[Pirivan]

I just bought MrMC for the Shield and thank god it let me copy the KODI database over (didn't want to label them again like with SPMC).  I don't like the lack of theme choices, but I settled on one that's OK and at least lets me customize the background pictures. I've finally got it all set up and ready to play whatever.  I ran into some oddities, though.  With hardware acceleration turned on (surface one), it wouldn't play some of my discs (e.g. Auro-3D demo disc files) right as it would skip over other second.  I traced it back to that hardware acceleration option.  I turned that off and it works fine.  Well, it did until suddenly nothing played right.  Fortunately, I quit and restarted and everything was working OK again.  I suspect a memory leak or something after it's been running a long time.  I haven't gotten around to trying a movie with it yet, though.

Did you have to do anything special to get TV Shows to be scanned properly? I get 'failed to scan' for everything (same naming scheme as I had in Kodi).  No problem if you aren't sure or didn't have to do anything special; I can investigate further or post on the mrmc forums if I want to fix it.

Also, it's worth noting that part of the reason we might be running into some issues is that it sounds like the Kodi for Android dev team is down to 1 developer; that is spreading their ability to investigate bugs etc. extremely thin.  Is it possible that Kodi for Android (or for ShieldTV even more specifically) is far less popular than I imagined? 

Does anyone know what the devs primarily focus on/use?  Linux?  Windows?

[VonMagnum]

I just bought MrMC for the Shield and thank god it let me copy the KODI database over (didn't want to label them again like with SPMC).  I don't like the lack of theme choices, but I settled on one that's OK and at least lets me customize the background pictures. I've finally got it all set up and ready to play whatever.  I ran into some oddities, though.  With hardware acceleration turned on (surface one), it wouldn't play some of my discs (e.g. Auro-3D demo disc files) right as it would skip over other second.  I traced it back to that hardware acceleration option.  I turned that off and it works fine.  Well, it did until suddenly nothing played right.  Fortunately, I quit and restarted and everything was working OK again.  I suspect a memory leak or something after it's been running a long time.  I haven't gotten around to trying a movie with it yet, though.

Did you have to do anything special to get TV Shows to be scanned properly? I get 'failed to scan' for everything (same naming scheme as I had in Kodi).  No problem if you aren't sure or didn't have to do anything special; I can investigate further or post on the mrmc forums if I want to fix it.

Also, it's worth noting that part of the reason we might be running into some issues is that it sounds like the Kodi for Android dev team is down to 1 developer; that is spreading their ability to investigate bugs etc. extremely thin.  Is it possible that Kodi for Android (or for ShieldTV even more specifically) is far less popular than I imagined? 

Does anyone know what the devs primarily focus on/use?  Linux?  Windows? 

I didn't scan them at all.  I used the "File System" mode to copy a backup of my video database (MyVideos116.db) over to the profile directory of MrMc.  All the movies and tv shows were automatically transferred and up-to-date. 

I hate those themes, though.  Amber is the only one I can stand and what really drives me nuts is that there is no way to display actual filenames for things like Atmos demos, etc. (e.g. I can't see .MP4 or .MKV or .M2TS like I can in KODI using Xonfluence or the updated Confluence).  I can't believe that Confluence isn't available for it.  I see the keymap editor is in there so I enabled it, but I see no way to run it whatsoever!  I want to edit the keys so I can use volume instead of movie jumping, add zoom for photos, etc.  I see no way to do it currently.  There are definitely sucky aspects to using MrMC, but I suppose if it can play the movies without stopping or freezing, it'll do for now (don't have time to test tonight; I was testing some other things).  I can always use KODI for music and photos or whatever since I have it and SPMC on there as well.

