Recent Disney DVD Backups Not Playing

  • I have two relatively recent Disney DVD backups that refuse to play on my frontend. This system runs LibreElec on an (albeit old) Nvidia ION box. I had Libre 8.0.2 but also updated to and tested with 8.2.5. Same result on both versions. Affected movies play fine on my Windows PC running the same version of Kodi (tested both 17.3 and 17.6.) Both frontends (Windows and Ion) access via SMB share on an Ubuntu server.

    I enabled debug logging at 23:43:53 log time and attempted to play Cars 3. The Kodi menu stays on-screen, unchanged, but the playback timer starts. The timer continues to run but no movie. I can still move about the menus and pushing the stop button kills the playback timer. Also tested on Cars 2 and the movie plays normally. SW The Last Jedi also broken in the same way. All movies are stored the same way - raw DVD folders. I've reviewed permissions on the server and everything seems correct.

    Because the Windows PC plays it, I can't really implicate Kodi or the movies as problems. Other DVDs work so there's nothing wrong with this system in general - ie drivers, SMB, libdvd, etc. Rather stumped at this point what the problem is. Maybe another set of eyes will spot something I missed.

    23:40:28 - Successfully played Cars 2

    23:43:53 - Enable debug logging

    23:44:01 - Fail to play Cars 3 with debug

    23:44:36 - Debug logging disabled

    Debug log

    • Official Post

    This will probably sound a bit dull, but it's better to have the debug enabled from the start, and not sometime during or after playing a video, so we will have the full debug situation.

    You can have the debugging enabled without all the data on screen, by enabling it via the advancedsettings.xml file, and use loglevel '1'. Restart LibreELEC for a new & clean log file, and trigger the problem(s) by playing your videos. After that, submit the new log file.

    • Official Post

    Could you also please try to use NFS on your server to share the files. Maybe that improves something in regard to SMB.

    I'm a bit confused by:

    23:42:18.775 T:139719469909760 WARNING: CDVDInputStreamNavigator::GetVideoResolution - Failed to get resolution (Couldn't open IFO for chosen title, exit.)

  • I did copy one of the broken films to USB drive and it wouldn't play there either. I'll get a full debug log tonight and post it. It looks like Cars 3 is a multi-angle movie. Different angles on the DVD maybe based on language/localization? Seem to be different scenes for when words appear on screen (billboard for example.) One angle has the English another has no words at all. Playing it gives VLC fits when it hits a timestamp that has multiple available angles.

  • Here's the full debug log from boot up including playback.

    Debug log 2

    Another rip program is an option. Also going to try some different settings to see if I can better isolate the cause (full disc vs main movie etc.)

    • Official Post

    I did copy one of the broken films to USB drive and it wouldn't play there either.

    I don't see that in the logfile. All I see is, that you are trying to open the file from the SMB source. Could you please show us a logfile where you are playing the file from the device itself?

    I will also purchase this DVD today. That's the 2nd report we have with Disney related DVDs not play.

    I would also be interested in how you ripped that moviie? While using Windows I can use AnyDVD to either get the full DVD structure (like you did) or also get the movie in an ISO.

    While using Linux I use MakeMKV. And I highly guess I won't have any problems using that MKV file. But that's not part of the story. I'm interested why it doesn't play the DVD structure.

  • Since I eliminated SMB as a potential cause I went back to it. I'll run another log file tonight from local storage after family goes to bed.

    This week I'll try both AnyDVD and MakeMKV. I also found this problem on "Planes: Fire & Rescue" - another Disney movie. I use DVDFab on Windows with the "Full Disc" option, DVD9 output (no compression) to a folder.

    I decided to go through all my movies and pull out broken ones. This morning I grabbed my RasberryPi w/ LE and set it up on my desk. I assumed it would be able to find affected movies because my Windows PC cannot. To my surprise the Pi running LE plays these movies fine!! I think I'll also creating a fresh LE install for my ION. Perhaps I have a setting that's problematic.

    • Official Post

    Ok, thanks for the feedback

    I purchased the DVD today (just because I want to reproduce). I ripped it using AnyDVD to an ISO file and I also copied the complete disc to keep the dvd-structure.

    No matter where I play the file from (from my NAS using SMB and NFS or from a USB thumb drive), I don't have any issues playing this movie.

    I don't have DVDFab to test with. And for sure I won't purchase that ;)

    In the end we can't reproduce your issue at all. Good for us, not that good for you ;)

  • Well that's encouraging. I use the free version of DVDFab. I have a lot of stuff to try so I'll work the problem and report back. Hopefully I can isolate the issue.

  • I used AnyDVD and ripped to folder but the result was the same. Also did to an ISO - same. The issue is oddly platform dependent. My Pi works fine, ION does not. I also found that if Kodi has a bookmark mid-movie and I resume then it plays fine. (Clients use a shared videos DB.) The bookmark was set on my Pi and I was able to resume on the ION.

    I also downloaded a clean version of LE and installed to a fresh bootable USB flash drive. I could still reproduce on my ION. For fun I powered off my main rig (has a somewhat more recent nvidia 460 card) booted the flash drive and it reproduced the problem as well.

    I've tested on the hardware types I have here. But it seems like these movies are going to break on at least nvidia systems. This may be why the reports are consistent yet not reproducible. Something bizarre about their DVD menus is tripping up either this LE generic build or the nvidia hardware. I don't have an Intel or AMD graphics chip to test.

    This debug log taken on the gaming rig w/ GTX460, fresh install of LE, watching Last Jedi ISO ripped with AnyDVD. Nothing clear in the log. Just a mention of a still frame then log silence until I push the stop button.

    Debug log 3