Avast WEBforum
Consumer Products => Avast Free Antivirus / Premium Security (legacy Pro Antivirus, Internet Security, Premier) => Topic started by: JacobKlein on December 16, 2006, 10:22:01 PM
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Avast! support team:
First, thanks for creating a product that I feel comfortable installing on all of my relatives machines. Your detection rate, pricing scheme, and quick Vista support... make your antivirus solution one of the best.
That being said, I'd like to report a problem that I've been having. For weeks now, I have been trying to get the Windows Vista Media Center to work properly with Transcode360 (also known as Transcode 360), but had been encountering an error on my Xbox360:
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Video Error
Files needed to display video are not installed or not working correctly. Please restart Windows Media Center or restart the computer.
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Essentially, Transcode360 works by reading any video file (like divx/xvid) and re-encodes them into mpeg2 on-the-fly, so that the Xbox360 (which only reads mpeg2) can play your computer's video file.
There's even a new version of Transcode360 specifically designed for Vista (announced and available at: http://runtime360.com/2006/12/12/new-blood-and-transcode-360-for-vista-released/) ... which still gives me the errors.
IMPORTANT PART: My problem is with Avast!, however. If I have it installed (4.7.892) alongside Windows Vista (RTM), I will receive that Video Error every time I try to use Transcode360 on my XBox360. If I "Stop On-Access Protection", I STILL get that error. BUT, if I UNINSTALL Avast!, the error goes away completely, and I have no problems playing the videos!
It is worth noting that my Transcode360 research leads me to believe that other AV Vendors (McAfee, Symantec) are also having the same issue with Transcode360, while some are not (Windows OneCare).
But I'm especially stumped that clicking "Stop On-Access Protection" does not fix the problem! I thought that disabled Avast! completely, but somehow it must not be!
I'm working with developers on the Transcode360 side to see if they can figure out the problem as well.
Is this an issue with:
- Transcode360 (which works fine when Avast! is uninstalled)
- Avast! AV code
- or Vista itself
I would appreciate any and all help you could provide. I really don't want to leave Avast!, but if I cannot figure this out, I will have no choice.
Thanks,
Jacob Klein (JacobKlein)
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During the next week, there will be an announcement about the availability of a pre-release version of the upcoming avast program update. This update, among a number of other things, has a completely revamped device driver for Vista (i.e. the inner workings of the on-access scanner on Vista will change completely). So -- I'd suggest to wait for this version, and if the issue prevails even after applying this update, proceed with further investigation...
Thanks
Vlk
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During the next week, there will be an announcement about the availability of a pre-release version of the upcoming avast program update. This update, among a number of other things, has a completely revamped device driver for Vista (i.e. the inner workings of the on-access scanner on Vista will change completely).
Are any of these updates affect Windows XP or will only apply to Vista?
I suppose there will be an avast program update for all users and not only Vista-ones.
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Yes, you're right, and it's actually bringing a number of cool new features...
Stay tuned, it's coming (soon ;))
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Stay tuned
It's not difficult ;D
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Yes, you're right, and it's actually bringing a number of cool new features...
Stay tuned, it's coming (soon ;))
Sounds great!! :)
Keep up the good work!
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Yes, you're right, and it's actually bringing a number of cool new features...
Stay tuned, it's coming (soon ;))
Sounds great!! :)
Yes, it really sounds great ;D
Another Christmas present for us ;D
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During the next week, there will be an announcement about the availability of a pre-release version of the upcoming avast program update.
Well... where is it? ;D
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During the next week, there will be an announcement about the availability of a pre-release version of the upcoming avast program update.
Well... where is it? ;D
Bump ;D
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Vlk (et al):
The absolute newest beta version of Avast (v4.7.925 Beta) still does not work with the latest Transcode360 for Vista (v1.6.1 Beta), as I posted at http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=25697.msg209951#msg209951
Furthermore, I have tried stopping on-access protection with this new version, and even then I cannot get Transcode360 to work.
The way Media Center works is... I (user: Jacob W. Klein) access Vista from my Xbox360, and Windows logs in another account (Mcx1) who acts as the Media Center Extender to extend the media to the Xbox360.
Is there any way that avast! could be suffering some sort of multiple-user problem, such that stopping on-access protection for one user doesn't quite do the same thing for all users? Just a thought/hunch, though I'm probably wrong.
The fact of the matter is that this should work without disabling my AntiVirus at all. I hope you can get this fixed - thanks for your time.
