[kluc55]

It seems my pvr buffering in Kodi 17 is limited for recorded TV rather than using my larger caching settings.

In Kodi 17 the minvideocachelevel was removed with the videoplayer merge. My understanding is that cachemembuffersize and buffermode now controls caching.
I have put a large memorysize and readfactor to make buffering more visible in the UI:

Code:

<cache>
<buffermode>1</buffermode>
<memorysize>863886080</memorysize>
<readfactor>300</readfactor>
</cache>

If I play a video file using smb with Estuary skin and immediately pause the video then I can clearly see that it is cached since pausing shows a lighter progress bar filling up and pressing Ctrl-Shift-O shows a "forward X MB" with increasing values that eventually stops at 811.3MB.

Whereas if I play the same video file using PVR (mythtv) then I see "forward 0 B". I don't fully understand the Estuary display for PVR (two progress bars), but I do know that the same file from the same machine on the same network frequently buffers when played via PVR compared to smb.

I don't think this buffering is mythtv-specific.

My guess is that PVR is treated as neither remote nor local in buffermode so is using some other cache value.

For live TV different caching may be necessary to avoid waiting for a channel change, but for recorded TV the increased buffering helps when the backend is on a remote machine with a poor network.

So, any ideas on what setting is now used?

Thanks.

[karrickca]

kluc55, I have the exact same issue. I've tried the standard "increase cache" procedure but it makes no difference with the PVR backend. My MythTV backend is located about a mile from where I view it over a point-to-point wireless connection where the bandwidth is a bit sporadic so this would be huge if I could fix it. Have you found any workarounds?

-Charles

[kluc55]

Unfortunately no I couldn't find a workaround.

For the moment I'm trying tvheadend which seems to have fewer problems on slow networks, but I don't know if it would be any good for a mile.

[kluc55]

One thing you could try is Mythlink on the myth backend.

This creates human readable names for your current recordings instead of the existing timestamp format. Read the page carefully since you need to ensure you give it an empty directory since it deletes things underneath it.

Then instead of using the pvr plugin to view your recordings you instead add the server's directory as a file video source in kodi using nfs or samba.

Then you playback using this nfs video source and it will treat it as a file and so it will do proper caching. But you lose the ability to mark as deleted/watched, so you have to do that manually using mythweb.

There are a couple of alternatives to mythlink such as mythfs which try to do things in a more clever fashion.

All these tools take formatting options so if your tv guide is good you can split movies and tv shows separately and then in kodi set the content type to scrape metadata.

[nings]

Someone create a bug report for this issue ?
Or can you change this thread has a feature request please ?

It's working well on older version of Kodi. This feature is necessary for slow link, shared link without QoS, I/O storage problem and so many other reason.
A cache of 1/2s in memory take low space and solve all problems.

[FernetMenta]

VideoPlayer has a demux queue that can hold up to 8 seconds. When playing realtime streams (means buffers won't fill during playback) and buffer level gets below 5%, video player slighlty slows down speed so that buffers can fill. When level goes above 10% speed is set back to normal. 10% means 800ms buffer.

[nings]

How can you choose the size or time of the queue ?

I have try all settings and no one work while using PVR. Movie start without any delay, no delay or load bar when it's freeze like older Kodi version.

[FernetMenta]

How can you choose the size or time of the queue ?

I have try all settings and no one work while using PVR. Movie start without any delay, no delay or load bar when it's freeze like older Kodi version.

You canˋt and thatˋs the idea of this auto method. May the addon or source you use is buggy and does not signal that it is a realtime steeam.

