RetroPie 4.6 crashing with video snaps on Rpi 4 4GB

deathr0w

I have tried a few different images that are Pi4 only images and they all have one thing in common with my new Pi 4 4GB model they crash (freeze) when loading any video snaps in sections even tried my own build and same issue if I remove video snaps the unit runs perfect now this includes issues with booting with a video intro (pixalated) so any ideas ?

Steps I have taken.

try other images and even my own image gives the same results.
tried multiple SD Cards.
checked connections on Pi to make sure they are in correct and not loose.

shavecat

@deathr0w
Check your resolution in your videos and try make them -
480*320
and check them again hope it works ;)

deathr0w

They were the standard video snaps in one of the most popular images for the Pi 4 just trying to work out if my Pi is faulty in some way or it's something I missed when setting up the 64GB image.

quicksilver

@deathr0w loaded third party images are not popular nor supported here. If you would like support please use the official image.

deathr0w

@quicksilver said in RetroPie 4.6 crashing with video snaps on Rpi 4 4GB:

@deathr0w loaded third party images are not popular nor supported here. If you would like support please use the official image.

And as I said in my original post my own image I made was doing the samething so the support for this is welcome here

quicksilver

@deathr0w you said that you tried multiple images and then later specified that you were using a third party image. You never said you were using, or had tried the official image. Please read https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/3/read-this-first and post all requested info so that it will be possible to troubleshoot your issue.

deathr0w

@quicksilver said in RetroPie 4.6 crashing with video snaps on Rpi 4 4GB:

@deathr0w you said that you tried multiple images and then later specified that you were using a third party image. You never said you were using, or had tried the official image. Please read https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/3/read-this-first and post all requested info so that it will be possible to troubleshoot your issue.

Please read before posting - ( try other images and even my own image gives the same results. ) so before being a keyboard warrior read it please also this ( even tried my own build and same issue ) yes I did state about other images but also stated that my own image gave the same result maybe i should have said the latest build aswell but that is also not the correct thing to say. So i'll reword it for you just to make it simple when asking for help Also tried to edit the original post to make you happy but seems the forum doesn't allowed it.

CargoRunner

I had the same problem with the new retropie 4.6 image on a pi 3. I fixed the locking up problem by going to the emulation station main menu and selecting "other settings" and then changed the setting "Use OMX player (HW accelerated) from OFF to ON. Once this was switched on my preview videos played with no problems and with no locking up.

deathr0w

@CargoRunner said in RetroPie 4.6 crashing with video snaps on Rpi 4 4GB:

I had the same problem with the new retropie 4.6 image on a pi 3. I fixed the locking up problem by going to the emulation station main menu and selecting "other settings" and then changed the setting "Use OMX player (HW accelerated) from OFF to ON. Once this was switched on my preview videos played with no problems and with no locking up.

Thanks for the reply I tried that it actually was on and it still froze I even tried with it off :( even with videos on boot up I tried and it causes problems maybe my Pi is faulty because it's just the video snaps causing this but if it was a video issue when trying games with video it should lock but it doesn't.

mitu

@deathr0w It may not be a problem with your Pi, but you should give some details on how you installed RetroPie and what videos are causing this.

You can convert the videos to a format (codec) that's understood by omxplayer, using handbrake or ffmpeg.

deathr0w

@mitu said in RetroPie 4.6 crashing with video snaps on Rpi 4 4GB:

@deathr0w It may not be a problem with your Pi, but you should give some details on how you installed RetroPie and what videos are causing this.

You can convert the videos to a format (codec) that's understood by omxplayer, using handbrake or ffmpeg.

I downloaded the official retropie 4.6 imagine from https://retropie.org.uk/ and just added my personal games and snaps/images that were from my old Pi 3B system now just to make sure it wasn't just my personal image I tried a couple of pre-made images and they all gave the same result aswell so this is why I'm thinking my Pi has turned more into a Steak n Cheese Pie and nolonger the Raspberry Pi 4B 4GB model

Daistaar

What theme are you using? Are you using a theme that supports video snaps? Where'd you get the videos? Was it from scraping or direct download from a website or Youtube rip? I've downloaded videos from screenscrapers and they wouldn't play even though the gamelists.xml for the specified systems had them included. Turned out I had to convert the color formatting to 422 (or 420 can't recall) then the videos showed. I recommend you start with one game or video to troubleshoot, then once that's sorted replicated your steps to resolve for everything else.

deathr0w

@Daistaar said in RetroPie 4.6 crashing with video snaps on Rpi 4 4GB:

What theme are you using? Are you using a theme that supports video snaps? Where'd you get the videos? Was it from scraping or direct download from a website or Youtube rip? I've downloaded videos from screenscrapers and they wouldn't play even though the gamelists.xml for the specified systems had them included. Turned out I had to convert the color formatting to 422 (or 420 can't recall) then the videos showed. I recommend you start with one game or video to troubleshoot, then once that's sorted replicated your steps to resolve for everything else.

The videos actually show but the system locks completely once they start playing now I scraped the videos with Scraper now all these worked on my Pi 3B with no issues. Now I can't say where others got them when I tested a couple of premade Pi 4 packages with the same results.

Clyde

I stumbled upon video freezing when I tried to fix the recent sound problem after an upstream update of Retropie's sound system.

My temporary solution was to reinstall Retropie from the official image which fortunately wasn't updated to the new system yet. That also fixed the freezes, although I don't dare to update the system packages now until Emulation Station is adapted to the new audio system.

Maybe your problem is also connected to this. You could try to turn off the sound for videos in Emulation Station to test this.

See these threads for more information:

deathr0w

I have added a video clip of the Pi freezing showing how the video file glitches and then the system locks.

mitu

@Clyde said in RetroPie 4.6 crashing with video snaps on Rpi 4 4GB:

Maybe your problem is also connected to this. You could try to turn off the sound for videos in Emulation Station to test this.

They're not related. The video freezing is a VLC/OMXPlayer problem, the sound output is just a configuration issue on the EmulationStation side - can be worked around by manually by changing the audio device in the .cfg file.

deathr0w

@mitu I actually disabled the audio for a test live in that video my self and as you could see it went plonk once the video started playing.

Clyde

@mitu So it was only a coincidence that both problems started to occur for me at roughly the same time, or are both problems somehow connected to the latest Raspbian updates? (Just a quick off-topic question that I won't follow up here if there's no clear answert to.)

In-topic, is the freezing a known problem? If so, is its cause also known? I assume that you would've mention it already if it was, but I want to be sure. 😇

mitu

@Clyde said in RetroPie 4.6 crashing with video snaps on Rpi 4 4GB:

@mitu So it was only a coincidence that both problems started to occur for me at roughly the same time, or are both problems somehow connected to the latest Raspbian updates?

No, it's just a coincidence.

In-topic, is the freezing a known problem? If so, is its cause also known? I assume that you would've mention it already if it was, but I want to be sure. 😇

Yes, it's a VLC issue. If switching to omxplayer doesn't solve it (incompatible codec), then re-encoding the videos with a compatible codec is the only solution right now.

Clyde

@mitu Okay, thank you. Though it was really strange that the videos were perfectly fine with OMX player until I updated all packages (Retropie & OS). Also weird: With OMX, the videos froze the Pi 4 only in the game list, while VLC froze only in the video screensaver. 🥴

The re-installation from the official image without updating afterwards "fixed" it for now (along with the sound problems), and I made a full backup of the newly installed system, so I will test another full update as soon as I have the time. I'll report back here if and how the freezes return.