v17 Audio issues (crackling, pitch, delay)
#1
Setup: Macbook Air Mid 2012, Intel HD4000 graphics, OSX 10.11.6
LG 1080p TV
Connection: miniDP -> HDMI -> HDMI Audio extractor (it relays the EDID from the TV)
from there: HDMI out -> TV; optical out -> Onkyo Receiver
Kodi 17.0 b1
Kodi’s configuration can be seen in the log. Note that VTB on or off makes no difference, so the test is for VTB on.

I think that the complication in my setup arises from the combination of having no proper fractional refresh rates (stupid OSX) and being reliant on optical audio/passthrough for surround sound (I like my receiver and don’t have money to burn, so I am not willing to change it until it breaks). Jarvis (and Helix before it) danced around this complication elegantly with the combination of sync playback to display, change refresh rate for video and using video clock to sync A/V. I know that this was never a perfect combination for passthrough, but it worked without noticable issues.
So in effect Kodi 16.1 worked near perfect for me.
(Let me add here that I appreciate the effort put into Kodi a lot and am forever grateful for this awesome piece of software. So this is not complaining that it broke, it is simply pointing out that it worked before as a baseline. I’m trying to give back to this OSS by running beta versions and trying to help figure out problems.)

I know that Krypton introduces big changes in the video player, so stuff breaking was expected.
What I noticed right from the start was that something was off with encoded audio. Sometimes I had crackles, sometimes the pitch seemed to go up and down (noticeable in background music). Also, the delay setting I had settled on (70ms for 50/60fps, 145 ms for 24fps) seemed to not be perfectly correct anymore, in fact audio seems to be sometimes ahead and sometimes behind the video. So I started testing and wanted check how the sync is really working. (as an aside, the PlayerProcessInfo window doesn’t show audio offset anymore, which was practical to dial it in and then set it in advancedsettings.xml)

1. Most of my test files don’t work anymore at all. They start, and then nothing happens. I can open the player menu or PlayerProcessInfo, but nothing plays. When I quit the playback it just hangs. Sometimes opening up the lid of the Laptop (thus forcing an update of video output on the OS) gets me back to the menu, but mostly not or it just crashes. In the debug log (near the end) you can see me exiting the first not working video and exiting without success, then successfully getting back with this method, then opening another such test file with Kodi crashing when I close the lid (Crash log). Note that this crashing occurs whether or not passthrough is enabled.
I really don’t know what is wrong with these files. They worked before and still work with VLC. None of my „regular“ video files show this behaviour in Krypton.

2. There are testfiles that still work, you can see me playing them right after turning on debug level logging. These are 2ch ac3/dts/pcm audio streams. Even though passthrough is enabled, the AC3 and DTS files are decoded and output as PCM. Am I right to assume that since I use „sync playback to display“ Kodi is deciding that passthrough will not work properly and therefore is outputting PCM as this is possible per the configuration? I somewhat verified this by setting the channel configuration to 5.1 which results in 5.1 files also being decoded.

3. In the debug log I also play the Ant-Man test clip. This is where I can consistently hear crackling in the audio.

Crashlog: http://pastebin.com/vmcpd22v
Debug log: http://pastebin.com/w2gGRK17

Please tell me, if I omitted any possibly useful information and what other tests to run to help fix this.

Thank you!
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#2
To rule out some possible problems could you please update to latest nightly build from here and see if anything has improved or changed?
http://mirrors.kodi.tv/nightlies/osx/x86_64/

Thx
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#3
Tested and the issues persist.

new Crash log: http://pastebin.com/tby8LgqL
new debug log: http://pastebin.com/ZUZGCGV9

also and not audio related (new thread?): the older versions had no problem with me opening or closing the lid of the laptop. Now, when I have the lid open and start Kodi or open the lid while it is running, the video output changes to "Color LCD" and its resolution of 1440x900, but Kodi is still displayed on the TV (in its upper left corner, since the resolution is lower).

Edit: what I forgot to add above: the files cause Kodi to hang whether or not passthrough is enabled. But when the TV is disconnected and I use only the internal display of the laptop there is no problem playing these files.
Also no crackling in the Ant-Man test clip when its audio stream is decoded by Kodi.
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#4
What happens when you remove the audio extractor fom the equation with a test?
AppleTV4/iPhone/iPod/iPad: HowTo find debug logs and everything else which the devs like so much: click here
HowTo setup NFS for Kodi: NFS (wiki)
HowTo configure avahi (zeroconf): Avahi_Zeroconf (wiki)
READ THE IOS FAQ!: iOS FAQ (wiki)
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#5
(2016-09-12, 07:09)Memphiz Wrote: What happens when you remove the audio extractor fom the equation with a test?

just tried it, the test clips cause Kodi to hang all the same.

