Hello,

Firstly, I'm posting this here, so we can see if other screen reader users (specially with NVDA) have the issue mentioned below. I've wrote to the developers personally, but it seams that they can't reproduce it for one reason or another.

I've updated my copy of Daum PotPlayer to the latest version (1.6.51480). And as a visually impaired screen reader user, I was pleasantly surprised by the new accessibility features and improvements. Thanks very much for your efforts! I really appreciate it!

But I've found a bug with this new version. Constant crashes of the application, even on start, with the NVDA screen reader running. As soon as I launch Daum PotPlayer, with the NVDA screen reader running, Daum PotPlayer will crash with the standard “Daum PotPlayer has stopped working…” error message from Windows and the only option to close the program. This happens only with NVDA on a Windows 8.1 64-bit machine.

After some deeper experimenting, I've managed to reproduce it not only with NVDA, but with JAWS and Narrator as well. Reproducing it with NVDA is easiest, specially on a 64-bit machine (I don't know why, but it is harder on a 32-bit machine). To reproduce it with JAWS and Narrator, the user has to do object parsing/navigation with the corresponding screen reader in the main window of PotPlayer. Object parsing/navigation with Narrator is done via the Caps Lock Key and the arrow keys. Left arrow for previous object on the same object hierarchy level, right arrow for the next object on the same hierarchy level,, up arrow for the parent object in the hierarchy level and down arrow for the children object in the hierarchy level. You press and hold the Caps Lock key and do the navigation/parsing via the arrow keys. But it is a little tricky to reproduce it that way. I think the problem is the object for witch all 3 screen readers report something like "TITLE". I think that is some sort of static read-only text field. Here's what NVDA's log reports about it:

======
Developer info for navigator object:
name: u'TITLE'
role: ROLE_STATICTEXT
states: STATE_READONLY
isFocusable: False
hasFocus: False
Python object: <NVDAObjects.IAccessible.IAccessible object at 0x055ECE90>
Python class mro: (<class 'NVDAObjects.IAccessible.IAccessible'>, <class 'NVDAObjects.window.Window'>, <class 'NVDAObjects.NVDAObject'>, <class 'baseObject.ScriptableObject'>, <class 'baseObject.AutoPropertyObject'>, <type 'object'>)
description: u''
location: (0, 0, 10, 10)
value: u''
appModule: <'appModuleHandler' (appName u'potplayermini64', process ID 5944) at address 5515410>
appModule.productName: u'PotPlayer'
appModule.productVersion: u'0, 0, 0, 0'
TextInfo: <class 'NVDAObjects.NVDAObjectTextInfo'>
windowHandle: 30802954
windowClassName: u'PotPlayer64'
windowControlID: 11929545
windowStyle: -1764818944
windowThreadID: 6832
windowText: u'Daum PotPlayer'
displayText: u''
IAccessibleObject: <POINTER(IAccessible) ptr=0xf270a08 at 54d7ee0>
IAccessibleChildID: 0
IAccessible event parameters: windowHandle=30802954, objectID=-4, childID=0
IAccessible accName: u'TITLE'
IAccessible accRole: ROLE_SYSTEM_STATICTEXT
IAccessible accState: STATE_SYSTEM_READONLY, STATE_SYSTEM_VALID (64)
IAccessible accDescription: u''
IAccessible accValue: u''
======

Reproducing it with an installed copy of NVDA is easiest, because then PotPlayer will most likely crash a few seconds after start while on focus. But as I said, it can be reproduced with JAWS and Narrator as well, though it it is a little bit harder to do it.

Thanks much in advance!

I forgot to mention, that the bug is most easily reproduced if the skin "Window Frame Skin - WindowFrame.dsf" is used. I use it, because it is more compatible with Windows high-contrast color themes. If there is a similar skin witch is compatible with Windows high-contrast themes that I can try, please let me know - I don't mind using another similar skin, if the player doesn't crash with it.

I've updated to PotPlayer 1.6.52515 today. Unfortunately, the crash described above still occurs. As I said, I've created memory dump files for the crashes with NVDA, Narrator and JAWS and I can provide them here via DropBox links, if required.

Just for my curiosity (This is not official support), I've installed NVDA. How can I reproduce the crash? It does not crash with a default setup. I think you need to make steps to replicate the problem. I'm using windows 8.1 x64.

Switch to the "WindowFrame" skin - it is easiest to reproduce it that way. I just reset NVDA and I could replicate the crash with default settings of NVDA with no problems. The crash for me occurs a few seconds after I launch PotPlayer after I launch NVDA. NVDA says something of the sort of "TITLE text" and then the player crashes.

I've tried with both NVDA and PotPlayer reset to default configuration, but the crash of PotPlayer after its launch still occurs, if NVDA is running at that moment. I don't know what is going on and why you can't reproduce it.

Did you try 32 bit version? I'm using x32 version.

Can I actually use a 32-bit version of PotPlayer on a 64-bit version of Windows?

I've removed the 64-bit version of PotPlayer and I've installed the 32-bit one. Now it doesn't crash on startup with NVDA running. But with JAWS and Narrator at least, I can still reproduce the crash on demand, if I find the problematic "TITLE" object with the object navigation functionality of the 2 screen readers (described in my first post). I think that NVDA crashes PotPlayer even at startup because it immediately finds the "TITLE" object and because NVDA is a 32-bit application but PotPlayer in my case was a 64-bit application. Now that PotPlayer is also a 32-bit application, at least with NVDA there will be no problems. Both JAWS and Narrator are 64-bit applications, BTW. So, in conclusion, I think the crashes occur due to some incompatibilities between 32 and 64-bit libraries of the screen reader used on one side and PotPlayer on the other. Hope this helps to diagnose the issue and fix it from the developers.

x64 version is something like an appendix to the stable release of x32 version. I don't think there will be individual bugfixes for x64 version anytime soon. The truth is x64 version is not even registered in the official homepage of Korean. It seems there is not enough resources to manage both x64 and x32 version together at least to my eyes.

I'm one of the long time members of korean forum and the developer has not answered to almost all the questions about x64 although it is regularly released. The best is to use x32 version until the development will be shifted to x64 version because the daily bugfixes are based on x32 version only. In that reason, I have no choice but to say that you can use x64 version at your own risk but if you have a problem with it, use x32 version instead or you need to wait till next major release.

As you may notice, there is no guarantee if the problem of x64 will be fixed with major updates. Therefore, it is required to test the latest beta (x32) version if you have a problem with x64 version. Eventually the bugs of x64 version will be fixed in next stable release. Generally, the latest beta version is much more stable than the last stable release as reported bugfixes are being done everyday with beta releases. You don't need to remove x64 version to try the latest beta (x32) version as both do not share its configurations. You can safely keep and use both versions without conflict.

The first thing considered to find your problem is to try the latest beta as it can be fixed already. Remember that it is required to reset the player in preferences before trying again. If the problem persists, the reproducible problem will be fixed quickly. He is very quick if he can reproduce the problem.

When you have a problem,
1. Download the latest beta version and install it. You need to install the additional codec in the last setup dialog.
2. Backup your settings, reset the player in preferences and try again.
3. If you still have a problem, make steps to reproduce your problem before reporting. Generally, it is very helpful to figure out the problem with video/subtitle samples provided.




BTW, there is a 32bit version of JAWS. As for narrator, it works with 32bit version of potplayer if it is a product shipped with x64 windows. Stick to the working solutions...