[sullysnet]

Thanks @sullysnet!  Other than splitting the movies into smaller folders (it occurs on TV shows for me as well) I think I have replicated the fix you mentioned here but it does not appear to be a 'fix' on my 2015 Shield.  Very much appreciate the reply though!

on the 2015 model have you tried using and advanced xml file to see if that helps? I recall someone posted his config for me to try on the 2019 model. It worked a bit but still froze. I guess I could have kept tweaking the file till I hit a spot that it liked.
That became frustrating for me. You could try that xml file and see if it helps. Here is the thread

https://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=349112

[Pirivan]

Thanks @sullysnet!  Other than splitting the movies into smaller folders (it occurs on TV shows for me as well) I think I have replicated the fix you mentioned here but it does not appear to be a 'fix' on my 2015 Shield.  Very much appreciate the reply though!

on the 2015 model have you tried using and advanced xml file to see if that helps? I recall someone posted his config for me to try on the 2019 model. It worked a bit but still froze. I guess I could have kept tweaking the file till I hit a spot that it liked.
That became frustrating for me. You could try that xml file and see if it helps. Here is the thread

https://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=349112 

Good suggestion, I have tried tweaking my advancedsettings.xml but so far to no avail; I can't seem to find a setting there that 'fixes' the issue but I may continue tweaking it. 

My next move will likely be to run a network cable over to the Shield (even though the AC wireless signal is quite good where it sits) to see if some sort of wireless issue with the ShieldTV is creating an issue that Kodi is sensitive to.

[VonMagnum]

The settings that helped for some movies in in the advanced.xml file stopped other videos from running smoothly or at all here.  I recall problems like that back 5+ major versions of KODI ago.  It seemed like no local network caching worked best overall for whatever unknown reason.  Adding cache just farks some movies up for unknown reasons.

What irritates me is how something like AppleTV just continues to load the entire movie while you watch until it's ALL running from the hard drive/buffer.  There's no "buffer setting".  It just buffers it ALL to disk and then plays it locally as it goes.  It works 100% of the time (unless the connection drops or something) and has since 2006 or so.  ZERO problems.  But no local Atmos or X support so you're pretty limited.  But I never have to worry about watching a digital copy without issue.  It just works every time all the time 24/7/365.  No network issues or WiFi issues period.  Music never skips either.  Whole house synced audio in 2006 with Airport Express units and still works fine today with the same hardware (even after they dropped making the units).  It's a shame Apple didn't support DTS and passthrough Atmos for local libraries, but then they've got their financial incentive NOT to with the iTunes store, etc.

I plan to test a movie with MrMC tonight on the Shield.  I'll see if it's any better behaved.

[VonMagnum]

I just watched Conan The Barbarian (2 hours 8 minutes) with MrMC on the NVidia Shield and it played perfectly.  No stops.  No freezes.  No skips.  No issues.

[Pirivan]

I just watched Conan The Barbarian (2 hours 8 minutes) with MrMC on the NVidia Shield and it played perfectly.  No stops.  No freezes.  No skips.  No issues.

I also tested a 4K HDR movie in MrMC tonight and it played back perfectly (it was stuttering in Kodi).  I agree with you that I am not precisely thrilled with the UI/skin choices in MrMC (I guess I prefer Black Glass or Opacity but given that you don't like those, skins are clearly just depend on personal preference, hah) but functional playback is a very nice 'feature'.

Additionally, in case someone else sees this, I was able to determine why MrMC was not picking up my TV Shows.  TheTVDB scraper that is in the current released version (as of today) of MrMC appears to be broken.  I switched the scraper for my TV Series sources to The Movie DB and it fixed the issue immediately.  I think the issue might be fixed in the beta version of MrMc but I have not signed up for that. The error in the debug logs when attempting to scrape was:

DEBUG: could not parse input XML
ERROR: Run: Unable to parse web site

Normally I would be fine with using TheMovieDB for my TV shows but I have all my files named based on TheTVDB and use a file renamer that only supports TheTVDB right now.  Luckily, it looks like despite basing all my naming on TheTVDB it lines up with TheMovieDB pretty well.

[VonMagnum]

What I would like to know is if there's some way to add global search to MrMC.  And how do you get the key editor to work?  It's included, but there's no run option that I can see.  I also wish it had weather and ProjectM support. Otherwise, the Amber skin is pretty nice for the most part.  The one thing I don't like is that it doesn't have an option to show the full filenames for the videos display.  I have various Atmos/TrueHD and DTS demos, some in M2TC, some in MKV and some in MP4 and they're the same names, but different formats (for different reasons in a few cases).  With Xonfluence and Confluence, you could see the actual filenames and extensions.  So far I haven't found a way to see that in Amber.  I tried Amber out in KODI on my FireTV (where Leia does work fine) and it seemed to have a quite a number of different options so I'm thinking they're different versions or the MrMC one is more limited.  I don't see any Weather option or CuCme music lyrics display for MrMC either (i.e. the things that keep me from wanting to use it full time instead).

