decoder has problems with WMP 9.0 installed

[fisix]

tracked down an issue with the current (Nics, and whichever one comes with the newest 1.0 build install)decoder available for download. the decoder crashes explorer in win2k when previewing an xvid enoded avi file. this seems to happen to all xvid files, but i really only have recent files to test on (encoded in the last 6 months), and none were encoded by me. the crash seems to occur when clicking away from an xvid avi being currently previewed, rather than when the file is initially highlighted.

installing/uninstalling the decoder turns on/off the crash like a switch (and, sadly, viewing the stream). so far the only workaround other than turning off the preview is to roll back wmp, in my case to 6.4. i haven't tested wmp7, but from what i've read in other forums concerning this, it seems to be almost entirely an issue coincident with the install of wmp9.

to test this i uninstalled divx and i have never installed ffdshow. the xvid files that i have access to have audio streams ranging from ac3 to ogg to mp3 (maybe others) and they all act the same way, so i doubt that the audio codec used has any issue.

i see that others have posted similarly, but gotten no resolution. i searched the faq and search results on 'decoder preview explorer crash' and haven't seen mention of anyone even thinking about working on a fix. i hate to bitch about this, especially since it looks like the encoder is getting revamped nightly (thanks for the work, from the posts i've read it is outstanding), but with MS pushing everybody to patch and auto update everything, this will become a big headache fairly quickly.

please post back with come comments.

if there is a fix that i haven't found, or if there is some other issue i'm uninformed on, i'd be grateful for a pointer.


thanks,

-jig

edit to comply with bug report rules:

problem arises on two different computers, one a p3 1GHz, Nvidia geforce3, the other a p4 2.6GHz, geforce4. both have various other decoders and zoomplayer installed.

[fisix]

still no fix, and i see there is another post related to this up.

does anyone else have wmp9 installed, use the xvid decoder, and experience the same issue?

could having nero installed be a problem?

[hykosphy]

XviD beta 1++ screws up WMP 9, that's a fact...
http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?threadid=67041

Does anyone have a solution to get WMP 9 work at all with XviD beta 1++? My thread kinda died back there....

[fisix]

just to update:

the problem remains with the newest (beta3) decoder.

would you like me to post what the debugger gives me as the error (i believe i get the function call)?


-jig

[sysKin]

Originally posted by fisix
would you like me to post what the debugger gives me as the error (i believe i get the function call)?Yes please. I definitely won't install WMP to trace this bug :( sorry.

Radek

[hykosphy]

Originally posted by fisix
just to update:

the problem remains with the newest (beta3) decoder.

would you like me to post what the debugger gives me as the error (i believe i get the function call)?


-jig

Windows Media Player: wmplayer.exe - Application Error

The instruction at "0x5d000cc2" referenced memory at "0x5d000cc2". The memory could not be "read".

Click on OK to terminate the program
Click on CANCEL to debug the program

(this happened if I try to play of any kind of video file after installing XviD beta 1 on WMP9, no matter what codec (have also tried with the XviD DirectShow beta3 filter-thingie)http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=67041)

[mikeX]

:D, sorry for being a bit out of subject, but wmp sucks bad!! :D

what exacltly do you mean previewed by the way? like when you click it and you see the first frame? (that's what it does for me on xp)

it didn't look like it had any problem with the latest media player there...(using either ffdshow, 3ivx or xvid-dec-beta3)

you can also use mplayer2
as koepi said it comes with every version of windows, and it's really not that bad, i think it has a more straightforward interfase than wmplayer, maybe somehow associate that with previewing??

could it be the avi splitter's fault?? have you tried installing this splitter: http://sourceforge.net/projects/guliverkli/
(just extract it to \winnt\system32 and run cmd, regsvr32 \winnt\system32\avisplitter.ax)

[hykosphy]

Just tried the avi-splitter. Got exactly the same error.
Thanks for the tip though :)

What exactly does the avi-splitter do?

[mikeX]

well i can only say what i suppose it does, which is separate the different streams (like video, audio etc) from an avi file (likewise for an ogm, mkv, etc splitter) and feed them to the proper decoder...

(@ someone who actually knows what it does: how close did i get???)

[sysKin]

Originally posted by mikeX
(@ someone who actually knows what it does: how close did i get???) Very close ;). Windows aready has such splitter (it can understand avi without any other software) but Gabest's one is better - for instance, it can work on AVIs without index (incomplete ones).

Radek

[hykosphy]

Well, anyway....

