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Pazu · 2017-06-22, 14:24

(2017-06-17, 14:21)noels_77 Wrote: Hello folks,
I got the same issue here:

- Macbook Air late 2010
- MacOs Sierra 10.12.5
- Nvidia 320M 256MB

- Hardware acceleration VTBDecoder : Auto
- Sync Playback to Display: Off
- Adjust display refresh rate: Off

Video plays fine windowed, in a kind of "slow motion" fashion in full screen mode (but audio is ok).

Disabling Hardware acceleration VTBDecoder fix the issue.

I started to have experience on this issue since the Kodi 17 first release.

What can I do to help ?

It's a known issue at this point that older hardware such as yours with non-Intel graphics cards will experience this issue. You can either revert to Kodi v16, or upgrade to a newer Mac model with an Intel GPU.

Pazu · 2017-06-22, 14:26

(2017-06-17, 19:57)cybergrunge Wrote: Just tested last RC and nightly on my 2016 MacBook Pro —> LG TV.
Still uncapable to play videos when ‘Adjust display refresh rate’ and ‘Sync playback to display’ are on, hardware acceleration on or off.
Actually, PlayerProcessInfo indicates that ‘Adjust display refresh rate’ is simply not working at all: refresh rate is still at 60fps while I try to play a 23.976 video.

Your report does not sound like the same issue reported by most people in this thread. Your 2016 MacBook Pro should have Intel GPU integrated, which means it should not experience the "choppy video playback" issue.

What exactly do you mean by, "Still uncapable"? Videos don't play at all?

Marty56 · 2017-07-13, 05:54

The buggy video player is not only affecting Nvidia GPUs.
On my Macbook Air (2013) having an Intel HD Graphics 5000 with 1536 MB, the release 17.x is also not working.
Interesting though on my iMac (2010) it is working.

Overall it is really sad because with the SMB bug not fixed in Kodi 16 this means that the user has to accept a critical security vulnerability in his system or stop using Kodi.

**Memphiz** · 2017-07-13, 07:20

Which gpu does the imac has. And is the macbook working any better on current kodi 18.x leia nightly builds? - also which smb bug are you refering to?

Marty56 · 2017-07-13, 20:44

The iMac has a ATI Radeon HD 5670 512 MB GPU.

With respect of smb bug I recall that there was an update of Kodi couple of months ago that referred to an SMB bug.

With respect of Kodi 18.x tests. I am experiencing a loss of configuration of the Kodi 16 configuration
if I am installing another version. Do you know a way to keep my old installation working?

Marty56 · 2017-07-13, 21:08

I have tried the lasted Kodi 18.x test build and after enabling "allow hardware accelerator VTBDecoder the stuttering was gone.

Hurrah!

ghaiteiro · 2017-07-14, 17:37

(2017-07-13, 21:08)Marty56 Wrote: I have tried the lasted Kodi 18.x test build and after enabling "allow hardware accelerator VTBDecoder the stuttering was gone.

Hurrah!

That's great news! Anybody else has tried this?

Koyan · (This post was last modified: 2017-08-03, 23:27 by Koyan.)

I have an early 2009 Mac mini with an Nvidia GeForce 9400. I just tried the latest Leia nightly and indeed playback with hardware acceleration looks much better! I'd almost given up hope. Thanks to the developers, great work!

UPDATE: Sorry, spoke to soon. The problem is still there, but I did find something interesting.

If I start a video on the Mac with vtb hardware decoding, it is very choppy. But if I connect to the Mac mini from my MacBook through screen sharing (vnc), the video immediately turns smooth, and stays that way, even after I quit the screensharing. Starting other videos after that keep playing smooth. If I quit Kodi and restart without the screen sharing, playback is choppy again.

At first I thought the screensharing turned off the hardware decoding, but I don't think that's the case because the CPU usage stays around 40% throughout. If I play a video without HW decoding, it shoots up to near 100%.

I just tested this with Krypton as well, and there it's the same. Somehow Krypton seems already able to play smoothly on older Macs, but something about the screen sharing is needed to kickstart it.

SquishedSquirrel · 2017-08-19, 20:02

(2017-08-02, 23:08)Koyan Wrote: At first I thought the screensharing turned off the hardware decoding, but I don't think that's the case because the CPU usage stays around 40% throughout. If I play a video without HW decoding, it shoots up to near 100%.

Mac Mini 2010 with Nvidia 320M graphics, and same results. Video stutters bad if hardware acceleration is turned on, but is "fixed" if I use Apple Remote Desktop to connect to the mini. After that, playback is fine until next launch of Kodi.

What is really annoying is I swear everything was working before upgrading to Sierra. I had El Cap along with Kodi 17.1 on the computer and it worked fine. Then I upgrade to 17.3 and Sierra and it broke. Problem is, I can't say when it broke because I was always testing via ARD (VNC) so I have no idea what caused it.

Of course, turning off hardware acceleration fixes it. And since CPU rarely goes over 50% decoding 19280x1080 movies, I'll just stick with that.

Audiomixer · 2017-08-19, 20:17

I am still running el cap on my 2010 mini and it behaves same as yours.

kostaman · 2017-08-20, 02:20

(2017-08-02, 23:08)Koyan Wrote: If I start a video on the Mac with vtb hardware decoding, it is very choppy. But if I connect to the Mac mini from my MacBook through screen sharing (vnc), the video immediately turns smooth, and stays that way, even after I quit the screensharing. Starting other videos after that keep playing smooth. If I quit Kodi and restart without the screen sharing, playback is choppy again.

At first I thought the screensharing turned off the hardware decoding, but I don't think that's the case because the CPU usage stays around 40% throughout. If I play a video without HW decoding, it shoots up to near 100%.

I just tested this with Krypton as well, and there it's the same. Somehow Krypton seems already able to play smoothly on older Macs, but something about the screen sharing is needed to kickstart it.

In case you missed it. Link https://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid...pid2591728
Something going on with anything outside of Native Screen.

SquishedSquirrel · 2017-08-23, 17:08

I know this is a total longshot, but is there a chance that the stuttering on older hardware is caused by the same issue that affected Plex hardware decoding? Apparently colorspace may have been the issue, and using uyvy helped? Could Kodi have a way to configure that?

https://forums.plex.tv/discussion/194252...ing-mac/p3

**Memphiz** · 2017-08-23, 23:06

That thread doesn't give any valuable hint at all

Soli · (This post was last modified: 2017-08-23, 23:30 by Soli.)

Apple has really decided to drop support of these legacy nvidia gpus a long time ago. As can be witnessed of them being ultra slow with all web rendering and video. They don't support HTML for netflix either, but requires Silverlight and will even stutter with low bitrate 720p. Yup, they require the shitty MS malware on an Apple OS to display low bitrate video. And don't let me get started on HBO...it's even worse.

VTB probably still exist for the gpus, but probably only as a carry-over (which is after all better than being actively removed), and that might be the reason for the bugs? Ie. Not really Kodi's fault. Then again I'm only speculating.

Ps. If you install Win10 64bit, these machines will get a whole new life.. just for the reason that the gpu isn't crippled

lexprevi · 2017-09-26, 22:46

Hi! ... in my macbook white 2009 the macOS High Sierra resolve the problem! I use the kodi v17.4 with hardware acceleration and the cpu does not work 100% ... great!