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Pete_Repeat · (This post was last modified: 2016-07-04, 08:18 by Pete_Repeat.)

I'm using Mediaportal for my live TV server.

Live TV on the same media PC that mediportal and the tuner are installed on, seems to work perfectly fine.

I have recently setup an android box (minix u1 running Kodi 16.1 latest play store version) using the mediaportal addon that seems to play back live tv from the server fine...

But every now and then live tv pauses (it seems to continue where it paused rather than skip though) and then re-buffers to play back fine again for a period.

Now the network usage doesn't seem to change much, well I think it drops a little on the server end when the pausing occurs, and the cpu usage on the android box seems to increase while the pausing and buffering occurs. But Kodi doesn't seem to show 100% cpu usage or anywhere near it.

At first I thought it may be because of network problems as the android box is on wifi N. But the network usage doesn't seem that high. I have tried changing the buffer usage with the advancedsettings file (increase buffer to 300MB) but that didn't seem to help.

Any suggestions for better ways to diagnose what's maxing out?

Any suggestions of better monitoring tools to use that will overlay the network usage and cpu on the android box?

Other than the random pausing and then buffering, live TV works fine. It doesn't appear to be related to HD content specifically from what I could see, which made me think it might not be the bandwidth of the network or the processor maxing out....

Edit: I should note that stored media doesn't have this buffering issue, although I don't have any high bandwidth

nickr · 2016-07-04, 08:18

Buffer settings are separate for PVR, the normal file watching/streaming settings don't affect PVR.

Try a wired connection and that will tell you or if it is a networking problem or not.

Pete_Repeat · 2016-07-04, 08:51

Ah ok. Makes sense why the buffer settings seemed to make no difference.

Problem I have is my router is a wireless N router but the Ethernet is only 100mbit so figured wifi was faster on my router (although more likely for interference huh).. All my devices are either wireless AC or 1000mbit Ethernet and was tempted to upgrade the router only if I knew it would fixe the problem.

I'll try the Ethernet in the next few days like you said and hopefully report back with good news.

rpcameron · 2016-07-04, 10:08

Depending on your stream, your network is most likely the bottleneck. HD TV streams in MPEG2 are quite large, and don't fare well over wireless. (AC is usually OK, and N over the 5GHz spectrum is usually OK, but otherwise you will have buffering.) If you can run wires, you should always use wired ethernet for video streaming, especially live TV. In addition, 100Mb is really rather limited; if you can, you ought to upgrade to GbE for your wired connections.

(My main infrastructure is all GbE wired, but my wireless units on the 5GHz band do quite well, even with full HD MPEG2; however, I have a couple of RPi2s on standard 2.4GHz N and they tend to have buffering issues more frequently, especially if other video is being streamed on the network.)

Pete_Repeat · 2016-07-04, 10:54

Thank for that feedback. Very helpful.

I believe my wireless is working on 5Ghz N but I know I've got both enabled so maybe it's falling back to the 2.4gHz.

I was tempted previously to upgrade to an AC router but as I also need to either get an external modem or an integrated one i hesitated with upgrading seeing I wasn't sure it was the problem..

If I hook up the Ethernet (only 100 mb) to watch non hd channels on the Android box for a few days just to make sure the buffering stops I should be right yes? Just might have dramas with hd mpeg2 broadcast as you mentioned...

Actually now I think of it, the media pc is restricted already to 100mb because it's hooked up by Ethernet to the router already.. When I monitored the usage of the Ethernet connection it wasn't anywhere near full usage so hoping it'll all be right...

Happy to spend good bucks if this proves it helps the sd channels buffering cause that'll be a good sign.

nickr · 2016-07-04, 13:45

It's not just raw throughput speed on wifi, there are other issues. If you get an improvement with wired, but don't want a permanent wire, try powerline ethernet.

Pete_Repeat · (This post was last modified: 2016-07-17, 00:05 by Pete_Repeat.)

Hey all. Well you helped me justify upgrading the router to a router with gige and in that process I thought why not get a ac router.

All android boxes stream hd TV over the ac wifi and the media pc on gige.

So all working fine now, with the option of running gige on my main android box if need be but all seems fine on wireless ac for now anyway.

Thanks for helping me justify the upgraded router (decided on the tplink d9 so yep I decided just to do the upgrade properly with no regrets)

Pete_Repeat · 2016-07-30, 00:04

Spoke a little too soon. Well streaming of TV is working well for the most part on ac 5ghz except for the occasional period of interference I assume.

Is there any way to increase the buffer for live TV on the Android device? As pointed out above, the previous buffer settings I adjusted aren't applicable to pvr. Searches seem to either return those same settings or iptv related.

puenktchen · 2016-07-30, 01:10

http://kodi.wiki/view/advancedsettings.xml#pvr

Pete_Repeat · 2016-07-30, 02:58

Trying to get around using gige or powerline Ethernet... If I can....

rpcameron · 2016-07-30, 05:02

You may be able to get around it by using the 5GHz bands only, but unless you're transcoding the stream, LiveTV streams are always best over a wired connection. HD MPEG2 streams average about 10Mbps, but can peak at nearly 20Mbps. (Audio is generally negligible as it's usually 384kbps for 5.1 AC-3.) Also, as far as transcoding, I know doing a live transcode with VA-API at less than ~8Mbps does not give great results; I believe QSV can do better with a fast{,er,est} preset, but QSV on Linux is a pain to setup properly. Other HW accelerated options may fare better, but that's solely dependent upon your backend hardware.

TL;DR: LiveTV streams are best on a wired connection—wireless should only be a last resort. (Powerline ethernet or MoCA are viable alternatives.)

Pete_Repeat · 2016-07-31, 00:03

I know this is probably for another thread, but if I'm connected to the wifi network I called and the router refers to as 5ghz (other one 2.4ghz) and using ac as preferred, then does it still utilise both frequencies to achieve a higher bandwidth? I was hoping default the connection labelled as 5ghz would by default only use 5ghz buy now starting to think it uses both still.

So I need to change the ac network to only use the 5ghz frequency on the router end?

Pete_Repeat · 2016-07-31, 00:08

I was hoping that a larger buffer could be used at the android box so this buffering didn't happen as it only happens for a fraction of a second now on the ac wireless. I'd be fine with the odd pixalisation for corrupt data. Maybe I have the concept wrong however.

rpcameron · 2016-07-31, 02:46

(2016-07-31, 00:03)Pete_Repeat Wrote: I know this is probably for another thread, but if I'm connected to the wifi network I called and the router refers to as 5ghz (other one 2.4ghz) and using ac as preferred, then does it still utilise both frequencies to achieve a higher bandwidth? I was hoping default the connection labelled as 5ghz would by default only use 5ghz buy now starting to think it uses both still.

So I need to change the ac network to only use the 5ghz frequency on the router end?

No, it will only connect to one network. If you have a 5GHz network and a 2.4GHz network with the same name, if you haven't limited frequencies on your network adapter, your device will only connect to one of those. (While they have the same name, it is really 2 different networks, one on each frequency.)

You best bet is to name them differently, and have your media devices only use the 5GHz network.

Pete_Repeat · 2016-08-01, 13:19

Sorry I might not have been clear. They are named differently, just I read somewhere that to get the 1900 mbps on ac that it uses both frequencies even if I'm connected to the 5ghz... But I may have been mistaken and read it wrongly.

I have only connected the Android media boxes to the 5ghz, all phones are connected through 2.4 and the media pc server is on gige.

I have changed the 5ghz to only allow ac connections so hopefully that might help... Trying not to go wired if I don't have to but can feel some "I told you so" comments coming up in time ha ha