Develop Bugs

[Q] Video glitch

Hopefully the powers that be don't do a DMCA takedown on my youtube video, but I've uploaded an example of a video playback glitch that regularly occurs on my device. Does anyone else see this on their Note 10.1 2014 edition? Very annoying... SM-P600, 32GB, USA version, MK1 firmware. Not rooted.
http://youtu.be/gU6x1CLGa8E

So far, I must be in the less than 1% that have experienced this problem...

you didn't include any info on the clip. audio codec, video codec, bitrate, profile, etc. what videomplayer are you using. is the glitch repeatable at that exact frame each time?

You can be sure that when somebody else had such problems, you will already find it here in the forum. So, no, never have such an issue. Also not over the network.
And, as mad squabbles already wrote: For more we need much more information.

madsquabbles said:
you didn't include any info on the clip. audio codec, video codec, bitrate, profile, etc. what videomplayer are you using. is the glitch repeatable at that exact frame each time?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The movie was downloaded from Samsung Hub to the device. HD quality. The videoplayer was the only one that plays these movies (to my knowledge): The stock Samsung video player. The glitch is not repeatable at exact locations. I can go back and rewatch the same clip and it will not appear, which says to me that there is not a data corruption problem. It seems like an I/O or "interrupt" problem to me. I've run Androbench on the device and I get as good as or better than the Anandtech benchmarks for the device.
This type of glitch occurs on any kind of move I play, including those I put on the device (mp4, etc). For the ones I have put on the device manually (not through Google Play or the Hub), I've tried the following players: Dice, MX, Archos, and the stock player.
In all other respects, the device works flawlessly: no lag to speak of (except for the occasional stutter on the notifications pull-down, which seems to be the norm). It doesn't crash randomly and battery life seems normal (no less than 7-10 hours of screen on time, ~4% drain overnight. The only thing that I have that probably isn't too common is that I do have MDM software installed (MaaS360) so that I can sync with my employers Exchange servers using TouchDown.

sperho said:
The movie was downloaded from Samsung Hub to the device. HD quality. The videoplayer was the only one that plays these movies (to my knowledge): The stock Samsung video player. The glitch is not repeatable at exact locations. I can go back and rewatch the same clip and it will not appear, which says to me that there is not a data corruption problem. It seems like an I/O or "interrupt" problem to me. I've run Androbench on the device and I get as good as or better than the Anandtech benchmarks for the device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Normally I would expect that you have an background process which got more attention from Android then your video player. This can be anything. Did you have this issue also after a directly after a restart?

Elim said:
Normally I would expect that you have an background process which got more attention from Android then your video player. This can be anything. Did you have this issue also after a directly after a restart?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, I have the issue immediately after a restart.

sperho said:
The only thing that I have that probably isn't too common is that I do have MDM software installed (MaaS360) so that I can sync with my employers Exchange servers using TouchDown.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just removed MaaS360 and rebooted. The glitch remains...

Factory resetting now. Will report back when I get it back online. I'll test video before installing any third party apps...

And.....it's still glitching after a factory reset.

First thing I noticed was that this scene is similar to super Mario live action movie
Second, this glitch can happen when you read from a slow SD card or can be reading and writing at same time, for example downloading from torrent or installing apps and playback movies from same location.

fantasmanegro said:
Second, this glitch can happen when you read from a slow SD card or can be reading and writing at same time, for example downloading from torrent or installing apps and playback movies from same location.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Indeed. However, movies are playing from the internal memory without any other significant activity going on. (no D/Ls, etc. just normal device behavior that is native to the OS) going on in the background. I also have played video in airplane mode...

fantasmanegro said:
Second, this glitch can happen when you read from a slow SD card or can be reading and writing at same time...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
and the media scan which have issues with scanning some files. Maybe you check which processes are running in the background?