[VonMagnum]

Not all is good with MrMC.... I tried watching another movie with MrMC, Crimson Peak in DTS:X, but this time I remembered to turn on the frame rate sync (to 24.976 fps) that I forget to turn on with Conan the Barbarian last night.  At around 1hr 28min or so, it started skipping frames (jerky motion).  Oddly, just hitting pause and then unpausing it cleared it up again.  But why was it doing it in the first place?  If I run the movie with Hardware Acceleration (Surface), the audio cuts out at regular intervals about 1-2x a second.  It doesn't do that if I select the stereo version of the soundtrack, just when it's running DTS:X (7.1 DTS-HD Master Base track).  I'm pretty sure I've read of people using the MrMC surface codec with the Shield, so I have no idea why it does it or why it seems to only do it with DTS:X (or perhaps 7.1 in general) tracks. 

Using the NON-Surface acceleration, it plays fine... or rather it did play fine until it started going jerky video instead at around 1:28 as mentioned previously.  Now that was with it switching to the movie frame rate (23.976 fps).  I watched Conan The Barbarian at the 59.xx fps rate (no switching).  It played fine all the way through so the question is whether the frame rate option tied into the problem or not?  No idea.  I've also noticed that I often have to quit/restart to get it to play smoothly even with the other acceleration if I've been playing music files or something first for awhile (memory leak?)

KODI (Leia) plays Crimson Peak just fine with Surface acceleration turned ON...until it randomly stops or whatever sooner or later.  

It's just disheartening I can't seem to just play back movies without it doing SOMETHING weird sooner or later.  To think the old XMBC seemed to play movies fine all the time without issue even on old AppleTV Gen 1 hardware (assuming the video didn't exceed 720P unless it had the added Broadcom chip, which once added it worked fine at 1080p too).  Now things are wonky with the "best android device" out there.

[VonMagnum]

OK, I just watched 10 Cloverfield Lane (1:43) in Dolby Atmos with KODI 18.5 Leia and.... no stops.  No glitches.  It played fine.  I did do one other thing before watching a movie on MrMC and that was to prop my router up a few more inches with box set Blu-Ray case (Willy Wonka Limited Edition one that just happened to be sitting in the den) and pointed the antennas downward a bit more.  That doesn't sound like much, but now I'm starting to wonder if that cleaned up the signal just enough for it to not get a disruption.  The hypothesis goes that Krypton (and perhaps earlier) versions of KODI would FREEZE and then continue if WiFi got disrupted somehow and something changed in Leia that causes it to "stop" if it gets disrupted instead.  Since the disruption is only momentary, it can be started right back up again.  This, despite getting an "excellent" signal rating from the Nvidia Shield.  However, I have noticed the signal lights blink down a notch before when randomly checking on it, so maybe it wasn't excellent all the time, just "most" of the time.  

Beyond that, I'd need to test more films.  Given the weird frame rate thing with Crimson Peak (above post), I'm apt to try another with KODI again next.  I've got some things to do in the next few weeks, though that will take up most of my time, so further testing beyond tonight or so may be disrupted for awhile.

[Pirivan]

OK, I just watched 10 Cloverfield Lane (1:43) in Dolby Atmos with KODI 18.5 Leia and.... no stops.  No glitches.  It played fine.  I did do one other thing before watching a movie on MrMC and that was to prop my router up a few more inches with box set Blu-Ray case (Willy Wonka Limited Edition one that just happened to be sitting in the den) and pointed the antennas downward a bit more.  That doesn't sound like much, but now I'm starting to wonder if that cleaned up the signal just enough for it to not get a disruption.  The hypothesis goes that Krypton (and perhaps earlier) versions of KODI would FREEZE and then continue if WiFi got disrupted somehow and something changed in Leia that causes it to "stop" if it gets disrupted instead.  Since the disruption is only momentary, it can be started right back up again.  This, despite getting an "excellent" signal rating from the Nvidia Shield.  However, I have noticed the signal lights blink down a notch before when randomly checking on it, so maybe it wasn't excellent all the time, just "most" of the time.  

