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[lhwidget]

See reply # 5.  Near the middle of the post are links to two screen shots, what works, and what causes MC 16 to crash when playing DVDs on my system.

I'd love to hear a rational explanation for this, it's almost as bad as having to keep your left foot off the floor when you launch the program on Tuesdays with odd numbered dates, except during even numbered months... 

Oh, and I'm sure it's something I somehow managed to hose up in Windows, I doubt MC 16 is really causing the problem.



I started on MC 15 about a year ago and switched to 16 for Bluray playback.  16 looks great, sounds great, and Bluray playback is flawless.  DVD playback looks fine also.  I love it!  OK end of rant...

I do have a problem though.  I installed MC16, played a DVD & RO went looking for codecs, installed them, then played my DVD just fine.  Next I played a Bluray.  Again RO went and got what it needed, installed it, then played my small collection of Blurays just fine.  After a busy couple of weeks, I sat down to watch a DVD and boom, the display screen initializes and I get the first screen cap below; MC 16 has a problem & needs to close.  I tried other DVDs and the same for every one, MC crashes.  Sometimes it plays a few ms of sound, sometimes it's silent, but it crashes on any of my DVDs.

Here's a screen cap of the error message
https://picasaweb.google.com/lhwidget1/September32011#5648347867927731250

System:        i7 860 Lynnfield in Asus P755D MB with 4 GB RAM
Graphics:      Nvidia GeForce 9800 GTX+,  driver; Nvidia v191.07
Sound Card:  EMU 1212, using the ASIO driver for MC 16 sound
OS:             XP Pro, SP3, DirectX v9.0c

Running RO without Hardware Acc, CPU usage ≈ 3-5%
Running RO with Hardware Acc, CPU usage ≈ 1-2%

Running RO HD without Hardware Acc, CPU usage ≈ 10-17%
Running RO HD with Hardware Acc, CPU usage ≈ 3-5%

All media is kept on a WHS v1 machine.  The media is played from shares on my WHS using drives mapped to Music, Video, and Pictures shares.  My DVDs are mostly ripped as main movies to folders with .IFO and VOBs.


After tinkering and experimenting (a lot, about 15 un-install/reinstalls) I have finally found the following sequence of events to be repeatable:

1)  Bk-Up Library
2)  Un-install MC16
3)  Reboot
4)  Re-install MC16
5)  Restore Library
6)  Play a DVD, RO (either std or HQ, they both do it) does its stuff and the DVD plays.  Audio & video are fine.
7)  Play a Bluray, again RO (both versions) does its stuff and the Bluray plays. Audio & video are fine.
8)  Play any combination of waves, mp3s, internet radio stations, DVDs, or Blurays, everything works as it should.
9)  Exit the program.
10) Open MC 16
11) Play audio file, no problem.
12) Play Bluray, no problem.
13) Play DVD, crash.
14) Re-open MC 16, play anything but a DVD, no problem.
15) Play a DVD, crash.

This problem happens with RO std, RO HQ, Hardware Acc on, or off, all four cases.

For what it's worth, DVD playback in MC 15 was fine through ASIO output with the EMU card.  I used TMT3 for Bluray playback.

It actually appears to be a sound problem, at least quartz.dll v6.5.2600.5933 seems to be the faulting application.  When I play a DVD with sound at the very beginning of the file, I'll hear a few milliseconds of sound before play back stops.  The crash dialog is already on the screen.

Here's a screen cap of the first info screen of the error message
https://picasaweb.google.com/lhwidget1/September32011#5648347924368672482

I'm ready to look anywhere, and try anything, but I need people with way more technical experience than I have for guidance.

I have log files of a successful DVD playback and a DVD playback failure if needed.

Thanks for reading, and I hope to hear back soon.

[JimH]

I don't know what the problem is, but you could try these:

Get the latest build from the top of this board.

Change the audio settings under Video.

Update whatever is used to read the disc.  AnyDVD HD, for example.

Try a different drive.

Try other discs.

Check the "Weird Problems" thread in my signature for other ideas.

[lhwidget]

Sorry Jim, out of everything I posted, I forgot to include that this is v16.0.168.

It also crashes as described using Direct Sound & Kernel Streaming sound outputs.

I use DVDFab, updated almost every time I open it.

I'll get to the different drive in a moment.

I've tried many different DVDs, some ripped 2-3 years ago, some ripped a few weeks ago.  All play before the program is closed, all cause the crash after closing MC and reopening it.


About trying the ripped DVD files on a different drive:
I moved a couple of DVDs to my desktop and they played!  Tried them by double clicking on the VIDEO_TS.IFO file with MC closed or running, either way, MC either launched and played the file, or just started playing the file.

After doing this a couple of times, I tried a DVD on the server.  It played fine!

Closed & reopened MC, problem's back...

Now for more weirdness:
I tried putting the DVD on my desktop in the library.  I tag [Name]--[Series]--[Disk #] properties from the filename, so I renamed the folder holding the DVD so the library could display both locations without getting confused. When I tried to play the DVD on my desktop from the library I got this error from MC 16:

https://picasaweb.google.com/lhwidget1/September32011#5648539300977271778

I deleted the entry from my library, then tried to play a DVD on my server and guess what, it played.  Tried several others, they all worked.

I closed MC 16, started it again, and DVDs on the server played.  I tried closing and starting MC 16 several times and it continued to work.

I started to get excited about this small victory and rebooted my PC to make sure everything stayed stuck in a working configuration.  No joy, the problem was back on the first DVD I tried to play from the server.

I then tried double-clicking on the .IFO file for the DVD on my desktop.  Got the error above on the first try, it played on the second try.

