[jim_p]

On this end of the world, I just came across a bunch of videos that won't even start after the upgrade to 6.8.18-alpha1. Thanks youtube!
In case anyone is interested, they are the videos from this channel 
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCS4jPUC...-uke--YXXQ

[burekas]

Which video? You can run it through youtube-dl -F to see what resolutions it supports, e.g.
 

Code:

$ youtube-dl -F https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2gT8fbEq54
[youtube] L2gT8fbEq54: Downloading webpage
[info] Available formats for L2gT8fbEq54:
format code  extension  resolution note
249          webm       audio only tiny   50k , webm_dash container, opus @ 50k (48000Hz), 3.22MiB
250          webm       audio only tiny   60k , webm_dash container, opus @ 60k (48000Hz), 3.87MiB
251          webm       audio only tiny  117k , webm_dash container, opus @117k (48000Hz), 7.58MiB
140          m4a        audio only tiny  129k , m4a_dash container, mp4a.40.2@129k (44100Hz), 8.31MiB
160          mp4        256x144    144p   59k , mp4_dash container, avc1.4d400c@  59k, 30fps, video only, 3.81MiB
278          webm       256x144    144p   81k , webm_dash container, vp9@  81k, 30fps, video only, 5.20MiB
133          mp4        426x240    240p  120k , mp4_dash container, avc1.4d4015@ 120k, 30fps, video only, 7.77MiB
242          webm       426x240    240p  151k , webm_dash container, vp9@ 151k, 30fps, video only, 9.70MiB
134          mp4        640x360    360p  221k , mp4_dash container, avc1.4d401e@ 221k, 30fps, video only, 14.23MiB
243          webm       640x360    360p  313k , webm_dash container, vp9@ 313k, 30fps, video only, 20.13MiB
135          mp4        854x480    480p  366k , mp4_dash container, avc1.4d401f@ 366k, 30fps, video only, 23.53MiB
244          webm       854x480    480p  536k , webm_dash container, vp9@ 536k, 30fps, video only, 34.43MiB
247          webm       1280x720   720p 1030k , webm_dash container, vp9@1030k, 30fps, video only, 66.13MiB
136          mp4        1280x720   720p 1061k , mp4_dash container, avc1.4d401f@1061k, 30fps, video only, 68.13MiB
302          webm       1280x720   720p60 1573k , webm_dash container, vp9@1573k, 60fps, video only, 101.00MiB
298          mp4        1280x720   720p60 1845k , mp4_dash container, avc1.4d4020@1845k, 60fps, video only, 118.49MiB
303          webm       1920x1080  1080p60 2815k , webm_dash container, vp9@2815k, 60fps, video only, 180.71MiB
299          mp4        1920x1080  1080p60 3480k , mp4_dash container, avc1.64002a@3480k, 60fps, video only, 223.44MiB
308          webm       2560x1440  1440p60 7186k , webm_dash container, vp9@7186k, 60fps, video only, 461.34MiB
315          webm       3840x2160  2160p60 22564k , webm_dash container, vp9@22564k, 60fps, video only, 1.41GiB
18           mp4        640x360    360p  555k , avc1.42001E, 30fps, mp4a.40.2 (44100Hz), 35.66MiB
22           mp4        1280x720   720p 1190k , avc1.64001F, 30fps, mp4a.40.2 (44100Hz) (best)

The meaning of mpeg-dash is to select the best possible quality for the bandwidth you have.

For example:
- Run a search for "2160p 4k"
- Choose this video from the results: "COSTA RICA IN 4K 60fps HDR (ULTRA HD)"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXb3EKWsInQ

As you can see in Youtube, this video has all the qualities: 2160p60, 1440p60, 1080p60, 720p60

Few issues:
1. When I set "MPEG-DASH: Video quality" to 4K, I don't see the qualities options between 720p and 4K, the list shows " ..... , 720, 4K"
2. When I set "MPEG-DASH: Video quality" to 1440p, I get the same just with 1440p, ".... , 720p, 1440p" (1080p is not there)
* Also in this case when choosing the "1440p" from the qualities list, Kodi show it as 4K quality, so it didn't choose the correct quality.
3. When I set "MPEG-DASH: Video quality" to 1080p, I don't get this quality in the list, the max quality is 720p, why?

