Hi everyone, iv just bought one from amazon 38quid and its absolutely rammed with goodies, and kodi 14.2 pre installed, but first time trying it last no matter what addon i used just buffered every so often, internet speed is 6mb and iv got no problem when using my m8 box with kodi 15 isangard , so my question is , is there any tweaks to be done to this box to eliminate buffering , all reviews on amazon were very good and positive, the kodi thats pre installed doesnt seem to work properly, when i click on the bottom left to exit the exit box never comes up and when i use the remote to scroll down or through sources i have to click all the time rather than leave the button pressed. Sorry for the big write up
No. Buffering happens when the video file isn't loading fast enough. This could be due to your local connection, or it could be due to a server on the other side of the internet. Increasing the buffer size can help in edge cases where there are fluctuations, but that will only reduce the number of times the video pauses in order to buffer. The buffering itself still happens as needed.
Since you said Kodi was preinstalled, I'm assuming you are talking about bootleg video add-ons for free movies and TV shows. Forgive me if I'm incorrect, and I don't mean to accuse people of anything wrong, in either case. I only mention it as fair warning that we can't help with bootleg/pirate add-ons and streams per our
forum rules (wiki). Those kinds of things are not supported by us, but they are unfortunately pre-installed on a lot of boxes sold on Amazon and eBay. (see
free content (wiki))
Yes i know that ned and i know the ones im not allowed to talk about, i was just wondering on any simple tweaks i could do that would enable smooth running, what if its the box , like to many programes on it or addons, would it run better if i wiped them off. And also adding the zero cache , would that make a diff, sorry if im not allowed to talk about that, im unsure of that one and il shut up about it. To get my m8 smooth running i uninstalled kodi 14.1 done a factory reset then installed kodi 15 isangard and just added a minimal amount of addons that i only need , it runs perfect so was thinking of doing the same to this box ?
I forgot to include this link to explain how to actually change those settings:
HOW-TO:Modify the video cache (wiki).
There is also some "tool"/helper add-ons out there that will set some of these cache settings automatically. I'm not all that fond of those add-ons, but that's only because they don't explain what the settings do, so sometimes people choose the wrong one. For example, the "zero cache" mode should be avoided for devices with a small amount of internal memory and only used if you have at least 16 GB or more. (8GB devices typically only have about 4GB of free space after the OS and Kodi are installed. So as long as you know what the settings do, then it should all be good.
Like I said, this really just smooths over the number of times Kodi will stop to buffer. If it needs to buffer then it will always buffer, but having to stop and buffer less often is still better than nothing. In some cases you might not even see any buffering because these settings allow Kodi to fill the buffer faster when there are squirts of faster speeds, which is why they're very useful for people who have fluctuating wifi.
As for your v15 question, that sounds like a good plan. Sometimes the pre-installed versions, regardless of the bootleg add-ons, come with extras installed that you just don't need and might possibly bog things down (if they run in the background, for example, or just making updating add-ons faster, etc). Installing just what you want is a good way of making the box a little leaner, and reduces the number of things that might go wrong ;)
So a user expects to get a whole bunch of stuff for free, from dodgy illegal servers and then wonders why nothing streams smoothly ?
Ned must be in a patient mood today
(2015-08-07, 01:10)Ned Scott Wrote: [ -> ]I forgot to include this link to explain how to actually change those settings: HOW-TO:Modify the video cache (wiki).
There is also some "tool"/helper add-ons out there that will set some of these cache settings automatically. I'm not all that fond of those add-ons, but that's only because they don't explain what the settings do, so sometimes people choose the wrong one. For example, the "zero cache" mode should be avoided for devices with a small amount of internal memory and only used if you have at least 16 GB or more. (8GB devices typically only have about 4GB of free space after the OS and Kodi are installed. So as long as you know what the settings do, then it should all be good.
Like I said, this really just smooths over the number of times Kodi will stop to buffer. If it needs to buffer then it will always buffer, but having to stop and buffer less often is still better than nothing. In some cases you might not even see any buffering because these settings allow Kodi to fill the buffer faster when there are squirts of faster speeds, which is why they're very useful for people who have fluctuating wifi.
As for your v15 question, that sounds like a good plan. Sometimes the pre-installed versions, regardless of the bootleg add-ons, come with extras installed that you just don't need and might possibly bog things down (if they run in the background, for example, or just making updating add-ons faster, etc). Installing just what you want is a good way of making the box a little leaner, and reduces the number of things that might go wrong
Thanks ned il take a look at that link later when im bored in work lol, it does seem like an unofficial version, as last night when i was stopping a video it would take me back to the main android home screen so v15 is the way forward i think. Cheers
(2015-08-07, 04:22)wrxtasy Wrote: [ -> ]So a user expects to get a whole bunch of stuff for free, from dodgy illegal servers and then wonders why nothing streams smoothly ?
Ned must be in a patient mood today
I never asked about any illegal servers or banned addons i just asked a question about if theres any tweaks to b done for this box to run better
Hi again, well all buffering has stopped now, it was a poor internet connection lol,anyway now that bits sorted i was watching youtube videos and the picture/sound is a1 but every 2-3 seconds theres like a little glitch and goes back to normal, it is quite annoying, would anyone know a possible fix ?
Like a judder or a stutter in the video? Or in both video and sound? Can you get us a
debug log (wiki) of when this happens?
Yea just like a stutter in the video, but its like a repeat stutter for a split second every 2-3 secs, im in work right now but i will do a log possibly tomorr for u ,thanks
So tonight i decided to mess around with my box, the version i had (pre installed was 14.2 RC-1) , so uninstalled that and reinstalled v15, then i noticed some streams on youtube were just a black picture but i had sound, so went into system then settings and turned off amcodec (i think) lol, the top 1 out of the 3 for acceleration for hardware and now i have picture and sound and no stuttering . Just thought id say iv solved my problem and what i done to fix it incase others come accross the same