Regards - Happy New Year,
Jacob W. Klein
During the next week, there will be an announcement about the availability of a pre-release version of the upcoming avast program update. This update, among a number of other things, has a completely revamped device driver for Vista (i.e. the inner workings of the on-access scanner on Vista will change completely). So -- I'd suggest to wait for this version, and if the issue prevails even after applying this update, proceed with further investigation...
Thanks
Vlk
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Please try stopping the "avast! antivirus" service. (Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Services). Does that prevent the problem from happening?
Thanks
Vlk
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Vlk:
I tried that, and it still did not work. This time through, I tried a more exhaustive approach...
Here is what I've tried:
- Install avast! v4.7.892, restart, T360 fails.
- Disable on-access protection, T360 fails.
- Stop all avast! services (main, updater, email, http), T360 fails.
- Update avast! to v4.7.925 Beta, restart, T360 fails.
- Disable on-access protection, T360 fails.
- Stop all avast! services (main, updater, email, http), T360 fails.
- Uninstall avast!, restart, T360 works.
I hope this is the type of testing you were looking for, but it appears that something is interfering even with on-access disabled and services stopped. Maybe some uber-low-level AntiVirus-device-driver isn't getting nullified somehow?
Thanks for your help, but we're still broken. I'm here to try any other suggestions you might have, or any other pre-release hotfixes.
Please try stopping the "avast! antivirus" service. (Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Services). Does that prevent the problem from happening?
Thanks
Vlk
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OK, if you can, please try one more thing:
1. install avast (if not already installed).
2. go to Administrative Tools -> Services, and set the startup type of all avast services to MANUAL (mainly the "avast! antivirus" service).
3. restart the computer and see if the problem is still here.
It is true that starting and stopping the service is not 100% equivalent to not starting it at all (the device driver stays loaded) - so this is definitely worth trying...
Thanks
Vlk
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Vlk:
Still no luck. Here's what I tried (using v4.7.925 Beta):
- Set "avast! Antivirus" and "avast! iAVS4 Control Service (aswUpdSv)" services to MANUAL, restarted, verified mouseover on GUI shows 0/0 services running, T360 fails.
- Used msconfig to disable the automatic startup of ashDisp.exe, restarted, verified all avast! services on MANUAL and stopped, verified no ashdisp.exe GUI, T360 fails.
I hope this is what you wanted... any other ideas?
OK, if you can, please try one more thing:
1. install avast (if not already installed).
2. go to Administrative Tools -> Services, and set the startup type of all avast services to MANUAL (mainly the "avast! antivirus" service).
3. restart the computer and see if the problem is still here.
It is true that starting and stopping the service is not 100% equivalent to not starting it at all (the device driver stays loaded) - so this is definitely worth trying...
Thanks
Vlk
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OK, let's go even one step further.
Try disabling the following drivers
aswMonFlt
aswTdi
aswRdr
To do this, open RegEdit, go to HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\<driver-name>
and change the value Start to 3 (which means Disabled). Then restart the machine.
If that doesn't solve the problem either, it must be some kind of magic ;D
Thanks
Vlk
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Do you like Lucky Charm Bugs? They're magically delicious! AKA: No luck here either.
Here's what I tried (using v4.7.925 Beta):
- Set "avast! Antivirus" and "avast! iAVS4 Control Service (aswUpdSv)" services to MANUAL
- Used msconfig to disable the automatic startup of ashDisp.exe
- Changed: aswMonFlt from 2(Auto) to 3(Manual)
- Changed: aswTdi from 1(System) to 3(Manual)
- Changed: aswRdr from 1(System) to 3(Manual)
- Restarted, verified no gui, verified 4 standard services set on Manual and stopped.
- T360 magically fails.
There must be something else down this rabbit hole that's being missed.
PS: You said 0x03 was Disabled, but actually 0x03 is Manual and 0x04 is Disabled I believe (Researched: http://www.jsifaq.com/SF/Tips/Tip.aspx?id=0324)... Do I need to test that as well?
Kind regards,
Jacob W. Klein
OK, let's go even one step further.
Try disabling the following drivers
aswMonFlt
aswTdi
aswRdr
To do this, open RegEdit, go to HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\<driver-name>
and change the value Start to 3 (which means Disabled). Then restart the machine.
If that doesn't solve the problem either, it must be some kind of magic ;D
Thanks
Vlk
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You're right 3 is Manual 4 is disabled - but still, there shouldn't be much difference here (even though you could try using 4 to make absolutely sure it's not the drivers' fault).
Hmm, so, what now? :)
So, no, there's no ash* or asw* processes running, right? (you can use the Processes tab in the Task Manager to verify).
BTW are you using avast Home or Professional?
BTW2 do you have (full) MS Outlook installed on your machine? Which mail client are you using?
