Login at Kodi Home

**fritsch** · 2021-09-12, 17:55

And on the negative side: This is exactly a patch that renders most "weak CPU" systems, mainly everything besides the Shield nuts - as the CPU has to come to fill the audio buffers very often per second. Please investigate the root-cause. Measure the delay, compare it against the formula I posted above to find the real issue.

A solution to "reduce buffers" to a "Shield minimum" to stay in a "Videoplayer won't correct me there" range ... is not a good approach.

Photographer01 · 2021-09-19, 11:53

Dear Community,

This problem has been bugging me for a while and I've been trying to figure out how it was caused, but I still haven't found a good reason. I hope somebody could tell me what's going on.

As mentioned in the title, I often experience judder or stutter while watching a movie on the Kodi android app. The issue is isn't always present. Completely restarting the TV or the Kodi app doesn't work.

I have recorded a slow motion video with my phone of the screen, showing the issue. The original content is 23.9 FPS, it is captured in 240 FPS and replayed at 28 FPS. So that means every ~1/3 of a second of this video must show a new frame of the original 23.9 content. From 10 seconds in the video, the jumps are visible.

It seems the video jumps forward first, then waits one or two frames, and then continues. Which seems weird, because normal judder/stutter would be that the frame stands still and then jumps forward, right?
So, either the Kodi is looking ahead, or the whole movie is behind one or two frames, right?

Some important information:
- Problem tested on both the newest 19.1, 19.0, and 18.9 versions of the Kodi Android app.
- Played on my Sony XF90 TV. The files played from a USB connectedto the TV.
- Problem doesn't appear when playing TV shows (from the same USB, with the same framerate, only a smaller and shorter video).
- When streaming 23.9 content from for example Disney+, no stutter or judder is present.
- 'adjust framerate' is set on start/stop.
- The settings to mitigate judder/stutter from RTINGS.com specifically for my TV are turned on.
- Several file types have been tried: .h265, .h264, .mkv, .mov

So has anybody got any ideas? It's weird that the problem isn't present always. The fact that it (at least for now) not occurs for TV shows may indicate it is a performance issue. What's even weirder, is that in the 6 months before the upgrade to Kodi 19.0, I hadn't had this problem. After the update I have had this problem for a few months, also after installing the original version which worked for me.

Thank you for reading my thread. I'm not new to Kodi, but I'm definitely no expert. It may as well can be that I overlooked a setting or two, and I hoped the comunity could point me to that.

Photographer01 · 2021-09-20, 14:31

After my thread above was rightfully moved here (sorry, I really didn't notice this thread before), I studied this thread. If I'm correct, everybody has got the problem solved by downgrading to 18.9, right? Then why isn't that working for me? The video in my thread above was captured on 18.9, with the exact same settings I have had for the 6 months before the first update to 19.0. If needed, I could create some log files from 18.9 if they are helpfull in finding the cause of the problem (it may take some time because I have no idea on how to do that), so please let me know if anyone would have a need for them.

LostBrit76 · 2021-09-20, 19:26

18.9 is smooth for me. Have you tried clearing kodi's cache?

Photographer01 · 2021-09-20, 20:35

(2021-09-20, 19:26)LostBrit76 Wrote: 18.9 is smooth for me. Have you tried clearing kodi's cache?

Yes, as well as reinstalling it, and completely turning the TV on and off. I did notice that Kodi skips the frames at exactly the same frames each time the same file is played, even after a new installation. So the issue is exactly repeatable, which probably rules out a performance issue.

Photographer01 · 2021-09-20, 20:42

I just found out that turning off the subtitles fixes the problem. What can I do to solve this without having to turn off the subtitles?

supertoto1977 · 2021-09-25, 18:04

Hello,

I finally validate the fix from @fritsch. No more stutter during my tests. I keep the 4K resolutions in the white list.
Have to do more test with 1080p resolutions in the white list, but in this case the VsyncOffset is not stable at 23,976fps (like 18.9).
Hope this fix could be backported to Matrix 19.2 version.