Beyond that, I'd need to test more films.  Given the weird frame rate thing with Crimson Peak (above post), I'm apt to try another with KODI again next.  I've got some things to do in the next few weeks, though that will take up most of my time, so further testing beyond tonight or so may be disrupted for awhile.

I think you have identified the root of the issue.  This lines up with some fairly extensive testing that I did today.  I tested using:

• 2.4Ghz WiFi (I do not normally use 2.4)
  
• 2.4Ghz with a tweaked advancedsettings.xml
  
• 5Ghz (what I normally use)
  
• 5Ghz with a tweaked advancedsettings.xml
  
• Ethernet (ran a 25ft cable across the floor)
  
• Ethernet with a tweaked advancedsettings.xml
  

End result, all of the WiFi options had freezing/crashing/lagging etc. issues.  Ethernet in both test cases worked perfectly.

So, per your theory, here is what I am starting to believe.  The latest version of the ShieldTV OS introduced some sort of WiFi related bug that causes latency, small drops, signal loss (some kind of wireless network interruption, not clear at this point what it is) that should not occur based on the wireless signal strength the ShieldTV has per the networking UI.

Previous editions of Kodi (and to a degree MrMc, which continues to work perfectly for me but sounds like your mileage varies a bit) handle some sort of network degradation better than the current released version of Kodi (or even the Matrix nightly masters I am on).  This likely relates to the version/build/branch of the SMB client used between old Kodi/MrMc versus Leia/Matrix.

So, if we are correct we have the following options:

• Try to move the Shield as close as possible to the router (even though it has good signal where it is) OR run an ethernet cable
  • I may buy some MOCA adapters as I have coax nearby my Shield but no ethernet runs
    
  • Alternatively I can move it a few feet closer where it sits in my entertainment center and test, that may help it just enough
    
• Use an older version of Kodi OR current version of MrMc (not a perfect fix as you demonstrated) that has an smbclient build that appears to handle the wireless signal/networking issues in the latest ShieldTV firmware better
  
• Wait to see if the fix here (https://github.com/xbmc/xbmc/pull/17209) gets merged into the Matrix master when alpha1 gets released and then test to see if the SMB version it includes handles these drops better and masks the issue
  
• Hope that NVIDIA is somehow aware of the wireless issue and issues a new firmware (likely a hotfix) for it
  • Hard to say if we can count on this.  Their upgraded forums are a nightmare to navigate and I haven't seen a discussion with others reporting this issue but it is HIGHLY likely I would have missed it if there was a thread about it given how hard it is to find anything.  So, we don't really even know if they are even aware of any wireless issues introduced in the latest major ShieldTV OS revision to put it into a hotfix.
    

[VonMagnum]

... cut for space

I think you have identified the root of the issue.  This lines up with some fairly extensive testing that I did today.  I tested using:

• 2.4Ghz WiFi (I do not normally use 2.4)
  
• 2.4Ghz with a tweaked advancedsettings.xml
  
• 5Ghz (what I normally use)
  
• 5Ghz with a tweaked advancedsettings.xml
  
• Ethernet (ran a 25ft cable across the floor)
  
• Ethernet with a tweaked advancedsettings.xml
  

End result, all of the WiFi options had freezing/crashing/lagging etc. issues.  Ethernet in both test cases worked perfectly.

First off, I started watching Jumanji (original movie in Atmos at 2K video rates using a remuxed MKV file).  At 50 minutes into it, it STOPPED.  So much for the fluke of 10 Cloverfield lane (I even used the microwave during that movie and left it playing and that didn't screw things up even though microwaves are typically close to the 2.4GHz frequency range.  So go figure.  I came up to check the 2.4GHz bandwidth settings (doubling up supposedly lowers range) and checked in and saw your message.  The problem I had with MrMC that one time was the video went funky (started skipping frames), but the audio was 100% fine and it showed no signs of stopping or freezing, just not showing video right.  I still don't know if that was frame rate sync related or something else (possible it was a fluke with just that movie for all I know.  MrMC seems to have a memory leak or something as it will skip audio and what not if I don't quit and restart before starting a movie after playing music and/or other things with it first so who knows what effect that has after playing for over an a hour? 

