Would appreciate it if someone could solve (or point me in the right direction to resolve) this issue.
I have “MultiSeat” MediaPortal 1.36 (x64) on two Windows 11 Pro (24H2) PCs and all works well and has been for some time.
I only use the setup for TV so no Music/Movies/Box Sets.
I have “TVS” (192.168.10.243) which is a headless PC and only runs the TV Server portion of MP. The client is “HTPC” and that’s connect to my main TV.
I’m introducing a third ‘Client’ for a TV in another room. This is also running Windows 11 Pro (also 24H2 with all updates installed).
On this new client, all aspects of MP work [can see recordings, TV Guide etc] but I can’t play Live TV or Recorded TV. I get the dreaded “Unable to play..” error.
The main/major difference is that TVServer and HTPC run Windows Defender whereas the new PC runs BitDefender Total Security. This appears to be the crux of it.
As a test, I did an MP installation on a fourth PC (also Win11 Pro (24H2) which also runs BitDefender, and got the very same issue.
I uninstalled BitDefender on that PC, rebooted and MP was able to stream Live TV & Recorded TV. Then I reinstalled BitDefender and found the same “unable to play” issue came back.
I have tried temporarily disabling the AV and Firewall aspects of BitDefender but still can’t stream.
If I start a manual stream on TVS, look in the logs to get it’s stream address and then open that in VLC on the ‘bad’ PC, it plays fine.
Am using the standard 554 port for the stream but have changed it to a different port number as part of my investigations and that hasn’t made any difference.
BitDefender does not appear to be logging any issue/suspicious behaviour, and I’ve added rules to allow MediaPortal.exe full access thru the BitDefender Firewall and added it as an allowed exception for the AV side of things.
I have "Alert Mode" switched on but aern't getting any popups when the issue occurs.
MP log files
Mediaportal-error.log
[2025-09-27 11:11:25,958] [Error ] [MPMain ] [ERROR] - TSReaderPlayer: Failed to open file:rtsp://192.168.10.243:554/54785E64 :0x80004005
[2025-09-27 11:11:26,536] [Error ] [MPMain ] [ERROR] - TSReaderPlayer:GetInterfaces() failed
TSReader.log;
[2025-09-27 11:11:25,370] [0000000041D3EF10] [68b0] - CRTSPClient::OpenStream()
[2025-09-27 11:11:25,370] [0000000041D3EF10] [68b0] - CRTSPClient::OpenStream(): create RTSP client, url = rtsp://192.168.10.243:554/54785E64
[2025-09-27 11:11:25,370] [0000000041D3EF10] [68b0] - CRTSPClient:StartBufferThread()
[2025-09-27 11:11:25,370] [0000000041D3EF10] [68b0] - CRTSPClient:StartBufferThread(): done
[2025-09-27 11:11:25,370] [0000000041D3EF10] [7694] - CRTSPClient::ThreadProc(): thread started, thread ID = 30356
[2025-09-27 11:11:25,447] [0000000041D3EF10] [68b0] - CRTSPClient::OpenStream(): duration = 4370.169922 s
[2025-09-27 11:11:25,449] [0000000041D3EF10] [68b0] - CRTSPClient::OpenStream(): created receiver for sub-session, medium name = video, codec name = MP2T, port = 60010
[2025-09-27 11:11:25,449] [0000000041D3EF10] [68b0] - CRTSPClient:SetupStreams()
[2025-09-27 11:11:25,449] [0000000041D3EF10] [68b0] - CRTSPClient:SetupStreams(): send RTSP SETUP
[2025-09-27 11:11:25,949] [0000000041D3EF10] [68b0] - CRTSPClient:SetupStreams(): RTSP SETUP timed out
[2025-09-27 11:11:25,949] [0000000041D3EF10] [68b0] - CRTSPClient:Shutdown()
I need to find some way to determine what BitDefender is blocking and why so need a deeper level of logging in BitDefender - Is that available ?
What other steps can I take to resolve this other than of course moving to a AV product that doesn't cause this issue?
