FTV (gen1) and Kodi 15.1 stutters ??? - Fire TV Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

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.

Related

[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.

[Q] Netflix on CM11 is Freezing

Hi. When I try to watch netflix movies on cm11 on my ouya, the movie would freeze at a random frame and gets stuck.
Does anyone else have this issue? If so, how can we resolve it?
What version of Netflix are you using?
Yeah, I've seen that happen with mine also. Haven't found a fix for it either, and it seems to occur at random. Not just when something else is hogging up all your Internet bandwidth. I think it has to do with the Ouya not buffering or caching the stream...
But since with CM11, you don't get player controls on Netflix (Play, Pause, FF with preview, etc) I use my WDTV for Netflix streaming in the bedroom instead...
Have you tried one of these versions in this post... http://www.progressivethink.in/on/ouya/and/netflix-on-ouya-now-with-profile-support/
Ok I'm using the app I posted above and I'm getting this issue also now and I'm on the stock OUYA ROM. I never used to have this problem, maybe something to do with Netflix itself? I wonder if any other devices are having problems?
d0ubl3_d1zzl3 said:
Yeah, I've seen that happen with mine also. Haven't found a fix for it either, and it seems to occur at random. Not just when something else is hogging up all your Internet bandwidth. I think it has to do with the Ouya not buffering or caching the stream...
But since with CM11, you don't get player controls on Netflix (Play, Pause, FF with preview, etc) I use my WDTV for Netflix streaming in the bedroom instead...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=51405105&highlight=hardware+overlays#post51405105
evaporic said:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=51405105&highlight=hardware+overlays#post51405105
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So does this resolve the freezing as well?
evaporic said:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=51405105&highlight=hardware+overlays#post51405105
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nice, thnx! Just found out thru another thread on here that there's a more permanent way of fixing this:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=52725661&postcount=262
Hi, how do you do for change language on Netflix with Ouya controller?
Thanks!
when I play movie, I don't see the Menu...
d0ubl3_d1zzl3 said:
Nice, thnx! Just found out thru another thread on here that there's a more permanent way of fixing this:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=52725661&postcount=262
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey Guys,
Not sure if anyone's still look at this. Disabling the HW Overlay certainly does fix the freezing issue, but it really messes up the playback smoothness. It's especially noticeable with high action movies. I've tried a bunch of the other settings to like forcing GPU drawing, CPU and memory tweaks with no better results. I've gone back to playing it with the Overlay turned on for netflix. It will freeze a few times, but after several stop and restarts, it seems to play okay once the video catches up. It's just so random.
I would definitely rather play without Overlay since it gives me all the on screen controls in both Netflix and Youtube.

Video playback micro-stuttering after a two months

Hello!
I am very very satisfied from the AFTV.
Rooted, using latest SPMC with RBox modules...
I have noticed that in the last week or two, the device became somewhat unstable (than usual anyway).
Video playback in XBMC (and maybe some other apps like YouTube/Animal Planet/PlutoTV/etc...) is worse, I get a microstutter every few minutes, sometimes even more than a microstutter, video hangs for a second or two... This is very annoying.
*XBMC suffers the most.
This happens regardless of video quality (checked SD/720/1080/2k...).
I am used to taking this kind of irritating behavior from Android, same thing happened to me with every Android Phone / TV Stick I have every had.
My solution was always to reflash a new ROM, start everything from scratch every few months..
I was really hoping that with the AFTV, I could just use it daily without messing around constantly around the clock with bug fixes and reflashes.
The problem here is, that there are no ROMS that I can reflash.
I have also tried installing Seeder, made everything MUCH worse.
Does anyone have any tips for fixing this?
Thanks in advance!
I started to notice the micro stutters last night as well. But the Aftv is at my girls friends place and she had terrible wifi connection. At some point I'm going to take it to my place and hardwire it to see if there's a difference.
I'm assuming it's an internet connectivity issue. Is yours hard wired?
I've noticed this issue with my parents AFTV, but don't experience it on my own. The only difference with their setup is that it is configured with multiple profiles and set to output 5.1 with pass through enabled. If I had to guess, I'd put my money on the stutter being caused by something with the audio engine.
WisdomWolf said:
I've noticed this issue with my parents AFTV, but don't experience it on my own. The only difference with their setup is that it is configured with multiple profiles and set to output 5.1 with pass through enabled. If I had to guess, I'd put my money on the stutter being caused by something with the audio engine.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have mine set on stock. 2.0 optimized.
vi3tl23n3gad3 said:
I started to notice the micro stutters last night as well. But the Aftv is at my girls friends place and she had terrible wifi connection. At some point I'm going to take it to my place and hardwire it to see if there's a difference.
I'm assuming it's an internet connectivity issue. Is yours hard wired?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's not an internet issue, in XBMC I see the movie caching very fast, and when the stutter happens, everything freezes (menus etc...)
WisdomWolf said:
I've noticed this issue with my parents AFTV, but don't experience it on my own. The only difference with their setup is that it is configured with multiple profiles and set to output 5.1 with pass through enabled. If I had to guess, I'd put my money on the stutter being caused by something with the audio engine.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ATFV connected through HDMI Cable to the Phillips TV... standard 2.0 audio system, nothing fancy...
Perhaps it's something with my AdvancedSettings xml? My SPMC version? Trickster installed (and not used at all)?
Gaiosan said:
It's not an internet issue, in XBMC I see the movie caching very fast, and when the stutter happens, everything freezes (menus etc...)
ATFV connected through HDMI Cable to the Phillips TV... standard 2.0 audio system, nothing fancy...
Perhaps it's something with my AdvancedSettings xml? My SPMC version? Trickster installed (and not used at all)?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What's trickster?
vi3tl23n3gad3 said:
What's trickster?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Kernel control app, but it's off and I don't use it.

[Q] Subtitles cause video playback stutter in kodi/xbmc

Hi all
Just wondering if anyone else is experiencing this issue. Sometimes when subtitles are enabled in kodi, the video very noticeably stutters on my AFTV. It doesn't happen all the time, but will happen eventually and once it does, it will stay like that until I restart the Fire TV OR sometimes only fix is to restart my Ubuntu file server.
I read over at the kodi forums that peeps on lower CPU boxes have this issue, but there was no solution and the post was from 2 years ago.
This happens to me on SPMC, Gotham and latest Helix. It's a fairly recent issue (last 2 months) as I never noticed it when I first got the AFTV back in July. I also tried both nfs and smb and fiddling with buffer and cache sizes.
It's either a server issue or an AFTV/kodi issue and I can't work out why and what to do. I'm running latest pre-rooted firmware.
Any others with this issue and any solutions?
Cheers
Well in case anyone else is experiencing this, I found a solution that works for me. SPMC 13.4.0 seems to be working flawlessly. The previous version was not. Hope that helps someone somewhere.

Netflix issues with Fire TV stick since latest firmware?

I noticed in Netflix that I've been getting skipped frames, and even the occasional frozen screen since around the time of the last firmware update a couple weeks back. It is most noticable in the beginning of the video. In addition, the stick seems locked to 720p (in everything). In the settings I have tried changing the video output from "auto" to 1080p/60, but things still display 720.
Anyone have similar issues since the latest firmware on the FTV stick?
can not confirm your issue... my girlfriend looks today a Video in netflix (Germany) and no skipping frames or other issue
Stick have latest Firmware
Thanks, guess maybe I'll have to wipe the stick.

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