Repeatable MVP problem / black video screen

[User]

I get black video screen on playback every time when I do the following:

either:

1, Go into TV guide and on occassion the MVP reboots.

2, Go into pending recordings guaranteed that the MVP will reboot and it will sometimes come back to main menu or come back in pending recordings.

In both cases if I then try to look at any video, either live or pre recorded the video will be black.

The "fix" that works almost every time is to turn off the MVP and turn it back on and go directly to the video I want to play without going to either place mentioned in 1, and 2. Playback is normal and everything is functional. Occasionally I have to restart the recording service.

If anyone has an idea I would appreciate it.

11/20/2005 1:01:58 PM.871 VERBOSE [65] MVP data read: 1 (4)
11/20/2005 1:01:58 PM.871 VERBOSE [65] User pressed: 19
11/20/2005 1:01:58 PM.933 VERBOSE [65] MVP sending frame
11/20/2005 1:01:59 PM.027 VERBOSE [65] frame sent
11/20/2005 1:01:59 PM.027 VERBOSE [65] MVP request processed
11/20/2005 1:01:59 PM.277 VERBOSE [65] MVP data read: 1 (3)
11/20/2005 1:01:59 PM.277 VERBOSE [65] MVP request processed
11/20/2005 1:01:59 PM.543 VERBOSE [65] MVP data read: 1 (4)
11/20/2005 1:01:59 PM.543 VERBOSE [65] User pressed: 13
11/20/2005 1:01:59 PM.558 VERBOSE [65] RecordingFactory.loadSchedule()
11/20/2005 1:01:59 PM.558 VERBOSE [65] getValue cached value: /settings/AutoRemoveMissingRecordings : true
11/20/2005 1:02:10 PM.058 VERBOSE [65] MVP sending frame
11/20/2005 1:02:10 PM.183 VERBOSE [65] frame sent
11/20/2005 1:02:10 PM.183 VERBOSE [65] MVP request processed
11/20/2005 1:02:10 PM.183 ERROR [65] handleMVPConnection() exception: An established connection was aborted by the software in your host machine
11/20/2005 1:02:10 PM.183 VERBOSE [65] at System.Net.Sockets.Socket.Receive(Byte[] buffer, Int32 offset, Int32 size, SocketFlags socketFlags)
at System.Net.Sockets.Socket.Receive(Byte[] buffer, Int32 size, SocketFlags socketFlags)
at xae10db17d26ba033.xbb1566157f5f8b1f.x3d75adb3418c5c9e()
at xae10db17d26ba033.xbb1566157f5f8b1f.xd3faf5962405de4e()
11/20/2005 1:02:10 PM.183 ERROR [65] MVPWorkerThread - Connection lost, waiting a new one
11/20/2005 1:02:10 PM.996 VERBOSE [65] MVP Control thread waiting connection

[sub]

The MVP expects a response to every keypress within about 8 seconds. In your case it seems these two activities sometimes take longer than this. Below are some things that you could look at that may help.

11/20/2005 1:01:59 PM.558 VERBOSE [65] getValue cached value: /settings/AutoRemoveMissingRecordings : true
11/20/2005 1:02:10 PM.058 VERBOSE [65] MVP sending frame

If you have you EPG configured to have a large number of day EPG data, consider dropping it back to four or five.

If you have a huge number of channels in your EPG, but know there are many you never view (Directv users etc), then consider reconfiguring your zap2it account to exclude those channels, and recreate your capture source.

Other things that can effect the speed of these operations are disk fragmentation, CPU speed, available memory, disk speed. It may be worth investigating these, particularly the disk fragmentation.

[User]

Thanks Sub! You may be right on the mark. I do have Directv and have edited out all the channels I do not get but I have my guide data set for 10 days. I was thinking about knocking that back a few days so your advice confirms my suspicion. Also I have a couple of pages of recurring recordings set up. I will try what you suggest and remove some days of EPG and let you know what happens. Thank you for the quick reply as well as providing PBPVR to the world.

[User]

I noticed that when I went to change my zap2it settings in config that it was showing 4 days of data to collect even though I had set it to 10 previously and have 10 days available in the EPG.
I changed it to 7 and removed a bunch of pay per view and music channels and am updating the guide data now. Will see if it works, if not I will reduce more days. Will post a follow up as to what worked if I get it debugged. Thanks again.

[User]

Per your suggestion Sub I recreated the capture source after I exported my recordings. Thought I would be able to import all the recurring recordings I had but I then saw the export only includes captured recordings, oh well. The good news is that after a zap2it download that I have full error free functionality back on the MVP's! Thanks you very much! Having 10 days of EPG was nice but not at the cost of the problems. Turned out I actually had 14 days of EPG in there somehow even though I set it to 10. I'll have to recreate and remember all the recurring recordings I had set . Current guide data is set to 5 and it looks like the first download got 3 days and when it builds to 5 I will note if the errors return. If it remains error free I will increse it to see what the limit is. Thanks for all the help, I knew the fix would be fairly simple.

[steves]

Sub,

I've too have had this problem on and off...

The original crash (e.g. when pressing guide) I understand, hence recent efforts at emptying EPGs, compacting the database, defragging etc.

However there is still this "bugette", that after one of these "crashes" the MVP
reconnects and menus work again but video playback (or Live TV) doesn't work. (I now have a hotkey configured to kill off the MVP server and restart to fix this..)

On a related note, as you mention the "crashes" are at least partly due to MVPs 8 sec response rule. Is there any chance you could give us slooow MVP users an option for an hour glass screen? I.E. press a button.... GBPVR immediately sends hourglass screen (keeps MVP happy).... GBPVR thinks... GBPVR sends proper screen.

Obviously it'd be an optional thing (other people have powerful enough PCs!).
Maybe the actual hourglass screen could be pregenerated and cached...

It'd certainly improve WAF!

Cheers

Steve

[vitesse pilot]

Hi,

I also had this problem, but it was too many files in the Recordings list. Drove me crazy for a few days until I figured it out. Moved some files out ( no kid needs 100 episodes of the 'Save-ems' and 'Hi Five' constantly on-line ) and it works fine now.

At least I will now know what it is if I see it again.

Cheers, Vit