[opticcyclone2]

I am currently using a Raspberry pi 3 for a TVHeadend server.  Multiple Kodi clients connect to this server which uses an external hard drive to store the recorded video files.  This method is effective as the pi is quite capable of recording many (4+) HD streams without a hiccup and uses very little power.  I moved away from the powerful server approach recently as they simply consumed too much energy.  I realize that not everyone will agree with this philosophy but it is working well for me.  Since the server is the less capable device (primarily when it comes to network speed) it would be very nice to be able to buffer video locally as the video stream is being played.  The cache options within Kodi's advanced settings for normal video playback (as what is mentioned by the OP) works very well off of a device like the RPi.  Despite its slower than desired network capabilities it can send enough data to a client to begin a video quickly and then continue to send data to the client faster than needed (defined by the caching options) to allow for some buffering, network slow downs, etc.  This not only allows for occasional network congestion to occur without incurring any pauses in the video stream it also affords the ability to quickly skip forward in the video (at least for short lengths) without any special (high bandwidth) requests to the server.  This is a wonderful feature for those who's server-client arrangement require this type of functionality but also generally will simply allow the network to see more consistent bandwidth demands.  This feature comes into play even more frequently with recorded tv simply because of commercials.  The ability to quickly skip commercials is one of the primary benefits in using a PVR.  If while watching your favorite recorded show additional data was being sent to the client ahead of time, when the commercials were reached they could be skipped very quickly without having to go back to the server to request any additional data at all.

[nings]

You canˋt and thatˋs the idea of this auto method. May the addon or source you use is buggy and does not signal that it is a realtime steeam.

I'm not alone with this problem Mythtv and Tvheadend both have this problem. Someone can check or add these streams to be detected like live stream ?
Else I can help you if it's detected by the protocol used or the port ?

And that's not possible to create a manual settings for define manually the "auto" percentage/time ?
It's always better when the end user can set the right value for debug by example.

[FernetMenta]

You canˋt and thatˋs the idea of this auto method. May the addon or source you use is buggy and does not signal that it is a realtime steeam.

I'm not alone with this problem Mythtv and Tvheadend both have this problem. Someone can check or add these streams to be detected like live stream ?
Else I can help you if it's detected by the protocol used or the port ?

And that's not possible to create a manual settings for define manually the "auto" percentage/time ?
It's always better when the end user can set the right value for debug by example.  

 PVR was designed to work in a LAN, not WAN. For streaming over a WAN PVR addons should implement appropriate protocols like HLS or DASH. Addons also have the chance to implement their own buffering.

[TVGrrr]

I'm using vbox TV gateway and have the same issue whenever I am switching a channel
I think that the vbox keeps the full channel's bit rate while TVheadend can transcode or reduce the stream's bit rate which may explain why you don't always have that issue on TVheadend
I've tried to play with the buffer settings too but it doesn't help - I'm running Kodi 17.6 on multiple devices Android / Windows all have the same issue
Other apps don't have that issue - VLC, vbox live TV, etc...

[FernetMenta]

I'm using vbox TV gateway and have the same issue whenever I am switching a channel
 

 what issue?

[nings]

PVR was designed to work in a LAN, not WAN. For streaming over a WAN PVR addons should implement appropriate protocols like HLS or DASH. Addons also have the chance to implement their own buffering.

The problem is the same from WAN/LAN or whatever, no buffering so each problem on the link or I/O storage can cause a freeze or cut the stream. This problem isn't present with older Kodi version so introduced with the new version and with the removed/modified parameters for unknown reason.
I think Kodi should solve this issue and not all addons one by one. Buffering is a main feature of any player like VLC who has buffering what ever the source.

[FernetMenta]

PVR was designed to work in a LAN, not WAN. For streaming over a WAN PVR addons should implement appropriate protocols like HLS or DASH. Addons also have the chance to implement their own buffering.

The problem is the same from WAN/LAN or whatever, no buffering so each problem on the link or I/O storage can cause a freeze or cut the stream. This problem isn't present with older Kodi version so introduced with the new version and with the removed/modified parameters for unknown reason.
I think Kodi should solve this issue and not all addons one by one. Buffering is a main feature of any player like VLC who has buffering what ever the source.  

You did not answer my question. You said "can". What problem do you observe? There is buffering, the difference to former versions is that there is no setting for it.

btw: I took a look at the vbox addon. This is a very poor implementation of the API with significant flaws. Very bad.

EDIT: I mixed up user names. nings, you request 500ms of buffering but VP does even have a minimum of 800ms.