Elim said:
and the media scan which have issues with scanning some files. Maybe you check which processes are running in the background?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is always *some* process running in the background... I have cleared all other applications while playing a movie, but really, should this be necessary? (Problem still remains) I've tried playing movies without any non-stock apps installed. Problem occurs. I've tried freezing as much bloatware as possible without rooting before installing third part apps. Problem occurs.
What I would like to explicitly know is this: has anyone rented a movie from Google Play, played at least 30 minutes straight while doing nothing but watching the movie, and saw any stuttering whatsoever during that 30 minutes. I can live with it if it is a suboptimal experience due to firmware (I'm on MK1, btw) if this is "normal" for this device. I could only hope that it would be fixed in a future firmware update if that was the case. However, I have a strong feeling that if I sent this in to Samsung, they'll fiddle with it for 10 minutes, see that it "seems" to be fine (except for this glitch, the device performs completely as-expected for an Android device), then it be returned to me with no action taken. I can live without this thing for a few weeks, but it will be extremely annoying if nothing is actually done about it. Given that this glitch is not reproducible on command, I fear it will be an ongoing thorn in my proverbial behind. Unfortunately, my return window has expired or else it would go back in an instant.

Used Kies to download and reinstall the MK1 firmware in case one of the OTA updates were corrupted. No joy. Still stutters. Samsung Live Chat help of no use. I expect a call or email from them telling me to send it in in the next 3-5 business days unless someone else states that they have the same tablet and sees this problem too, possibly confirming that it is a firmware/device combination issue.

Mmm this is weird, I have no problem with video playback (any supported format by this device)
I have no MK1 but MJ2 and maybe media scanner is working hard in background
Are you using external SD card and / or have many pictures?

sperho said:
And.....it's still glitching after a factory reset.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try MX player if you just want to play it somehow
Sent from my GT-I9082

as far as i can remember with pc's.... if video card gets warm or hot, the screen starts to show glitches...

asifcheer said:
Try MX player if you just want to play it somehow
Sent from my GT-I9082
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
MX player shows glitches as well on movies that it can actually play. i.e., MX player doesn't play nicely with rented (digitally rights managed) movies from Google, which is the primary problem. Perhaps Android tablet users just don't rent movies all that much?

media scanner is working hard in background
Are you using external SD card and / or have many pictures?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Media scanner isn't working hard in the background as far as I can tell. No to the two questions.

Video Playback Keeps Failing

I AM SO SICK OF THIS!!!
It's been one of the biggest issues since the very beginning!
Every time it happens,I can never load a video ever again until restarting my Fire TV which is a PITA because I have to do a routine of things every time I restart it.
Has this issue ever been fixed in a later firmware version?
If yes,was it fixed before the root blocking update?

retroben said:
I AM SO SICK OF THIS!!!
It's been one of the biggest issues since the very beginning!
Every time it happens,I can never load a video ever again until restarting my Fire TV which is a PITA because I have to do a routine of things every time I restart it.
Has this issue ever been fixed in a later firmware version?
If yes,was it fixed before the root blocking update?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try replacing your hdmi cable. I had a problem playing anything from Prime, and it turned out that I had a bad cable.

Not related to that.
When playing a YouTube video in a browser,it gets stuck on the black part with no circles and the timeline does not move.
In the YouTube apps,it gives me the playback error message.
I replaced my HDMI earlier on (when I had a GS7 GoogleTV STB) with a much more powerful and inexpensive Vizio gold-tipped HDMI wire,and I have extremely beautiful image quality in comparison to the cheap wire that has the ordinary metal tips.

Fire TV very laggy - Is there a way to see why?

Hello all,
I've had my Fire TV for a while now. It has been working fine. It is rooted and has XBMC/Kodi on it, but that is about it. It had been working fine until a few days ago when I attempted to listen to an MP3 file through XBMC. It played, but it kept cutting out every few seconds and was very choppy. I noticed when it cut out, my receiver seemed to lose audio protocol as well. I thought maybe it was an XBMC issue but when I got back to the main Amazon Fire TV operating system, it was extremely laggy just to navigate. I rebooted the machine, same issue. Event he screensaver that shows photos s laggy.
I am wondering if there is something that is running on startup causing a problem. I am not using the remote that came with it, instead using a wireless keyboard. I have been using it this way for 2 months without issue.
My next thought it to do a factory reset, but would rather not if I didnt have to. Is there a way to look at what is going on similar to task manager in Windows (sorry, not too familiar with Android itself) or should I just factory reset?

Seems really silly, but I have solved the issue. I guess something with the HDMI connection had changed. I unplugged it from the HDMI 2 port on the tv and plugged it into HDMI 3 port - rebooted and it worked. Leaving this here incase someone else experiences the same issue. I wanted to get technical with it, but the solution was so simple I didn't even think of it (Amazon support requested I try this.)

