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Full Version: Issues with framerates and unsmooth video on UK programmes
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Hi, I have a question I wish someone could answer please.

I have a decent android box (2gb/16gb) and I can play 1080p films fine. But I get poor video smoothness when watching British TV shows. Whether they are old SD shows such as Poirot or Merlin, or new shows like Victoria etc I cannot find a setting that allows smooth playback. They are choppy with missing frames etc. Why is this?
And is there a solution?
I currently have box set to 1080 / 24hz and all hardware acclereration off. And refresh is set to always.I have experimented with all the settings on the NEXBOX a95x resolutions options but still all UK shows have issues.

Help please!
(2016-10-21, 13:02)mergleb Wrote: [ -> ]Hi, I have a question I wish someone could answer please.

I have a decent android box (2gb/16gb) and I can play 1080p films fine. But I get poor video smoothness when watching British TV shows. Whether they are old SD shows such as Poirot or Merlin, or new shows like Victoria etc I cannot find a setting that allows smooth playback. They are choppy with missing frames etc. Why is this?
And is there a solution?
I currently have box set to 1080 / 24hz and all hardware acclereration off. And refresh is set to always.I have experimented with all the settings on the NEXBOX a95x resolutions options but still all UK shows have issues.

Help please!

The Nexbox A95X is not a good device for streaming.
If the manufacturer doesn't release firmware updates as in your case, you will have to live with all the video and audio bugs that Amlogic already fixed and make available to them.
You can try SPMC and set AMCodec to on.
Most tv shows should be 25hz in the UK, US shows are mostly 24hz.
If ANY Android device does not dynamically refresh switch to 50Hz when fed 25fps UK TV show content and using start/stop, then you have a firmware problem. Kodi cannot fix this, nor any other version, ask your seller for an Firmware update.
You can try hard selecting a 1080p50hz Resolution in android settings, but thenmovies will not play back properly and every resolution will have to be manually selected each and every time you want to watch something. This will be a major PITA.

Or head over to the LibreELEC forums AMLogic section and install LibreELEC to a SD card.
(2016-10-22, 03:56)wrxtasy Wrote: [ -> ]If ANY Android device does not dynamically refresh switch to 50Hz when fed 25fps UK TV show content and using start/stop, then you have a firmware problem. Kodi cannot fix this, nor any other version, ask your seller for an Firmware update.
You can try hard selecting a 1080p50hz Resolution in android settings, but thenmovies will not play back properly and every resolution will have to be manually selected each and every time you want to watch something. This will be a major PITA.

Or head over to the LibreELEC forums AMLogic section and install LibreELEC to a SD card.

Are you saying I can get round the problem by setting the android settings manually?

I am a bit of an old fogey and technical things often confuse me. Sorry about this, thats why I joined a forum like this to get some answers.
Yes you can but it will likely drive you mad:

Simple solution would be to put all the TV Shows and DVD, basically anything to do with UK/Euro/Aust/NZ TV in a seperate folder as nearly all of that content will be 25fps or some 50fps. (You can use a free PC/Mac program called Mediainfo to identify the fps of video content)

fps=frames per second.

Everything else should be in a seperate folder. The 'Everything else" or appropriately named folder.

Then run the Android OS and set 1080p60hz in Android > Settings > Display > Screen Resolution
This will be fine for the "Everything Else" folder video content.

When you want to view the 25/50fps TV Shows, DVD etc, then reselect in Android settings 1080p50hz

It really is pretty painful for UK/Euro/Aust/NZ Android users to operated a box this way for any length of time.
LibreELEC Kodi Jarvis on AMLogic S8XX/S9XX boxes is much much better and has all this fixed.
It automatically switches a TV to 24/25/50/60Hz to match the fps of video content seamlessly, and pretty much fixes everything that is wrong with bad Android Firmware.

You can run LibreELEC from a micro SDHC card and still keep the Android OS on the Box, even dual boot.
See the LibreELEC forums, AMLogic section for details.

Companies that put time and effort into nice AMLogic Android Firmware like MINIX and WeTek have all this Video playback and also Audio sorted out.
You do get what you pay for.
(2016-10-22, 18:40)wrxtasy Wrote: [ -> ]Yes you can but it will likely drive you mad:

Simple solution would be to put all the TV Shows and DVD, basically anything to do with UK/Euro/Aust/NZ TV in a seperate folder as nearly all of that content will be 25fps or some 50fps. (You can use a free PC/Mac program called Mediainfo to identify the fps of video content)

fps=frames per second.

Everything else should be in a seperate folder. The 'Everything else" or appropriately named folder.

Then run the Android OS and set 1080p60hz in Android > Settings > Display > Screen Resolution
This will be fine for the "Everything Else" folder video content.

When you want to view the 25/50fps TV Shows, DVD etc, then reselect in Android settings 1080p50hz

It really is pretty painful for UK/Euro/Aust/NZ Android users to operated a box this way for any length of time.
LibreELEC Kodi Jarvis on AMLogic S8XX/S9XX boxes is much much better and has all this fixed.
It automatically switches a TV to 24/25/50/60Hz to match the fps of video content seamlessly, and pretty much fixes everything that is wrong with bad Android Firmware.

You can run LibreELEC from a micro SDHC card and still keep the Android OS on the Box, even dual boot.
See the LibreELEC forums, AMLogic section for details.

Companies that put time and effort into nice AMLogic Android Firmware like MINIX and WeTek have all this Video playback and also Audio sorted out.
You do get what you pay for.

Thanks for the help.
Quick question - I dont have a micro SD card - can the LiebreElec be booted from a USB stick instead?
Just out of interest, where is your U.K. TV coming from, is it live/recorded using a pvr plugin?

Reason I ask is that I have a stv with tvheadend and I cannot get smooth playback, I have tried absolutely St everything and I don't think it's fixable. The refresh rate switches as expected to 50hz, but playback is very kidder. Almost looks like 50fps/60hz Kadence, but it's 100% playing at 25fps and running at 50hz.

Currently I have given up trying to fix it (SPMC or Vanilla) and am waiting on the latest android update on the STV and a beta of Krypton with the PVR plugins to see if it fixes things!