Media playback error

[dgrant]

Another quick thought, I seem to remember issues like this with the "background" picture in the preview. Not sure that I'm positive on that, but its something to check.

[dgander]

I am still on 5.6.8 but what you all are describing sounds like a memory handler issue possibly. Either the program isn't managing memory well OR maybe there's a memory swapdrive issue that isn't playing well. The only other issue I have seen that emulates this behavior is firewall and virus protection running. For those of you having this issue, have you made sure windows firewall is completely disabled and no virus scanning software is install. This includes defender. Those are all easy to disable quickly just to make sure they aren't causing memory handler issues. Just thinking out loud.

[Kyle Whitaker]

All,

I noticed that using Windows Explorer to open the media location that it took a while to refresh the list of files. I thought maybe LOR might "randomly" get a Media Error if the program also had a hard time quickly accessing the file. Obviously I have no idea if LOR access the files like Windows Explorer. I moved a bunch of unused media files and 100MB+ files to another folder and now Windows Explorer refreshes quickly. Since the error is "random" I won't really know if that fixes the problem unless it doesn't happen for days.  Does anyone else who gets the media error have a lot of files in the C:/LOR/Audio (or C:/LOR/Video in my case) and when opening the folder in Windows Explorer notice that it takes a few seconds to refresh and list the files?

[Crimson Lane Lights Etown]

Continuing to experience this event oxC00D11B1.  Although random and not daily.  I had turned off virus protection, defender and the firewall as suggested.  I will be turning those back on as I use a Surface Win10 Home wifi and my iphone 8 wifi to monitor sequences being played.  I have just over 1.4GB of audio in the LOR Audio file. I use most of that in my daily shows and will not be moving audio to any other file location.  But I will keep an eye on any other developments regarding that. 

[Kyle Whitaker]

Crimson Lane Lights,

Does it "randomly" happen to the same sequence?

[k6ccc]

Since I'm the one who started this thread, here is an update.

Because I use MIIP which so far can't be used with S6, my show computer was downgraded to S5.6.10 in early November.  It has worked perfectly for the entire show season.  That would include several weeks playing the year round l;andscape lighting, and now 24 nights of the Christmas show.

Unlike when I originally reported the problem, when running the Christmas show on the dedicated show computer, I am using a mapped network drive on a different computer (my file server).  When I originally reported this problem, I was running the year round landscape show on the file server.  So although the LOR files were saved on a mapped network drive, that drive was actually on the same computer.

So this issue definitely appears to be S6 related.

 

[Kyle Whitaker]

Jim,

I find it hard to believe that it is not related to S6; however, the response that I have received from LOR support is that it's a Windows Media Player problem. I have tried quite a few changes to see if they could possibly help.

Removed the sequence that would get the error and then "lock up" the show.

The sequence that I replaced it with then got the error 2 different days/times but it skipped it instead of "locking up" the show. 

For the new sequence I recreated the video file. 

Fixed 2 file references.

Noticed that my c:/LOR/video/ folder (most people use c:/LOR audio) was full of huge files so using Windows File Explorer it would take a few seconds to refresh the file list. Thought MAYBE LOR could have an issue with that so I moved a bunch of the video files out of that folder that were not being used so that File Explorer would "instantly" list the files.

After those changes I THINK I got the error 1 more time but when you keep making changes the timeline may have gotten messed up in my head.

Final change, I created the show (identical sequences etc) from scratch so that it wouldn't be using one that imported over from S5 or S4 originally.  Since then I have not had the error for 3 days.  Since the error is "random" I can't say that it is fixed yet since it originally would happen about 1 time a night every 3-4 days. I am keeping my fingers crossed....

[k6ccc]

4 minutes ago, Kyle Whitaker said:

I find it hard to believe that it is not related to S6; however, the response that I have received from LOR support is that it's a Windows Media Player problem. I have tried quite a few changes to see if they could possibly help.

Sounds like one of those famous finger pointing issues - it's your fault, no it's your fault.  And the possibility certain exists that Microsoft made some change in WMP, but if that's the case, it's clear that S6 is not handling the change as well as S5 did.

Intermittent problems can be such a pain to find!

 

[Crimson Lane Lights Etown]

2 hours ago, Kyle Whitaker said:

Crimson Lane Lights,

Does it "randomly" happen to the same sequence?

Kyle, different sequences, different times, not everyday.  

All of my audio has been through audacity, MP3 and 192kbps.

Merry Christmas

[Kyle Whitaker]

Crimson Lane Lights,

Are you running a show that was created under S5?  Creating my show again from scratch in S6 was a long shot but....

 

[Crimson Lane Lights Etown]

1 hour ago, Kyle Whitaker said:

Crimson Lane Lights,

Are you running a show that was created under S5?  Creating my show again from scratch in S6 was a long shot but....

 

Yes, originally created under S4.  Through S5. Now S6.  I will add that if you just 'save as'  using the same name, you should be updated in S6. Also, my default music player is not even Windows Media Player, it is Groove Music.  But I don't really use that.  I can choose Windows Media Player but have never opened it up. All my show and sequence audio is stored in LOR Audio folder. 

[MattBrown]

We are working on this issue. I have personally seen it in the S6 Sequencer, and in the S6 Control Panel playing a show with MP4 videos.