Thanks
vlk
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OK, so the rule goes, if you can't solve the problem after disabling some top layers, see if the problem still exists with all layers disabled, right? :)
Here's what I tried (using v4.7.925 Beta):
- Set "avast! Antivirus" and "avast! iAVS4 Control Service (aswUpdSv)" services to DISABLED
- Also set "avast! Mail Scanner" and "avast! Web Scanner" services to DISABLED
- Used msconfig to disable the automatic startup of ashDisp.exe
- Changed: aswMonFlt from 2(Auto) to 4(DISABLED)
- Changed: aswTdi from 1(System) to 4(DISABLED)
- Changed: aswRdr from 1(System) to 4(DISABLED)
- Restarted, verified no gui, verified 4 standard services set to DISABLED and stopped.
- T360 works!
This leads me to conclude that I could conceivably figure out exactly which service or device driver is causing the problem. That being said, I need a break for now, so I'll look deeper at this hopefully later today.
We haven't found the problem, but we can find out what service or device driver is causing it, I believe. If I am able to narrow it down that far, will you continue to work (edit code, fix, etc) so that the Transcode 360 community can use your wonderful AV program?
Here are some A's to your Q's:
- During previous testing, I was checking task manager also to verify no ash* or asw* processes, even though we both know that those lower level services won't show up here.
- I am using the Home version on this machine
- I am using Outlook 2007, as part of the Office 2007 System Professional package. I have it set to automatically start via my (local user's) "Start Menu\Programs\Startup" folder.
More info later... This is encouraging news, no?
Thanks,
Jacob W. Klein
You're right 3 is Manual 4 is disabled - but still, there shouldn't be much difference here (even though you could try using 4 to make absolutely sure it's not the drivers' fault).
Hmm, so, what now? :)
So, no, there's no ash* or asw* processes running, right? (you can use the Processes tab in the Task Manager to verify).
BTW are you using avast Home or Professional?
BTW2 do you have (full) MS Outlook installed on your machine? Which mail client are you using?
Thanks
vlk
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Yes, very interesting indeed...
So, effectively, when the 3 drivers were set to MANUAL it did not work but when you changed them to DISABLED it worked? Hmmm...
I agree that it would be very helpful to find out which of the 3 drivers is responsible for this... My bet would be aswTdi.sys (that's the "Network Shield" provider in avast) - but only further experiments can tell for sure...
Thanks very much for your help so far,
Vlk
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Further experiments INDEED. Belated Christmas-colored experiments! Copy/paste to notepad if the color is bothersome or irritating :)
Services: 0=Boot 1=System 2=Auto 3=Manual 4=Disabled
Defaults for low-level-services: aswMonFlt=2, aswRdr=1, aswTdi=1
Here's what I tried (using v4.7.925 Beta):
Note: The first 8 tests have UI and main services disabled, so just look at the low-driver-level start-numbers
Note: But the 9th test is tricked out for avast! and T360 to work together (ie: temporary workaround fix)
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UI Disabled, 4 main services DISABLED, aswMonFlt=4, aswRdr=4, aswTdi=4
T360 works!
UI Disabled, 4 main services DISABLED, aswMonFlt=2, aswRdr=1, aswTdi=1
T360 fails.
UI Disabled, 4 main services DISABLED, aswMonFlt=2, aswRdr=4, aswTdi=4
T360 works!
UI Disabled, 4 main services DISABLED, aswMonFlt=2, aswRdr=1, aswTdi=4
T360 fails.
UI Disabled, 4 main services DISABLED, aswMonFlt=2, aswRdr=4, aswTdi=1
T360 fails.
UI Disabled, 4 main services DISABLED, aswMonFlt=4, aswRdr=1, aswTdi=1
T360 fails.
UI Disabled, 4 main services DISABLED, aswMonFlt=4, aswRdr=1, aswTdi=4
T360 fails.
UI Disabled, 4 main services DISABLED, aswMonFlt=4, aswRdr=4, aswTdi=1
T360 fails.
UI ENABLED, 4 main services DEFAULT (auto-auto-man-man startedx4), aswMonFlt=2, aswRdr=4, aswTdi=4
T360 works! (mouseover UI shows 6/6 running)
I guess my conclusion is that there are problems in BOTH:
- "aswTdi.sys (avast! Network Shield Support, avast! TDI Filter Driver)" and
- "aswRdr.sys (avast! TDI RDR Driver)"
Where do we go from here?
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OK, I think that the next logical step is to pass this info to our developers who're responsible for the TDI filter code.
BTW am I right that Transcode 360 is a free download? And that the version you're testing is the "Transcode 360 Vista Beta" linked from http://runtime360.com/blog (second item in the Downloads section on the right)?