Netflix sucks on FTV

My Netflix sucks big time on my rooted fire TV. Stutters quite a bit. No combination of the video frame rate helps in the settings. What more can I do? I shouldn't have to wipe cache and restart every hour to get smooth playback. Thanks

supremekizzle said:
My Netflix sucks big time on my rooted fire TV. Stutters quite a bit. No combination of the video frame rate helps in the settings. What more can I do? I shouldn't have to wipe cache and restart every hour to get smooth playback. Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Netflix has been terrible on aftv. Between the loading to 99%, and "unable to play this title right now" not to mention that atv2 has a much better resolution (for me anyway).
I was experiencing a stutter and I think I switched to WiFi to fix it. Not 100% on that but its working better now.

KLit75 said:
Netflix has been terrible on aftv. Between the loading to 99%, and "unable to play this title right now" not to mention that atv2 has a much better resolution (for me anyway).
I was experiencing a stutter and I think I switched to WiFi to fix it. Not 100% on that but its working better now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How'd you fix the two issues you mentioned? Netflix just started doing the same, for no apparent reason about a week ago on my FTV. I found one that here that was said to have the fix, but I've performed each of the steps listed there with no luck. Right now, I'm on 51.1.6.0... I tried the latest, but am affected by the HDCP issue, so had to roll back.

JediSooner said:
How'd you fix the two issues you mentioned? Netflix just started doing the same, for no apparent reason about a week ago on my FTV. I found one that here that was said to have the fix, but I've performed each of the steps listed there with no luck. Right now, I'm on 51.1.6.0... I tried the latest, but am affected by the HDCP issue, so had to roll back.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not sure I did fix it. It may have got better on its own. You could try uninstalling Netflix, clear data 3 times in Amazon video, unplug for 10 seconds. Then it may be beneficial to boot recovery and wipe dalvik and cache partitions. Finally reinstall Netflix.
Mine occasionally doesn't load all the way but restarting the video fixes it.

KLit75 said:
Not sure I did fix it. It may have got better on its own. You could try uninstalling Netflix, clear data 3 times in Amazon video, unplug for 10 seconds. Then it may be beneficial to boot recovery and wipe dalvik and cache partitions. Finally reinstall Netflix.
Mine occasionally doesn't load all the way but restarting the video fixes it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't know what the deal is, but I've tried all of the suggested fixes, but continue to get the same error message. I'll wait for pre-rooted 51.1.6.3 and see if that fixes it.

JediSooner said:
I don't know what the deal is, but I've tried all of the suggested fixes, but continue to get the same error message. I'll wait for pre-rooted 51.1.6.3 and see if that fixes it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry. Overall Netflix on Amazon has been terrible for a lot of users while others seem to have no problems at all. They're not likely to provide a fix but it doesn't hurt to contact Amazon. At the very least you'll join a growing list of dissatisfied customers. Problem is Amazon points the finger a Netflix and vice versa. But like I've said before, Netflix has always been fine on my other devices going back almost a decade.

KLit75 said:
Sorry. Overall Netflix on Amazon has been terrible for a lot of users while others seem to have no problems at all. They're not likely to provide a fix but it doesn't hurt to contact Amazon. At the very least you'll join a growing list of dissatisfied customers. Problem is Amazon points the finger a Netflix and vice versa. But like I've said before, Netflix has always been fine on my other devices going back almost a decade.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, the part I don't get is that it just stopped working for no apparent reason. It'd been working fine for months, then all of a sudden I start getting the "can't play video at this time" error (something to that effect). Anyway, thanks for the suggestions and feedback.

JediSooner said:
Yeah, the part I don't get is that it just stopped working for no apparent reason. It'd been working fine for months, then all of a sudden I start getting the "can't play video at this time" error (something to that effect). Anyway, thanks for the suggestions and feedback.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If it's any consolation... on 51.1.x.x versions of Fire TV, I never had issues where it wouldn't play video, but I did have studdering and slow/fast issues. On the 51.5.3.0 Fire OS 5 preview, all that has gone away and aside from an issue with 5.1 sound which is solved by putting it on stereo, netflix is working great.

