TV catchup/playback get stuck in a loop

Discussion of getting WMC to work on Windows 10 (unsupported)
technodevotee

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TV catchup/playback get stuck in a loop

#1

Post by technodevotee » Sun Mar 26, 2017 11:48 am

Anyone know how to resolve this problem please?

Playback gets hung in a loop of a few milliseconds of video if I fast forward or rewind a few times and the only way out of it is to exit WMC and restart it.

It seems to happen most often when getting near to the point of switching from catch-up to 'live' but it also happens when playing a previously recorded programme.

For example; I go and put the kettle on while adverts are showing but when I return, I have missed the program restarting, so I press rewind on the remote but because I went back too far I press fast forward then when I press the play button instead of playing normally, the same few milliseconds of video are playing over and over.

(Also posted on MDL)

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Crash2009

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#2

Post by Crash2009 » Sun Mar 26, 2017 3:14 pm

technodevotee wrote:Anyone know how to resolve this problem please?
When I first read your post, the first thing that came to my mind (likely because you mentioned kettle) was a vision of "stirring the cream into the tea". When changing directions there is a certain amount of confusion prior to getting the stir to flow in a new direction.

To apply this mental picture to WMC, I believe that the workaround was using pause, skip, and play. It has been awhile since I read that, but I think the way they did it was skip-skip-pause or skip-skip-play-then pause. Each skip skipped 30 seconds of the commercial. There might be a RegEdit to adjust the length of time in the skip....example...15 second or 30 second "skip interval".

There is also the automatic version, using software "such as" ComSkip.

search skip interval.....there is lots written on it here

Here is one to get you started...

http://www.thegreenbutton.tv/forums/vie ... 934#p76934

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Crash2009

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#3

Post by Crash2009 » Sun Mar 26, 2017 4:21 pm


technodevotee

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#4

Post by technodevotee » Sun Mar 26, 2017 10:03 pm

yeah. thanks. I knew there was something like that.

Thing is I've been using Media Center since Windows XP. I was using DVRMST with comskip when I had Vista but didn't install it on Windows 7 and skipped Windows 8 altogether.

To the best of my recollection, I never had this happen until I started using Windows 10.

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Crash2009

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#5

Post by Crash2009 » Sun Mar 26, 2017 11:29 pm

technodevotee wrote:To the best of my recollection, I never had this happen until I started using Windows 10.
I skipped 8 as well. You might be correct about this being a Win10/Win8 thing. I don't have the Microsoft WMC Version Numbers in front of me at the moment, but I believe the MS-WMC Version is the one from Win8.1

There are a few features that were removed compared to Win7. This FF RW problem might be another one for the list.

Yep, here is the pic....
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WMC_SoftwareVersion001.JPG

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#6

Post by DaveInPa » Mon Mar 27, 2017 12:34 pm

I don't think this is a Windows 10 problem. Cablecard users have been seeing this problem on certain video cards since the cable companies switched to the h.264 format.

There is another thread where users share which cards don't have this problem. FWIW, I recommend avoiding the fast forward. Skipping seems to cause the problem less on my system. Also, avoid multiple quick keypresses.

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#7

Post by technodevotee » Mon Mar 27, 2017 2:30 pm

Thanks guys - maybe it is simply the way windows handles the file format then. I have seen similar problems in Media Player and VLC when playing certain formats. It seems very hit and miss which players will play what doesn't it. Even when you have various codecs installed some play one thing perfectly but not another.

I'll try pressing pause when I pop out of the room then.

I've been playing with ad skipping on a spare Windows 10 PC but while showanalyzer works fine, DTBAddin (1.0.0.9) won't load saying it is an invalid application. Hardly surprising really but I had to be try didn't I. Maybe someone brighter than me will figure it out one day.

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Crash2009

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#8

Post by Crash2009 » Mon Mar 27, 2017 4:24 pm

technodevotee wrote:DTBAddin (1.0.0.9) won't load saying it is an invalid application. Hardly surprising really but I had to be try didn't I. Maybe someone brighter than me will figure it out one day.
I don't know how to do it either, but maybe someone else knows how to somehow register DTBAddin in a way similar to registermceapp.exe

T-S registered this Ceton Echo installer so that it would run on Win10.

https://forums.mydigitallife.info/threa ... ost1245203

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#9

Post by technodevotee » Mon Mar 27, 2017 5:12 pm

I think that would only work if WMC can't see the addin?

