Unable to play files with large metadata in SageTV7

[Peter_h]

Hey Stuckless,

A few of us in the beta forum have been having a problem playing HDPVR recordings for a few shows. One show in particular seems to be Entourage on HBO. We are able to watch the show as it records but when it ends and we attempt to play it back, we get a black screen with no video and audio.

We filed a bug with SageTV and the response we got back was:

OK, the problem there is due to the metadata that's being added to the file.
It makes the format string longer than what we ever expected it to be (the
limit is 4k; but the format string for dexter is 9k in that log). We'll fix
this issue for the next build of the server; but for now disabling whatever
plugin you're using that injects metadata into the file will fix it on any
new recordings.

Thanks,

SageTV Support Team
SageTV, LLC

Can you please confirm whether BMT is causing the problem and confirm whether this is normal behavior?

As an FYI, I am running BMT 4.2.

Thanks,
Peter

[stuckless]

Peter, I can assure that BMT does not tally up the total bytes of all the metadata being set, and then try to ensure that it does not exceed a 4k limit. Maybe that limit is documented somewhere, but I'm not seeing it. I can certainly be very possible that bmt would set metadata fields that when combined exceed 4k? Or maybe the 4k limit is on a particular field, not sure, and even on a per field basis, a given metadata field such as actors, fanart, or description could exceed 4k.

I can't confirm is bmt is causing the issue, but if it's the only metadata plugin that you are using, then I would make sense that it is the issue. As for normal behaviour... yeah, I would consider it normal, in the sense that I'm just setting fields with values.

I can try to get more information from support to see if this is a limit on a per field basis or for the metadata as a whole. If it's a per field, then I can wrap the call to sage's SetMediaFileMetadata() and ensure that the value that I'm setting is less than 4k.

[Peter_h]

Hi Sean,

Thanks for the response. Here (http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=49407&page=2) is the thread we have going on the issue.

User, Calbaby was able to disable the BMT plugin and record a problem show and the show plays fine now. I am actually going to attempt to test this as well, when the same episode I am having problems with reairs. Once I can confirm it plays, I'll turn on this plugin and allow BMT to grab the metadata and see if it breaks playback for the recording.

Do you have an HDPVR and extender? If so and you want to test this out the show and episode in question is Entourage - Stunted (season 7, episode 1).

This episode has reaired twice already and both times the same issue occured so it is consistently reproducable. The exact same show and episode is set to re-air this Sunday.

[gplasky]

My Take (http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?p=434414&postcount=27)

The black screen phenomenom for me only occurs on HD Extenders (HD200/100) I can play these files back fine on a PC Client. I don't know if this means there is another reason why it is occuring but it does NOT happen on the PC Clients.

Gerry

[Fuzzy]

it does sounds perfectly reasonable that it is a Metadata issue. If the format string is too long, the the parsing they are doing to determine HOW to play back a file may end up breaking things down. However, i wouldn't call it a 'problem' with BMT, as it is filling the metadata with legitimate metadata. The problem is the way sage craps out if there is too much data there. They DID say the next version would have a fix (most likely a significant increase in whatever limit is causing the problem), so i don't see a need to impose a limit/cap on what BMT is able to do.

[mcaron1234]

I was able to get shows that were showing the black screen to play again on my HD200 by going into the web UI and scanning the files for metadata and saving. After this they played fine. Hope this helps.

[Fuzzy]

Yeah, the web UI must have some cap on the field lengths, so this would probably be a temporary solution until the next update comes out from sage.

[stuckless]

I was able to get shows that were showing the black screen to play again on my HD200 by going into the web UI and scanning the files for metadata and saving. After this they played fine. Hope this helps.

Yeah, the web UI must have some cap on the field lengths, so this would probably be a temporary solution until the next update comes out from sage.

That is interesting... especially since the web ui doesn't actually have any field length caps that I'm aware of. I would expect the same behaviour from the web ui as from the automatic plugin.

[gplasky]

I was able to get shows that were showing the black screen to play again on my HD200 by going into the web UI and scanning the files for metadata and saving. After this they played fine. Hope this helps.

That is interesting... especially since the web ui doesn't actually have any field length caps that I'm aware of. I would expect the same behaviour from the web ui as from the automatic plugin.

The same fix worked for me. Once I scanned Burn Notice and Royal Pains I was able to view the recordings. On a side note Royal Pains had picked up incorrect fan art from Burn Notice. In the Web UI the Royal Pain episode had picked up the Burn Notice title. I'm guessing these issues may tie into the automatic plugin portion of BMT.