Note that I think there are separate issues:
The test clips not playing is what I thought interesting for debugging Krypton. That happens when I go out via HDMI, but not when just using the laptops screen. settings (VTB, passthrough) seem to be unimportant. The files that have this problem have different containers (avi, mp4, ts), refresh rates (24, 23,976, 60), and audio streams (aac, ac3). I just happened to stumble upon this while testing audio. No "real world files" show this behaviour.
The audio issues (especially the crackling) is what is causing problems in real use.

some of the test clips that cause Kodi to hang are found on the following adresses:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/5572...20Test.avi
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stBliSJ06vc (use your favourite downloader)
http://editorsean.com/articles/audio-vid...ency-test/ (mp4 files)
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#6
just as a quick question:
no 2 in OP, am I right, that this is expected behaviour/conscious choice?
when the channels in the source can be transmitted as PCM as per the settings, then passthrough is overridden?

I am just asking because it would make sense to me that way, but I haven't seen/found confirmation.
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#7
Yes that is correct
AppleTV4/iPhone/iPod/iPad: HowTo find debug logs and everything else which the devs like so much: click here
HowTo setup NFS for Kodi: NFS (wiki)
HowTo configure avahi (zeroconf): Avahi_Zeroconf (wiki)
READ THE IOS FAQ!: iOS FAQ (wiki)
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#8
ok, since I had the problem no 1 of OP with real life content recently I started to check some more combinations and here's what I found:
1. the problem occurs only when sync playback to display is enabled
2. with 25fps or 60fps files the problem does not occur, when Kodi doesn't have to switch refresh rates. as in, I previously set the output in OSX preferences to 50 hz and start playing a 25fps file, everything works. when Kodi changes the output refresh rate the (presumably) first frame of the video is shown and then it hangs, exiting out of the video does not work and makes Kodi unresponsive until I externally trigger another refresh rate change by opening the lid of the laptop. this sometimes causes Kodi to crash.
3. so far this squares perfectly with the previous observation that no problems occur when the laptop screen is used, as its refresh rate cannot be changed
4. the same is true for all real life 24p files that I have, which is why I didn’t notice the issue with them - no refresh rate change necessary (I have 24hz as default because switching takes a littler more than a second on my TV). I am very sure that that some of the 24p test files triggered the issue before even when Kodi didn’t have to change refresh rates but now I cannot find such a file. So for now consider the contrary report from #5 invalid.
6. with sync playback to display switched off the audio and video are in sync without adjustment, as in I removed my delay settings from advancedsettings.xml and it is just right. never had that before.
7. the results are unchanged with the latest nightly (kodi-20161022-cf08208-master-x86_64, which announces 17.0.beta4 as version).

I will have to watch some real content for a longer period to say wether for me personally it is acceptable to watch without synced playback, but I assume the devs are interested in why the issue occurs anyway. So please tell me what further tests I can run to help fix the underlying cause.
Thank you
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#9
I am running the latest beta of libreelec on a rpi3 connected to a tv width only a
HDMI cable. And I had a lot of pitch issues with the audio. I disabled the "sync playback to display" as suggested by juramusger and this seems to fix the issue.
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#10
refresh rate switching with sync playback to display enabled is still broken in beta 5.
Please tell me if you need more logs or specific testing.
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#11
I too had problems with audio pitch changes after a live tv disruption or after a seek operation in Kodi Krypton Beta 5 on a RPi. The solution that worked for me was the following:
system settings->audio:
1.Threshold for pitch correction = 1
2. Allow passthrough = on
DTS capable receiver = on
3. PLL adjustment...audio/video sync = off
Player settings->video:
1. Sync playback to dispkay = on
2. Adjust display refresh rate = off



Sent from my GT-P3113
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#12
Correction: Player settings->video, not system settings->player

Sent from my GT-P3113
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#13
Thank you for the answer. But disabling adjust display refresh rate is really not an option.
The curious thing is that it is only when Kodi changes refresh rate that playback hangs, after successfully changing the refresh rate.
I am still open to any further testing, just tell me what to test and I will provide logs.
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Audio issues (crackling, pitch, delay)0