Kodi Community Forum

Hi guys,

I have been using TBS MOI (a standalone TVheadend Server) to deliver my satellite TV channels to all my four Kodi clients in my network. That has been working quiet well for some time. But with the more recent versions of Kodi (OpenElec) I seem to be constantly getting buffering issues, especially with HDTV channels (but also slightly with SDTV). I already checked the satellite signal but that does not seem to be the problem (signal is strong and I am using a very big satellite dish anyway). I already tried the following additions in advancedsettings.xml

<network>
<buffermode>1</buffermode>
<cachemembuffersize>52428800</cachemembuffersize>
<readbufferfactor>4.0</readbufferfactor>
</network>
<pvr>
<minvideocachelevel>20</minvideocachelevel>
<minaudiocachelevel>20</minaudiocachelevel>
</pvr>

But that only extended the interval between the "bufferings" slightly. The buffering only occurs when watching liveTV. I do not have any problems when watching locally stored movies or tv-shows (SD or HD) via network.

Any ideas?

Brgds,

FantasticN

You'd have to post a debug log.

Hi negge,

thanks for your reply. Here is the log:

http://xbmclogs.com/pkncopocq

Best regards,

FantasticN

Do you get any errors in your tvheadend log while you're having these issues? You can check by accessing the web interface, then bring up the log window from the bottom right corner and check the cog wheel to enable debug logging.

Hi negge,

again thanks for your reply. I have amended my advancedsettings.xml with the following settings:

<network>
<buffermode>1</buffermode>
<cachemembuffersize>157286400</cachemembuffersize>
<readbufferfacture>10.0</readbufferfacture>
</network>
<pvr>
<minvideocachelevel>25</minvideocachelevel>
<minaudiocachelevel>25</minaudiocachelevel>
<cacheindvdplayer>true</cacheindvdplayer>
</pvr>

Additionally I have lower the Port-Speed for my Kodi-PCs at my switch from 1GBit/s to 100 MBit/s.

That seemed to have at least reduced the buffering problem. However, especially when watching HDTV it sometimes still occurs.

Following your suggestion I have watched the system-log of my TVheadend-Server (which is a TBS MOI). I have constant error reports stating:

May 18 15:21:04.655 settings: Failed to write file "//.hts/tvheadend/dvbmuxes/_dev_dvb_adapter0_TurboSight_TBS_2990_DVBS_S2_frontend/_dev_dvb_adapter0_TurboSight_TBS_2990_DVBS_S2_frontend12246000_V_satconf_3.tmp" - No space left on device

I do not know how to solve that issue because I cannot increase the free space on the TBS MOI's system volume. However, that does not seem be the cause my buffering issues anyway.

As to the freezes/buffering issues I think that this error could be more interesting:

ay 18 15:15:14.614 parser: transport stream MPEG2AUDIO, DTS discontinuity. DTS = 270826718, last = 270716558
May 18 15:15:14.774 parser: transport stream MPEG2AUDIO, DTS discontinuity. DTS = 270827438, last = 270695678
May 18 15:15:14.798 parser: transport stream MPEG2AUDIO, DTS discontinuity. DTS = 270838598, last = 270706838
May 18 15:15:14.802 parser: transport stream AC3, DTS discontinuity. DTS = 270835771, last = 270703291
May 18 15:15:15.225 dvb: "_dev_dvb_adapter1_TurboSight_TBS_2991_DVBS_S2_frontend" read() EOVERFLOW
May 18 15:15:15.225 TS: TurboSight TBS 2991 DVBS/S2 frontend/ASTRA 1: 11,361,750 kHz Horizontal (Port0)/ZDF HD: H264 @ #6110: Continuity counter error, 1 duplicate log lines suppressed
May 18 15:15:15.225 TS: TurboSight TBS 2991 DVBS/S2 frontend/ASTRA 1: 11,361,750 kHz Horizontal (Port0)/ZDF HD: MPEG2AUDIO @ #6121: Continuity counter error
May 18 15:15:15.228 TS: TurboSight TBS 2991 DVBS/S2 frontend/ASTRA 1: 11,361,750 kHz Horizontal (Port0)/ZDF HD: AC3 @ #6122: Continuity counter error
May 18 15:15:15.228 TS: TurboSight TBS 2991 DVBS/S2 frontend/ASTRA 1: 11,361,750 kHz Horizontal (Port0)/ZDF HD: MPEG2AUDIO @ #6120: Continuity counter error, 1 duplicate log lines suppressed
May 18 15:15:15.230 TS: TurboSight TBS 2991 DVBS/S2 frontend/ASTRA 1: 11,361,750 kHz Horizontal (Port0)/ZDF HD: MPEG2AUDIO @ #6123: Continuity counter error, 1 duplicate log lines suppressed
May 18 15:15:15.233 TS: TurboSight TBS 2991 DVBS/S2 frontend/ASTRA 1: 11,361,750 kHz Horizontal (Port0)/ZDF HD: TELETEXT @ #6130: Continuity counter error, 1 duplicate log lines suppressed
May 18 15:15:15.268 parser: transport stream H264, DTS discontinuity. DTS = 271015200, last = 270903600
May 18 15:15:15.391 parser: transport stream MPEG2AUDIO, DTS discontinuity. DTS = 270977918, last = 270856958
May 18 15:15:15.403 parser: transport stream MPEG2AUDIO, DTS discontinuity. DTS = 270978998, last = 270858038
May 18 15:15:15.419 parser: transport stream MPEG2AUDIO, DTS discontinuity. DTS = 270978638, last = 270857678
May 18 15:15:15.635 parser: transport stream AC3, DTS discontinuity. DTS = 270994171, last = 270861691

Any ideas?

Brgds,

FantasticN

is it encrypted?

No. I am not using any encrypted channels.

Btw: I have no problems watching movies or tv-series via network, even with 1080p. The problem only affects liveTV. Amending the advancedsettings.xml as described above has reduced the problem, but did not solve it. Seems it just takes longer until the buffering auddenly begins.

(2015-05-18, 22:22)fantasticn Wrote: [ -> ]No. I am not using any encrypted channels.

Btw: I have no problems watching movies or tv-series via network, even with 1080p. The problem only affects liveTV. Amending the advancedsettings.xml as described above has reduced the problem, but did not solve it. Seems it just takes longer until the buffering auddenly begins.

Have you checked signal strength at this point in time - WHEN - then buffering occurs...?
Big dish means nothing.

Signal strength is ok, even if the buffering occurs. But because of the constant errors reported in the TVheadend-log I have done a total reset on my TBS MOI and scanned and sorted all channels from scratch. And now it seems like the buffering has (almost) gone. No errors are reported anymore in the log. Next step will be to revert the settings I have applied to the advancedsettings.xml and see if it still works.

Thanks for your support!

FantasticN