[MrBfJohn]

Hi There
I've purchased Pi3 Model B just to see if it was a viable option for playback of my 2D & 3D blu ray iso and MKV/MVC collection. So far I've tried several versions of both Open elec and Libre elec and they all run into the same issue. Buffering!
I've tried a couple of solutions I've found on the web, like using NFS instead of SMB, and setting up an advancedsettings.xml with

Code:

<advancedsettings>
<network>
<buffermode>1</buffermode> <!-- Comment: Default is 1 -->
<cachemembuffersize>0</cachemembuffersize> <!-- Comment: Default is 20971520 bytes or 20 MB -->
<readbufferfactor>4.0</readbufferfactor> <!-- Comment: Default is 1.0 -->
</network>
</advancedsettings>

and then I tried

Code:

<advancedsettings>
<network>
<buffermode>1</buffermode> <!-- Comment: Default is 1 -->
<cachemembuffersize>20971520</cachemembuffersize> <!-- Comment: Default is 20971520 bytes or 20 MB -->
<readbufferfactor>2.0</readbufferfactor> <!-- Comment: Default is 1.0 -->
</network>
</advancedsettings>

But so far no joy.
With debug on it also suggests my FPS is only about 7-8, although I'm not convinced this is correct.
It's streaming from a Readynas N104 on an entirely gigabit network, and the files play without any buffering issue on my PC.
I've attached a log, so if anyone has the time and can make a few suggestions I'd really appreciate it.

Cheers

John


https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/3389...fering.log

[Av3nged]

If you buy the vc1and mpeg2 licences the pi will do hardware decode.

[MrBfJohn]

I've purchased the vc1 licence, and I thought I'd enabled it correctly. It's possible I haven't however. Does the log show that it isn't enabled?

[Av3nged]

I don't think that it dose but I am not sure you can check by SSH into the pi and run

Code:

vcgencmd codec_enabled WVC1

[MrBfJohn]

Ok, you seem to have hit the nail on the head, but I can't seem to fix it. I checked and it says it's disabled. I checked my config.txt file, and when I saved it it had saved as config.txt.txt. I've renamed it correctly, but it's still showing up as disabled.

Could you just confirm that I've done it correctly? I basically opened up my SD card, and created a new file called config.txt
I then copied and pasted the licence code to the first line, and saved the file.

Have I missed anything? There isn't likely to be a hidden file already there is there?

[MrBfJohn]

Ok, I had to find and edit it using putty, but it's finally showing up as enabled for VC1. Nothing has changed though. I'm still getting the same pop up message "Read Rate Too Low For Continuous Playback"

[MrBfJohn]

Looking at the log (Albeit with no knowledge of what any of it means) I found this line which might give some clues.

Code:

23:17:09 976.026550 T:1557476256   DEBUG: Readrate 2808000 is too low with 5364076 required

No idea where to go next, but at least you know the general area of code to be trawling through

[black_eagle]

Hmm well. For a start, the advancedsettings that comes with libreElec has a <readbufferfactor>4</readbufferfactor> in it, which you then go on to override to 2, so I'd start by removing that bit.

In fact, from my Pi's advancedsettings.xml, this is what I have for network

Code:

<network>
                <cachemembuffersize>34603008</cachemembuffersize>
                <curlclienttimeout>45</curlclienttimeout>

                <disableipv6>true</disableipv6>
        </network>

FWIW, I can stream with my Pi no problems.

[MrBfJohn]

I tried your network settings, and apart from minimal buffering when I skip it's pretty darn perfect!
Thanks for you help guys.

P.S. on a side note. Is high def audio a possibility on libreelec? I read somewhere that bitstraming was a no go, but the pi can convert to PCM at the same audio quality?

[popcornmix]

Yes, Pi can decode DTS-HD and TrueHD losslessly and output 8 channel PCM audio.
You want passthrough disabled and "number of channels" set to 7.1.

I note you don't have VC-1 codec enabled. Did you install NOOBS or OpenELEC/LibreELEC directly?

If you installed OpenELEC/LibreELEC you should have found a config.txt was already present with lines like:
# decode_MPG2=0x12345678
# decode_WVC1=0x12345678

which you need to remove the comment character (#) and insert the right code.

[MrBfJohn]

I have now sorted the VC-1 codec issue. I couldn't find config.txt on the memory card. I still can't find it for that matter. But using Putty and a guide I found I eventually managed to edit the correct file and got it working.
I installed via NOOBS, so I suspect that cocks up the usual placement of config.txt?

Cheers for the audio info BTW

[popcornmix]

I installed via NOOBS, so I suspect that cocks up the usual placement of config.txt?

Yes - the partition you see when inserting card into windows is the NOOBS boot partition, not the OpenELEC/LibreELEC partition.

Note: NOOBS includes a config.txt editor (press shift when booting to get into NOOBS config) which can be used for editing the OpenELEC/LibreELEC config.txt.
However editing though ssh (e.g. putty) is perfectly fine.

[MrBfJohn]

Ahhh yes. I've seen that "Shift" message. I wondered what it was. I just need to sort out my LOTR 2 part library/playback issue and I'm good to go.
Very glad I decided to give the Pi a chance now!

[MrBfJohn]

OK, so I thought all my troubles were over, but after watching a movie for around 30 minutes, it starts stopping for 20 seconds or so then carrying on for a couple of minutes, then freezing again for few seconds, then carrying on etc etc

I left star wars playing for a bit to generate a log. It was definitely frozen at 19:32 for a few seconds if that helps.


https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/3389...freeze.log