[phnt0m]

Hello,

I posted this in the pseudotv subreddit, but thought more eyes might see it here.

I'm getting choppy/laggy and out of sync playback with HD movies and tv shows (blu ray rips; mkv format). These files play fine in Kodi before I launch pseudotv live, but while in pseudotv (and even back in Kodi after I close pseudotv live), the lag persists.

I have a feeling I'm hitting the hardware limitations of my HTPC. My CPU usage bounces between 85% and 100% during HD playback. This is my device: http://www.amazon.com/M8-Bluetooth-Strea...amlogic+m8

I have 21 channels comprised of about 180 HD files and a few hundred more SD files. Does anyone have any tips on what I can do to fix this? If I am out of luck regarding my hardware, can anyone make a recommendation on a HTPC that can handle this? I was looking at the celeron and i3 versions of the ASUS Chromebox. Would those work? Can the Chromebox even play files from a network hard drive using Kodi? What about an Intel NUC?

Also, this isn't as important, but I cannot figure out how to get commercials to work. I'm trying to use music videos as commercials (1 video in between shows), and I have the commercials setting (in the BCT tab) pointed to a network folder containing a bunch of mp4 videos, but when one show ends, the next starts without playing a "commercial". Are music videos too long to be commercials? Thoughts?

Any tips/advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks!

tl;dr: laggy playback for HD content. 21 channels. may be hitting hardware limitations. thoughts? Also, commercials don't work.

EDIT:
Turns out it is a hardware issue. I loaded the same setup on an old computer running an i7-920 and it's working flawlessly (except for the commercials. still trying to figure that out). Is my only option to upgrade? How much better is the i3-4010u than the ARM Cortex-A9? Will the i3 be enough?

EDIT 2:
Interleaving works. Thank you so much. However, it's still only playing/interleaving the same 3 music videos (there should be around 200). Regardless of how many times I restart the channels or what version of pseudotv/PTVL I'm running, it's still the same 3 music videos. There's no obvious difference between the 3 files it plays and the rest of my music video library. Anyone know what would be causing this?

[tromy]

Read this guide and you will learn everything about music videos,commercials...

https://s3.amazonaws.com/github/download...System.pdf

[phnt0m]

Thanks. I'll give that a try.

[phnt0m]

I tried the suggestion in the guide for interleaving the channels, but it did not work. I notice there were a few more settings for interleaving in pseudotv than were mentioned in the guide, should they all be set to 1 if I want a music video to play after each movie/tv show?

[tromy]

should they all be set to 1 if I want a music video to play after each movie/tv show?

Yes

[phnt0m]

Double checked, everything is set to 1. Currently channel 22 has all of the music videos and channels 1-21 are each set to interleave with channel 22. The videos are working on channel 22, but they don't come up in between shows on channels 1-21.

EDIT: Music Video Channel isn't working completely. Of the 215 videos or so that I have, it's only playing the same 3 over and over (it's the same 3 even if I restart pseudotv live). All of the videos are there when I open the playlist in Kodi (and they play fine in kodi). I was having trouble with the smart playlists recognizing my more obscure music videos, so I used the metadata.justUseFilename.org add-on to force the scraper to recognize every file. Could that be the problem?

[tromy]

Channel 22 should be a "directory channel"(create it by pointing to the folder you have your music videos).Then it should work.

[phnt0m]

Tried your suggestion. Still only playing the same 3 music videos on channel 22 and no music videos in between shows on other channels.

EDIT:

Interleaving worked (kinda). after deleting all of my channel data and making the new channels without autotune, and then restarting it a few times (starting each channel over), i was able to get videos in between shows. However, channel 1 disappeared and it's still only 3 of the music videos. I double checked and played the others in Kodi, they work. Should I just uninstall kodi and pseudotv live and start over from scratch? also, what are your thoughts on xbmc 13.2 gotham vs. kodi 14.2 helix and pseudotv vs. pseudotv live? Was the jasonra pseudotv described in milkman's guide more stable than the current lunatix pseudotv live? I don't care about streaming internet content at this point.

EDIT 2:
Interleaving works. Thank you so much. However, it's still only playing/interleaving the same 3 music videos (there should be around 200). Regardless of how many times I restart the channels or what version of pseudotv/PTVL I'm running, it's still the same 3 music videos. There's no obvious difference between the 3 files it plays and the rest of my music video library. Anyone know what would be causing this?

[phnt0m]

Figured out it was something with my files. Ended up converting everyone to mkv, now they work perfectly. Interleaving works perfectly now too. Thank you so much for your help.