Xvid Stopped Working on HD100

[orrd]

At some point my Xvid (AVI) videos stopped working on my HD100. The funny thing is I know it used to work, and I can't figure out what changed. I did just upgrade to the 20080710 beta firmware, but I thought it was working under that one too but I can't recall if I tested it or not after I upgraded. I also upgraded the server to 6.4.5.179.

Attempting to play a video causes it to freeze up for a bit and eventually either produce an error ("sage.PlaybackException"), and then strangely... it will often go to live TV. My recorded shows still play, and I can also play my ".ts" movies. MP3s also aren't playing (same error).

Is there some sort of a configuration problem with Sage that would make it do this? It can't be a codec problem since I'm using the extender right?

[orrd]

What happened?? Why are there no replies to this thread? My XVID movie collection used to play on one of the older firmware versions, but no longer does. I'm using the latest software on both (SageTV V6.4.8 Release Candidate and firmware "20080812 0".

[evilpenguin]

Can you download mediaInfo, run it on one of your xvid videos, and then post the results so we can see exactly what kind of videos aren't working for you?

[Opus4]

Originally Posted by orrd

What happened?? Why are there no replies to this thread?

You posted this back in July... you should have contacted SageTV about it during the beta. If you haven't done so already, you should do it now.

- Andy

[orrd]

Thanks for the replies. I didn't contact Sage about the issue with the Beta because playing DivX / Xvid movies is one of the most popular uses for an HD Extender, so I assumed Sage would already be aware of any issues related to DivX / Xvid playback.

By the way, I also just noticed that in the Online section, videos such as YouTube videos cause the same problems (either a freeze, sage.PlaybackException, or it returns to live TV). But Google Videos do play ok! How can that be?? Playback of recorded TV works as well.

Is it possible I have a defective Extender?

(Update: I'm using Vista to run SageTV by the way in case that makes any difference.)

[hornsounder]

i have the same problem ,. a lot of xvid and x264 wont play anymore, but they worked before. i checked them already if the files have bad frames.

[bcjenkins]

Stop sagetv/services edit Sage.properties and find this line:

force_full_content_reindex=false

change to

force_full_content_reindex=true

and restart. This will make SageTV redetect the video and may help. Also, it is my experience that if you assume someone else reported it, someone else likely assumed you did

B

PS - Make sure you're on the latest firmware too

[orrd]

I tried the force_full_content_reindex flag but it didn't help. I don't think that would explain why YouTube videos aren't playing anyway. I do have the latest firmware.

I still can't imagine SageTV wouldn't be aware if there was a problem this big that everyone was having. I'm sure Sage or most users would have noticed if they can't play online content or DivX/Xvid movies. I suspect it's either an issue with my Sage configuration settings, or the Extender is faulty. I sent a support request to Sage about it.

[reggie14]

Has anyone else had experiences that would support or dispute this claimed problem? I'd kind of like to update to Sage v6.4 (and the new firmware) to see if some H.264 files I have will actually play back correctly before I get on Sage's case again, but I don't want to do that if a bunch of other mpeg4 videos are going to stop working.

[bcjenkins]

I don't mind confirming an issue, but frankly I don't use SageTV for online videos or avis. Please submit some fail cases to the thread for online and I will confirm.

B

[orrd]

I just discovered that the extender works fine if I run Sage as a program instead of a service. Does that make any sense? The service is running as the same user that I'm using when I run the program directly. (This is under Vista.)

[evilpenguin]

Are the video stored on a network drive? If so if you run the service as a user which doesn't have network privileges you won't be able to access them. I'm not 100% sure how Vista handles user privileges, but make sure that your account actually has full administrator access.

[orrd]

No, it's not that. They aren't on a network drive and it's running as a user with network permissions anyway.

[orrd]

For the benefit of anyone experiencing the same problem, it turns out that the problem was caused by port 7818 being blocked (I did have 31099 open). It worked once I opened port 7818. Thanks for Sage support for that suggestion.

[orrd]

That port should be open in the firewall of your Sage server computer. You could also try turning off the firewall completely for a bit to see if that helps. You shouldn't need to open that port on your router because it doesn't need to communicate with the outside world, just within your own network.

Does it work when Sage is running normally (not as a service)? That was the case for me, it was only the service that was having problems. Live TV and Sage recordings were always playing fine for me, so you may be having a different problem.