[DaveJB]

Hi,

Firstly, I am new to this, so please go easy on me

I have Raspian (Jessie), with Kodi installed and I am having trouble watching a lot of my films that were ripped into MKV files.

When it comes to audio, does kodi natively support MP3 audio streams? Or do I have to download additional codecs or something?

This is what MediaInfo has to say about an audio stream that won't play:

ID : 2
Format : MPEG Audio
Format version : Version 1
Format profile : Layer 3
Codec ID : A_MPEG/L3
Codec ID/Hint : MP3
Duration : 1h 48mn
Bit rate mode : Variable
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Compression mode : Lossy
Writing library : LAME3.98
Language : Romanian
Default : Yes
Forced : No

There is the bigger issue of the video not playing either, but I will come back to that!

Any help or pointers would be much appreciated, I have been searching online for ages without any answers

Many Thanks!

[ronie]

nope, you don't need additional codecs for kodi. all is included and can't even be expanded.
edit: see below for a more accurate answer.

as for the rest, please provide a Debug Log of you trying to play this video.

[doug]

The RPi can play MP3s fine. You may need the mpeg2 or vc-1 codec for videos depending on what and how you have ripped your videos.

[noggin]

Yep - MP3s play fine on a Pi or Pi 2. They aren't played natively as such, I think they are software decoded by Kodi on the Pi.

However the Pi doesn't include hardware acceleration for MPEG2 and VC-1 by default, as these are licensable codecs, and will not play with hardware acceleration without the purchase of the licences and installation of the licence keys on your Pi/Pi 2. (The Pi2 can software decode MPEG2 SD stuff to a basic level but hardware decoding is definitely a better bet. MPEG2 licence is £2.40, VC-1 licence is £1.20 from memory.) An H264 decoding (and encoding for that matter) licence is included as standard with the Pi / Pi 2 meaning H264 SD and HD hardware decoding works fine.

Suggest you post the rest of the Media Info details for your content.

[DaveJB]

Thank you for your feedback to far.

To the extent of my knowledge, none of my films are affected by the MPEG2/VC-1 licencing issues. All were ripped to H.264, using Handbrake.

With regards to the MediaInfo data, this is the full diagnostic:
*****************************************************************************************************
ID : 1
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : High@L3
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames : 4 frames
Codec ID : V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC
Duration : 1h 48mn
Width : 704 pixels
Height : 304 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 2.35:1
Frame rate mode : Constant
Frame rate : 25.000 fps
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Writing library : x264 core 130 r2273 b3065e6
Encoding settings : cabac=1 / ref=3 / deblock=1:0:0 / analyse=0x3:0x113 / me=hex / subme=7 / psy=1 / psy_rd=1.00:0.00 /
mixed_ref=1 / me_range=16 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=1 / 8x8dct=1 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / fast_pskip=1 /
chroma_qp_offset=-2 / threads=6 / lookahead_threads=1 / sliced_threads=0 / nr=0 / decimate=1 /
interlaced=0 / bluray_compat=0 / constrained_intra=0 / bframes=3 / b_pyramid=2 / b_adapt=1 / b_bias=0 /
direct=1 / weightb=1 / open_gop=0 / weightp=2 / keyint=250 / keyint_min=25 / scenecut=40 /
intra_refresh=0 / rc_lookahead=40 / rc=crf / mbtree=1 / crf=20.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=0 / qpmax=69 /
qpstep=4 / ip_ratio=1.40 / aq=1:1.00
Language : English
Default : Yes
Forced : No
Color range : Limited
Color primaries : BT.601 PAL
Transfer characteristics : BT.709
Matrix coefficients : BT.601

ID : 2
Format : MPEG Audio
Format version : Version 1
Format profile : Layer 3
Codec ID : A_MPEG/L3
Codec ID/Hint : MP3
Duration : 1h 48mn
Bit rate mode : Variable
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Compression mode : Lossy
Writing library : LAME3.98
Language : Romanian
Default : Yes
Forced : No

*******************************************************************************************************

And then this is the Kodi.log of my activity:
http://xbmclogs.com/pyqarybpi

Not quite sure if the etiquette is for me to format this in some way for easier reading, so forgive me if this is so.

In terms of what I do in the Log,
1. I play the film '50 50.mkv' this is a SD video, with AAC audio. This plays fine.
2. I play the film '4 Months 3 Weeks 2 Days.mkv', this is a SD video, with MP3 audio. The video sometimes plays, audio never plays.
3. I play the film '12 Angry Men.mkv', this is a HD video, with MP3 audio. The video doesn't play, nor does the audio. In fact this file causes the Pi to freeze up.

With my noobie eyes, these are the things that stand out in the log (numbered referring to the films above):

2. 20:59:22 T:1582298032 ERROR: ffmpeg[5E4FF3B0]: [mp3] incomplete frame
20:59:22 T:1582298032 ERROR: ffmpeg[5E4FF3B0]: [mp3] Header missing

3. 21:00:07 T:1873802160 ERROR: COMXCoreComponent:ecoderEventHandler OMX.broadcom.egl_render - OMX_ErrorInsufficientResources, insufficient resources


My own take on the above is that it seems the MP3 data is incomplete, however I ripped the films with Handbrake from a DVD/Bluray source, so it surprises me if the MP3 data is incomplete. It works fine within Windows Media Player/VLC.

Film 3 not playing is still a complete mystery to me.

Many thanks again, I appreciate any feedback or pointers that can be given!

[popcornmix]

Code:

20:58:36 T:1946464256  NOTICE: ARM mem: 944MB GPU mem: 64MB MPG2:0 WVC1:0

Not enough gpu_mem. gpu_mem=256 is recommended for Pi2.

[DaveJB]

Awesome, so simple but the GPU memory increase has sorted the visual issue!

Thank you so much.

The audio issue still however remains on the MP3 audio streams.

[popcornmix]

There is currently a regression in ffmpeg with mp3 files. That could be your issue:
https://trac.ffmpeg.org/ticket/5047

[DaveJB]

It could be, shame. I was hoping for something simple like your last suggestion

But thanks very much, I'll keep investigating