[Chef_]

Oh yeah, had to modify the codecs it uses too with the following in advancedsettings.xml. Basically this is just to disable mpeg2.

Code:

    <mediacodec>
        <!--  -1 is default, 0 is never used this codec, 1 is always use this codec, bypassing blacklist -->
        <useavccodec>-1</useavccodec>
        <usevc1codec>-1</usevc1codec>
        <usevpxcodec>-1</usevpxcodec>
        <usemp4codec>-1</usemp4codec>
        <usempeg2codec>0</usempeg2codec>
        <useswrenderer>false</useswrenderer>
    </mediacodec>

[gizbug]

Thanks for the suggestions, will continue to follow until there is a concrete fix for this issue

[kimmiekp]

I have a brand new Amazon Fire TV Box with the latest build of Kodi. I have a 30Mbps download speed from TWC on their latest wireless modem. Let me say that the buffering I experience is consistent with prime-time viewing. I can watch everything during the day just fine, but when I sit down at say 8pm to try to watch a movie I cannot do it. The buffering is so bad, it makes it impossible. I've done the zero cache trick but have not messed with the advancedsetting.xml file because this problem doesn't happen during the day which tells me it's probably on the box or it's set up or my wireless connection. Last night I did a speed test of my connection when it was buffering and I was getting 25Mbps which should be more than sufficient. I understand that the buffering can be the server that the movies reside on, however it's ALL movies during that time. Everything I try to watch buffers. If all the movies are on servers that are buffering, I imagine EVERYONE would have this problem. I'm not sure where to begin to try and fix the issue, since, like I said, it's only during primetime viewing. My fiance thinks I'm crazy because I tell him "I swear this worked fine earlier today". Sure he says... and now I can't get him to watch Kodi because he's convinced it doesn't work and goes back to watching Netflix and Hulu on Roku with absolutely no buffering.

I have cut the cord, so I have an OTA for local channels and am really searching for a perfect, inexpensive way to run Kodi on every TV in my home. I was hoping an Amazon Fire TV Box in each room was going to do this for me, but not if we can't watch it during the times we actually watch TV.

Since I have zero cache set, can someone explain to me, if the movie is buffering, can I walk away, let it buffer and come back in about 5-10 minutes (last night I tried to do this but the buffering didn't "pause" the video) and then if I paused the video it was actually pausing and not buffering. How do I allow the videos to buffer for about 10 mintues and come back to them? I may be missing something. Though I really shouldn't have to do that. Also, can someone explain why it's so easy to flip through different shows and episodes on a Roku but there is such a lag when going through shows on Kodi (they are both delivering through the net so I'm not sure why Kodi takes so long to load content)

Any thoughts, suggestions, would be most appreciated. Love Kodi and REALLY want it to work!!!

[ozblogger]

I have a brand new Amazon Fire TV Box with the latest build of Kodi. I have a 30Mbps download speed from TWC on their latest wireless modem. Let me say that the buffering I experience is consistent with prime-time viewing. I can watch everything during the day just fine, but when I sit down at say 8pm to try to watch a movie I cannot do it. The buffering is so bad, it makes it impossible. I've done the zero cache trick but have not messed with the advancedsetting.xml file because this problem doesn't happen during the day which tells me it's probably on the box or it's set up or my wireless connection. Last night I did a speed test of my connection when it was buffering and I was getting 25Mbps which should be more than sufficient. I understand that the buffering can be the server that the movies reside on, however it's ALL movies during that time. Everything I try to watch buffers. If all the movies are on servers that are buffering, I imagine EVERYONE would have this problem. I'm not sure where to begin to try and fix the issue, since, like I said, it's only during primetime viewing. My fiance thinks I'm crazy because I tell him "I swear this worked fine earlier today". Sure he says... and now I can't get him to watch Kodi because he's convinced it doesn't work and goes back to watching Netflix and Hulu on Roku with absolutely no buffering.

Any thoughts, suggestions, would be most appreciated. Love Kodi and REALLY want it to work!!!

If it's time related, it can't be Kodi .. as you mention .. either your internet connection or the servers
I'm assuming any local content plays fine ?

Find another plugin / server to stream from

[sdsnyr94]

or my wireless connection.

This is from NetGear's site:

2.4GHz though more widespread in usage (all 802.11b and g devices run on 2.4GHz only) has only 3 non-overlapping channels for transmission, which are crowded due to a lot of interfering devices- other Wi-Fi access points, microwave ovens, cordless phones, Bluetooth devices, baby monitors, etc. all make for a noisy environment which increase interference and degrade the performance. 5GHz channel is much cleaner with less interference with 23 non-overlapping channels- 8 times more than 2.4GHz for transmission, which makes it suitable for applications like Video streaming and Gaming which are very sensitive to packet loss and delays.

What type of wireless are you running... could it just be during prime time you have more traffic from interfering devices? I know that in my apartment complex I can see about 30 different wireless networks (and all with fairly good signal strength), and my WIFI performance is almost unusable during 'peak' hours on 2.4GHz.

