[Milhouse]

@rbej/MilhouseVH

https://github.com/xbmc/xbmc/pull/2249
is worth testing. It makes SSA/ASS subs and video overlay updates smoother. (include all the commits in the patch, even though are not Pi specific)

Might be worth testing a build with this in (also include this https://github.com/xbmc/xbmc/pull/2273 which is well worthwhile).

Leave out the "seek-before-zero" and "new stall" patches until we get a solution.

Apologies for the extended break...

So I finally installed this new test build, without seek and without new stall patches, also without resolution_change patch as that is no longer compatible when the 2249 buffering patch is included. also included the 2273 SSA patch.

My initial observation is that when starting an HD MKV, there is more buffering at the start of the movie - the "Buffering...30% (etc.)" lozenge appears when before this patch it didn't (or only very briefly - the Pi is wired to a GigE switch). This is with no special "network" settings added to advnacedsettings.xml (so no alwaysforcebuffer or freememorycachepercent specified).

In order to test SSA subtitles, I tried the Subtitle test files from the DVD5 Test Disc on a 1GHz (ARM) 500Mhz (Core) 512MB Pi/128MB GPU, and observed the following:

Embedded_sub-idx_MKV: Playback started quickly, played OK with subtitles visible and in sync, low cpu (25%) during playback
External_sub-idx: 100% CPU for some time (22 seconds) before playback started (not buffering, just slow to start), played OK with subtitles visible and in sync, low cpu (25%) during playback
ExtTestSRT: Playback started quickly, played OK with subtitles visible and in sync, low cpu (30%) during playback

Except with the last SRT test file, disabling subtitles while a subtitle is visible leaves this last subtitle permanently visible.

While browsing the SSA files, the CPU initially hit 100% for quite a while, I'm guessing this was while trying to extract images (Macross_Frontier seemed to take a long time). Once it had settled down to normal....

SSA - Amatsuki_20s-_Sub_Test_3.mkv: Quick to start, playback OK, subtitles look good, low cpu (30%) during playback
SSA - Kannagi_20s-_Sub_Test_5.mkv: Quick to start, playback OK, subtitles look good, low cpu (30%) during playback
SSA - Macross_Frontier_-_Sub_Test_1.mkv: Slow to start (100% CPU for 8-10 seconds), playback OK, subtitles look good, moderate cpu (40%) during playback.
SSA - Seto_no_Hanayome_1m20s-_Sub_Test_4.mkv: Quick to start, subtitles look fine, low cpu (25%) during playback. Other notes: Subs start at 1:17; Two sub tracks available, both tested OK.
SSA - SSA_15subtitles.mkv: Quick to start, subtitles look good, moderate cpu (50%) during playback. Other notes: 16 sub tracks in total, tested two or three all OK.
SSA - Zoku_Natsume_Yuujinchou_-_Sub_Test_2.mkv: Quick to start, playback OK, subtitles are OK but at two points the sub stays on screen too long (compared with vlc), low cpu (35%) during playback

With all of the SSA test files, disabling subs while subtitles are visible leaves the last subtitle permanently visible. Switching to a different sub track (eg. Russian to English in SSA_15subtitles.mkv) leaves the old subtitle displayed until the next subtitle is displayed.

Hard to say if any of the SSA subtitles were in sync as I don't speak Japanese, but they appeared to be!