Video playback locks up Fuze, renders it unsuable

So… been trying to get the video aspect of Fuze going, and sorely regret trying at this point.

Every time I load up a video and turn the player off, it renders the entire Fuze useless in the following way:

  1. Fuze powered down by user.

  2. Some time passes

  3. Fuze powered up by user.

  4. Fuze  immediately jumps to video that was playing but will NOT play the video(ie its stuck at, say 21:17 or something)

  5. Any attempt to navigate away from the file causes the entire Fuze screen to flash white and it to jump back to the unplayable file.

So its worse than having no video capabilities at all, as it renders even the music player useless, every time a video is accessed.

Add to that the ridiculous file uploading procedure(which takes longer than actually viewing the video in the first place), and i’m highly regretting my purchase.

So, thoughts? 

Commiseration?

Suggestions about what next to buy instead of a Sansa?

are you powering down the fuze while the video is playing? if so this is a known bug but with a very simple workaround, do not powerdown the fuze while the video is playing. you will need to exit to the home menu before powering down the fuze.

while its playing?

no, i always stop the video first, as i would any file(music).

if this is a known issue, how is it not in the manual? 

Bugs are bugs. They never come in the manual…

what are you using to convert the music files?

the manual is available online is it not? then why is it not update to reflect this bug?

better yet, firmware updates are available online as well. why not fix the problem entirely?

seems to be to be rather redundant to have to go into a forum and ask users time and again about the very same question - and which should never have been a problem in the first place. the thing simply does not work as its supposed to, and moreover its a crippling issue for the functionality of the rest of the player.

first i convert the media files entirely to avi since Fuze seems to have issues with any other type of file(as i’ve learned through experience).

then i use the required sansa media converter to make them playable on the Fuze. i also take care to do them one at a time since experience(and other user comments concerning this issue) indicate batch conversions often result in corrupt or unplayable video files.

ass an addon question to this, is there any reason why my Fuze no longer appears as a proper Fuse product in my Computer disk listings but rather as a generic usb device, once i installed the Fuze updater? just noticed that a while ago.

and one other thing - many of the video files Sansa has converted and added to my player simply do not appear in the usb interface. any quirk i should know about that would explain or better yet, work around this?

@_g1 wrote:

while its playing?

no, i always stop the video first, as i would any file(music).

 

if this is a known issue, how is it not in the manual? 

This is, in fact a ‘known issue’, but only since the last firmware update. Sometimes when 1 thing gets fixed, 2 more unexpected problems arise. That’s why it isn’t in the manual. The ‘bug’ is a recent development. Since it is now recognised, the SanDisk development team are feverishly working to address it in the next firmware update. And before you ask . . . No, we don’t know when that will be.

But until then, just pause the video and return to the ‘home’ menu screen before you shut the your Fuze. That way you will avoid the problem entirely.

from what has been said here on this board sansa is aware of the bug and it is supposed to be fixed in the next firmware release. having working in the computer industry for many years i can tell you that bugs will never be listed in a user manual.

if you are using the SMC you should not see lock up issues when playing videos however my experience is the SMC is not a really good piece of software. i use rhapsody to convert videos for the player and dont have any issues so you may want to give that a try. you can also look at this thread. a user wrote a video converting app that many forum users are using without any issues.  

as for the way the fuze is being recognized by the computer. if it is being seen as a disk and being assigned a drive letter the computer sees it as a MSC device. go into the settings menu and select system settings>usb mode and select MTP. MTP is a windows protocol and you will need to have at least windows media player 10 installed but i would suggest 11 or 12.  

thank you, good to know.

now since the next update is in the unforseeable future, might it not be wise to keep a tab of known bugs stickied at least at the top of the page, or better yet in some way attached to the Fuze page itself? just a suggestion for more efficient solution communication.

now about the other minor things:

  1. is there a reason why many of the vid files that exist on my player do not appear in the computer interace mode when connected via usb? i don’t have many vid files on a the moment but i’m not sure how i’ll even be able to delete them if they don’t appear at all in the interface.

  2. is there a reason the Fuze doesn’t appear as a Fuze icon/device when connected to my computer, ever since i installed the updater? this is imo a cosmetic concern but might be related to (1) in some way i suppose.

@drlucky wrote:

as for the way the fuze is being recognized by the computer. if it is being seen as a disk and being assigned a drive letter the computer sees it as a MSC device. go into the settings menu and select system settings>usb mode and select MTP. MTP is a windows protocol and you will need to have at least windows media player 10 installed but i would suggest 11 or 12.  

Or manually select MSC as you USB mode of choice if you prefer. Just don’t use the Auto Defect setting. Even the SanDisk developers will tell you this.

Drlucky, are you saying that you can use rhapsody and then just drag n drop files over to the video folder and it works fine? meaning you can bypass SMC altogether then?

Good to know about the drive letter thing. I avoid using WMP at all costs, but i guess if its necessary i can update it.

@_g1 wrote:

now about the other minor things:

 

  1. is there a reason why many of the vid files that exist on my player do not appear in the computer interace mode when connected via usb? i don’t have many vid files on a the moment but i’m not sure how i’ll even be able to delete them if they don’t appear at all in the interface.

 

 

  1. is there a reason the Fuze doesn’t appear as a Fuze icon/device when connected to my computer, ever since i installed the updater? this is imo a cosmetic concern but might be related to (1) in some way i suppose.
  1. Files (music or video) transferred in one USB mode (whether it be MTP or MSC) cannot be seen or accessed while connected to your computer in the other. That’s just the way it is, and no fault of SanDisk’s. If you use the Auto Defect setting, your Fuze could connect in either without your knowledge, so the next time if it happens to be in the other mode, you won’t be able to see the previous files, but they are there. That’s why is best to choose 1 mode and manually set the player to that, rather than depending on the Auto feature.

  2. Updating the firmware returns the player to the default settings, which in the case of USB mode is AUTO. As previously suggested, go into the Settings > System Settings and manually select one or the other.

cool, thanks. didn’t know it reset like that.

problems solved!

@_g1 wrote:

 

Good to know about the drive letter thing. I avoid using WMP at all costs, but i guess if its necessary i can update it.

If you don’t want to use WMP (you’re not alone in this preference) and you don’t have any DRM-encrypted files, there’s really no need to use MTP mode. Just use MSC, drag & drop your music files, and enjoy.

yeah i don’t have any DRM stuff. so i’ll do that MSC business.

MSC = Many Satisfied Customers

:smiley: