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PowerDVD 19 autoplay and restart issues

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mikemack
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PowerDVD 19 autoplay and restart issues

Post by mikemack » Sat Oct 19, 2019 6:18 pm

I am running into some issues with PowerDVD 19 on a fresh build of Windows 10 and CMC v2.2.2019.0630.

The first issue is that when I choose Play on the title in CMC PowerDVD launches and then loads the ISO but I have to choose Play in PowerDVD to get the title to start. It appears similar to this issue in 17 & 18 viewtopic.php?f=2&t=107 but I have PDVD Autoplay option enabled in CMC.

The second issue is that when the ISO starts it will play for about a minute and then stop and PDVD reloads it and restarts it and it will play fully from there. Any ideas why it would stop and then restart?

I am using VCD to mount the ISO. I tried to have PDVD handle the whole process but it kept telling me it did not support the file type.

Any help is appreciated. I did this fresh install and build to resolve some longstanding issues and hopefully I can iron these two out quickly.

Thanks.

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Pauven
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Re: PowerDVD 19 autoplay and restart issues

Post by Pauven » Sun Oct 20, 2019 1:03 am

This sounds like Windows is launching PDVD when the ISO gets mounted, then a little bit later CMC determines that the ISO has been mounted and also launches PDVD.

In CMC, go to Settings > ISO Mounting Options, and what does the bottom option read? Does it read that it will Disable Windows DVD/Blu-Ray Autoplay, or does it read that Windows DVD/Blu-Ray Autoplay is Disabled?

If it isn't disabled, you should disable it (just select the option there in CMC). You don't want two different processes competing to handle playback.
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mikemack
Posts: 57
Joined: Fri Sep 07, 2018 7:38 pm

Re: PowerDVD 19 autoplay and restart issues

Post by mikemack » Sun Oct 20, 2019 10:35 am

Ok. Thanks for the response. I think I have resolved both of these issues now but created a new one.

I went into CMC Settings > ISO Mounting Options and changed the Autoplay setting to "Is Disabled". My mistake, I thought by default it was disabled and I had not changed this setting. The ISO now plays fully without restarting a minute into the movie.

PDVD is launching now and auto-playing the ISO. I went into the settings and disabled this option and then re-enabled it and that seems to have done the trick. However, now it is taking over 90 seconds for PDVD to launch once I select play in CMC. I am using VCD to mount the ISO since PDVD was not doing this correctly so I am not sure if this is a VCD issue or PDVD. Will the debug logs in CMC identify where the root cause lies?

Thank you for assisting with this.

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Pauven
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Re: PowerDVD 19 autoplay and restart issues

Post by Pauven » Sun Oct 20, 2019 3:41 pm

Yes, if you enable Debug Logging, then when you try to play a title and it mounts the ISO, each time there will be a new Playclick Debug log file created in the Logs folder. That might give some clues.

It may also help to change the Display Settings > GUI Verbose Level to Debug, which will give more info on-screen during the mounting and playback, which may give more clues as to what is taking so long.
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Pauven
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Re: PowerDVD 19 autoplay and restart issues

Post by Pauven » Mon Oct 28, 2019 1:41 pm

Any update on this issue?
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mikemack
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Re: PowerDVD 19 autoplay and restart issues

Post by mikemack » Mon Nov 11, 2019 8:53 pm

Thanks for checking in on me. I got preoccupied with work stuff and travel the last several weeks or so and have not had a chance to attend to this.

I enabled the debug logging tonight and attempted to load Avengers Endgame and Spiderman - Far From Home and both exhibited the very long (1.5-3 minutes) load to play time.

Looks like this may be the culprit?

60) Verifying Red Fox processing complete...
[ERROR] Red Fox Processing Complete Verification timeout!
Launching PowerDVD
*** END OF PLAYCLICK DEBUG LOG ***

There are 60 entries of the "Verifying Red Fox processing complete..."

Any idea what would cause this and how to resolve?

Attached is the debug log.

Thanks for the help.
Attachments
DebugLog_PlayClick_2019-11-11_2037.txt
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mikemack
Posts: 57
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Re: PowerDVD 19 autoplay and restart issues

Post by mikemack » Mon Nov 11, 2019 9:08 pm

Interestingly I went into settings and disabled Red Fox enhancements and that seemed to resolve the issue. The ISO mounted fairly quickly and PowerDVD was then able to launch and play the movie.

Here are the results of that change in the debug log.

Mounting ISO: l=F "\\wsms\Movies\Own\Marvel's Avengers - Endgame\AVENGERS_ENDGAME.iso"
Sleeping 0 seconds
1) Checking for successful mount...
* ISOSize=-1
! Good Mount Count: 0
2) Checking for successful mount...
* ISOSize=-1
! Good Mount Count: 0
3) Checking for successful mount...
* ISOSize=-1
! Good Mount Count: 0
4) Checking for successful mount...
* ISOSize=23710924800
* Good Mount Count: 1
5) Checking for successful mount...
* ISOSize=23710924800
* Good Mount Count: 2
6) Checking for successful mount...
* ISOSize=23710924800
* Good Mount Count: 3
7) Checking for successful mount...
* ISOSize=23710924800
* Good Mount Count: 4
8) Checking for successful mount...
* ISOSize=23710924800
* Good Mount Count: 5
Disc mounted
Launching PowerDVD
*** END OF PLAYCLICK DEBUG LOG ***

This now works mucho better.

