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    Invelos Forums->DVD Profiler: Plugins Page: 1... 28 29 30 31 32 ...53  Previous   Next
New Plugin: LoadDVD - Open/Play Media and Automation Client
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DVD Profiler Unlimited Registrantgarycase
Registered: September 3, 2007
Posts: 29
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I've also noted quite a few access violations ... I thought it was a bug in Profiler; but it may very well be related to this PlugIn.  In general they're more of a nuisance than a problem -- you can ignore them (just click OK) and it doesn't seem to have any "nasty" effect. 

I'm about 350 DVD's shy of being done entering my collection (~ 2000) ... and the access violations haven't caused any major issue -- on two or three occasions I got a "string" of violations (MANY error windows) and had to use Task Manager to kill Profiler ... but in the vast majority of cases I just clicked OK and went along my merry way.

Since it seems likely it's related to the plugin, I'll post the detailed errors next time it happens -- just in case that's helpful in locating the problem.

One other "tidbit":  I have found that I need to do a "Repair" from the Utilities menu whenever I've made a modest number of changes, or performance can get annoyingly slow (takes several seconds to update the display when you select a different DVD).    Using the Repair option resolves this -- I assume it's because all the indices are rebuilt during that process ... but I'm now wondering if this may also be related to the plugin.
DVD Profiler Desktop and Mobile Registrantmediadogg
Aim high. Ride the wind.
Registered: March 18, 2007
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Quoting garycase:
Quote:
-- I assume it's because all the indices are rebuilt during that process ... but I'm now wondering if this may also be related to the plugin.

It would be highly useful to undestand that. I suggest disabling and / or uninstalling the plugin during the update sessions. That's the best way to see if there is a pattern. You will be doing me and the community a big favor if your experience can help shed some light on this. Thanks.

Edit: Actually, I would disable all of my plugins if you have others, such as BulkEdit. Plugins are supposed to be independent, but maybe it is possible that code from the same author somehow can create a conflict. Not sure about this. Just trying to cover all the bases.
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 Last edited: by mediadogg
DVD Profiler Unlimited Registrantgarycase
Registered: September 3, 2007
Posts: 29
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Wow!!  I disabled LoadDVD and Profiler is MUCH more responsive -- and doesn't encounter any Access violations.  I finished up my last 300 entries with no problems encountered -- and the process was notably faster since the brief delay when selecting a new movie isn't there without the plugin.  [Note that the "brief delay" is notably longer if there are multiple DVDs associated with an entry (e.g. episodic series) ... and can be very long (6-8 seconds) after a lot of new entries -- but will revert to a second or so if a database Repair operation is run.]

Note that I wasn't entering new movies -- I was just updating the Notes and Location fields to set everything up for LoadDVD to automatically play the movies.  All done now -- and the plugin's re-enabled & working just fine.  I do get frequent Access violations when shutting down Profiler ... and often get a "DVD Profiler has stopped working" message when closing the program -- but a simple OK for the access violations; or just clicking on "Close the program" with the latter message seems to shut everything down without causing any real issues.  It would, of course, be nice if this was resolved ... but it's not a major issue.

It IS, however, nice to know it's not a DVD Profiler bug.

Just FYI, the errors I've encountered most are the following:

Access violation at address 0040328C in module 'dvdpro.exe'.  Read of address FFFFFFFC.

Access violation at address 0040328C in module 'dvdpro.exe'.  Read of address FFFFFFFD.

Access violation at address 00403486 in module 'dvdpro.exe'.  Read of address FFFFFFDD.

and the occasional "DVD Profiler has stopped working" message (Note this ONLY occurs immediately after shutting down Profiler).

... but apparently (based on a few error-free hours) these errors do not occur with LoadDVD disabled.
DVD Profiler Desktop and Mobile Registrantmediadogg
Aim high. Ride the wind.
Registered: March 18, 2007
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United States Posts: 6,412
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Quoting garycase:
Quote:
... but apparently (based on a few error-free hours) these errors do not occur with LoadDVD disabled.

Good info, thanks. I might contact you by PM if you are willing to test a fix attempt. Stuff like this is hard to debug until you can consistently reproduce the problem and not-the-problem. Seems like your system environment allows you to do that, so if I attempt a fix, it will give me more confidence if it works on your system.

