Playlist no longer plays next file in list in loop

[jdtswan]

Hi, This problem has arisen in the last few days. My playlists will no longer play the next file automatically on the andoid app on Fire TV. I have the loop option selected, but no joy. It just returns to the list of files, when one video has finished. I have not made any changes to the andoid app, other than to reinstall it to try and rectify the issue. The only difference in the last few days, is that I upgraded to Mezzmo Pro, and thats when the trouble seems to have started. Even playing a single video, when finished, throw me all the way back to the server screen, instead of the folder I'm currently viewing. Very strange. I have hunted evrywhere for a possible cause, but cant find anything. I rely heavily on playlists on the Fire TV android app on a loop, as my partners snoring would wake the dead, so I wear a bluetooth headband, listening to Mezzmo Android going through an entire playlist continuosly and reloop again at the end, its been a life saver. Bit dissapointed with the pro version to be honest. I mainly got it to stream outside the home network, and add some functions, but despite following detailed instructions, I cant get that to work either. Any suggestions, gratefully received.

[Peter]

Hi,
are you using the internal video player in the Mezzmo app or have you unchecked the box to use the internal video player in the app settings? It sound like the main activity state of the Mezzmo app is being lost after playing a video due to the Android system reclaiming memory and not allowing the activity to keep running in the background. Have you changed any system settings on the Fire TV?

[jdtswan]

I am using mx player, I think I've solved the playlist problem, but I tried so many different options I cannot remember which one did the trick! It also deleted a large selection of the folder I was viewing last night, I restored it this morning on the PC server. I even did a repair install. It still seems to lose server details on android after playing a file on its own though. It forgets the server its connected to, Ive tried the sticky thing, but that keeps disappearing. Ive even replaced and upgraded the ethernet cable connecting them. It jumps back to the server select screen, it wont remember or disconnects the main mezzmo server coming from the pc. Many thanks for your suggestions. How do I stop android reclaiming memory and not allowing running in the background? Also whats the optimum device profile for Fire TV? Thanks again.

[Peter]

The profile to use is Conceiva Mezzmo (Android). Please try using the internal Mezzmo app video player by going to settings and checking the box for using the internal video player and this should resolve the issue and keep the Mezzmo app in memory.

[jdtswan]

Many thanks, I'll give it a go, as it kept crashing last night. So, I'll go for internal app video.

[jdtswan]

I have isolated it to the android app, having reinstalled both server and app, but still getting the same problems. Is there a beta version of the Android app I could try, running on Amazon Fire TV?

Many thanks

Jon

[Peter]

Hi Jon,
I don't have a Fire TV device here to test it and there is currently no beta version to try. The playlist is stored in the Mezzmo application class which remains active while the video player is playing so upon returning to the app after playing the current video so it should be able to play the next file from there. Does the app still return to the top of the library with no server selected when playing using the Internal video player?

[jdtswan]

It now doing it intermittently, I even tried using a different media server, but it only seems to be certain playlists (not all) that are affected. Which makes me think it could be a decoder/codec problem file related or something. I have tried internal player and mxplayer, on which I cant get the custom codec installed like I used to. Maybe my Firetv is becoming outdated, I'm pretty much out of ideas. I noticed a Mezzmo update dropped last night, so that may have an effect. Thank you for your response. Jon

[Peter]

I was able to go to the office on Tuesday and grabbed a Fire TV so I will do some testing here to try and reproduce the issue.

[Peter]

Make sure you have the setting checked "Queue all videos in current folder when playing" in the Mezzmo app's settings

[jdtswan]

ok thanks, I'll do that. Kind regards Jon

[fletch]

Been meaning to ask the same question since, maybe September. Only began recently using Mezzmo Android on my Sony TV. I keep seeing updates and keep installing them. But playing all videos in a folder simply does not work. I'm using the internal player, the option to queue all in the playlist is selected, and when I play a video, I can see the message at the bottom that videos are queued. When the video ends however, nothing happens. It's as if the queue all option is not enabled. About a month or two back, the behavior was slightly different in that it would try to play the next video but the spinning wheel was just there forever until I turned the TV off.

Two entries in the device list for this TV. One is the TV itself - matched by MAC ID - and I just changed the profile from Sony Bravia (detected by Mezzmo) to Conceiva Mezzmo (Android). Next there's this Mezzmo (Android Bravia 4K) device with the Conceiva Mezzmo (Android) profile and an IP address of 0.0.0.0. Not sure what that is. But if I disable that, videos stop playing.

[Peter]

Can you please check in the playlist view to see if multiple video files are listed?

[fletch]

Never really thought to look there - still learning the UI. But yeah, 46 are there. So I started one FROM there and when it finished, the list returned and the one that had just completed showed "playing".

<update>

Left it sitting just to make sure nothing would play. The first one still indicates "playing". Selecting ANY one listed there and attempting to play it shows this briefly on the bottom of the screen...

Browse: -1 NULL

[Peter]

I tried it on a Fire TV here and played two short videos which played one after the other. Can you please try playing a short video to see if the next video plays?

[fletch]

Ok, a couple of 60 second videos.
Play - indicates 2 added to playlist and video 1 begins
After video 1 ends, the spinning wheel starts and then hangs after 1/2 second, followed by the app returning to the main screen and messages at the bottom about devices being "added" As if the app restarted. But at this point the app is corrupt and unpredictable. The scenario above can't be repeated without completely exiting the app.

I'll note that Roku, Apple TV (using VLC), and an eight year old Sony Google TV play multiple videos without any problem from this server.

Some months ago I did uninstall and reinstall Mezzmo on the TV but that made no difference.

[Peter]

The app does a metadata request before playing the file so possibly this is failing or the request for the file is failing. Can you please enable diagnostic logging http://www.mezzmo.com/wiki/doku.php?id=using_logging&s[]=diagnostic then after restarting your Mezzmo media server try playing the two short files again and then after the second one fails to play send us the logs at support [at] conceiva [dot] com so we can investigate further.

[fletch]

Ok, that may take some time - as I've found a workaround. Kodi. I'd installed it long ago but never did much other than see if it could play media from my Mezzmo server. I never did bother installing the Mezzmo Add-on.

Using Kodi it seems to create a playlist too when I tell it to play everything in a folder. It plays everything in succession without any problem.