KLit75 said:
Netflix has been terrible on aftv. Between the loading to 99%, and "unable to play this title right now" not to mention that atv2 has a much better resolution (for me anyway).
I was experiencing a stutter and I think I switched to WiFi to fix it. Not 100% on that but its working better now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree. Netflix performance actually gotten worse on the Fire TV since the latest official stable update. For months I been using it and it was fine but now once again I have issues where the video would freeze up for about 5 to 10 seconds then speed up right away everyone is super fast while the audio continues. Very annoying as I thought they finally fixed it but it came back again. Now I also been getting the "unable to play title" error again too.
I actually started to use my Apple TV 3rd Generation which is connected to Wifi 5ghz channel 36. Loads programs quickly, no stuttering, no unable to, no credit shrinking.

I've learned that having another video app open while trying to access Netflix is what causes the problem. The reason rebooting fixes it is because you essentially flush the FireTV's memory when you do the reboot. If you exit out of other apps fully, you shouldn't have anymore problems. I miss being able to click the Home button when switching between video apps but ever since I started doing a proper shutdown for video apps before switching to the next one, I no longer need to reboot to get the different video apps work.

JediSooner said:
Yeah, the part I don't get is that it just stopped working for no apparent reason. It'd been working fine for months, then all of a sudden I start getting the "can't play video at this time" error (something to that effect). Anyway, thanks for the suggestions and feedback.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That message occurs when you have another background application tying up the video process.
Try rebooting. And never use the home button to exit Kodi or any other video application. Quit it properly. And watch out for SPMC, the way it's been implemented to minimize to the home screen with the back button is really unhelpful on the AFTV.
Same goes for using Kodi as a launcher. Don't expect it to be reliable.

Claude Koch said:
That message occurs when you have another background application tying up the video process.
Try rebooting. And never use the home button to exit Kodi or any other video application. Quit it properly. And watch out for SPMC, the way it's been implemented to minimize to the home screen with the back button is really unhelpful on the AFTV.
Same goes for using Kodi as a launcher. Don't expect it to be reliable.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hadn't considered that possibility; however, I don't use an alternate launcher and I always shutdown Kodi properly. Maybe there's something else tying up the video process? I've gone through the 'clear data' process on Amazon Video multiple times, but that didn't fix Netflix. I'll try to go straight into Netflix after a fresh reboot and see what I get.

FTV (gen1) and Kodi 15.1 stutters ???

So I had Kodi 14.something on all my fireTVs with a shared MySQL on my net. Memory is hazy but I think it was stock Kodi not SPMC, but I wouldnt bet my life on it.
I dont remember any stuttering, and even tested / watched 1080 as working ok.. I am not a super highbite rate full size BluRay type consumer and I could be wrong but I just remember it working 99% of the time for the files I threw at it. Enough that I was happy as a media center in all rooms.
Just because I thought I maybe was missing out, I upgraded to 15.1.. Tested Kodi was running on one box OK and as the MySQL all has to match, I updated all my boxes. They are all hard wired BTW. They seemed OK and first few things I watched I noticed no issues.
Just noticed stuttering playback on a series.. Assumed it was that series as high bitrate.. Now soon after and seeing stuttering on another series.. Looking at my files they are 'only' 720p files (MKV).. I am sure I was playing 720 fine before the update. Other far higher bitrate MP4s seem to play just fine.
Is 15.1 somehow worse on the fireTV than 14.x ??
Is 15.1 Kodi not HW accelerating and maybe I had SPMC ??
Is 15.1 Kodi on the FTV worse with MKV's ??
Are others using 15.1 and playing 1080 content smooth ??
Just looking for some input before I start the process of testing builds or rolling back. Its a hassle to do all the boxes and its a live system in the house.
Thanks.

I was just told that this may be related to an amazon update in August ??
Thats possible.. I was travelling from July to Sept and I did see amazon did some update but didnt notice stuttering then..
My boxes were fine before.. If amazon have made them useless (or at least poor) for kodi somehow I will be pissed as I have them in each room.

I'm also seeing that very symptoms on my FireTV stick, where high bitrate 1080p movies, even 50gb blu-rays play smooth and fine on Kodi 14.2, I'm seeing micro-stutters so to speak even when playing a 720p video on 15+ builds.
I believe it might have something to do with hw acceleration options, like stagefright, as I've come across quite a few threads about the same issue mainly across SD/HD videos in the latest versions.
So, yes, you are not alone and it's safe to say not related to your firmware version, I've been forth and back btw FireOS 4 and 5, yet the problem persists.