Unfortunately, this kind of testing is a royal PITA because of the long lengths between issues (50 minutes is not a short amount of time for an issue to show up, let alone the hour and forty-three minutes before that watching a different movie that didn't act up).  I have to go to bed at some point and have work to contend with that will stop me from experimenting for weeks on end starting Monday.  I don't know whether to continue with a tweaked network setting or switch to MrMC.  Unfortunately, with only 53 minutes left to the movie, it could easily not act up with either one giving me no data whatsoever.....

2.4GHz usually has extended range compared to 5GHz so I'm starting to doubt it's just a signal strength/range issue, but it could be (depends on the conditions).  5GHz is supposed to be better if there's nothing blocking it, but in most houses there's all kinds of walls and floors to block things and that's where 2.4GHz does better.  I did notice on MrMC it had a network setting for SMB that said it was for OS X, but when I enabled that my networking stopped working entirely with my Mac server.... That must mean SMB from ten years ago or something?  The regular setting works fine.  I asked about the keymap editor on the MrMC forums and I was told how to get it working (supposedly) but when I checked back, the extension had disappeared from the MrMC list entirely!  No trace of it.  No way to edit keymaps to do volume and picture zooms, etc. the way I have it set up with KODI.  I can't say I like how limited it is.  Even the AMBER theme doesn't match the capability of the AMBER theme in KODI!  
 

So, per your theory, here is what I am starting to believe.  The latest version of the ShieldTV OS introduced some sort of WiFi related bug that causes latency, small drops, signal loss (some kind of wireless network interruption, not clear at this point what it is) that should not occur based on the wireless signal strength the ShieldTV has per the networking UI.

There's something going on, for sure.  The weird thing is how some on AVS seem to have no issues, but they could very well be using Ethernet.  Unfortunately, Ethernet isn't a good option for me as the run of wire would be well over 100 feet through both floors and walls to get there (opposite side of the house from the router).  I used to use those AC outlet type Ethernet transmitters and they were a bit finicky and had to be reset sometimes (probably bad firmware), but with my newer Marantz receiver, if I use them, I get hum and/or data noises through the speakers that is simply unacceptable (didn't happen with my old Yamaha receiver for whatever reason) so that's not a good option either.  Cache changing doesn't work with some movies for some reason (everything works with local caching OFF).
 

Previous editions of Kodi (and to a degree MrMc, which continues to work perfectly for me but sounds like your mileage varies a bit) handle some sort of network degradation better than the current released version of Kodi (or even the Matrix nightly masters I am on).  This likely relates to the version/build/branch of the SMB client used between old Kodi/MrMc versus Leia/Matrix.

I don't know if I'd call "freezes" better, really.... 
 

So, if we are correct we have the following options:

• Try to move the Shield as close as possible to the router (even though it has good signal where it is) OR run an ethernet cable
  • I may buy some MOCA adapters as I have coax nearby my Shield but no ethernet runs
    
  • Alternatively I can move it a few feet closer where it sits in my entertainment center and test, that may help it just enough
    
• Use an older version of Kodi OR current version of MrMc (not a perfect fix as you demonstrated) that has an smbclient build that appears to handle the wireless signal/networking issues in the latest ShieldTV firmware better
  
• Wait to see if the fix here (https://github.com/xbmc/xbmc/pull/17209) gets merged into the Matrix master when alpha1 gets released and then test to see if the SMB version it includes handles these drops better and masks the issue
  
• Hope that NVIDIA is somehow aware of the wireless issue and issues a new firmware (likely a hotfix) for it
  • Hard to say if we can count on this.  Their upgraded forums are a nightmare to navigate and I haven't seen a discussion with others reporting this issue but it is HIGHLY likely I would have missed it if there was a thread about it given how hard it is to find anything.  So, we don't really even know if they are even aware of any wireless issues introduced in the latest major ShieldTV OS revision to put it into a hotfix.
    