Actually the best clue so far is the delay that is correlated to the number of discs in the profile. I suspect I have a bug in the process of building the toolbar icons. Sometimes I have found that bugs don't manifest themselves immediately, but the memory corruption causes problems when Profiler closes down and tries to unload the plugin. If you are willing to try changing the LoadDVD option to use toolbar text instead of icons, that would nail it, if the the problem goes away.
Thanks for your support.
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Hey, new product!!! BDPFrog.
 Last edited: by mediadogg
DVD Profiler Unlimited Registrantgarycase
Registered: September 3, 2007
Posts: 29
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I'd be glad to try modifications that may improve the speed of building the icons.

However, as far as being able to reliably reproduce the problem -- it seems to occur mostly when doing a lot of editing ... and after a LOT of time in the past month (well over 100 hours) I've finally got my entire collection added and the appropriate paths entered for LoadDVD => so it may not be so easy to confirm whether or not all is well.  I don't mind spending time to test it, however -- I can always "edit" a bunch of movies without really changing anything.

What would really be nice is if the icons would build a lot faster.  There's a VERY noticeable difference between the "feel" of Profiler with/without the plugin enabled ... it'd be nice if that was less obvious.

I turned off Toolbar Icons and it DOES make a nice difference -- especially on entries that have a lot of discs.  I'm going to leave it set that way.  However, it had access errors on closing Profiler twice out of five tries (along with the "DVD Profiler has stopped working message").

Was just playing around a bit more before posting -- and got another Access error (same as usual) when selecting a different movie.  So while turning off Toolbar icons definitely helps the "responsiveness", it doesn't eliminate the Access errors.

If you want me to be a guinea pig for mods to the plugin, feel free to PM me 
DVD Profiler Desktop and Mobile Registrantmediadogg
Aim high. Ride the wind.
Registered: March 18, 2007
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United States Posts: 6,412
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Quoting garycase:
Quote:
If you want me to be a guinea pig for mods to the plugin, feel free to PM me 

Thanks. This is frustrating because I use LoadDVD myself on both 3.1 and 3.5 and I'm not getting that error. By the way, I'm using V 1.50 with 3.5 on Vista Home Premium and V 1.50 with 3.1 on MCE 2005.

But wait, I'm not editing any profiles. I'll try that, but how that would relate to LoadDVD escapes me for the momemnt.

Edit: Yup, that was it. No sooner than I edited a profile, did I see the error when I closed Profiler.

Best clues yet.
Thanks for your support.
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Hey, new product!!! BDPFrog.
 Last edited: by mediadogg
DVD Profiler Unlimited Registrantgarycase
Registered: September 3, 2007
Posts: 29
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Glad you've now seen the problem -- perhaps it will help isolate what's happening.  I suspect that now that I've got my collection entered it will be much less of a nuisance (I add a few DVDs every month -- but catching up on 8 years worth of acquired DVDs was definitely a lot of work for the past few weeks).

Just let me know if you'd like help testing any changes -- I'd be glad to install an updated version and "bang away" at it to see if it's more stable.

... by the way, it won't help me much now that I've entered ~ 2000 DVDs with "Play" typed in the Location field ... but don't forget to add "Play" as a default changer selection 
DVD Profiler Unlimited Registrantgarycase
Registered: September 3, 2007
Posts: 29
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Just for completeness ... I use LoadDVD v1.5 on Profiler v3.5.1 (Build 1252) on both Vista Ultimate and XP Pro [Both fully up-to-date ... i.e. SP1 on Vista and SP3 on XP with all subssequent updates] => and get the same errors on both.  I've also got an MCE 2005 system, but haven't installed Profiler on it yet -- I'll do that in the next few days just to see if the errors are consistent (I suspect they are).

But the errors are much less prevalent since I've now got my collection essentially entered (I've been doing a bit of "clean-up" for a few entries the last couple days & just had a few errors).
DVD Profiler Desktop and Mobile Registrantmediadogg
Aim high. Ride the wind.
Registered: March 18, 2007
Reputation: Highest Rating
United States Posts: 6,412
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Quoting garycase:
Quote:
(I've been doing a bit of "clean-up" for a few entries the last couple days & just had a few errors).

