[anotherkenny]

Hello all, I've been with XBMC for a few generations now, and have joined the forum to discuss possible fixes for a crash.
Thank you very much for looking at my issue!

My issue: Large MKVs from a particular Blu-ray collection crash Kodi.

My system:
OS X 10.9.5 (13F34) (also tried 10.10)
Mac Mini 2011 5,2 x86_64
2.7 Ghz dual-core i7-2620M 8 GB 1333 MHz DDR3
AMD Radeon HD 6630M OpenGL version: 2.1 ATI-1.24.38
program running on 250 GB Samsung 840 EVO
video in firewire Mediasonic Raid box

dmg install of Kodi (also tried with Gotham)
Kodi 14.0-BETA2 Git:2014-11-08-2d88a9a-dirty


Problem described:
I am trying to watch MKV blu-rays from The Herzog Collection.
Using MakeMKV, I made lossless rips
I have done this before: other rips made with the same blu-ray drive work in Kodi.

Yet with each of the files from this box set, it instantly crashes Kodi.
An example of such a file:


Aguirre - The Wrath of God (1972)

Matroska: 24.9 Gib, 1hr 34mn
1 Video stream: AVC
33.8 Mbps, 1920*1080 (16:9), at 24.000 fps, AVC ([email protected]) (CABAC / 2 Ref Frames)

3 Audio streamsL DTS / DTS / AC-3
3 Text stream: PGS / PGS / PGS
1 Menu stream:

Overall bit rate mode: Variable
Overall bit rate: 37.7 Mbps
Writing application: MakeMKV v1.8.14
darwin(x86-release)


Each of the 13 films in this box-set crash Kodi on my Mini.
Other very large MKV's I made in the same manner, but not from the Herzog Collection don't crash.
It crashed with Gotham and I got Kodi Beta to see it if would work.
I tried out Yosemite, these files also crashed Kodi.

Here is the OS X crash log:
http://pastebin.com/yGiGHGBP

XMBC Log:
http://pastebin.com/nZM7SKC8

XBMC Crash log from: /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports:
http://pastebin.com/mB1NiWXa


I'd really like to figure out how to watch these!

Thanks :)
—Kenny

[Memphiz]

Post a New debug log from kodi with debugging turned on - do you have VDA hardware decoding deactivated?

[anotherkenny]

Hello, Memphiz—

My hardware acceleration (VDADecoder) is active.


Here is the old file (crash) with debugging turned on:
http://xbmclogs.com/show.php?id=353634


The final error was:

Code:

12:34:53 T:4773052416   ERROR: VDA::CDecoder - Failed to init VDA decoder: -12473

This may help: a github search brought up the following mention:

Code:

status = VDADecoderCreate(config_info,
                            buffer_attributes,
                            (VDADecoderOutputCallback*)vda_decoder_callback,
                            m_ctx,
                            &m_ctx->decoder);

/* ... */

Code:

if(status != kVDADecoderNoErr)
  {
    CLog::Log(LOGERROR, "VDA::CDecoder - Failed to init VDA decoder: %d", status);
    return false;
  }

[Memphiz]

Yeah the file is not suitable for the hw decoder therefore it falls back to ffmpeg software decoding and this one crashes then ... not much hope to give you a fix for helix as we have a hard deadline on the release this time and are already in beta phase.

At least this very same crash is reported here already:

http://trac.xbmc.org/ticket/15432

[Memphiz]

Can you try to disable vda hardware decoding and check if it fixes the crash?

[FernetMenta]

Yeah the file is not suitable for the hw decoder therefore it falls back to ffmpeg software decoding and this one crashes then ... not much hope to give you a fix for helix as we have a hard deadline on the release this time and are already in beta phase.

At least this very same crash is reported here already:

http://trac.xbmc.org/ticket/15432

if falls back to ffmpeg vda hw accelerator which crashes. There is a good chance to get this fixed soon

[Memphiz]

Well worked around at least

[Memphiz]

Please try those 2 test builds and report back if one of both fixes your problem:

http://mirrors.xbmc.org/test-builds/osx/...x86_64.dmg

http://mirrors.xbmc.org/test-builds/osx/...x86_64.dmg

I expect the first build to fix the problem (but this leads to software decoding of those files). And i have no clue about the second.

(if the download doesn't work wait 30 mins so that it gets synced to our mirrors)

[anotherkenny]

—before I try out the test builds—

Yes, the files play both when:

• disabling vda hardware decoding
• switching to software only decoding

[anotherkenny]

The first build solved my problem :)

The second build crashed in the same manner, here is its crash report.

Code:

15:48:11 T:4850176000   ERROR: VDA::CDecoder - Failed to init VDA decoder: -12473

Well done with the work around!
Does disabling ffmpegvda reduce performance?

[Memphiz]

Not really. ffmpegvda is not ready for prime time. for h.264 it was as follows:

1. try our vda hw decoder
2. if 1. failed - try ffmpegvda hw decoder
3. if 2. failed try sw decode

The testbuild which works for you now eliminates the 2. point for now ...

[anotherkenny]

Using the testbuild will not switch all videos to sw decode, only with those (such as these problem files) which cannot use the vda hw decoder?
Sounds perfect, I don't have to fiddle with the settings for those particular videos.

I'm following this thread so please post here any beta you'd like the issue tested on.
I can help by trying to break future builds with these Herzog films.
In the mean time, I'll keep from updating to later Helix betas so this work-around holds.

Thanks very much, Memphiz and FernetMenta, for your aid and resolution. Good luck with ffmpegvda!

[Memphiz]

please test this build and report back if it also fixes your crash:

http://mirrors.xbmc.org/test-builds/osx/...x86_64.dmg (if its not available yet it will in 30 mins or so until the mirrors are synced).

[41nick]

Just to confirm that I get exactly the same result (from very limited testing), the first build works fine, the second build crashes.
Thanks for your help with this and happy to test where I can.

[41nick]

please test this build and report back if it also fixes your crash:

http://mirrors.xbmc.org/test-builds/osx/...x86_64.dmg (if its not available yet it will in 30 mins or so until the mirrors are synced).

When I try to play this version, it doesn't crash, but the video playback is a screen of thin vertical green strips (looks really nice).