AVI & MP4 playback trouble

[kckuhns]

Ok, this problem started happening a few weeks ago. I've googled and can't seem to find anyone having similar issues.

Whenever I watch something I've recorded (under Recorded TV), it works fine. It records fine, and plays back just fine, too. However, after having watched something that was recorded, WMC won't play other types of files. For example, I go in to my video library and try to play anything (these are either avi or mp4 files), it won't play. When I click on a file, it plays the little sound to indicate that I've selected it, but it just never begins playing. I can continue to navigate around menus, etc, but it won't play anything else. I have to exit from media center back to desktop and re-launch it before it'll play "regular" files again.

Something else that's odd about this is that it does the same thing if I attempt the same steps on my xbox 360 (which is set up as a media center extender.)

One more thing I just remembered - once I go in to Recorded TV, I don't actually need to *play* a recorded TV show, I just need to interact with it for the problem to happen. For example, I can go in to Recorded TV, delete a recorded show, and then the problem with the other media files happens (both on the 360's MC interface and on the WMC computer itself.) The problem once again won't correct itself until I exit media center (back to desktop on the PC, back to dashboard on Xbox 360) and launch WMC again.

Here's the info on my media center computer, TV tuner, etc:

Here is the actual computer that is my WMC
It has 4GB RAM and a 64gig SSD as it's boot drive
I have a 1TB external USB 3.0 hard drive that is dedicated to recorded TV storage
The TV tuner is a Silicon Dust HD Homerun dual tuner (I don't have the model number handy at the moment, I can add it later.) It is a networked unit that is hooked to an OTA HD antenna

This is running on Windows 7 Pro 64 bit.

My "other" media files are stored on a server elsewhere on my network. This whole setup has worked flawlessly for quite a while. This comptuer is dedicated as a media center. It isn't used for any other task.

If anyone has any suggestions, I would love to hear them. Thanks!

[barnabas1969]

I asked the OP to post his question here. His original question was posted to sevenforums.com. Here are the other replies to that thread:

That's a tough one. Do you have any codec packs installed? Have you tried moving your "other" media files to a local storage drive?

You might want to go post your question on TheGreenButton.

I did have a codec pack installed to allow me to play .mkv files on my media center computer, but that's been there and unchanged since February of this year.

I have not yet tried moving any of my avi's or mp4's to one of the local drives. I'll try that to see if I continue to have the same problem. The shared drive mapped to my server at home, though, is another of those things that has been set up and working since I set this unit up.

One time, I did have a corrupt file that was causing issues - it would cause MC to crash to desktop. I found and removed the offending avi file and that cleared it up.

Other than that, this machine is pretty much unchanging. The only changes that happen to it are windows updates and antivirus definition updates.

Thanks for the tips. I'll also checkout TheGreenButton.

[Shark007]

I did have a codec pack installed to allow me to play .mkv files on my media center computer, but that's been there and unchanged since February of this year.

If you have the Shark007 codecs installed, I suggest uninstalling that old release and installing current releases from MajorGeeks. Be sure to check the [x] SUGGESTED settings checkbox for MKV playback in the Windows players. For the AVi files, I suggest that you disable the DMO codecs on the SWAP TAB. I also suggest that you disable the Microsoft Audio decdoer but that may cause issues with copy protected LiveTV channels. For the MP4 files I suggest that you go to the MPG~MP4 TAB and disable Media Foundation for MP4.

[kckuhns]

Well, I've tried all of the suggestions offered by barnabas1969 and shark007 (thanks, btw...)

I copied an mp4 down to the local hard drive. It played just fine, so I stopped it. Then I went in to "recorded TV" and played something. Stopped, went back to the video I copied to the local drive, and it wouldn't play. It would let me click on it, give me the acknowledgement tone to indicate that I had clicked on it, but it would never play.

I had to quit WMC and re-launch before any non "recorded tv" video would launch.

My hope was that someone had seen this problem before, but I suppose if that were the case, I would have found something when I was googling for answers.

I'm wide open to suggestions. I'm almost to the point where I just want to wipe & re-install, but I would love to avoid that if possible. Thanks for any help!

[barnabas1969]

For starters, what codec pack(s) are you using?

[kckuhns]

The only codec pack installed now is the latest Shark007 pack.

[Shark007]

Have you disabled UAC? (lowered the setting from Default?)

[kckuhns]

Have you disabled UAC? (lowered the setting from Default?)

No, I haven't, but I have never messed with the UAC settings at all. Plus, I haven't seen any UAC pop ups. I'll check it out to see if it makes a difference, though.

[Shark007]

Have you disabled UAC? (lowered the setting from Default?)

No, I haven't, but I have never messed with the UAC settings at all. Plus, I haven't seen any UAC pop ups. I'll check it out to see if it makes a difference, though.

My post was NOT to suggest lowering it.
It was to enquire if you had because doing so is often the cause of issues like yours.

[kckuhns]

My post was NOT to suggest lowering it.
It was to enquire if you had because doing so is often the cause of issues like yours.

Oh OK. We'll, I tried it anyway with no effect. I put it back to the default settings.

[Shark007]

I've read elsewhere that sometimes the folder access permissions where the file is being played from get screwed up which can cause playback problems like yours. Adding 'Everyone' to the permissions list seems to solve it.
A walk-through for you,
rightclick the folder containing the files, choose properties, click the security tab, click Edit, click Add, click Advanced, click Find Now
scroll the list and select 'Everyone', click Ok, click OK, check the box for Full Control [x], click Apply

[whitesoxrob]

kckuhns, did you ever get this figured out? I'm having a similar issue. My avis or mp4s won't play sometimes. When I select play in MediaBrowser Classic in WMC nothing happens. I discovered that if I encounter this issue, I can workaround the problem by switching to the recorded TV shows menu in WMC, selecting a show, playing it for a second, stopping, and returning to MediaBrowser Classic then fixes the issue. I am using Shark's codecs.

[Shark007]

I am using Shark's codecs.

There is a setting on the Shark007 AVI TAB to disable Media Foundation for AVI files.
Give that a try to fix your AVI files.

There is a similar selection for MP4 files on the MPG~MP4 TAB of the ADVANCED Codecs.
If using the STANDARD Codecs, this MP4 checkbox is on the Windows SWAP TAB instead.

Using either of these checkboxes will allow the usage of the LAV filters for playback.

[whitesoxrob]

Thanks for the help Shark. I used your suggested settings (from the checkbox and that you posted above) and on the first try I was able to play an AVI in MediaBrowser through WMC. I then stopped and moved to an MP4 and selected play. Nothing happened at this point. I then went back to see if I could still play the AVI and nothing happened there either. I was able to get the videos to play using the workaround method I wrote about above (go to recorded tv, play show, stop, go back to MediaBrowser). Any other ideas?

[Shark007]

...go back to MediaBrowser). Any other ideas?

My solutions work for the actual MediaCenter Player (ehshell.exe)
I am not familiar with newer versions of MediaBrowser (3?), but maybe it is using a player (and settings) of its own.