[lucassp]

Hi guys,

There's something wrong with Kodi 16 and 17 combined with the latest update from Philips for 43PUS6501 (Android 6.0.1 from January 23), there is a lot of stuttering and buffering going on when playing from SMB and DLNA (serviio). Previously I was able to play 4K 70Mbps H265 content easily, now literally nothing is viewable.

The Philips provided Media player app, works a little better but still stutters on 4K content. I believe something is wrong with this new Philips update and everybody is affected and I can't revert back. But Kodi seems like the most affected one. It might be because of some poor WiFi drivers in the new update.

Let me know if I can help with something.

Best regards,
Lucian

[Etzi]

I own 55PUS6561 which is quite similar to yours and cable connection, have not noticed any issues so far.
Most likely it is somehow tied to your wireless.

Could you test it via cable connection instead of wireless, does it still stutters and buffers?

[lucassp]

I didn't try that yet, but I will. I will get a patch cord and ditch the wireless connection. It looks like Philips didn't do a good job with the latest update and I don't really understand why. They have like 3 SoCs/boards they need to support for their Android TVs and can't really do it. They released the update so late and it's broken and I can't find a way to flash back the previous version. Welcome to the era of Android TVs

Thank you for the quick reply!

[Etzi]

It looks like Philips didn't do a good job with the latest update and I don't really understand why. They have like 3 SoCs/boards they need to support for their Android TVs and can't really do it.

There may be n+1 reasons why your Wireless suddenly sucks, including the possibility that your neighbour bought somekind of cheap Chinese toy, which is operating via wireless and screws it up, etc, etc...
Wireless is never 100% reliable, so use cable where possible.

Actually, supporting multiple SoC's which are quite different from eachother, will considerably increase difficulty if you need to have shared features between them.
Nevertheless, Philips seems to have some very odd problems with their AndroidTV firmwares, I have sent multiple bug reports to them by now about their newest 6.x based release, we will see...
And Sony is not much better in this regard, if you search this forum...

[lucassp]

I'm the only guy around with a 5GHz network while the 2.4GHz is really overcrowded. I know wireless is never reliable but I could stream 4K 70Mbps content and now not even 720p 4Mbps and twitch are working correctly.
That's why my PC is connected using a cable
The Android TV OEMs need to invest more in their software development teams, and the same goes for Google who should provide good driver support along with partners for a few SoCs/boards.

[Etzi]

I'm the only guy around with a 5GHz network while the 2.4GHz is really overcrowded.

5Ghz does not guarantee you anything, for example I live near the port and I have constant Radar sweeps going on.
To make things even worse, I cannot use channels 36-48 as there is somekind of heavy interference going on those, which leaves me only DFS channels being usable and they are constantly interrupted by radar.
2.4Ghz band is overcrowded in my apartement block, which means there is 27 networks interfering with mine and I get transfer speeds as high as couple of kilobits in that band.

In conclusion, despite being the only one utilizing 5Ghz band (according to analyzators), wireless is pretty much unusable for me, except only for light web browsing.
Luckily, I buried nearly 200m of Cat6 wiring under floor and into walls, when I renovated my apartment...so it does not bother me much...

[CiNcH]

I also use 802.11ac WiFi on my Sony. It is pretty much the same as Philips from a MediaTek chipset and Android OS point of view. Here are my results.

[lucassp]

Nice review. Thanks!

[wrxtasy]

I also use 802.11ac WiFi on my Sony. It is pretty much the same as Philips from a MediaTek chipset and Android OS point of view. Here are my results.

Yes excellent review.

Finally someone telling it EXACTLY like it is in regards to Sony Hardware and Firmware support for running Android TV.
If Sony (and Philips) don't get their act together its all going to end in tears.

I might even put that link in the START HERE thread as a bit of a heads up warning for everyone !

[CiNcH]

I might even put that link in the START HERE thread as a bit of a heads up warning for everyone !

I encourage everybody to help me spread the word. Thanks!

[lucassp]

Made some more tests on my TV and the Philips provided Media Player behaves a lot better than Kodi when it comes to 4K HEVC 70Mbps content. It still stutters but a lot less often. So I believe it might be an issue with the APIs Kodi uses for playback, besides WiFi.

[msilva2]

Hi guys,

I have a Phillips android TV too, and i just can't watch a Movie or even a 720p TV Show via NAS with KODI. Works just fine if i use TV player, so it's not from the Network.
With KODI in the computer works perfect, with WI-FI too.

When i bought the TV there was no problems, but now it's impossible. I uploaded to the TV the XML file to increase the cache of KODI, but the problem remains.

Ideas?

[leventeb]

Hello,

I have a Phillips 43PUS6501/12 android tv as well.
It has wired connection (100 mbit/s) to my access point.
I'm running Kodi 17 on both my window 10 pc and the tv.

I too am experiencing buffering issues streaming movies from the pc. Even at 1080.
First started after 20 minutes into the movie, then buffering every minute or so.
Tried restarting the tv but it didnt help.

Haven't edited the cache settings, there has to be a better solution .

[Etzi]

Care to dump a Debug log?

http://kodi.wiki/view/Log_file/Easy

[leventeb]

I will, but now it seems to be alright.
Since last time I have updated the tv's software.
As soon as the buffering issue reappears I'll dump the log file.