So how can I make this addon show all the exist qualities the video have? Is it possible?

[blueribb]

On this end of the world, I just came across a bunch of videos that won't even start after the upgrade to 6.8.18-alpha1. Thanks youtube!
In case anyone is interested, they are the videos from this channel 
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCS4jPUC...-uke--YXXQ

They all play fine for me except for a small blink near the beginning of each video

Intel i5 NUC (6 years old)
Verizon Gigabit Internet
Ethernet Network with Gigabit Router and Switch 
Libreelec 10.0.0
Addon Version: 6.8.18 alpha

[jmh2002]

Users having trouble with buffering and playing videos should also check that InputStream Adaptive is up to date.

Go to My Addons > VideoPlayer InputStream > InputStream Adaptive > Versions > and update to the latest version for your OS.

v19.0.0.0 is the latest version for me on Windows, LibreElec, and Android.

[jim_p]

Sorry for not using the mention tag, but brave gets too laggy when I try to type with it.

burekas 
You are right, there is a 4k quality for this vid. No idea why it does not work.

blueribb
They do work today and they do not look as a slideshow with the throttling. I will do more testing through the day.

jmh2002
Allow me one small correction. Inputstream adaptive 19 (shameless version bump from 2.4.x so as to follow kodi's version numbering btw) is available only for kodi 19. What about the rest of us who are on kodi 18 and won't get it? What about the (hopefully few) ones that are on kodi 17 or lower that there is no inputstream adaptive at all?
Shouldn't youtube work for us/them too? After all, we/they went through that pita of a procedure to make api keys for it.

[jmh2002]

jmh2002
Allow me one small correction...

Not really any correction needed, perhaps a clarification at most.

In any case all users should be aware that running an older version of Kodi may result in limited support and functionality from both Team Kodi as well as Addon and Skin Developers.

Update to Kodi v19 Matrix

[jim_p]

Please excuse my huge offtopic.

What if I can't? The system in question is an old laptop with libreelec 9.2.6 x64. I will upgrade it to libreelec 10 when I have time because I will have to set up a lot from scratch.
There is ONE (somewhat important) addon in that installation that has not been ported to python3 yet. I have contacted its dev and I am still waiting... However, he is active with other projects and addons and that gives me some hope.

But I also have an rpi 3b+ with libreelec 9.2.8 and a amlogic s905 tvbox with coreelec 9.2.8. As of today, there is no libreelec version with kodi 19 for the 3b+ (nightlies are excluded) and coreelec for that amlogic cpu has stopped to 9.2.8 because

CoreELEC 9.2.8 is now available. As Team CoreELEC announced End of Life for CoreELEC 9 (Leia), CoreELEC developers try focusing on fixing the most common issues reported with the CoreELEC 9.2.7 release.

and I fully support their decision. Just imagine that it is built around kernel 3.14, which was an lts kernel and it was eol 5 YEARS ago. Who is to blame for that? Amlogic because it does not provide drivers for its cpu's for newer kernels. No one else.

In other, ontopic news, I tried playing an ONE MINUTE SPOT from a tvshow and the throttling was so bad that it could not play even in 360p! I selected some audio only option and just heard the spot and I just... imagined what will happen at the next episode.
Anyway, I do not see things getting better anytime soon, so please post when you see a new alpha version of the addon in github. And if anxdpanic is reading the forum, PLEASE add those alpha versions to youtube's testing repo.
Thank you in advance.

[Artstar]

Users having trouble with buffering and playing videos should also check that InputStream Adaptive is up to date.

Go to My Addons > VideoPlayer InputStream > InputStream Adaptive > Versions > and update to the latest version for your OS.

v19.0.0.0 is the latest version for me on Windows, LibreElec, and Android.

My Coreelec install (Odroid N2+) is currently running v19.0.0.1 and I'm very frequently experiencing buffering issues. I find stopping playback and selecting the clip again (about five or six cycles max) will get me a smooth stream. Occasionally, I get lucky and it's smooth from the very beginning.

