[RedChili]

Hi,

I've spent almost two days trying to figure out why Kodi with my VDR backend using the VNSI plugin is not playing HD TV channels properly.
First I thought it might be my hardware (MINIX NEO X7) the network or a problem with Kodi versions or hardware acceleration.

However I've ruled out everything and came to the conlusion it can only be KODI / VNSI:
- network is WiFi but I also tried with cable: no change
- different hardware firmwares (Android 4.2, 4.4)
- different KODI versions: 13.3 (original minix version), 14.2, 15.2, 16.0beta
- lots of different settings and optimizations in KODI settings, found in different forums (accelleration settings, sync, disabling EPG update, ...)
- local h.264 videos play just fine with approx 20% CPU usage

The VDR backend is 2.2.0, the vdr-plugin-vnsiserver is 1.3.1 (also updated to latest git version)

Fact is:
- KODI is dropping frames on HD TV (h.264) channels playback, the video is lagging
- CPU usage (4 cores) is around 50-70% each, which I think is too high
- playing channels with VLC + streamdev is smooth
- playing HD videos via PLEX from the same server is fine

This post seems to describe what I'm experiencing but using the latest vnsiserver didn't solve my issue as described there.
The last try was with KODI 16beta which still fails to play smoothly. So this is my very last resort :-)
Here is a debug log: kodi.log

Maybe someone here can help :-)

Thanks

[FernetMenta]

Most likely an issue of Kodi's Android port. You could ask in the Android section for help but I doubt you'll have much success. Kodi has currently no Android developer.

[RedChili]

An issue in all versions I tried...that's hard to believe... Especially since the hardware is not very exotic and Kodi seems to be used quite often on Android (looking at NVIDIA's shield "perfect match for Kodi" this seems strange).

[FernetMenta]

I develop vnsiserver, vnsi Kodi addon and I am the main dev of Kodi's VideoPlayer and audio engine. I have vnsi in daily use (Linux) and I can promise you that there is no lagging. I also develop a lot on OSX and sometime on Windows but I care ZERO about Android. If there are issues on Android I won't notice and I won't fix those.

[RedChili]

Update, for the record if someone comes along this thread.

I've decided to do my own compile of kodi 15.2 for android and see if that would fix the lagging.
Basically I followed these steps: https://github.com/xbmc/xbmc/blob/master...ME.android

Since this doesn't build the addons like PVR VNSI I did an extra:

Code:

make -C tools/depends/target/binary-addons ADDONS="pvr.vdr.vnsi"

Before building the APK.

Now this seems to be a slick Kodi installation and the playback of Live TV via vdr.vnsi is smooth!

When switching channels the video seems a bit more garbeled/with artifacts in the beginning but that's gone after switching to full screen.
Also as soon as the UI is up and the video is playing in the background it stutters a lot more than before but I can live with that.