In version 6.1.6, the Control Panel tries to recover from media errors by closing the media player and then opening a new one. Kyle has provided examples where this mechanism worked and where it didn't quite (still had to press skip to continue the show).

With an intermittent error like this, the obvious impediment is trying to reproduce it reliably so you know when it is fixed. That is what is being worked on right now.

Please keep posting your comments here as they are very helpful.

[k6ccc]

Thanks Matt.  I should be back to my year round landscape lighting show in two weeks at the earliest, but likely a little later than that.  When that happens, I will go back to whatever is the current version of S6 at that time.  Current plan is to continue to operate on the dedicated show computer (using files from the file server) for a couple weeks specifically because of this issue.  Figure this may be a worst case situation.  I can switch back to using the server to play the show whenever that is desired.

I also have the option of leaving the Christmas show up for at least a short while with MIIP not operational and update the show computer to S6 if that is requested.

 

[Kyle Whitaker]

Crimson Lane Lights - I would agree that using save as should save it "as S66".  Obviously I am grasping at straws just i case there is the possibility that something in the show file inexplicably causes an issue.

 

[Kyle Whitaker]

Matt Brown - FYI all of my media files are .wmv files.

[Jimehc]

The new Media Player is specifically built with Windows 11 in mind and it uses WinUI elements, round corners, etc. At the moment, Media Player works only on Windows 11, but it will also arrive on Windows 10 without rounded corners and Mica theme which applies to the app’s background.

Media Player replaces Groove Music

It’s worth noting that the new Media Player would replace the existing Groove Music Player and import all its databases including playlist or your saved media locations automatically once updated.

Remember that the classic Windows Media Player isn’t going anywhere. If you prefer the classic Windows Media Player, you can still enable it from Optional Settings, though it goes without saying that the old Media Player will be removed from the operating system in a future release.

 

[k6ccc]

I would assume that it's the "classic Windows Media Player" that LOR is making use of.

 

[dgrant]

I too had this error last night on a single sequence. Here's the log file entry:

2022-12-20T21:31:21.7243730-06:00    INFO    [PlayerLog]    [0]    Player / Starting Main: C:\Users\dgran.DESKTOP-NFDA18G\Documents\Light-O-Rama\Sequences\Best Christmas Video Ever.loredit
2022-12-20T21:31:21.7294444-06:00    INFO    [LightORama.Tray.MediaPlayerWindow]    [0]    OpenMediaFile: file:///C:/Users/dgran.DESKTOP-NFDA18G/Videos/Best Christmas Video Ever.wmv
2022-12-20T21:31:21.7493920-06:00    WARN    [LightORama.Tray.MediaPlayerWindow]    [0]    MediaElement_MediaFailed: 'file:///C:/Users/dgran.DESKTOP-NFDA18G/Videos/Best Christmas Video Ever.wmv' Error-System.Runtime.InteropServices.COMException (0xC00D11B1): 0xC00D11B1
2022-12-20T21:31:21.7741697-06:00    FAIL    [PlayerLog]    [0]    Player / ERROR playing Best Christmas Video Ever (Media playback error: 0xC00D11B1)
2022-12-20T21:31:21.7741908-06:00    INFO    [PlayerLog]    [0]    Player / Stopping Main: C:\Users\dgran.DESKTOP-NFDA18G\Documents\Light-O-Rama\Sequences\Best Christmas Video Ever.loredit

 

At this instant, I just recompiled the video file referenced which is my media file. Also, I'm running a full AV Scan just in case.

[Kyle Whitaker]

dgrant

Did it move onto the next sequence or "freeze" the show after the error?  I have seen both so I am curious.

 

Kyle

[Kyle Whitaker]

FYI 

Seems like the media error occurs 1 time "randomly" when playing the show (could be the second time thought or 6th time through) after a reboot of the laptop/restarting the LOR Control panel. I am not 100% certain that the restart would always coincide. The first sequence that the errored occurred on would "freeze" the show starting the next sequence and would not start again until I clicked the button on the mobile app to play the next sequence.  This occurred 3-4 times before I removed the sequence from the show.  
The sequence that I replaced it with had the error 1 time; however, that time the next sequence in the queue played without freezing.

I am not saying that any of these make sense that they would help and since the error is random I cannot say that it is "fixed"; however, below are what I have tried and the show has now played 5 days in a row (Show loops through 11 times a night).

Running v6.1.6 Pro
1. Have not rebooted.
2. Have not restarted the LOR Control Panel.
3. Did not close windows media player after it failed the last time and I assume LOR re-launched it but I did have to press FN-F11 to maximize it again (it was full screen but had the - [] X i the corner).
4. Re-created the show from scratch.
5. Fixed references in the replacement sequence.
6. Recreated the media file used by the replacement sequence.
7. Moved the .wmv file used by the replacement sequence to c:/LOR/audio (all other media files used by the other sequences are in c:/LOR/video)
8. Opened every sequence in the show and verified that they were using the same preview and saved the sequence.
9. There were a lot of large sized .wmv files in c:/LOR/video which refreshed the list slowly when using Windows File Explorer so I moved files that not used in the show to c:/LOR/archive so that it would "instantly" refresh.
10. Knocked on wood.