Gerry

[stuckless]

Thanks for the updates guys. I have a feeling that I'll be removing Automatic Metadata for TV in the next build. I've done everything that i can do to fix the "cross linked" metadata, and yet it still exists. At this point, I'm not sure this issue can ever be fixed by BMT. I'll leave in the metadata updating via the web ui, since for some reason, it never appears to happen there (yet both paths filter through the same code).

For now, you can also disable the automatic metadata for all media types in the from the phoenix core plugin (or the web ui). Also, if you change the automatic media type from ALL_VIDEO to just "VIDEO" or "VIDEO,DVD,BLURAY", then it should ignore recordings (I think).

I'll also change the custom metadata to NOT store large collections of data, such as the available fanart. In 4.1, I started storing the available fanart urls in the custom metadata fields, and I think that's why i'm going over the 4k sage limit for metadata.

[Fuzzy]

Thanks for the updates guys. I have a feeling that I'll be removing Automatic Metadata for TV in the next build. I've done everything that i can do to fix the "cross linked" metadata, and yet it still exists. At this point, I'm not sure this issue can ever be fixed by BMT. I'll leave in the metadata updating via the web ui, since for some reason, it never appears to happen there (yet both paths filter through the same code).

For now, you can also disable the automatic metadata for all media types in the from the phoenix core plugin (or the web ui). Also, if you change the automatic media type from ALL_VIDEO to just "VIDEO" or "VIDEO,DVD,BLURAY", then it should ignore recordings (I think).

I'll also change the custom metadata to NOT store large collections of data, such as the available fanart. In 4.1, I started storing the available fanart urls in the custom metadata fields, and I think that's why i'm going over the 4k sage limit for metadata.

I wouldn't go removing any more features sean. I think sage already said they're fixing the 4k limit in one of the upcoming beta builds. As for the auto-tv grabbing, I wouldn't remove it either, but perhaps just make VIDEO,DVD,BLURAY the default for now.

[stuckless]

I wouldn't go removing any more features sean. I think sage already said they're fixing the 4k limit in one of the upcoming beta builds. As for the auto-tv grabbing, I wouldn't remove it either, but perhaps just make VIDEO,DVD,BLURAY the default for now.

Trust me, I'm never happy about removing features, and I try to track the features that I remove so that I can later add them back, but... In the case where there is a severe bug, ie, the cross linked metadata, where I cannot foresee a solution, then I'm not sure what to do. I hate saying, "yeah, I know about it, but oh well" :(

I'll give it more thought.

[gplasky]

Trust me, I'm never happy about removing features, and I try to track the features that I remove so that I can later add them back, but... In the case where there is a severe bug, ie, the cross linked metadata, where I cannot foresee a solution, then I'm not sure what to do. I hate saying, "yeah, I know about it, but oh well" :(

I'll give it more thought.

If more extensive troubleshooting needs to be done let me know. I'll enable whatever logs are in BMT, Phoenix and Sage to help track this down. This is the first time I saw crosslinked metadata and don't know when I'll see it again or if the logging needs to be occurring just before it happens to nail it down. I'm also up to running any modified .jar files or other files that can help track this down.

Gerry

[Fuzzy]

I've actualy never seen crosslinked metadata, so don't know what it would show up as.

[stuckless]

I've actualy never seen crosslinked metadata, so don't know what it would show up as.

You'd know it, if you seen it... because all your recordings would start to share the same fanart... no matter what the recording was :( It's good that you've never seen it... i've never seen it either.

If more extensive troubleshooting needs to be done let me know. I'll enable whatever logs are in BMT, Phoenix and Sage to help track this down. This is the first time I saw crosslinked metadata and don't know when I'll see it again or if the logging needs to be occurring just before it happens to nail it down. I'm also up to running any modified .jar files or other files that can help track this down.

Gerry

Thanks Gerry. I've actually had help/logs, and in once case remote access to a person's machine... but I've never been able to tell what could be causing that particular issue :(

[toricred]

I've also never seen the cross-link issue. I'd really hate to see the automatic TV stuff go away. That's the primary reason I use BMT.

[Peter_h]

I didn't ever follow up but since I was the OP I figured I should update you.

I did as reported by everyone else and opened up BMT and re-saved the metadata and the problem show plays fine now.

-Peter