Hi
I have a Late 2009 Macmini, Core2Duo with 4GB of RAM, running El Capitan (latest supported OS X version) which I mainly use for watching TV Series. I've been using VLC for a long time without any problems whatsoever, either windowed mode or full screen.
I've read a lot about this problem here on the forums and I keep on stumbling upon old topics that say that this will be fixed on later versions, or later OS updates, or even that this due to the lack of optimisation from ffmpeg.
I've tried to disable HW acceleration (VTB), as suggested, and it makes it better, but the video still stutters a bit, even non HD streams have regular, very very small but noticeable, stuttering, which doesn't happen on a Raspberry Pi at all.
What I'd like to understand, and I'm willing to help with anything I can of course, is why VLC doesn't have this problem and Kodi does ? Is this something we'd like to revisit to make it work again ? if this is a problem with initialising the fullscreen window, can't we peek the code from VLC and see what they do and if we can use it in the same way ? What do you think the problem is and what can be done to tackle it ?
Motivation: old MacMinis should be powerful enough to run Kodi, they're small, low noise, good looking and quite cheap nowadays, I believe that if Kodi works fine on these little things, many people would be happy and would repurpose their old MacMinis.
Hi, I don’t have a Mac Mini... But I have an idea. Did you enable automatic frame rate switching?
Check the following configuration parameters:
• Settings - Player - Videos —> Playback - Adjust display refresh rate „On start / stop“
• Settings - Player - Videos —> Playback - Sync playback to display „Disabled“
• Settings - System - Display —> General - Delay after change of refresh rate „2.5 seconds“
For us in Germany it’s good to configure the underlying os (macOS in your case) with a frame rate of 50Hz. This way Kodi is not switching the frame rate when you watch German LiveTV or a dvd. It only switches the frame rate when you watch content with another frame rate (for example content with a frame of 24Hz).
With these settings all my devices (Windows10, AppleTV4K, Nvidia Shield) do their job very well without stuttering.
Another way can be to enable the second option described above „Sync playback to display“ and disable the other both „refresh rate“ options. But I never used my devices that way.
Regards Hoppel
Hi hoppel118
I'm going to test those options tonight and I'll post the outcome later on..
Thanks a lot for the input
Hi hoppel118
I tried both options you provided, both have the same result: with HW acceleration (VTBDecoder) on, it's close to slow motion, with it is set to off, it's almost perfect but there is that small but noticeable and regular stutter.
I can test more things if you think of anything else.
I also tried to disable the Fullscreen mode, on the Display options, but I got a black screen after that. I think this is being handled by Memphis in another thread.
Thanks.
Sorry, this was the only idea I had in conjunction with micro stutters. I can’t help you, because I don’t have a Mac Mini.
(2018-10-31, 23:23)hoppel118 Wrote: [ -> ]Sorry, this was the only idea I had in conjunction with micro stutters. I can’t help you, because I don’t have a Mac Mini.
No worries. It was already helpful to test some settings. Thanks anyway.
(2018-10-31, 22:59)KlotX Wrote: [ -> ]I think this is being handled by Memphis in another thread.
• Where is that thread from @
Memphiz ?
• Which kind of content do you try to play?
• Which frame rate has your content?
Did you check at your tv that the frame rate switch worked as expected?
My Samsung TV has an OSD where I can see in which frame rate modus it is.
A Kodi log (where you start Kodi, start playing the content, wait until the micro stutter appears, stop playing the content, exit Kodi) may be helpful.
Regards Hoppel
Ok, this thread is for Kodi Leia. This is still beta.
Which Kodi version do you use? Did you also try Kodi Krypton?
I'm using Kodi Leia Beta 4
However, this problem is also present in Krypton 17.6, if not, some work with git bisect would tell me what introduced this problem and it would be easier to identify
Did you enable any refresh rates / resolutions in the whitelist?
This is a new feature since Kodi 18. Without this setting refresh rate switches won’t work under Kodi 18.
Configure/activate the following refresh rates:
• Settings - System - Display —> General - Whitelist —>
1920x1080p 60.00Hz
1920x1080p 59.94Hz
1920x1080p 50.00Hz
1920x1080p 24.00Hz
1920x1080p 23.98Hz
These are at least the refresh rates I configured in the whitelist for my 1080p Display in combination with the above described refresh rate settings. Maybe you need additional refresh rates, if you have a 4K Display.
Regards Hoppel
I have a very standard TV .. But that might be a good tip, I'll try it all later on in the evening
I'm planning to spend sometime today to bring more data for analysis. It would be good to be able to have VTBDecoder working to relieve the pressure on the CPU but if it works fine without it, that's also ok.
Thanks a lot
(2018-11-01, 12:51)KlotX Wrote: [ -> ]I have a very standard TV ..
What is „a very standard TV“, 1080p or 4K?
(2018-11-01, 13:29)hoppel118 Wrote: [ -> ] (2018-11-01, 12:51)KlotX Wrote: [ -> ]I have a very standard TV ..
What is „a very standard TV“, 1080p or 4K?
1080p... if it helps, a Raspberry Pi 3B+ using the same version plays the same content quite well without any problems.
The media info from the file I'm using to test is the following:
Code:
General
Unique ID : 74941526578638864536849617505885563298 (0x38613687ED718012FBF02E0124A329A2)
Complete name : The.Man.in.the.High.Castle.S03E03.Sensô.Kôi.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DDP5.1.H.264-NTG.mkv
Format : Matroska
Format version : Version 4
File size : 2.16 GiB
Duration : 57 min 59 s
Overall bit rate mode : Variable
Overall bit rate : 5 335 kb/s
Encoded date : UTC 2018-10-05 01:20:45
Writing application : mkvmerge v21.0.0 ('Tardigrades Will Inherit The Earth') 64-bit
Writing library : libebml v1.3.5 + libmatroska v1.4.8
Video
ID : 1
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : High@L4
Format settings : CABAC / 4 Ref Frames
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames : 4 frames
Codec ID : V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC
Duration : 57 min 59 s
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 4 691 kb/s
Maximum bit rate : 15.0 Mb/s
Width : 1 920 pixels
Height : 1 080 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16:9
Frame rate mode : Constant
Frame rate : 23.976 (24000/1001) FPS
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.094
Stream size : 1.90 GiB (88%)
Default : Yes
Forced : No
Color range : Limited
Color primaries : BT.709
Transfer characteristics : BT.709
Matrix coefficients : BT.709
Audio
ID : 2
Format : E-AC-3
Format/Info : Enhanced AC-3
Commercial name : Dolby Digital Plus
Codec ID : A_EAC3
Duration : 57 min 59 s
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 640 kb/s
Channel(s) : 6 channels
Channel layout : L R C LFE Ls Rs
Sampling rate : 48.0 kHz
Frame rate : 31.250 FPS (1536 SPF)
Compression mode : Lossy
Stream size : 265 MiB (12%)
Language : English
Service kind : Complete Main
Default : Yes
Forced : No
(2018-11-01, 15:34)KlotX Wrote: [ -> ]Video
Format : AVC
Frame rate : 23.976
I think these are the relevant informations. I don’t know, if AVC is supported by a Mac Mini. I read about problems in the past with devices from other vendors.
But you can check, if the stutter stops, when you configure your os at a resolution of 1920x1080 and a frame rate of 23.976 Hz. If the content works after that configuration, the problem is related to a wrong frame rate configuration in Kodi, at least in my opinion.
Before you do this, try to configure the whitelist in Kodi.
Regards Hoppel