@Photographer01 , i don't think that your TV is able to switch the refresh rate.
So, give a try by unchecking 'adjust refresh rate' and let your TV manage as you have the settings to manage the judder/stutter.
Moreover, do not use passthrough. Try to check the option 'Sync playback to display' for the moment.

Photographer01 · 2021-09-26, 19:34

(2021-09-25, 18:04)supertoto1977 Wrote: So, give a try by unchecking 'adjust refresh rate' and let your TV manage as you have the settings to manage the judder/stutter.
Moreover, do not use passthrough. Try to check the option 'Sync playback to display' for the moment.

I tried both of those options already, didn't work. Besides, turning off passthrough is too much of a downgrade (no support of propper 5.1 audio) to be a viable solution. After a few extra tests with some more files, it seems there is still stutter when turning off subtitles.
Some files behave diffferently with/without subs, some are exactly the same. I tried every setting possible; both TV and Kodi but I can't seem to solve it. I really think it is an issue regarding the Kodi app working together with my Android TV. I've been looking at a small mediaplayer which can play from USB, to see if that may fix it. As a Nvidia Shield Pro is quite expensive (about 30% of my whole setup), I'm thinking an Eminent 7680 has the biggest chance of solving my problem. Unless a developer says that they think it could be solved in a couple of weeks, I'm going for that.

deadlast · 2021-09-27, 06:10

In a plex forum, but a related issue, could be interesting...

https://forums.plex.tv/t/dts-hd-hra-7-1-.../488116/74

**Hitcher** · 2021-09-27, 10:09

Doesn't sound related to me. Explain please?

**Zuikkis** · 2021-09-27, 11:04

New Shield Pro 2019 owner here.

I stumbled on this thread. I haven't experienced frame skipping. I read through this thread, is it really that skipping happens only if audio passthrough is enabled?

Why would anyone use audio passthrough if PCM7.1 is working? For Dolby Atmos maybe? I only have regular 7.1 setup available..

I'm also a bit curious, isn't some frame skipping always happening if you use pass through because no resampling is possible? Both audio and video are running at fixed speed, if there is any clock drift on either you have to skip or add frames to catch up with audio. There is no way around it?

Gorae · 2021-09-27, 19:27

Welcome to all Shild owners!

First of all, I apologize for using google translate Smile

A comment on the problem of skipping frames. I, too, spent a lot of time exploring the annoying problem. I use an MX player instead, because unfortunately the problem can be felt in me as well. On the System -> Settings -> Player -> Video page, the image refresh rate setting is turned off by default. Selecting any of the options here will make playback perfect. The problem is that in a few minutes the kodi will close and the system will be thrown into the shield menu. I hope the makers will soon solve this problem because it is a shame to neglect this great player.

deadlast · 2021-09-28, 01:17

(2021-09-27, 10:09)Hitcher Wrote: Doesn't sound related to me. Explain please?

Apologies, it seems the Shield Team are patching/messing with the Android Audio stack in an upcoming release, figured it may be relevant, or is this issue specific to Kodi only? Cheers.

imarco · 2021-09-28, 10:27

Hi,
On a shield 2017, i have the same problem for months and i think it's following an update of the shield rather than kodi's update.
I noticed there is the same problem (but much worse with nova player).

I'm not sure but i think the shield is responsible for that.

ThierryB · 2021-09-29, 13:25

(2021-09-25, 18:04)supertoto1977 Wrote: Hello,

I finally validate the fix from @fritsch. No more stutter during my tests. I keep the 4K resolutions in the white list.
Have to do more test with 1080p resolutions in the white list, but in this case the VsyncOffset is not stable at 23,976fps (like 18.9).
Hope this fix could be backported to Matrix 19.2 version.

@Photographer01 , i don't think that your TV is able to switch the refresh rate.
So, give a try by unchecking 'adjust refresh rate' and let your TV manage as you have the settings to manage the judder/stutter.
Moreover, do not use passthrough. Try to check the option 'Sync playback to display' for the moment.

Thanks a lot for trying to fix the issue for us! Can someone confirm the fix will be included in 19.2 ? If so, what is the time frame for this version to be released?
Cheers
Thierry