Any way to hard wire it for testing purposes?

[benholtby]

Anyone managed to fix this? Have the same issue on Kodi on FireTV with Plexbmc and amber even after changing the advance settings. The weird thing is that if I play any file through Kodi it streams absoutely fine but as soon as I switch to Plexbmc it just buffers all the time. Can get by with just playing on Kodi but want to track watch status across my Plex, might give MB3 a go when the synology pack is openly available.

[kobyrne]

UK Fire TV also.
Running XBMC and SPMC (both Helix)

With XBMC I get this buffering issue when streaming from my NAS (Buffalo) for some 720P HD media over WiFi
Managed to impove the situation by playing with the advancedsettings.xml but could not fix it completely.

I don't get the buffering problem when using SPMC

[dadspet]

Seems like my buffering issue has resolved itself somehow. Not sure how except except i did go into the FTV maintenance tools and zero the cache. I think this may have been what helped but not sure. I am now on KODI 14.1, with FireTV connected by powerline adapters (about 25 ft) to latest Motorola Surfoard SB6141 modem Comcast 50mb internet service (all of which I had when I had the buffering issues). Some times on HD movies I will get a buffering problem but its rare now.

[Chef_]

I find I have to reboot my fireTV Stick and that resolves most of my playback issues

[crystalgipsy]

Anyone managed to fix this? Have the same issue on Kodi on FireTV with Plexbmc and amber even after changing the advance settings. The weird thing is that if I play any file through Kodi it streams absoutely fine but as soon as I switch to Plexbmc it just buffers all the time. Can get by with just playing on Kodi but want to track watch status across my Plex, might give MB3 a go when the synology pack is openly available.

Have a similiar issue with PleXBMC on the AFTV.I dont use it for internet material though only local network from my server. For local playback I changed the settings for PleXBMC so it forces streaming over Samba, its on Auto be default, but the default behaviour is HTTP. You also have to make sure you mount the smb paths to the media in Sources in Kodi otherwise it wont play a thing These also need to be the same root as what your sources are on PMS. You might be able to use some path substitution in Kodi if not.

Doing this improved playback for me although I still get random frame skipping, this is less going direct via kodi and not plexbmc. I find I do have to reboot the AFTV every couple of days as playback just gets worse and thats for Prime/Netflix and Kodi.

[quicksterdnb]

Has anybody found a solution yet?

[Vlaves]

For me it is also not clear yet, why this buffering is happening at all? Network issues could not be the case, at least in my case. Got once the information from ned (if I remember correctly) that he is guessing, that KODI is wrongly calculating the amount of data it needs to cache to play that video.

I tried really almost all advancedsettings-files and settings I could found, but non of them worked as it should

Best results so far: I'm using the PlexBMC Addon (set up to access the files over http)
Playback almost starts immediately without buffering issues.
Cons to that method: When I then start to jump back and forward into the Video file, after some time I get a message that the cache is full.
Sometimes after a jump forward the video simply stays that way at that position. A small jump back and forward helps in that situation and playback continues.

I ordered two Chromeboxes, just to have good media playback, but it would really, really be great to have all on one box
For Amazon Prime content, now I still need to switch to the FireTV.

Hope this buffering issues will get sorted out soon. If there is something I can do to help out solving the problem (testing, logs - I'm sadly not a dev), please let me know.

Best regards
Vlaves

PS And thank you all here for your hard work and support

[Vlaves]

No one can help or like to assist? I would be happy even to know whats the cause. If the AFTV is not cappable of playing MKV with a bitrate higher than xx, that would be enough information to know. Then I would give up on the AFTV. I'll rather live without Prime Instant Video than without prper playback of my Videos (ignoring refresh rate).

Please, if someone could help to nail down the problem it would be great

Thanks a lot.

Regrads
Vlaves

[quicksterdnb]

For me it is also not clear yet, why this buffering is happening at all? Network issues could not be the case, at least in my case. Got once the information from ned (if I remember correctly) that he is guessing, that KODI is wrongly calculating the amount of data it needs to cache to play that video.

I tried really almost all advancedsettings-files and settings I could found, but non of them worked as it should

Best results so far: I'm using the PlexBMC Addon (set up to access the files over http)
Playback almost starts immediately without buffering issues.
Cons to that method: When I then start to jump back and forward into the Video file, after some time I get a message that the cache is full.
Sometimes after a jump forward the video simply stays that way at that position. A small jump back and forward helps in that situation and playback continues.

I ordered two Chromeboxes, just to have good media playback, but it would really, really be great to have all on one box
For Amazon Prime content, now I still need to switch to the FireTV.

Hope this buffering issues will get sorted out soon. If there is something I can do to help out solving the problem (testing, logs - I'm sadly not a dev), please let me know.

Best regards
Vlaves

PS And thank you all here for your hard work and support

Can you please post a link to advanced settings. My thanks in advance.

[quicksterdnb]

Nevermind, I got advanced settings sorted. Will try it out when I have some time.