Again - thank you very much for going through all these experiments. They were very helpful.
Thanks
Vlk
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So, we installed Transcode 360 on a Vista machine, it started OK - but no what? How do we tell it to "transcode" something for us (hence triggeting the error)?
Thanks :)
Vlk
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- Transcode 360 is indeed a free (open-source I think) download.
- I have been using T360 for Vista v1.6.1 Beta...
- You can find the latest version at http://runtime360.com/forums/ -> "Transcode 360" -> "**Download**"
- I installed using the tray-tool option.
- Make sure "Transcode360Tray.exe" is compatibly-set to run as admin
- Make sure after restart that the tray tool is visible. (Windows will try to block admin-access apps from startup)
- There's no need to change any settings within this tray-tool
- ...Actually, you might have to change settings if you are not using an Xbox360, not sure
- What you need....
- To do testing on Vista, you will need a DivX-encoded file, and xVid codecs installed (since DivX has a massive dllhost problem in Vista)
- Latest is xVid Codecs v1.1.2
- Latest stable Windows binary can be found here: http://www.koepi.org/xvid.shtml
- You'll also need a version of Vista RTM that has Media Center, connected to a Media Center Extender (was: with an Xbox360 set as an extender)
- Make sure the Vista Sample Videos play just fine using your extender (was: XBox360)
- To test: T360 vs. Avast:
- Set Avast to whatever settings you'd like (start off with Avast uninstalled as a test, maybe)
- The following instructions assume you're using an Xbox360
- On the Xbox360, when you have a DivX movie/show highlighted.... hit "X" --> "More"
- You should then see "Transcode" highlighted... click "A" and wait patiently
- After about 10 seconds, your DivX vid should be playing on your XBox360, unless Avast is interfering
- Note: If you're watching a longer vid and notice any skips, that's a separate bug. Our bug here deals with "Video Error"
If you have further questions, Vlk, I will edit THIS post to add/edit steps. This should be a pretty quick-and-dirty guide to discovering the "bug" however.
Kind regards,
Looking forward to a fix,
Jacob W. Klein
So, we installed Transcode 360 on a Vista machine, it started OK - but no what? How do we tell it to "transcode" something for us (hence triggeting the error)?
Thanks :)
Vlk
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Wait a moment, your saying I need to an Xbox to do this?
Hmmmm... sounds like a good reason to get one ;D But really, can't this be done software-only?
Thanks
Vlk
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Well... Maybe not an Xbox360, but some sort of Media Center Extender is necessary.
Windows Vista Media Center can play DivX files just fine (assuming you have xVid codecs installed) and other codec-related-media just fine, because the codecs are on the Windows Vista PC.
The whole point of the Transcode 360 project is to play those same encoded codec'd files on a Media Center Extender. See, most of the extenders only play mpeg2-encoded files, which is not suitable for all the DivX-encoded media that people have. Also, at this time, the Xbox360 is the chief Media Center Extender that Microsoft targets for home entertainment. That being said, I would say the primary use case for this project is playing DivX files on your Xbox360, transcoded from DivX to Mpeg2 by Transcode 360.
This should give you insight as to why this project exists. Xbox360 does not have DivX codecs (or any other non-Mpeg2-codecs for that matter, to my knowledge), so T360 encodes to Mpeg2 on-the-fly whenever you select "Transcode" on your Xbox360.
I know it's a mouthful, but when this project works, it's AWESOME. I will update the "steps" to indicate that any Media Center Extender can be used. But if you use a non-Xbox360 extender, you might have to edit the tray-tool settings, I'm not sure.
Regards,
Jacob W. Klein
Wait a moment, your saying I need to an Xbox to do this?
Hmmmm... sounds like a good reason to get one ;D But really, can't this be done software-only?
Thanks
Vlk
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Great, except that I don't have any Media Center Extenders (I assume this is a piece of hardware, right?)
Sorry I'm not too familiar with these Home entertainment goodies -- gimme a command line and I'm happy ;D
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I'm not mailing you my Xbox360 :)
I don't know how to help you... maybe you can rent one? Or buy one? Or find a dev that owns one, so you can borrow it?
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Hi Guys,
I am the main developer in charge of Transcode 360 for Windows Vista, I see you are struggling for an Xbox 360 (no i am not offering to lend you mine), I do a lot of my testing on my development machine before it hits my life media center.
