libVLC player crashing during playback

[viggy96]

Describe the bug

libVLC player crashes during playback. I've noticed it during playback of files with H.264 video codec, with ASS subtitles.

To Reproduce

1. Set player choice to "auto"
2. Play file with SSA/ASS subtitles
3. Profit

Expected behavior

Playback occurs smoothly without incident.

Logs

jellyfin-android.log

System (please complete the following information):

• Android TV or Fire TV version: Android 9
• Device manufacturer: Sony
• Device model: X900F
• Jellyfin server version: 10.7.6

EDIT: Log attached above.

[viggy96]

This still occurs on the 12.x beta.

[viggy96]

I've found this issue on files without SSA/ASS subtitles as well.
jellyfin-androidtv.log
jellyfin-androidtv2.log

[nielsvanvelzen]

I see this exception in your logs, I don't think it's the cause of the crash though.

10-01 22:38:38.161 30707 30707 E AndroidRuntime: java.lang.NullPointerException: Attempt to invoke interface method 'void org.jellyfin.androidtv.ui.playback.IPlaybackOverlayFragment.updateDisplay()' on a null object reference
10-01 22:38:38.161 30707 30707 E AndroidRuntime: 	at org.jellyfin.androidtv.ui.playback.PlaybackController.startItem(PlaybackController.java:634)
10-01 22:38:38.161 30707 30707 E AndroidRuntime: 	at org.jellyfin.androidtv.ui.playback.PlaybackController.access$200(PlaybackController.java:61)
10-01 22:38:38.161 30707 30707 E AndroidRuntime: 	at org.jellyfin.androidtv.ui.playback.PlaybackController$6$1.onError(PlaybackController.java:573)
10-01 22:38:38.161 30707 30707 E AndroidRuntime: 	at org.jellyfin.apiclient.interaction.Response.onError(Response.java:32)
10-01 22:38:38.161 30707 30707 E AndroidRuntime: 	at org.jellyfin.apiclient.interaction.SerializedResponse.onResponse(SerializedResponse.java:41)
10-01 22:38:38.161 30707 30707 E AndroidRuntime: 	at org.jellyfin.apiclient.interaction.SerializedResponse.onResponse(SerializedResponse.java:6)
10-01 22:38:38.161 30707 30707 E AndroidRuntime: 	at org.jellyfin.apiclient.interaction.ApiClientRequestListener.onResponse(ApiClientRequestListener.java:21)
10-01 22:38:38.161 30707 30707 E AndroidRuntime: 	at org.jellyfin.apiclient.interaction.ApiClientRequestListener.onResponse(ApiClientRequestListener.java:5)
10-01 22:38:38.161 30707 30707 E AndroidRuntime: 	at org.jellyfin.apiclient.interaction.VolleyResponseListener.onResponse(VolleyResponseListener.java:22)

[viggy96]

It might be the source of the issue. In the above logs, the app didn't exactly crash, but it froze up, and video output went black. I was unable to go back as well. After I pressed back on my remote, the TV made navigation sounds suggesting that I was navigating the episode info screen for the given episode I was watching, but the app was still displaying a blank black player. Going to the Android home screen and coming back to Jellyfin was ineffective. I still still stuck at a blank player. I was forced to force stop the app. This doesn't happen if I manually select ExoPlayer for playback.

[nielsvanvelzen]

I made #1174 that adds nullability checks to prevent that exception.

[viggy96]

I have tried a build with your changes locally, but I still get libVLC crashing. However, this time it is just libVLC that crashes, and after about 10 seconds, I get kicked out to the Jellyfin app home screen, instead of the whole Jellyfin app locking up.

Here is another log:
jellyfin-androidtv3.log

[nielsvanvelzen]

Good to hear the PR improves at least something. Unfortunately I don't see anything weird in your latest logs.

[viggy96]

This time libVLC froze when I tried to seek forward.
Something interesting in the log here:

10-03 16:30:44.322 14957 14957 I VideoManager: VLC length in seek is: 2756608
10-03 16:30:44.325 14957 17305 E NdkMediaCodec: sf error code: -38
10-03 16:30:44.325 14957 17305 W VLC     : [88d94930/4399] libvlc decoder: AMediaCodec.dequeueOutputBuffer failed
10-03 16:30:44.325 14957 14957 D PlaybackController: Play called with pos: 2125359 and sub index: -1

jellyfin-androidtv4.log

[viggy96]

I see the same NdkMediaCodec: sf error code: -38 in my previous log.

[nielsvanvelzen]

Closing this issue as duplicate of #1061. See my comment (#1061 (comment)) for some additional information.

Let me know if this issue is different (not a crash during/before/after playback) so I can re-open it.