MC then played any DVD on my server I tried.

Through all of this, audio and Bluray files continue to play without problems.

I tried this several times, it's repeatable:
1) Boot PC
2) Launch MC
3) Play a DVD on the server - crash
4) Double click on the .IFO for the DVD on my desktop - DVD plays
5) Play any DVD on the server, they all play fine
6) Play Bluray or audio files, return to a DVD, still plays fine.
7) Close MC
8) Reopen MC and try a DVD on the server - crash
9) Repeat 4), then MC can play DVDs on the server wothout problems.

While the program crash error message from windows is always the same (faulting module is always quartz.dll), it seems like some file association is being made or some file is being located on the fly with the double-click on the .IFO file, not really an audio problem, but that Windows can't make a connection somewhere in the playback chain until the double-click is made.  Also, with a fresh install, on the first run of the program, this association (or whatever it is) is made and works until the program is closed.

In the screen cap below,
https://picasaweb.google.com/lhwidget1/September32011#5648347867927731250
notice that * Locating message from MC 16 at the bottom of the screen shot?  It keeps pulsing after the error message from windows.

Also, this association (or whatever it is) is made when an .IFO file on the local machine is double-clicked and only lasts while the MC 16 app is loaded.  It dies every time I close MC or reboot.

I noticed that MC 16 displays the .IFO files with a funny alias V:\The A Team\VIDEO_TS.dvd;1   I never noticed this and have no idea if it's normal...
https://picasaweb.google.com/lhwidget1/September32011#5648539354634831986

[JimH]

So a ripped DVD plays on another machine.  That's good.

And a DVD disc plays on the problem machine.

Maybe you've said, but here are the possibilities I can think of.

DVDFab is mixed up.  It's not needed for MC to play a DVD.

Some "security" software is stepping in.  The "Weird Problems" thread has some of those.

If you have more than one hard disk, try copying the file to the other disk.

Have you set bitstreaming to none under Video?

[lhwidget]

So a ripped DVD plays on another machine.  That's good.

And a DVD disc plays on the problem machine.

Maybe you've said, but here are the possibilities I can think of.

DVDFab is mixed up.  It's not needed for MC to play a DVD.

Some "security" software is stepping in.  The "Weird Problems" thread has some of those.

If you have more than one hard disk, try copying the file to the other disk.

Have you set bitstreaming to none under Video?

I'm playing ripped content only.  I use DVDFab for ripping Blurays & DVDs.  I don't use DVDFab's Passkey app at all.

I only use Malwarebytes for daily scans, I don't use any "real time" anti virus software.

Bitstreaming is off.

[lhwidget]

OK, I finally figured some of the problem out...

When I install MC 16, it offers to make:
1) A start menu entry
2) A desktop shortcut
3) A Quick Launch shortcut.

For about 25 installations, I kept telling it skip the desktop shortcut.

I started using the express installation option which created a desktop icon. 

At some point I launched MC with the desktop icon, and the problem went away.


I played with security settings/permissions for the various shortcuts and could find no differences, no matter how deep I looked.  I created a shortcut the simplest way possible (right click the program file, drag to my desktop, release and select "create shortcut"), and it worked.


If I use the icon in the start menu, MC 16 crashes when I play a DVD, everything else works.

If the MC icon in the Quick Launch bar is showing in the pane in the Task Bar, I have the problem.

If I move the icon to the extended pane that pops up, MC 16 runs without the problem.

If I open Explorer and navigate to the shortcuts in the Quick Launch Bar & double-click the shortcut, MC 16 plays DVDs without the problem.

If I navigate to the start menu and double-click the MC 16 icon in the JRiver Media Center folder, I have the problem.

Right now, I've moved the icon in the Quick Launch Bar so I have to click on the "more icons" button and display the little pop-up menu to get to it.  Only when I start MC 16 with this icon, in this position, or from a shortcut created on my desktop will MC 16 run without crashing when I play a DVD.

This Doesn't Work
https://picasaweb.google.com/lhwidget1/September32011#5648723455559086754

This Works
https://picasaweb.google.com/lhwidget1/September32011#5648723524288127490

I swear to God on a stack of Bibles, this is really all that I am doing to make the program work.


I decided to try a test account on the same computer.  I made a new user, test, on both the PC and the server.
I logged on as test.
I mapped the shares to the same drive letters as my main user account.
I started MC 16 (installed for all users), and restored my library backup.
I made a shortcut and placed it in the Quick Launch Bar.
MC 16 works fine when user test launches the program from the Quick Launch Bar.

User test has restricted rights.  My user account has Administrator's rights.

I feel like it is somehow related to security settings/permissions, but the permissions are the same on all of the shortcuts being used in my regular user account.


It's more of a subtle mystery now than a real problem, but I'd love to hear any ideas.

[fitbrit]

Here's a long shot... did you uninstall MC15? If not, do so and see if it still gives you trouble.

[JimH]

Microsoft Security Essentials?

[lhwidget]

Here's a long shot... did you uninstall MC15? If not, do so and see if it still gives you trouble.

I did, both 15 & 16, then searched the Registry for leftovers, I only found 2 instances and deleted them.  I missed the license entry though, I'm still registered.

[lhwidget]

Microsoft Security Essentials?

Never installed them, and the firewall is off on the server & all PCs.

[Visth]

to me this sounds like a variation of the problem that I am having. For me, the file will eventually play, but not until MC has been waiting for 90 seconds exhausting some kind of search for a file to play. It then gives up, and just plays. I am going to look into starting MC from different locations. Would be a hoot if that was the solution. I will report back.