One way you could try this is if it is a network driver issue, install Transcode 360 on to 2 PCs on 1 of the PCs set it up as a media server (this must be a normal RTM copy of Windows Vista and not Media Center) and configure the distributed file options in the GUI and on the other which is a Media Center version of Vista set it up as the client and point it to your other PC. If you then treat the media center like an extender and do the more information | Transcode button it should request the other PC to transcode the media and then send it down the line to the Media Center which is near enough a full test.
The above is the ultimate test of the network side, the other thing you could try which is far easier... on the PC you already have it set up on already just try to transcode Media on the PC i.e. click more info | Transcode on a video if it has the same issue users experience on the Xbox your on to a winner if not you might try the above suggestion, this 2nd way is how I test the add in and back end on my development PC the only thing is it might not hit your network driver in the same way the 360 does but it is worth a try.
If you have any questions drop me an email I would love to get this issue resolved and add Avast to the supported AV list! You would be the first non Microsoft solution to work, might even get people flocking to you as nobody likes supporting Microsoft!
Cheers
James
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James, thanks a lot for jumping in! BTW how did you find this post? Did Jacob contact you re this?
Glad to hear the functionality of T360 can be verified even without the physical XBox device. We will try your tips tomorrow (right now, I'm having some difficulties connecting to the Vista test machine (from home)).
Anyway, the thing that fascinates me is that the problem happens even if the main functionality of our network filters is not yet enabled. That is, the mere existence of the filter driver on the stack seems to be enough for the problem to occur.
This leads me to this question: does T360 also include a kernel-mode component? Or maybe - does it use WFP (Windows Filtering Platform) in Vista to do some network filtering? You, as the author of the code probably know best what could be the root cause of the problem.
I know that our implementation is not ideal (we still use TDI filters even though Microsoft made it quite clear that this is NOT the way network filtering should be done in Vista) but the code works so we didn't really find it necessary to reprogram the whole thing... The same thinking probably had other AV vendors as well - and that's why T360's having problems with most AV's.
Thanks
Vlk
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Hello,
Jacob placed his work around on the forum with a link to here so I thought I would jump over and take a look!
The issue is extremely strange, I actually used Avast on my test machine to experiment with the issue 2 weeks ago when it was reported over on the T360 forum. The program is quite simple in operation basically a front end picks up the details of the video you want to play and passes the request using .net remoting over to the back end job on the users PC, the request then causes a block on the front end for a user conditioned time (by default 6 seconds) whilst it creates and buffers enough content before then requesting a media center playmedia command to play the buffered content.
From what I can see when I debugged the application is that all the communication between the front and back end appears to run fine the whole process works and Media Center is given the file to process BUT then returns that the file is an incorrect codec, which in the world of Media Center is a catch all for the media is defective or an incorrect format. So at this point T360 from a program point of view has done everything it is required to do and all it does on the back end is manage a copy of Mencoder from start to completion which is actually transcoding the file from the original format in to MPEG2, the Mencoder process is being managed by T360 so that further requests from the front end can be managed by the back end.
With regards to Kernel functions etc... this solution is completely managed code using .net 3 it uses nothing as far as I am aware within the core application that isn't called directly through the framework, I have been extremely tight on this to ensure that the application obeys Microsoft guidelines to ensure maximum compatibility with Vista which has paid off in respect to the core application.
From what I tested it appears the stream is somehow malformed when it goes through the networking stack as it leaves the PC, I did a simple test on my laptop whilst transcoding with Avast enabled and although the stream is being created as you can see the file is slowly growing Media Player 11 in Vista was unable to play the stream, in fact the only player that seemed to remotely show any content was VLC which played the audio track but no video. The odd thing was that once the stream had completed transcoding and the Mencoder process was completed and it terminated I was able to play the stream fine on my laptop in VLC and Media Player so whatever is affecting the stream only happens when you attempt to read the file across the LAN whilst it is being transcoded.
Just to give you a bit of information on the basic principal on the Xbox 360 Media Center Extender and how it works, basically the Xbox 360 connects to the PC using a modified encrypted remote desktop connection, due to the restrictions on video playback within remote desktop the media is sent as a separate stream to the xbox as an encrypted file and decoded on the Xbox itself. There is unfortunately a purpose built file restrictions laid down by Microsoft that only allow Windows Media Video and MPEG2 to be sent down to the console.
Hope that gives you some insight but any questions just ask.
Cheers
James
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James, thanks for the details description. I have one more simple question: where do I find the "more info | Transcode" thing? Is it in the T360 GUI? Or in the Media Center GUI? Or elsewhere?
Also, is there a MCE of Vista? I thought it was replaced by the "Ultimate" Edition, that is, the Ultimate Edition contains the Media Center as well...
Thanks
Vlk
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I can help here I think...
After you have Transcode 360 installed...