MCE sees it but won't run it, offers to disable it.

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#10

Post by technodevotee » Tue Mar 28, 2017 12:03 pm

Update:

I have got DTBAddin working.

While the issue wasn't a simple matter of re-registering the addin in Media Center, your post put me on the right track.

Thanks Crash!

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#11

Post by Crash2009 » Tue Mar 28, 2017 2:32 pm

When I get stuck, I usually give the project to my 5 year old. What did you do?

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#12

Post by technodevotee » Tue Mar 28, 2017 9:36 pm

When I looked at the registration XML file I realised that the key was different to the one for my version.

This led me to realise that, because I had needed to create a new SNK file when I compiled the package using the source code I'd downloaded from the Sourceforge repository, I hadn't updated the key in the registration XML file or the installer.

Once I had done that, I removed and re-installed DTBAddin and it started working.

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#13

Post by Crash2009 » Wed Mar 29, 2017 12:43 am

Are you planning to use DTBAddin to solve the FF RW problem?

One of those links I posted had some pretty good remote button combo's:

Barnabus posted this one.

FFWD=Fast Forward. I think Pixelz means the skip-forward button.

As stated previously, no matter what your skip interval is set to, the following sequences result in the following things to happen. In each example, HH = 2-digit hour, MM = 2-digit minute, SS = 2-digit seconds, NN = any number. The first leading zero can be omitted. So, for 8 minutes, you can enter 800 or 0800.

FFWD=Fast Forward
RWD=Rewind
SKIP=Skip-forward
REPLAY=Skip-backward

HHMM,PLAY - results in jumping to the exact hour/minute mark in a recording. You can do this to jump to a specific time in the live TV buffer also, but in this case you enter HHMM as the time of day where you want to jump in the buffer (but never further back than the beginning of the buffer). Examples: 45,PLAY will jump to the 45 minute mark in the recording. 830,PLAY will jump to 8:30 in the live TV buffer.

MMSS,FFWD - jumps forward from the current position the specified minutes/seconds. Example: If you are currently watching at the 5 minute mark, and you want to jump forward 15 minutes (landing on the 20 minute mark), you would enter 1500,FFWD.

MMSS,RWD - jumps backward from the current position the specified minutes/seconds. Works same as FFWD example above.

NN,SKIP - skips forward NN times the skip-forward interval (default 29 seconds).

NN,REPLAY - skips backward NN times the skip-backward interval (default 7 seconds).

While the video is paused, you can also do these things:

FFWD - slow motion forward direction. Repeatedly pressing FFWD changes the slow motion speed.
RWD - slow motion backward direction.
SKIP - jump forward a frame.
REPLAY - jump backward a frame.

Also, if you hold down the SKIP or REPLAY buttons, you will see a small image of the current frame at the bottom of the screen near the timeline. Once it is displayed, you can repeatedly press SKIP or REPLAY to find the desired spot in the recording, and then press PLAY to resume playback at that location.

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#14

Post by Crash2009 » Wed Mar 29, 2017 12:44 am

Also in that post....someone mentioned "Trick Play"

Media Center Trick Play Functionality

Many Media Center users have taken advantage of the ability to receive broadcast television shows with VCR-like functions such as pause, rewind, fast forward, replay and skip, collectively known as 'trick play', all while rendering a live video stream.

These functions are all easily accessible via the Media Center Remote, as the buttons are all quite clearly marked. For example, you can skip forward 29 seconds by pressing the Skip button, you can skip backwards 7 seconds by pressing the Replay button, or you can Rewind or Fast Forward at multiple speeds via repeated presses of the Rew or Fwd buttons.

However, there are trick play functions that might not be so obvious. Media Center offers three additional trick play modes, including frame by frame advance and slow motion advance.

How do you access these modes while watching Live or Recorded TV?