 

I had freezes with Krypton on occasion too, but something got things working better.  I just don't remember what.  I had a freeze with Krypton running on my Zidoo X9S the last time I tried watching a movie with it that way.  I still suspect the router.  I wonder if one of those routers with MESH support would work better?  Mine doesn't have MESH.  It's an ASUS RT-AC3100.

[Pirivan]

Agreed on how annoying the testing is.  I turn on a movie that I know "fails" go do something else and just check the log for errors (or see if the movie has stopped early when I walk by at a later time).

If you have coax nearby the Shield you could consider using MOCA adapters, those can get 1Gbps of throughput, that may be what I will go with.

It could be a specific incompatibility with particular wireless router chipsets and the latest Shield TV update, that would point to why the issue isn't rampant with all Shield owners but is somewhat common.  I also have an ASUS router, ASUS RT-AC88U.  I have seen a few others with playback issues mentioning using ASUS routers though they were normally concerned with issues playing back from an SMB share on a drive attached to the router itself BUT maybe it does relate because it's due to the wireless on the Asus routers + the Shield TV.

[VonMagnum]

Agreed on how annoying the testing is.  I turn on a movie that I know "fails" go do something else and just check the log for errors (or see if the movie has stopped early when I walk by at a later time).

If you have coax nearby the Shield you could consider using MOCA adapters, those can get 1Gbps of throughput, that may be what I will go with.

It could be a specific incompatibility with particular wireless router chipsets and the latest Shield TV update, that would point to why the issue isn't rampant with all Shield owners but is somewhat common.  I also have an ASUS router, ASUS RT-AC88U.  I have seen a few others with playback issues mentioning using ASUS routers though they were normally concerned with issues playing back from an SMB share on a drive attached to the router itself BUT maybe it does relate because it's due to the wireless on the Asus routers + the Shield TV.

Well, I changed the 2.4GHz signal to be 20MHz wide only and changed the channel (three times as I got only "good" or changing strength on the other settings).  I ended up on channel 6, which seemed to hold "excellent" as long as I cared to stare at it.  I resumed the movie and less than 10 minutes in, it FROZE instead of stopping and then resumed and played the rest of the movie without incident.  I was surprised to see a freeze at all.  Normally it just stops.  I wonder if the change in the bandwidth setting had something to do with it?  Unfortunately, that's all I can test for a few weeks or so.

Jumanji (original movie) in Atmos is INCREDIBLE in terms of sound, BTW if you happen to have an Atmos system.  Out of over 100 Atmos movies I have (let alone DTS:X as well), it's got to be one of the strongest uses of both overheads and rear channels (Fury with Brad Pitt is also excellent along with Overlord in general).

[Pirivan]

I am convinced now that the issues in Kodi relate to something going on with wireless on the Nvidia Shield in combination with my Asus router.  I moved the Shield TV closer to my router (a few feet, now on TOP of my media center inside of inside it) and it still exited during playback.  I matched up the Asus RT-AC88U logs with the Kodi logs:

Kodi log (playback halted after 1h 14min 57s)
2020-02-16 16:32:44.138 T:7728   ERROR: Read - Error( -1, 103, Software caused connection abort )

Router log
Feb 16 16:32:45 WLCEVENTD: eth2: Assoc <SHIELD TV MAC>
Feb 16 16:32:45 dnsmasq-dhcp[283]: DHCPDISCOVER(br0) <SHIELD TV MAC>
Feb 16 16:32:45 dnsmasq-dhcp[283]: DHCPOFFER(br0) <SHIELD TV IP> <SHIELD TV MAC>
Feb 16 16:32:45 dnsmasq-dhcp[283]: DHCPREQUEST(br0) <SHIELD TV IP> <SHIELD TV MAC>
Feb 16 16:32:45 dnsmasq-dhcp[283]: DHCPACK(br0) <SHIELD TV IP> <SHIELD TV MAC>

I am not yet 100% sure how to interpret WLCEVENTD but perhaps it means the Shield disconnected from the wireless?  Then the next few lines are the DHCP address request process.  I am guessing if you matched up your Asus Router log with your Kodi log, you might see similar behavior.  I know you are quite busy but give doing that a shot when you get a chance at some point (it might still be in your router logs from last night but doubtful).