You can access the "Transcode" button within Media Center by:
- (if on Media Center PC): Right-click a show, click "More"
- (if on Xbox360): Have show highlighted, hit X, click "More"
- (if on other extender): Find a way to get to the "More" screen of a show
You should then see the "Transcode" button.
In regards to finding "Windows Media Center" in editions of Vista...
If you look at http://www.winsupersite.com/vista/
and then click "Windows Vista Review, Part 2: Windows Vista Product Editions"...
You can find "Windows Media Center" in:
- Vista RTM Home Premium
- Vista RTM Ultimate
Hope this helps. I don't know how busy James is, but I'll try to answer anything I can.
Regards,
Jacob
James, thanks for the details description. I have one more simple question: where do I find the "more info | Transcode" thing? Is it in the T360 GUI? Or in the Media Center GUI? Or elsewhere?
Also, is there a MCE of Vista? I thought it was replaced by the "Ultimate" Edition, that is, the Ultimate Edition contains the Media Center as well...
Thanks
Vlk
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Because I only have 1 Vista box at the moment, I was only able to attempt 1 of these 2 recommended test cases... Unfortunately, the results are disturbing :'(
"on the PC you already have it set up on already just try to transcode Media on the PC i.e. click more info | Transcode on a video [...] the only thing is it might not hit your network driver in the same way the 360 does but it is worth a try."
Attempt 1:
Vista RTM Ultimate,
T360 Vista v1.6.1 beta,
Avast v4.7.925 beta: Fully enabled, except low-level-service-starts: 2 4 4
---> "Media Center has stopped working." "No solutions" "Media Center is retarting" It restarts.
Attempt 2:
Vista RTM Ultimate,
T360 Vista v1.6.1 beta,
Avast v4.7.925 beta: Fully enabled, except low-level-service-starts: 2 4 4
---> "Media Center has stopped working." "No solutions" "Media Center is retarting" It restarts.
I'm not even sure this is a valid test, but I figured I'd post my results anyways. I might try to install Vista RTM on another box here this weekend, but no guarantees.
Vlk / James: I'd be interested in knowing what your results are if you do the 2-Vista-box test. I just want to get this bug fixed :)
Regards,
Jacob
Hi Guys,
I am the main developer in charge of Transcode 360 for Windows Vista, I see you are struggling for an Xbox 360 (no i am not offering to lend you mine), I do a lot of my testing on my development machine before it hits my life media center.
One way you could try this is if it is a network driver issue, install Transcode 360 on to 2 PCs on 1 of the PCs set it up as a media server (this must be a normal RTM copy of Windows Vista and not Media Center) and configure the distributed file options in the GUI and on the other which is a Media Center version of Vista set it up as the client and point it to your other PC. If you then treat the media center like an extender and do the more information | Transcode button it should request the other PC to transcode the media and then send it down the line to the Media Center which is near enough a full test.
The above is the ultimate test of the network side, the other thing you could try which is far easier... on the PC you already have it set up on already just try to transcode Media on the PC i.e. click more info | Transcode on a video if it has the same issue users experience on the Xbox your on to a winner if not you might try the above suggestion, this 2nd way is how I test the add in and back end on my development PC the only thing is it might not hit your network driver in the same way the 360 does but it is worth a try.
If you have any questions drop me an email I would love to get this issue resolved and add Avast to the supported AV list! You would be the first non Microsoft solution to work, might even get people flocking to you as nobody likes supporting Microsoft!
Cheers
James
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James:
So I stayed up all night installing Vista on a 2nd box :) I think I might need a little help getting this network distributed transcoding feature to work. I've tried unsuccessfully to distribute the transcoding -- maybe you can tell me what I'm missing?
PC A [Da-Cheat]:
- Windows Vista Business (does not contain Windows Media Center)
- T360 v1.6.1 beta - acting as Server
- avast! not installed
- T360 configuration:
- Install: Tray-tool option, port 1401
- Post-Install compatibility: Run as admin
- T360 General tab -> Transcode buffer folder: c:\TranscodeBuffer
- T360 Network tab -> Share dropdown -> \\DA-CHEAT\TranscodeBuffer
- Upon run: Ready to accept connections on port 1401
- c:\TranscodeBuffer is shared to Everyone, permissions Full Control
PC B [Snakeman]:
- Windows Vista Ultimate (contains Windows Media Center)
- T360 v1.6.1 beta - acting as Client
- avast! v4.7.925 beta, fully enabled except low-level-service-starts at 2-4-4
- T360 configuration:
- Install: Tray-tool option, port 1401
- Post-Install compatibility: Run as admin
- T360 General tab -> Transcode buffer folder: c:\users\Public\videos\TranscodeBuffer
- T360 Network tab -> Forward [checked] -> Da-Cheat
- Transcode 360 Distributed Networking Test
- Successfully established a connection with the remote computer.