Does your cleanup include adding discs to profiles to thise that have none? Have you had or do you have now, profiles with no discs?

I used to have bugs related to that. Maybe I didn't get rid of them all.

By the way, I am very grateful for your helpful and informative posts.
Thanks for your support.
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Hey, new product!!! BDPFrog.
 Last edited: by mediadogg
DVD Profiler Unlimited Registrantgarycase
Registered: September 3, 2007
Posts: 29
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I did have some like that, but don't believe there are any more -- I'll check.

I noticed something today that might be helpful (it's also a real nuisance !!):

=> If I click on a movie and get a memory access error, the "center section" of Profiler (General Info, Notes, Overview, etc.) "freezes" -- i.e. after I ignore the error (with a click on OK), Profiler SEEMS to work fine ... but the info in that center section doesn't change => it reflects the data from the movie that was there when the error occurred.  The only way I've found to resolve it is to just shut down Profiler and reload it.

... this never occurs if LoadDVD is disabled.  Unfortunately, what I'm doing right now (~ a 2-week project at a few hours/day) is going through the list and "Playing" every movie at high speed -- to both confirm I've got all the play links set right and to confirm the on-disk rips are good; so clearly I have to leave LoadDVD enabled.
DVD Profiler Unlimited Registrantgarycase
Registered: September 3, 2007
Posts: 29
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... an update to that issue r.e. "freezing" in the center pane.  It just happened again ... and I checked it more thoroughly.  Apparently only the "General Info" pane freezes -- the Notes & Overview still change with the next movie you select.  It may depend on what's being viewed when the freezes happens ... I usually have the General Info screen up.

In any event, it plays the correct movie if you click on the LoadDVD Play button.
DVD Profiler Desktop and Mobile Registrantmediadogg
Aim high. Ride the wind.
Registered: March 18, 2007
Reputation: Highest Rating
United States Posts: 6,412
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Quoting garycase:
Quote:
... an update to that issue r.e. "freezing" in the center pane.  It just happened again ... and I checked it more thoroughly.  Apparently only the "General Info" pane freezes -- the Notes & Overview still change with the next movie you select.  It may depend on what's being viewed when the freezes happens ... I usually have the General Info screen up.

In any event, it plays the correct movie if you click on the LoadDVD Play button.

This is getting way out of hand. First of all, I thought that the access errors happened during Profiler closing. Now it seems like you are saying it happens when you click on a movie. If you said that before, I misunderstood. And this business with "freezing" - this is the first report of that. Since none of this stuff happens to me, I wonder if I will ever figure out what is going on. Also what makes me wonder is why I don't get more reports of this. LoadDVD has over 10,000 hits on my web site. I am guessing that there are a few users out there, and a bug this serious should have a bunch of them screaming at me. So, I just wonder if it might be helpful to compare notes amoung those relatively few people that are having this problem to see if there is a pattern of usage or some system configuration that LoadDVD is conflicting with.
Thanks for your support.
Free Plugins available here.
Advanced plugins available here.
Hey, new product!!! BDPFrog.
 Last edited: by mediadogg
DVD Profiler Desktop and Mobile Registrantmediadogg
Aim high. Ride the wind.
Registered: March 18, 2007
Reputation: Highest Rating
United States Posts: 6,412
Posted:
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Quoting garycase:
Quote:
I did have some like that, but don't believe there are any more -- I'll check.

This is not a small issue, but it can be easily fixed. If this is the problem, and we miss that fact, I could spend a whole bunch of unproductive time chasing windmills, so I would really appreciate it if you could make sure if there is anything "odd" about the profiles that you think LoadDVD is tripping on: blank fields (e.g. manual profile partially filled in), etc.
Thanks for your support.
Free Plugins available here.
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Hey, new product!!! BDPFrog.
 Last edited: by mediadogg
DVD Profiler Unlimited Registrantgarycase
Registered: September 3, 2007
Posts: 29
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I had one remaining profile with no discs assigned => "Star Trek - The Motion Pictures Collection", which had ten child profiles that DID have movies assigned.  Just for grins, I added one movie to the main profile (simply made it point to the original "Star Trek - The Motion Picture").