Is there anything else I can do to speed up the ISO mount to PowerDVD load and play process? While it is much better I would like to speed it up a little if at all possible. The specs on the PC are good with a fast SSD and other specs.

Thanks,

Michael

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Pauven
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Re: PowerDVD 19 autoplay and restart issues

Post by Pauven » Tue Nov 12, 2019 10:41 am

mikemack wrote: Mon Nov 11, 2019 8:53 pm Looks like this may be the culprit?

60) Verifying Red Fox processing complete...
[ERROR] Red Fox Processing Complete Verification timeout!

If you are not using AnyDVD, then yes that is the culprit.


mikemack wrote: Mon Nov 11, 2019 9:08 pm Interestingly I went into settings and disabled Red Fox enhancements and that seemed to resolve the issue. The ISO mounted fairly quickly and PowerDVD was then able to launch and play the movie.

Great detective work, you figured it out on your own and beat me to the answer.

When you use AnyDVD, and ISO can go through several mount/unmount/mount cycles as AnyDVD figures out how to mount the disc. The Red Fox Enhancements monitor this progress and delay playback until it sees it successfully complete.

But if you don't use AnyDVD, then this logic delays playback until the process times out. So if you don't use AnyDVD, then you must disable this setting.

Apologies that I didn't realize that this was your issue earlier. I need to add a pop-up warning message when the process times-out, to provide a clue that you need to disable the enhancements if you don't use AnyDVD.


mikemack wrote: Mon Nov 11, 2019 9:08 pm Is there anything else I can do to speed up the ISO mount to PowerDVD load and play process? While it is much better I would like to speed it up a little if at all possible. The specs on the PC are good with a fast SSD and other specs.

I don't think there is anything you can do. VCD is handling the mounting, which is a big part of the delay - and this can take longer if ISO is stored on a sleeping HDD which must first spin-up.

There is also a 4 to 5 second delay hard-coded into CMC that is not end-user adjustable, during which time CMC is validating the mounting process is complete before continuing. I can look into making this configurable.

Currently there is a 1-second delay between mount checks, with CMC waiting for 5 good checks in a row before starting playback. This again is largely to deal with AnyDVD going through the multiple mount/unmount/mount cycles - starting playback too early would cause it to get interrupted and stop as AnyDVD went through another cycle. But since you don't use AnyDVD, these extra mount validations aren't doing you much good, and simply delaying the playback.

Some ideas on this:
  • I can make the # of 'good checks' configurable from the current 5. Minimum value could be 1, so there would be less than a 1 second delay to start playback. Quick and easy, but less robust if there are mounting hiccups.
  • Alternatively I could make the delay between checks configurable, but leave the 'good count' requirement at 5. For example, if the delay is set to 0.2 seconds, that would also be around a 1 second delay, but you would still have the benefit of 5 checks in a row, and if one of the checks isn't good, it would reset the counter. This might be more robust, able to handle mounting hiccups if they occur during the 1 second window.
  • A third option is that I could just make user option to set the ISO Mounting Validation with options like 'Quick' and 'Normal' and 'Thorough'. I would come up with my own internal internal logic for the 'Quick' option, but the gamble here is that 'Quick' might not work in all cases.
  • And a fourth option would be for me to internally adjust the timings when the Red Fox enhancements are disabled. This goes under the assumption that all the extra checks are only required to handle AnyDVD's behavior, and that if you have it disabled then you would always want the 'Quick' behavior I described in option 3. I kind of like this option the best, because I don't have to mess with adding new setting menu options (and translating into 3 other languages). The gamble here is that if I'm wrong in my assessment, then other users who have Red Fox Enhancements disabled might start having mounting/playback issues.
Thoughts?

Paul
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Pauven
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Re: PowerDVD 19 autoplay and restart issues

Post by Pauven » Wed Feb 05, 2020 9:23 am

Pauven wrote: Tue Nov 12, 2019 10:41 am Some ideas on this:
  • I can make the # of 'good checks' configurable from the current 5. Minimum value could be 1, so there would be less than a 1 second delay to start playback. Quick and easy, but less robust if there are mounting hiccups.
  • Alternatively I could make the delay between checks configurable, but leave the 'good count' requirement at 5. For example, if the delay is set to 0.2 seconds, that would also be around a 1 second delay, but you would still have the benefit of 5 checks in a row, and if one of the checks isn't good, it would reset the counter. This might be more robust, able to handle mounting hiccups if they occur during the 1 second window.
  • A third option is that I could just make user option to set the ISO Mounting Validation with options like 'Quick' and 'Normal' and 'Thorough'. I would come up with my own internal internal logic for the 'Quick' option, but the gamble here is that 'Quick' might not work in all cases.
  • And a fourth option would be for me to internally adjust the timings when the Red Fox enhancements are disabled. This goes under the assumption that all the extra checks are only required to handle AnyDVD's behavior, and that if you have it disabled then you would always want the 'Quick' behavior I described in option 3. I kind of like this option the best, because I don't have to mess with adding new setting menu options (and translating into 3 other languages). The gamble here is that if I'm wrong in my assessment, then other users who have Red Fox Enhancements disabled might start having mounting/playback issues.
Thoughts?

So did anyone have any feedback on this?
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