Vista Media Center Video Browser crashes

  • Thread starter Thread starter John Braham
  • Start date Start date
J

John Braham

Hi Guy's/Girls,

I'm currently having problems where the video browser for vista media
center crashes while trying to render my folders of films, which are
mostly DivX backups of my DVD collection (about 150 of them). I
originally thought it was too many films for the browser to render all
the thumbnails so i seperated them into many sub folders of no more
than 10 in a folder, but of course it still tries to render the mini-
thumbnails on the folders.

Now I suspect strongly it's the thumbnail rendering process so;

a) Can I make it list the films by name and not try rendering
thumbnails (more useful)
b) Is it possible that some of my older film copies, possibly done
using older/different codecs are the issue
c) Is there an alternative browser plugin, perhaps one as awesome as
the one in TVedia available?

Thanks,
John
 
Hi Guy's/Girls,

I'm currently having problems where the video browser for vista media
center crashes while trying to render my folders of films, which are
mostly DivX backups of my DVD collection (about 150 of them). I
originally thought it was too many films for the browser to render all
the thumbnails so i seperated them into many sub folders of no more
than 10 in a folder, but of course it still tries to render the mini-
thumbnails on the folders.

Now I suspect strongly it's the thumbnail rendering process so;

a) Can I make it list the films by name and not try rendering
thumbnails (more useful)
b) Is it possible that some of my older film copies, possibly done
using older/different codecs are the issue
c) Is there an alternative browser plugin, perhaps one as awesome as
the one in TVedia available?

Thanks,
John
Click to expand...

Yours is a common problem. I have it too, times about 20. ;-)

What happens is often for reasons you'll have to ask Microsoft, but
don't really expect any acceptable answer, thumbnails often get
redrawn for no apparant reason, since the thumbnail is ALREADY made
and sitting in the database. If you have a 100 vids in a folder that
can take a while. Image if you have thousands like I do.

Yes you can make it just list names if you use Windows Explorer. In
Explorer set View to show details. That way you can add notes as well.
The good news is you don't lose the ability to show thumnails, just
switch back and forth between details and thumbnail views.

You want a faster, better, free, awesome thumbnail viewer that doubles
as a player? Try: XnView. Works fine in Vista.
 
Yours is a common problem. I have it too, times about 20. ;-)

What happens is often for reasons you'll have to ask Microsoft, but
don't really expect any acceptable answer, thumbnails often get
redrawn for no apparant reason, since the thumbnail is ALREADY made
and sitting in the database. If you have a 100 vids in a folder that
can take a while. Image if you have thousands like I do.

Yes you can make it just list names if you use Windows Explorer. In
Explorer set View to show details. That way you can add notes as well.
The good news is you don't lose the ability to show thumnails, just
switch back and forth between details and thumbnail views.

You want a faster, better, free, awesome thumbnail viewer that doubles
as a player? Try: XnView. Works fine in Vista.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -
Click to expand...

Thanks,

Are you suggesting that if I set the films folder to details view in
explorer that those settings will be reflected in the film folder
browser in the media center app, I thought I had tried that already,
maybe I didn't do it right?

Is this XnView a plugin that works inside vista media center, becuase
what I want to avoid is using serveral different applications to use
the media center, as I enjoy the luxury of switching between using it
for live tv and music and recorded films with out getting over to the
pc and changing the application I'm using (otherwide I'de carry on
using powerDVD and just couble clicking on the film file in file
browser!).

Thanks,
John
 
I've been having the same problem, too. Only in my case, it only happens in
one particular folder. My suspicion is that it has something to do with
rendering thumbnails from videos made with certain versions of certain
codecs. All my videos are either divx or xvid, but I'm not sure which ones
are causing the problems.

Maybe try dividing up the files into subfolders based on the codec you used,
and then see if certain folders open and others don't.

Let me know if you figure out what causes the problem!

Peace,
Mark
 
I've been having the same problem, too. Only in my case, it only happens in
one particular folder. My suspicion is that it has something to do with
rendering thumbnails from videos made with certain versions of certain
codecs. All my videos are either divx or xvid, but I'm not sure which ones
are causing the problems.

Maybe try dividing up the files into subfolders based on the codec you used,
and then see if certain folders open and others don't.

Let me know if you figure out what causes the problem!

Peace,
Mark
Click to expand...

Ok, a bit more investigation last night, I think it may be the xvid's,
as I have about 150 DivX's and only a handful of xvids, although
having said that I did'n try the suggestion of checking my DivX
version, although I did only download it within last month I suspect
it is the latest version, but I do have another suggestion.

The the 'My Movies' plugin:

http://mcesoft.nl/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=26&Itemid=83

This page tells you a bit about it and follow the link to the
developers website to get it, I tried it out last night and it's
really very good, although very tedious to import all my DivX's into
it as it gets confused unless each of your video files is in its own
folder, so for example a c:\Films directory with sub directories such
as c:\Films\Shrek, etc, each one containing the film file(s), but if
you can get through the tedious process of importing your library it
grabs all the film info for the films online so you browse your films
looking at their DVD case image not a thumbnail so it eradicates the
issue entirely, and lets you sort by genre etc in a similar way that
media player lets you with music.