[Steph09]

Since I upgraded to 6.8.18-alpha1 it's been a lot better for me (Kodi 19.1 on Windows 10). I still have the odd video that pauses/buffers after 3-4 seconds but it's significantly better than it was with the prior versions.

My only gripes now is the subtitles as sometimes when using the auto translated subs it will stop displaying them. Also how the channel art doesn't seem to display although that isn't that big a deal as I don't think that's worked for over a year now.

[jim_p]

I am really really fed up with this garbage api/site. Leaving kodi's addon aside, ANYTHING that has to use it, lags on video playback because of the throttling.
Youtube-viewer, a perl script that uses the api (same credentials as in kodi), lags!
Pipe-viewer, a perl script that scraps it as a webpage, fork of youtube-viewer, lags!
Ytfzf, a bash script that scraps it as a webpage, lags!

All of them were tested on that 1 minute spot I mentioned above. My patience is not enough to test them on anything longer.

[drummerbod]

6.8.18-alpha1+matrix works great for me.
RaspPi3b running OSMC Kodi 19.1.
MPEG-DASH enabled 1080p.
Signed in and using API keys.

Also installed on W10 19.1 - works fine. API keys and MPEG-dash enabled. Not signed in.

Thanks to the developers!

[Steph09]

Seems i spoke too soon.

Its been largely fine since i got the update 2-3 days ago but tonight its doing the pausing/buffering after 2-3 seconds worse than it was before.

[kurai]

The intermittent and seemingly random behaviour of this pausing/buffering issue is driving me insane.

Sometimes everything Just Works[tm] for days/weeks at a time.
Sometimes there are particular videos that suffer from the issue, and everything else that day is fine.
Sometimes there are days when nearly every video suffers from the issue.
Sometimes refreshing the video list and trying to play the video again works.
Sometimes after a dozen refreshes and replay attempts it still doesn't play properly.

Is the issue something entirely local to my system/setup? Is the issue with the various versions of the software chain that the plugin is using?  Is the issue something to do with network conditions of my ISP ?  Is the issue something generalised, to do with the data that YT is providing via the API? Is the issue something to do with whatever particular specific YT CDN node that is serving me ?
Very hard to diagnose/know.

The ONLY step that works every time is to restart Kodi.  Then the problem video will ALWAYS play correctly.  BUT the next video may display the problem again, or there may be a period when everything behaves as expected ... for a while.

Maddening, isn't it ?  

anxdpanic and the other devs working on this plugin are true heroes for trying to deal with this nightmare.

[jmh2002]

Is the issue something entirely local to my system/setup? Is the issue with the various versions of the software chain that the plugin is using?  Is the issue something to do with network conditions of my ISP ?  Is the issue something generalised, to do with the data that YT is providing via the API? Is the issue something to do with whatever particular specific YT CDN node that is serving me ?
Very hard to diagnose/know.

I believe that all of the above can relevant factors.

Having said that, I'm an extensive user of the YouTube addon. I literally have it running at home almost all day long with different videos. And yet I've managed to have working setup 99% of the time, especially since the latest alpha update.

I am also running the latest versions of all the other relevant addons too, contrary maybe to other users that are having continual problems.

But yes I agree that it is still totally maddening!

[Artstar]

Is the issue something entirely local to my system/setup? Is the issue with the various versions of the software chain that the plugin is using?  Is the issue something to do with network conditions of my ISP ?  Is the issue something generalised, to do with the data that YT is providing via the API? Is the issue something to do with whatever particular specific YT CDN node that is serving me ?
Very hard to diagnose/know.

I would rule out the ISP because if YouTube videos play flawlessly on any non-Kodi device, then that is not the issue. I can safely say that this was happening to my Kodi box while in Japan and since bringing it back to Australia as well, in both the hotel and later my home. That's three ISPs with the same issue.

My initial thought was that with the eventual successful playback from stopping and restarting the clip about five or six times before I get a smooth feed, perhaps it does hit a different peer in YouTube's CDN, hopefully one more local to me but the debug logs don't reveal anything obvious to my uneducated mind.