Hasn't Koepi anything to say to this?
*trying to get people to care*

[Koepi]

Unfortunately, no. I don't use wmp9 - and i can only emphase: use mplayer2.

I won't mess up my machine by installing WMP9 only to find out that I a) have to reinstall my machine again (a developer setup takes quite a long time with all SDKs, compilers,...) to have it clean and working again, and b) I then can't reproduce the problem.

Some friends of mine use WinXP (though I recommand them otherwise), have WMP9, they have xvid (any build you like) installed without any problems in the preview.

Maybe you have a codec pack installed?

Regards
Koepi

[sysKin]

Since the access violation happens in wmp.exe, not in xvid.ax, I simply suspect a WMP bug...

And if it's true, I don't expect anyone (especially not myself) changing xvid just to make a workaround for some other people's bug. Sorry...

Radek

edit: I just read the fault once again The instruction at "0x5d000cc2" referenced memory at "0x5d000cc2". The memory could not be "read".If an instruction reads itself and violates memory protection when doing so... sorry, I don't see how can this happen in any sane programming. It doesn't look like having much to do with XviD...

[virux]

edit: I just read the fault once again

quote:The instruction at "0x5d000cc2" referenced memory at "0x5d000cc2". The memory could not be "read".

If an instruction reads itself and violates memory protection when doing so... sorry, I don't see how can this happen in any sane programming. It doesn't look like having much to do with XviD...

could it be hardware error? something like a 'bad sector' on the ram chip?

[hykosphy]

Originally posted by virux
could it be hardware error? something like a 'bad sector' on the ram chip?

NO!
I'll promise you, if you got XP, installs WMP 9.0, and then XviD beta 2, WMP can't play any video file at all.

Since it works with all other codecs, why would WMP go bad only with XviD beta?

Edit: Well. I do not use any kind of codec pack. So that's said.
And, if you actually mean someone got XviD beta working on their comp with XviD beta 2, please ask what they did. I tried it on a newly formatted comp. Exactly the same result.
(Again, see http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=67041 for details)

[fisix]

If I get past the initial error message and get into the actual debugger, here is what it has given me:

Unhandled exception in explorer.exe (XVID.AX): 0xC0000005: Access Violation.

This is the popup before I get to the actual debugger, but MSDEV is already up. then:

Context: XVID! 0586a7eb()

is in the context box and looking at the list of accesses I see:

0586a7eb movq mmword ptr [edi], mm2

The 'unhandled exception' message is always the same, same hex same everything. The Context box always has XVID!, then 4 random hex digits followed always by the same last 4 digits, a7eb. The movq line is also the same each time except for those first 4 hex digits.

The very first error message that I hit cancel on to start the debugger is similar to what hykosphy has written above, except that I've now seen the two numbers in the message be the same AND be different.

I have no codec packs installed. I don't have ffdshow installed, nor have I ever. I get the same error on two different computers, both running win2k, and one is a fresh install. I do have nero installed, but I saw the errors before I installed the suite.

None of my test machines are overclocked, all have had memtest86 ran on them repeatedly with no errors, and I have no system instability at all when either wmp9 or xvid are uninstalled. Even with them both installed, I have no problems untill I start clicking on various media files and the previewer pops up.

If anything, the access violations seem to happen less often lately, possibly due to changes in the latest decoder.

I will be putting together a new computer this weekend and I will try to keep it completely virgin to test the latest decoder with and without wmp9 installed, but without ANY other video decoders installed. Not even a dvd player. Later on I can test the same computer with winxp installed.

By the way, it seems rather easy to roll back to earlier versions of wmp if you install wmp9 and don't like it. I've gone back and forth a couple times trying to track this bug down.

There are various reasons why I want to run wmp9. The reason why it might be important to fix this bug (if you are a developer, and if this is actually a bug and not a semi wide spread user issue) is because 90% of the people who are going to install the decoder to watch a video are soon going to also have wmp9 installed. depending on how you derive satisfaction from working on xvid, this seems importantish. believe me, i know how frustrating coding around a MS hack can be, but i'm not convinced this is a MS issue because the debugger never comes up with DIVX or WINDVD or VMR9 or whatever else it might come up with if it was a general MS 'feature'.

I'd like to know what you think now that you have the above info, I'll post back as i can with the test results.

-jig

[hykosphy]

I totally agree with fisix. Support for WMP 9.0 is important for XviD to become more user-friendly and widespread...

[Koepi]

fisix:

please PM me your email if you're willing to help me making a small test (if the issue is gone already with some restructurations we did now).

Regards
Koepi