Advanced Trick Play Functionality
•Frame by Frame advance (forward) ◦Press the Pause button, then hit Skip button

•Frame by Frame advance (backward) ◦Press the Pause button, then hit Replay button

•Slow motion advance (forward) ◦Press the Pause button, then hit Fwd button


These advanced trick play functions are great for sports (such as the reviewing offside calls or dives at the World Cup) and I am sure you can find other ways to use this function. These functions work in both Media Center 2005 and Vista. In addition, the keyboard shortcuts for Skip, Replay and Fwd, once the Live/Recorded TV is paused, will do the same thing. See here for a list of Media Center 2005 keyboard shortcuts.

Note that the above three trick play functions are not available on Media Center Extenders and the Xbox Media Center Extender or the Xbox 360 Media Center Extender.

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#15

Post by Crash2009 » Wed Mar 29, 2017 3:05 am

technodevotee wrote:When I looked at the registration XML file I realised that the key was different to the one for my version.

This led me to realise that, because I had needed to create a new SNK file when I compiled the package using the source code I'd downloaded from the Sourceforge repository, I hadn't updated the key in the registration XML file or the installer.

Once I had done that, I removed and re-installed DTBAddin and it started working.
I see why you hesitated in telling us. I had to read it 3 times to comprehend that the new version wouldn't run using the old versions key.

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#16

Post by technodevotee » Wed Mar 29, 2017 11:05 am

It wasn't so much the version because the new version installer probably works for anyone who managed to download it.

But I downloaded the source code and recompiled it in Visual Studio and, because there isn't one included I had to create a new SNK file, the installation files had to be changed to match the public key token of the DLLs in my build.

Thanks for the info about trick play modes - I had forgotten most of them existed.

I've already hit the 'database locked' error in Showanalyzer and can't find the version where that was fixed anywhere. I know I had it somewhere because I was using it before but it seems to have disappeared off my server.

While it is working pretty well, I do have a small problem with DTBaddin and that is the key assignments: The default key to enable and disable skipping is the down arrow but on my PC, I have to use the down arrow to wake the keyboard. So every time I press down arrow while watching a recording, it turns off DTBaddin.

I have found where it is set but don't know what format the key assignments take. I've tried changing them but it just disables the addin. Seems like the next project.

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#17

Post by Space » Wed Mar 29, 2017 3:10 pm

I've set my 1, 2, and 3 keys to be commercial skip back, enable/disable commercial skipping, and commercial skip forward.
I use the "clear" key on the remote to disable this functionality (for 30 seconds) in order to enter the numbers 1, 2 or 3 when entering a channel change or "trick play" commands.

I used to use the back, down, and forward arrows to do this, but found 1, 2, 3, to be less obtrusive, and can now more easily use the arrows for what they were intended.

If I remember correctly, changing these settings is fairly easy, you just need to select the correct key code for the key on the remote that you want to use.

Note that I use the "free" version of DTBAddin, as I found the changes made to the "early access" one to be a downgrade. They made it more like DVD controls which makes no sense to me since a commercial block is not something you normally want to watch, whereas DVD controls are for jumping to section that you do want to watch.

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#18

Post by technodevotee » Wed Mar 29, 2017 3:46 pm

@space:
I agree with you about the latest choice of buttons - quite apart from needing Down arrow to wake my keyboard, the other arrow buttons are too useful to hijack for use skipping ads.

I was trying to use the less than, greater than and slash keys as I can't see them getting a lot of use while watching TV and found where they are set, but every time I change any of them, MC refuses to load the addin.

I may try using 123 for now.

Which version of Windows are you running?

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#19

Post by Space » Wed Mar 29, 2017 3:50 pm

I'm running Win7, so maybe win10 has issues...

I am using an MCE remote, so I have limited options as to what keys I can use for various functions.

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#20

Post by technodevotee » Wed Mar 29, 2017 4:05 pm

Yes, I recently put the old version on Windows 7 as a test but I think the latest version is required for Windows 8.1 and Windows 10.

I have a couple of remotes but I tend to just use the keyboard these days because they don't work very well due to there not being a nice clear path between where I sit and the PC.

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