Crash when trying to play asf file, recorded with VLC

[cpg]

Hello,

I am recording a video stream to asf file without recoding. The codecs used in the stream are:

Audio Codec: MPEG Audio layer 1/2/3 (mpga)
Video Codec: Windows Media Video 8 (WMV2)

When I open the file with VLC it loads the full file in memory and then starts playing. The memory is released shortly after this. But if the file is very big and can’t fit into memory, VLC crashes with the following message:

Microsoft Visual C++ Runtime Library:
This application has requested the Runtime to terminate it in an unusual way.
Please contact the application's support team for more information.

I tested the same files with VLC 1.0.5 and there is no problem at all, so the issue is introduced in the 1.1.x branch. Please fix it because with MPC there are some problems with the colors and the only way to play the file correctly is in virtual machine with VLC 1.0.5.

[VLC_help]

You have some sample file I could use to replicate the issue?

[Lotesdelere]

There is already a ticket about this issue: ticket 3965.

[cpg]

You have some sample file I could use to replicate the issue?

I have uploaded a 5 MB file here: http://rapidshare.com/files/416122103/test.asf
But the problem is obvious only when the file is very large (more than 1 GB). I can upload larger file, up to 500 MB if you want. You can still see that a lot of memory is allocated, but it doesn't crash unless free memory is exhausted.

There is already a ticket about this issue: ticket 3965.

I think it is different issue in this ticket. I am recording a stream to asf file and I can't play it with VLC when the file is large.

[VLC_help]

How big are your large files?

[cpg]

Usually between 1.5 and 2.5 GB, this is 1h30m - 3h playtime.
But maybe the crash can be reproduced with smaller file in virtual machine with small amount of memory.

[VLC_help]

The limit for 32 bit process in 2 gigabytes. And swap is there so limiting the physical memory (RAM) shouldn't make a difference. I try to replicate this on weekend.

[cpg]

I made a demo movie of the crash in Windows XP virtual machine:

http://rapidshare.com/files/417126710/crash_demo.avi

The 5 MB file plays fine, but the 1.32 GB file crashes VLC immediately.

[VLC_help]

Thanks. I created file that I can use to replicate this. Trac ticket opened
http://trac.videolan.org/vlc/ticket/4145

[cpg]

Ticket #4145 (new defect)

VLC memory usage sky rockets on WMV file opening

Opened 3 months ago
Last modified 3 months ago

Does anyone care about this bug?

[VLC_help]

Not really. There are hundreds of bug tickets open in trac. Since this volunteer coding, nobody is forced to do anything. So it is quite normal that some thing don't get fixed.

[joshribakoff]

This happens here on a 3.36GB .mkv file. It's been happening daily since recent updates. This is after years of flawless use. The video pauses at deterministic time points, for example for some reason time codes 0 through 56 minutes played fine, but even scrubbing over the frames from 56 to 57 minutes would cause this crash. After skipping past 57 minutes or whatever it played fine for another few, before the same thing happened at another time point in the movie.

Sounds like VLC is becoming bloated from the above volunteer's own account none of the developers care either.

[VLC_help]

MKV issue ain't same. You prolly have to remux the MKV file if the crashes only happen in certain points.