- \\Da-Cheat\TranscodeBuffer can be accessed, files can be created/deleted in it
Test:
- PC B -> Windows Media Center -> ... -> Click Transcode
- Dialog box: "TRANSCODE 360 Unable to queue video file for transcoding and streaming. [OK]"
Note: I have tried this test with both firewalls (PC A and PC B) off, but the test failed. I have also tried with avast! uninstalled on PC B, but the test failed. (was: I'm going to uninstall avast! on PC B and see if that makes any difference.) Is this feature broken?
Kind regards, awaiting your response,
Jacob W. Klein
One way you could try this is if it is a network driver issue, install Transcode 360 on to 2 PCs on 1 of the PCs set it up as a media server (this must be a normal RTM copy of Windows Vista and not Media Center) and configure the distributed file options in the GUI and on the other which is a Media Center version of Vista set it up as the client and point it to your other PC. If you then treat the media center like an extender and do the more information | Transcode button it should request the other PC to transcode the media and then send it down the line to the Media Center which is near enough a full test.
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Vlk:
I did some further testing on these low-level-services...
UI ENABLED, 4 main services DEFAULT (auto-auto-man-man startedx4), aswMonFlt=2, aswRdr=1, aswTdi=1
avast! UI shows 7/7 running
T360 fails (as expected, since these are all default values)
UI ENABLED, 4 main services DEFAULT (auto-auto-man-man startedx4), aswMonFlt=2, aswRdr=1, aswTdi=1
Through GUI, I "terminated" the culprits (Network Shield and Web Shield)
avast! UI shows 5/7 running
T360 fails (probably because the culprit services still start with Windows network stack)
UI ENABLED, 4 main services DEFAULT (auto-auto-man-man startedx4), aswMonFlt=2, aswRdr=3=Manual, aswTdi=3=Manual
avast! UI shows 7/7 running
T360 fails (probably because, even if set to Manual, the culprit services still start with Windows network stack)
UI ENABLED, 4 main services DEFAULT (auto-auto-man-man startedx4), aswMonFlt=2, aswRdr=4=Disabled, aswTdi=4=Disabled
avast! UI shows 6/6 (Network Shield is gone, but Web Shield says active but doesn't do anything = bug!)
T360 works!
So, again, the only working scenario is to actually disable=4 the culprit services (aswRdr and aswRdi). But it looks like you have another separate UI bug where Web Shield thinks he's on when in fact he's not!
Kind regards,
Jacob W. Klein
Further experiments INDEED. Belated Christmas-colored experiments! Copy/paste to notepad if the color is bothersome or irritating :)
Services: 0=Boot 1=System 2=Auto 3=Manual 4=Disabled
Defaults for low-level-services: aswMonFlt=2, aswRdr=1, aswTdi=1
Here's what I tried (using v4.7.925 Beta):
Note: The first 8 tests have UI and main services disabled, so just look at the low-driver-level start-numbers
Note: But the 9th test is tricked out for avast! and T360 to work together (ie: temporary workaround fix)
------------------------------------
UI Disabled, 4 main services DISABLED, aswMonFlt=4, aswRdr=4, aswTdi=4
T360 works!
UI Disabled, 4 main services DISABLED, aswMonFlt=2, aswRdr=1, aswTdi=1
T360 fails.
[...]
UI ENABLED, 4 main services DEFAULT (auto-auto-man-man startedx4), aswMonFlt=2, aswRdr=4, aswTdi=4
T360 works! (mouseover UI shows 6/6 running)
I guess my conclusion is that there are problems in BOTH:
- "aswTdi.sys (avast! Network Shield Support, avast! TDI Filter Driver)" and
- "aswRdr.sys (avast! TDI RDR Driver)"
Where do we go from here?
-
But it looks like you have another separate UI bug where Web Shield thinks he's on when in fact he's not!
Well, the thing is, WebShield really is active, but the auto-redirect feature is not. You can still use WebShield if you tell your browser to use proxy server at localhost:12080 as described here: http://www.avast.com/eng/faq-home-webshield.html
So it's really questionable whether the status "Active" is adequate or not in this case...
BTW I won't be able to do any tests in the next 3 days because I have to (unexpectedly) go to the UK. I will be monitoring the progress though. From what James said I'm a bit afraid that this may be a generic compatibility issue between (any) TDI filter and .NET 3.0 remoting. And that would be quite unfortunate because virtually all applications that rely on .NET remoting (and the number of those is not so low) would be broken.