I've done about 50 so far and it took me about an hour or so once I
got in the swing of it, hope this helps, will definatly deal with the
issue if you can be bothered with it :-)

John
 
What fault information do you get in the Problem Reports and Solutions
center for this crash?
http://zachd.com/pss/pss.html#bucket
can help you look that up if you don't know how.

If you're using DivX 6.2, update to 6.5 or newer as 6.2 can crash here.

-Zach
--
Speaking for myself only.
Seehttp://zachd.com/pss/pss.htmlfor some helpful WMP info.
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.









- Show quoted text -
Click to expand...

Media center just shuts down momenterily then restarts, I didn't know
there was an error log somewhere, is it in the system event log?

If you can point me in the direction of the error logs I'll post them
up.

Thanks,
John
 
I have a Vista 32 Media Center, and it had developed the same problem (after removing a codec) where accessing "My Videos" would cause a crash. I set Windows Media Center as the default player for .avi (they are all divx) and the problem went away. Before that I had tried many different codecs, system restores, updates, etc. A simple fix for a frustrating problem. I hope this helps someone else.



John Braham wrote:

Vista Media Center Video Browser crashes
14-May-07

Hi Guy's/Girls

I'm currently having problems where the video browser for vista medi
center crashes while trying to render my folders of films, which ar
mostly DivX backups of my DVD collection (about 150 of them).
originally thought it was too many films for the browser to render al
the thumbnails so i seperated them into many sub folders of no mor
than 10 in a folder, but of course it still tries to render the mini
thumbnails on the folders

Now I suspect strongly it's the thumbnail rendering process so

a) Can I make it list the films by name and not try renderin
thumbnails (more useful
b) Is it possible that some of my older film copies, possibly don
using older/different codecs are the issu
c) Is there an alternative browser plugin, perhaps one as awesome a
the one in TVedia available

Thanks
John

Previous Posts In This Thread:

Vista Media Center Video Browser crashes
Hi Guy's/Girls

I'm currently having problems where the video browser for vista medi
center crashes while trying to render my folders of films, which ar
mostly DivX backups of my DVD collection (about 150 of them).
originally thought it was too many films for the browser to render al
the thumbnails so i seperated them into many sub folders of no mor
than 10 in a folder, but of course it still tries to render the mini
thumbnails on the folders

Now I suspect strongly it's the thumbnail rendering process so

a) Can I make it list the films by name and not try renderin
thumbnails (more useful
b) Is it possible that some of my older film copies, possibly don
using older/different codecs are the issu
c) Is there an alternative browser plugin, perhaps one as awesome a
the one in TVedia available

Thanks
John

Re: Vista Media Center Video Browser crashes
On 14 May 2007 07:15:32 -0700, John Braham <[email protected]
wrote

Yours is a common problem. I have it too, times about 20. ;-

What happens is often for reasons you'll have to ask Microsoft, bu
don't really expect any acceptable answer, thumbnails often ge
redrawn for no apparant reason, since the thumbnail is ALREADY mad
and sitting in the database. If you have a 100 vids in a folder tha
can take a while. Image if you have thousands like I do.

Yes you can make it just list names if you use Windows Explorer. I
Explorer set View to show details. That way you can add notes as well
The good news is you don't lose the ability to show thumnails, jus
switch back and forth between details and thumbnail views

You want a faster, better, free, awesome thumbnail viewer that double
as a player? Try: XnView. Works fine in Vista.

Re: Vista Media Center Video Browser crashes

Thanks

Are you suggesting that if I set the films folder to details view i
explorer that those settings will be reflected in the film folde
browser in the media center app, I thought I had tried that already
maybe I didn't do it right

Is this XnView a plugin that works inside vista media center, becuas
what I want to avoid is using serveral different applications to us
the media center, as I enjoy the luxury of switching between using i
for live tv and music and recorded films with out getting over to th
pc and changing the application I'm using (otherwide I'de carry o
using powerDVD and just couble clicking on the film file in fil
browser!)

Thanks
John

I've been having the same problem, too.
I've been having the same problem, too. Only in my case, it only happens in
one particular folder. My suspicion is that it has something to do with
rendering thumbnails from videos made with certain versions of certain
codecs. All my videos are either divx or xvid, but I'm not sure which ones
are causing the problems.

Maybe try dividing up the files into subfolders based on the codec you used,
and then see if certain folders open and others don't.

Let me know if you figure out what causes the problem!

Peace,
Mark

What fault information do you get in the Problem Reports and Solutions center
What fault information do you get in the Problem Reports and Solutions
center for this crash?
http://zachd.com/pss/pss.html#bucket
can help you look that up if you don't know how.

If you're using DivX 6.2, update to 6.5 or newer as 6.2 can crash here.

-Zach
--
Speaking for myself only.
See http://zachd.com/pss/pss.html for some helpful WMP info.
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.
--


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