[Muskyinoz]

I know there are a few threads about buffering issues but I've got an added problem that I haven't seen anyone else report. When a file (movie or TV) buffers, XBMC doesn't recover from it, stops the video and goes back to the episode menu.

I just finished an episode during which this happened 7-8 times, some would be 20 mins apart, some would be 30 seconds apart. I've unplugged the ethernet cable from the back of the ATV2, put it into my MacBook and the same episode plays flawlessly through VLC.

As other have mentioned the buffering seems to be worse on the latest GIT pull (but the downmixing fix is fantastic), previously I would get it a lot in movies (4-5) but maybe once if even in a TV ep.

In the effort of making this post read as useful as possible I'm following Keiths handy dandy guide to positing to provide as much info as possible so here goes

Platform - ATV2
iOS Version - 4.2.1
Build Version - Git: 6bda831d (Compiled : Feb 27 2011)
Install Method and where I got it - Unofficial builds for testing! NOT FOR THE FAINT HEARTED
Skin Name - Alaska Revisited

Logs
Mediainfo
Syslog
xbmc.log
CrashReporter

If there's anything I've forgotten that might be helpful let me know

EDIT

Should have added my setup to help

4 Bay NAS (here) (4 x Seagate Barracuda ST31500341AS 1.5TB drives) in Raid 5 connected to a 200Mbps Powerline Hub (here) which connects through another 200Mbps Powerline adapter(here) to my modem (NetComm NB6Plus4W which I'm changing to Wireless N version tonight), which has an ethernet cable going directly to the ATV2.

OK now I think I've detailed everything except the kitchen sink

[Muskyinoz]

no one?

[Tenny]

Standard SMB buffering issue it seems to me:
22:08:24 T:189276160 M: 69439488 WARNING: CDVDMessageQueue(audio)::Get - asked for new data packet, with nothing available


Have you tried UPnP as a "temp" (hopefully it's just a temp...) work around?

[davilla]

Standard SMB buffering issue it seems to me:
22:08:24 T:189276160 M: 69439488 WARNING: CDVDMessageQueue(audio)::Get - asked for new data packet, with nothing available

symptom, not the cause.

[Muskyinoz]

Doesn't explain why the vid stops though (which seems to only be happening to li'l ol' me).

Haven't tried UPnP, is there any reason why it would be a temp and not perm solution? I'll give it a blast when I get home tonight

[quite98]

I'm having a similar issue - videos just stop playing and return to the menu - but this is with the BBC iPlayer streaming video plugin. Feb 19th mainline build.

XBMC.log

In the log here, I watched a thirty minute show with no issues, then moved onto another show which quit playing after two minutes or so.

[g33kboy]

I have the exact same issue. Identical.

Except when I drop to the menu, I no longer have SMB connection, and XBMC hangs when trying to exit. I have to hard reset to get back in. Going to try setting up using UPnP and see if that helps.

[procrastinator]

Haven't tried UPnP, is there any reason why it would be a temp and not perm solution? I'll give it a blast when I get home tonight

You'd probably only want to use UPnP as a temp fix because you can't make use of XBMC's library features using this protocol because of the dynamic addresses it uses. You could use it as a permanent solution if you wanted to, but it would just be through file mode rather than the library.

jmarshall explained in this post that he made in another thread earlier:

TVersity == upnp server?

If so, there's a very good chance that the URLs are not stable (i.e. the URL to each "file" can change from run to run) so you CANNOT store these in the XBMC database. You have to browse via filemode instead.

You need to use a stable URL scheme (eg smb://) in order to have content in XBMC's library (after all - it needs to be able to find it!)

Cheers,
Jonathan

[Muskyinoz]

@procrastinator - Only file mode ... ew! I like my pretty pictures and text too much

@davilla - Any idea what the cause might be?

[ktjensen]

@procrastinator - Only file mode ... ew! I like my pretty pictures and text too much

@davilla - Any idea what the cause might be?

Read through the 20 pages of the buffering thread

http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=93514

[akid1]

i got the same problem with a FLV-File, constant buffering and then exit back to xbmc menu...

same with other file-types, but they didn´t quit to xbmc menu.

for me, switching to upnp made it work flawless w/o any buffering at all.

is it true that libary mode doesn´t work with upnp??

[Memphiz]

its true

[Muskyinoz]

I just played 3 tv eps in a row and only one of them buffered and quit, I'm happy to post media info's if it'll help someone in diagnosing the difference in them

[Memphiz]

crashing often has to do with files which have embedded ass subtitles ... try turning subtitles of for your crashing video ...

[Muskyinoz]

Thanks Memphiz but I've got subtitles turned off on all my vids, so that shouldn't be an issue