Thanks
Vlk
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VLK:
Any progress on this Avast bug?
James:
How do I setup Distributed transcoding in order to simulate the bug without an extender - as you can see above, I have tried but my setup must be wrong - can you get it to work?
Regards,
Jacob W. Klein
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I'm back from the UK but haven't had the chance to have a look at the problem so far, sorry :-\
We're very busy preparing the upcoming avast update at the moment (due VERY soon).
Next week, I'm in Italy but I promise I'll try to have someone simulate the problem for me... :)
Cheers
Vlk
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Hi guys,
Sorry for not responding, I am in the middle of transferring ISPs and phone companys due to the many many issues with my previous provider unfortunately I don't get broadband activated again until 16th of Jan but I am still working on T360 and trying to keep on line to help.
I have not really played with distributed transcoding, I hacked its code a bit to see if that would resolve another issue but basically if I remember correctly there is checks in it to ensure it is running on a non MCE PC by checking for a file in the ehome directory (I am going to change this soon as its a crap way of doing it) this is why you need to make sure not to run it on a MCE version of Vista otherwise the options won't appear under the Video options as they are conditioned by the above file, you then have to share the buffer folder on the back end PC and then point the front end at it, to do this you tick the distributed transcoding option under videos which will let you select where to get it from. I had it working locally on my PC when I was hacking so I know it works on Vista but I haven't played with it much, I will take a look at the code if you still struggle getting it working and work out exactly how it is configured from that.
Hope that helps.
Cheers
James
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Vlk:
We are still anxiously awaiting a true FIX for this issue. I'm STILL running avast! in an unsecured fashion, hoping that one of your updates will fix it.
I've tried to get James to give me instructions on remote transcoding, since I simply cannot get it to work.
What is your status?
Kind regards,
Jacob W. Klein
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Sorry, we were a bit busy releasing a new version of avast for the last couple of weeks.
Tomorrow, we'll restart the investigation of this issue.
Thanks
Vlk
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I found out that one of our developers own an Xbox 360 so I told him to take it to the office - so we'll try to simulate the problem with real hardware...
Thanks for your patience,
Vlk
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OK, we now have the problem simulated.
It remains to find the cause and fix it... ;)
Please stay tuned.
Cheers
Vlk
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Excellent. Thank you. As I've said in previous posts, the problem lies in two of the lower-level services, I believe. Good luck!
OK, we now have the problem simulated.
It remains to find the cause and fix it... ;)
Please stay tuned.
Cheers
Vlk
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It turns out that the problem doesn't have anything to do with Transcode360. It simply occurs even if you try to play back a MPEG-2 stream (with no transcoding involved).
We have contacted our friends in Redmond and are now investigating the issue together. Hopefully, a fix will be found soon.
Cheers
Vlk
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Guys, I have an update: it is a confirmed bug in Vista, namely the driver tdx.sys that handles the TDI compatibility stack.
We have a pre-release fix from Microsoft, and it does solve the problem. However, since the fix is not yet official, we're not allowed to give it to anyone outside our organization.
Once the fix the officially released, I'll let you know (hopefully you won't be required to go thru the MS Tech support hell to obtain it).
BTW the bug will be documented in Microsoft Knowledge Base article 933049.
Thanks
Vlk
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That is awesome. Please keep us updated! This could likely fix this particular issue for a ton of other AntiVirus venders as well!
Anxiously awaiting your findings,
Jacob W. Klein
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hi there,
I just wondered if there was an ETA for this fix as I am currently running without virus checking so that I can run Transcode 360!
Thanks alot,
Greg
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I'd love to give you the fix - but I'm afraid I'm not allowed to do so (Big Brother is watching... ;D)
If you like adventures, you could try requesting it from the MS tech support department. It is supposed to be FREE OF CHARGE (if you know what exactly you need - which you do).
All you need is request the patch related to "KB933049".
Currently, we're trying to persuade Microsoft to push this fix to all users as a critical update (via Windows Update). We have some allies inside MS but it's not going to be easy. ;)
Cheers
Vlk
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Hello folks,
I would like to say that I asked to Microsoft to send me the patch related above and I received it today by email from Microsoft. Will try this evening and let you know if it's working.
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good news wasirob, how/where did you contact Microsoft to get this patch?
regards,
greg
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Hi everybody,
First of all it's working :) tried just right now....
I sent an email to custserv@microsoft.com and asked them if it's possible to have the patch ''KB933049'' and that's it the next day I had it in my mailbox.
Best Regards and thanks a lot for everybody who helped me in this forum.