So as of now, EVERY profile has at least one disc (many have more -- up to 7); and "Play" is in the location field for EVERY disc.

I just made the change above r.e. Star Trek -- I had not "clicked" on that profile in a long time (probably at least a week, as I've been doing other cleanup stuff) ... but just in case the blank entry may have some side-effect, it's no longer there.

Next time I click on a profile and get the error, I'll note which profile and let you know if there's anything unique about it.  I HAVE noticed that on several occasions, and tried clicking on the same one after shutting down and restarting Profiler -- but I've never had it repeat the issue on the same one.  As I've noted already, I'm fairly sure this only happens when you've made some edits (not necessarily to the profile that then causes an issue).
DVD Profiler Desktop and Mobile Registrantmediadogg
Aim high. Ride the wind.
Registered: March 18, 2007
Reputation: Highest Rating
United States Posts: 6,412
Posted:
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Quoting garycase:
Quote:
Next time I click on a profile and get the error, I'll note which profile and let you know if there's anything unique about it.  I HAVE noticed that on several occasions, and tried clicking on the same one after shutting down and restarting Profiler -- but I've never had it repeat the issue on the same one.  As I've noted already, I'm fairly sure this only happens when you've made some edits (not necessarily to the profile that then causes an issue).

Many thanks. You continue to be the man! (You can't imagine how many painful hours of testing, good info such as yours can save ...)
Thanks for your support.
Free Plugins available here.
Advanced plugins available here.
Hey, new product!!! BDPFrog.
 Last edited: by mediadogg
DVD Profiler Unlimited Registrantgarycase
Registered: September 3, 2007
Posts: 29
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Well ... I had a couple of interesting things happen today.  I was going down the list checking the details of a bunch of movies (& playing a bit of them to be sure I had all the LoadDVD settings right).

I had just done "Balls of Fury" ... then clicked on Bandidas.  The result was the first screen I'll add to this post (I'm not sure how this is going to format, so I'll do all the images last).  There is NOTHING unusual about either "Balls of Fury" or "Bandidas" => they both have "Play" in the location field; and both have a Notes field like this:  "[filepath]\\Media\DVDs\Bandidas\video_ts\video_ts.ifo[/filepath]"  (except, of course, the folder name is different for each movie)

After I clicked OK on the error, Profiler would still work -- and would still play the correct movie if I selected a different movie and clicked on the "Main Feature" button => but note that the cast list in the center was "frozen" at the cast from "Balls of Fury" -- the last movie I'd looked at before the error.
The second image I'll post below shows this (with Batman & Robin selected on the left -- but it doesn't matter ... ANY movie will still have that cast list until you shut down & restart Profiler).

The above error is fairly typical of what I encounter with some regularity (it was much more common when I was entering all my movies the past few weeks; but now just happens a couple times a day).  It NEVER happens if I disable LoadDVD -- I've spent several hours trying to induce it; making lots of changes, etc.  [I entered my last 300 or so movies with LoadDVD disabled after I realized from our discussion here that it was probably related to LoadDVD and not a Profiler bug -- and I'm convinced that's true now.]

A much less typical error -- but one I've also noted a few times over the past few weeks -- much more rarely (happened today, but doesn't happen every day) ... is a quick string of error messages - sometimes blank (like today); sometimes with the typical memory access violation; and Profiler gets completely hung ... have to use Task Manager to shut it down.  Since it happened today, I've also included a shot of it => I had just edited the "Bad Boys" profile, and was scrolling down the cast list when it happened.

One really good thing -- I have never noticed any data corruption as a result of these errors.  SOMETHING gets messed up; as it takes MUCH longer for LoadDVD to draw the LoadDVD icons after several of the errors; but a simple "Repair" of the database always fixes that.  I've got in the habit of doing a repair pretty frequently if I've been adding a lot of data.  As I noted the other day, it's also MUCH faster if I leave the Icons turned off and just let it show the disk descriptions across the top.

Enough for now.  Here are the three images I discussed ...

... Well, it seems the "Insert Image" button doesn't insert an image -- it just lets me post a URL to an image.  I don't have the images uploaded anywhere, so I can't insert them here.  If you'll PM me an e-mail address I'll be glad to send them to you.
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