Well thats at least good news in that its kodi related and potentially fixable or I can find a build that works.. Rather than FTV firmware build which wouldnt be.
I will have to divert time to test HW acceleration, SPMC builds, and maybe roll back my network to 14 (PITA)..
I wouldnt call these micro stutters really tho.. Its not like 24hz v 50hz pans not being silky smooth.. Its like processor 100% or even network issues.. Its pretty large. Borderline not worth watching.

It is the 720p content causing micro stutters here, the rest is causing a much bigger issue as even stopping for few seconds as if it was buffering, but actually its not. The menus and the interface looks sluggish and yeah it cant be a panning issue as my Ftvstick runs at 24Hz all the time.
Anyway, try and play with some options and report back if you find something, I only found that if you force close all apps and create more free memory, it runs a tad better, not still smooth as 14.2 though.

OK I just went back to 14.2 via a restore, disabled my MYSQL and tested via file playback.. And its WAY better !!!
It does still stutter, but only a small amount.. In the same places where it unwatchable in 15.2.
VLC on my desktop plays it fine.. Maybe a single dropped frame where Kodi is dropping loads..
Actually its not dropped frame.. I found a wired keyboard and with the codecinfo its 'skipped' frames ?!?! I also think it had higher CPU useage in 15.2
So order of playback quality
PC desktop with via VLC to verify file.. Fine, maybe a skipped frame or two but audio all stays in sync.
14.2.. Some slight skips.. But catches up fast..
15.1.. Skipping.. stuttering.. Audio gets out of sync.
15.2 the worst !! awful.. As above but just that bit more.
In each setup I tested HW accl on / off / each option on or off.. It looks subjectively a tiny bit better with the HW acceleration turned off or with mediacodec one off.. I think its skipping less.. But its hard to be sure as its subjective and it seems like its skipping differently different playbacks.. Eg what started me on this was 15.1 was unwatchable.. I have now gone through 3 different kodi versions.. All options on and off.. And my final playback (back on 15.1 HW acl 'reset' so back on and stock) and its bad but ?? was it worse ??
All I know is its skipping frames now.. And more than on 14.2
I cant get SPMC on there for some reason.. I get an error from adbfire

Phat - I'm noticing the same on Kodi 15.1 and 15.2 as well. I'm going to setup external media player to play videos to see if it makes any difference - Kodi front end and MX Player.

I just gave the Kodi 16.0 a3 "a try". No issues whatsoever apart from a small delay when exiting the full screen mode, no stutters, no lag, runs just as beautiful as 14.2 does, but that's only the video part, the rest is buggy as buggery and force closes from time to time. I believe it is best to stuck with 14.2 for the moment and wait for a stable version of 16.0 as 15.x versions seem hopeless to me.
Also try clearing your memory or start Kodi from a fresh restart before you try next time, it does help.

I'm going to suggest an old fix to see if it helps. Have you tried disabling MediaCodec video acceleration?

OK I got to the bottom of this last night.. To a solution I am 'happy' enough with..
I have found it is 2 related errors giving me the same symptoms..
1) the media files I was testing with primarily.. Have errors.. VLC on my desktop handles those errors better.
2) the mediacodec HW acceleration is buggering it up.
Because my testing was on files with errors.. I wasnt seeing it work properly when disabling media codec and other media I checked I had not checked with that specific config.
Once I realized the above.. Disabled mediacodec and now 99% of what I played last night played as good as 14.2 did.. The exception of course being the damn series I was trying to watch and test with !! That due to its encode errors, still looks poor, but it looks poor with other players also.. VLC handles it better, but its the medias problem. I also 'think' 14.2 handled it better, eg the error handling ability may have had a downgrade in 14 -> 15 on the FireTV but I am now relieved to find a config thats working for most of everything.
Mediacodec definitely to blame but I havent pinned down why or rather in what cases.. One 'good' error free 1080p 5.1 rip I was checking with after the realization was simply a stop starty mess with mediacodec on and smooth acceptable playback when it was off.. Yet other 1080 rips were playing ok with it enabled ?!? Not I am not talking 24/25hz issues or more subtle videophile considerations. Simply the boxes play video to a level thats fine for my house network non projection HT setup.