:** February 16, 2011, 10:41:15 am »

I've never seen this before in dealing with a lot of ASIO devices, so it makes me suspicious of the driver.

If you'd like to help investigate deeper, install this build and configure it for ASIO (you'll have to switch to Media Center 16, but it's safe to have v15 and v16 installed at the same time):
http://files.jriver.com/temp/MediaCenter160033.exe

Then email me a log again showing the hang.

Thanks for your help.

lreghina · « **Reply #7 on:** February 16, 2011, 10:44:31 am »

I made another test.
Output ASIO, play something. Pause it. Everything is Ok. I exit MC. Everything is ok. But when I want to restart MC it tells me that it's still running. I look on task manager, and I see there the process Media Center 15.exe.
I let it for 15 minutes maybe it'll finish what it has to do. But nothing. After 15 minutes I kill the process, I start MC, and I cannot play with output ASIO.
So pause, stop there are not so different. It's MC who cannot "release" the ASIO device I think

lreghina · « **Reply #8 on:** February 16, 2011, 10:48:52 am »

@ Matt

The link isn't working

Matt · « **Reply #9 on:** February 16, 2011, 10:58:14 am »

Quote from: lreghina on February 16, 2011, 10:48:52 am

@ Matt

The link isn't working

It's working here. Maybe try again.

JimH · « **Reply #10 on:** February 16, 2011, 11:02:03 am »

Works for me, too.

lreghina · « **Reply #11 on:** February 16, 2011, 11:06:29 am »

Strange,

I cannot access http://files.jriver.com
It gives me an "DNS Error - Server cannot be found."

JimH · « **Reply #12 on:** February 16, 2011, 11:09:15 am »

Try copying and pasting the link to your browser. Try another browser. Try IE.

The link in your last message won't do anything. It's our file archive at Amazon S3. Use the full link: http://files.jriver.com/temp/MediaCenter160033.exe

lreghina · « **Reply #13 on:** February 16, 2011, 11:16:15 am »

Sorry, it doesn't work :-(
I the same error when I'm trying to download the 16.0.31 with the link from its thread
I don't know, maybe because of my region? I'm from Romania

JimH · « **Reply #14 on:** February 16, 2011, 11:17:58 am »

Did you try IE?

Romania shouldn't be any problem.

DNS could be.

lreghina · « **Reply #15 on:** February 16, 2011, 11:20:47 am »

yes, both IE and FireFox

Matt · « **Reply #16 on:** February 16, 2011, 11:21:45 am »

Try this:
http://files.jriver.com.s3.amazonaws.com/temp/MediaCenter160033.exe

lreghina · « **Reply #17 on:** February 16, 2011, 11:26:21 am »

It worked

I'll install it and let you know what happens. I'll send you the logs.

Thanks

Matt · « **Reply #18 on:** February 16, 2011, 12:08:21 pm »

Please send the hang log to matt at jriver dot com.

Thanks.

Matt · « **Reply #19 on:** February 16, 2011, 01:07:10 pm »

Thanks for the log.

Please copy this file to your Media Center\Plugins folder (overwrite the existing file):
http://files.jriver.com.s3.amazonaws.com/temp/out_main.dll

Then send me another log assuming it still hangs.

Thanks.

lreghina · « **Reply #20 on:** February 16, 2011, 01:41:17 pm »

It seems to work :-)
I tested it oncee, let it play for about 10 minutes, stopped, and it's ok. This crashed before each time. I'll stress it more to see if it's happening again.

I tested the dll you sent me with 16.0.33.
Can I use it with MC 15.0.174?

Thanks

Matt · « **Reply #21 on:** February 16, 2011, 01:48:25 pm »

Quote from: lreghina on February 16, 2011, 01:41:17 pm

It seems to work :-)
I tested it oncee, let it play for about 10 minutes, stopped, and it's ok. This crashed before each time. I'll stress it more to see if it's happening again.

That's great. This was the change:
Changed: On ASIO shutdown, buffers are explicitly disposed instead of relying on the driver to dispose outstanding buffers on unload.

This is the first hardware we've seen where this matters.

Quote

Can I use it with MC 15.0.174?

It will only work with v16. The change will be included in future builds of v16. It may migrate to v15 at a later date.

lreghina · « **Reply #22 on:** February 16, 2011, 01:57:13 pm »

Thank you very much!!
This is a great support!

Can I now experiment with the other settings: pre-buffering, play from memory etc? On which settings I must pay attention with this bizar hardware, I understand?

lreghina · « **Reply #23 on:** February 17, 2011, 02:11:01 am »

I tested more and actually the fix doesn't work. Maybe last night I was impatient and didn't play enough time (Arsenal - Barcelona was about to start :-) )
But later I listened to some 24/192Khz files and the hang was there. I thought the problem is from 24/192Khz and I sent the logs to Matt.
Today I tested with normal 16/44.1 files and the problem appears. And now I know how to reproduce it. I have to play it 10 minutes. 5 minutes is ok, at 10 minutes it's hanging.
I thought maybe the size is the problem, and I changed the resample from 96Khz to 44.1 Khz. But no, the hangs still appears at 10 minutes.

I looked in the log and when it's hanging the last line is: "Disposing buffers". So I think the problem it's when MC is trying to disposing the buffers.
But why after 10 minutes and not after 5?

Matt · « **Reply #24 on:** February 17, 2011, 09:40:10 am »

Quote from: lreghina on February 17, 2011, 02:11:01 am

MC is trying to disposing the buffers.
But why after 10 minutes and not after 5?

Disposing buffers is a call we make to the ASIO driver. If it hangs, the driver isn't working nicely.

I can't think of anything else to try, so I think you'll have to get Roland to debug their driver. We'd be happy to help them in any way possible.

lreghina · « **Reply #25 on:** February 17, 2011, 11:39:58 am »

I don't think they support anymore this device.
But this is not the problem, the problem that I think that I did enough. I spent 2 days to understand what's happening and to be able to reproduce the problem. I sent you the logs, I described as good as possible the symptoms. I bought this software monday , after 2 days of problems you ask me to contact edirol. This is too much for me.
You say there is a problem with the driver, but I have foobar that never crashed in one year in the same conditions. So I think the problem is in MC not in the driver.

For me this is a showstopper, if this doesn't work I cannot use MC. So, I'll stick with foobar, it's free and it's working for me.
There is a way that you give me my 50$ back?

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Author Topic: Asio freezes MC (Read 4495 times)