After a random duration of time, with no changes to the Schedule or Layout, the player will lose it’s scheduled content and go back to the default layout. Under closer examination of the logs, it simply says that it cannot find the media files (i.e. 13.mp4, 14.mp4) that were just playing on it.
As for the layout, it is just two short videos on repeat. There is nothing special about them and they do not have any issues playing normally. When I examine the cache directory, I see the media files present and valid, 13.mp4, 14.mp4.
To fix the problem, we have to ALT+F4 the application, which then allows for Watchdog to kick in and reopen the application, after which everything magically starts working again.
We’ve tested this on multiple systems, multiple CMS’s-- all with the same results.
We really need help in narrowing down the cause of the crash!
The behaviour you are describing sounds like your videos may be being blacklisted, which occurs if the player encounters an issue displaying the videos.
Please can you check the Logs page in your CMS to see if the player is reporting any errors relating to your videos?
If you could also share with me privately an exported copy of your layout that contains the videos, I would be happy to try some tests to troubleshoot the payback issue you are seeing.
If you are unsure how to send a private message, please let me know in reply to this message and I will send you one first so you can reply to it.
Thanks for taking a look at this with us! I’m happy to provide with you with any information that you need to help narrow down the reason for these crashes.
It’s interesting that the videos could be getting blacklisted after playing back just fine for hours on end. I looked in the Windows player options in the CMS and did not see any settings for turning it off, much like the option that exists under Troubleshooting for the Android players.
Here is the general breakdown of the events leading up to the crash and then the recovery.
Note: Until the OOM error occurs and the app is forced to terminate, the player fails to load any media and thus reverts back to it’s default layout:
Time (PM)
Level
Component
Event Message
04:32 - 05:23
ALERT
NotifyStatus
State: Running
05:27
ERROR
Video
MediaElement_Loaded: 306999 Open not called after 10 seconds, marking unsafe and Expiring.
05:27
ERROR
Video
MediaElement_Loaded: 293815 Open not called after 10 seconds, marking unsafe and Expiring.
MediaElement_Loaded: 307000 Open not called after 10 seconds.
05:44
ERROR
Region
DurationElapsedEvent: E=Unable to set any region media nodes.
05:45
ERROR
Video
MediaElement_Loaded: 293813 Open not called after 10 seconds.
05:48
ALERT
NotifyStatus
State: Running
05:53 - 07:19
ERROR
Video
Continuous Failures: 18+ separate “MediaElement_Loaded” timeout errors occurring every 2–5 minutes.
05:53 - 07:19
ALERT
NotifyStatus
State: Running
07:28
ERROR
Video
MediaElement_Loaded: 293816 Open not called after 10 seconds.
07:41 - 07:57
ERROR
Video
MediaElement_Loaded: 293815 Open not called after 10 seconds (Final instances before crash).
08:00
FATAL
Main
Unhandled Exception (ID 23769775): Startup: Insufficient memory to continue the execution of the program.
08:00
FATAL
Main
Stack Trace (ID 23769776): at System.Windows.Media.Imaging.WriteableBitmap..ctor(…) at WritableBitmapRenderHandler.cs:line 145.
08:00
FATAL
Main
Unhandled Exception (ID 23769777): Object reference not set to an instance of an object.
08:00
FATAL
Main
Stack Trace (ID 23769778): at WritableBitmapRenderHandler.cs:line 158 (Dispatcher failure).
08:52
ALERT
NotifyStatus
State: Running
It does not seem to matter what videos we have assigned to it, but if you need our source material we can provide it as well, as long as you think it will help.
Thank you for sharing those logs. The3re seems to be a lot of references to video playback issues, so I suspect the media could be the cause.
I’d really like to take a look at the layout that contains your videos and any other media also in there. Can you send me a message with the attached exported layout so I can check your videos?