[tom-vdr]

Hello,
i used self compiled vdr with softhddevice on debian for years but now i changed to kodi because it seems to be the better way to get a complete multimedia solution. I tried Openelec but got this distortions, colourful random block "artefacts" like shreddered video data at random positions and at random times.
Sometimes, very rare, a short click or sound distortion could be heared.
So i took Ubuntu 15.04 with isengard and actual vnsi and a fresh set up vdr 2.2.0 with streamdev, vnsi, live in the newest git versions all on the same machine. The same behavior here. Then i installed kodi+vnsi unstable and it seem the distortions are more rare but are still there sometimes. When i played video stream from internet or other videos there weren't such problems so i mean it could not be a hardware issue.
vlc output seems to be good in SD and in HD.
When the distortions appear the "o" overlay shows no increasing of skips or drops and the a/v queues are filled a quarter or less.
How can this be fixed ?

( I cross checked my satellite hardware with a windows notebook and software dvbviewer )

My Hardware:
Zotac NUC with N2930 integrated Intel graphics, 4GB RAM, 64GB SSD,
2 x Technisat USB SkyStar DVB-S2 Receiver
Box attached per HDMI at a 55" flat screen 1920x1080, AV -Receiver 5.1 attached by optical cable to onboard audio

[FernetMenta]

15.0 has some issues in PVR code that cause render thread to block and in turn video needs to drop frames. Please try 15.1. and report back.

[tom-vdr]

Thanks for Your fast answer.
I updated yesterday to 2:15.1~git20150816.1137-final-0vivid from ppa:team-xbmc/unstable.
It seems to be a little bit better but on some SD channels and sometimes on HD the distortions appear.
Self compiling kodi 15.x from git i did not have success until now because of some problems with new libraries.

[FernetMenta]

What version of vnsiserver and where did you get it from?

[FernetMenta]

make sure you have set "avoid epg scan while streaming"

[tom-vdr]

Hello,
the kodi and vnsi plugin came from "deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/team-xbmc/unstable/ubuntu vivid main".
I think this is the normal way for Ubuntu Vivid to add this repo and do an update for the two packets kodi and kodi-pvr-vnsi.
The vnsiserver(https://github.com/FernetMenta/vdr-plugi...server.git) and vdr are cloned from git and compiled from source, vnsiserver is started without arguments.
The "avoid epg scan.." in kodi is set.
I read a further hint of setting "minaudiocachelevel=60" but can't find a menu point to do this.
I switched to german translation, can this be the reason ?

I tried the "nightly build" from "deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/team-xbmc/xbmc-nightly/ubuntu vivid main".
I updated kodi, kodi-pvr-vnsi and added a new lib which name i do not remember (which also was missed in build processes before).
In this constellation all channels show distortions and much more than with unstable=15.1 or 15.0.

[FernetMenta]

The "avoid epg scan.." in kodi is set.

This is not what I mean. There is a vnsiserver setting which in particular is important for dual tuners. An EPG scan on the second device while the first device is streaming can cause those artifacts.

[tom-vdr]

That will be an important hint !
I will try this when i am home this evening.
I have dual tuners and vdr plugin started without options.
So i have to set this in vdr menu plugin vnsi options directly ?

[FernetMenta]

So i have to set this in vdr menu plugin vnsi options directly ?

Yes.

[zbigzbig20]

@tom, you can find this option in system-tv- client specific settings-specific settings-go to 6.setup- 9.plugins - 5. Vnsi server- and here set avoid epg scan... And enable it . Restart kodi and should be ok

[tom-vdr]

@zbigzbig20: Thanks
I checked the setting, it was already activated.
In setup.conf of vdr "vnsiserver.AvoidEPGScan = 1" ist set.
I removed one of the DVB tuners so only one is attached.
I moved back to kodi/vnsiclient 15.1 (Ubuntu unstable).
The distortions continue.
In /var/log/syslog no hints for vnsi problems appeared.
What can i do to get this fixed ?

[FernetMenta]

please load only vnsiserver as plugin in vdr and set vdr logging lever to 3. start kodi, tune to a channel and wait until you notice some artifacts. push some buton or key when this occurs, just to set a marker in the logfile. pastebin syslog and kodi debug log. maybe there is something that can give us some hint.

[FernetMenta]

one more test came to my mind. tune to a channel and start instant recording. wait until you notice some distortion. stop recording and replay it. if the recording shows artifacts at the same position, we know the issue is on vdr/vnsiserver side. if not, it is a kodi issue.

[tom-vdr]

I checked vdr start script and -l3 was already set, eg. logging level 3.
There are some other plugins started too, femon,streamdev-server,fritzbox,epgsearch,wirbelscan and tvguide
which i can remove - question: is streamdev-server needed for kodi/vnsi ?

Before this i did some tests with video hardware acceleration options, they were all set on.
My system (Intel Celeron N2930 4x1,8GHz Intel integrated HD graphics) should be supported by vaapi.
I set accelerations unchecked and it seems that there are much less distortions !
CPU load average for the four cores is less than 50% in first tests, so perhaps acceleration is not needed ?

With vdr softhddevice i used before there have been several problems with vaapi intel-driver and ffmpeg in the past.
Are there similar problems known with kodi on Intel graphics hardware ?

[FernetMenta]

is streamdev-server needed for kodi/vnsi ?

no, only vnsiserver

Are there similar problems known with kodi on Intel graphics hardware ?

there has been tons of issues and masses of fixes and work arounds depending on cpu/gpu and driver versions. my living room system is a 1820T and it runs without any issues, deinterlacing set to motion compensated. your Baytrail may benefit from the new vaapi-opengl-interop method introduced in my repository. you can test it by following the how-to here:
http://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=231955