[basilgello]

Let's move discussion here from Github.

Original Github issue, for continuity: https://github.com/xbmc/xbmc/issues/22339

[markg85]

Right.

Sorry for the late reply but i have like near 0 trust that we can solve this.
This issue has been reported so many times! So many blog posts have been made to "mitigate" it and so many youtube videos exists to just address this one darn issue.

And yes, i have KODI 20 now (update from 19) and yet again have this issue on android.

I feel like discussing it is a waste of time because history has shown it to be just that.
Still, i like to watch my video without the endlessly frustrating buffering issue so if you folks are genuinely interested in fixing it then i'm more then willing to put many hours in this to help debugging this issue and nail it once and for all.

The only "fix" i know thus far is changing/adding advancedsettings.xml to contain:

xml:


<advancedsettings>

  <network>

    <buffermode>1</buffermode>

    <readbufferfactor>1.5</readbufferfactor>

    <cachemembuffersize>104857600</cachemembuffersize>

  </network>

</advancedsettings>

The problem is that this is very near impossible to install on android! Last time i managed to get it installed with a super flaky heavily crashing addon. Given that v20 is brand new, i don't even have to consider trying that again.

[Swimfan02]

If your issue is in getting advancedsettings.xml into the Kodi directory on Android (considering how newer android versions have strict permissions), you might be able to try creating the xml, putting it on a network share, then within Kodi's file manager (inside the app) you can copy it from the network share to Kodi's directory since Kodi will have write permissions to it's own folder within the Android directory.

I just tried it out and it works

[izprtxqkft]

wouldnt this be a good use case for the advanced settings addon?

https://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=362847

https://github.com/abratchik/script.unlo...edsettings

im note sure of its current development stage but im sure it could be figured out easily by asking the developer

(also, am i stepping on someone since this says WIP?)

[markg85]

If your issue is in getting advancedsettings.xml into the Kodi directory on Android (considering how newer android versions have strict permissions), you might be able to try creating the xml, putting it on a network share, then within Kodi's file manager (inside the app) you can copy it from the network share to Kodi's directory since Kodi will have write permissions to it's own folder within the Android directory.

I just tried it out and it works

And that is in fact the only way left i know of to change those settings on android!
Yes, i did that and that works. But it's tricky to get that right too!
You just cannot expect a normal kodi user to go through that route.

But it's not the real issue so let's not deviate further, please.

The real issue is that you need to change these settings at all to begin with.
There is a bug in kodi with regards to buffering that has plagued the project for many many many many years.
These setting should be strong defaults that very few people should ever should have a need for to change.

That needs to be investigated hence this very topic.

Before one thinks that it's my hardware and wants to provide suggestions. That's much appreciated but don't.
It is kodi, that's 100% sure. I proved it in this bug report but it was deemed to be a forum discussion and subsequently closed rapidly...
 

 
wouldnt this be a good use case for the advanced settings addon?

https://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=362847

https://github.com/abratchik/script.unlo...edsettings

im note sure of its current development stage but im sure it could be figured out easily by asking the developer

(also, am i stepping on someone since this says WIP?)

That's what i used in v19. It worked..... after a couple dozen crashes. Not even joking.
That was my hint with "Last time i managed to get it installed with a super flaky heavily crashing addon"

[izprtxqkft]

ok i got lost between the posts, it was looking more like an issue towards being able to change the advanced settings and not the point being made that they shouldnt need changing

as per usual, disregard my post - i dont suffer from either issue i just thought i would attempt to help find a solution


For those following up after my post:

This is in regards to "Kodi should not need this setting changed for normal users" and really nothing to do with the ease of changing said settings.

[markg85]

@basilgello  Could the title be changed, please.

Older hardware has absolutely nothing to do with this issue.
SBC "could" be an issue but we just don't know yet. I'm inclined to think that it's a fundamental issues that's most easily "triggered" on SBC hardware, not that it's a cause.
I've had this issue specifically on arm-based boards. Both when using KODI as an app (through android) and when using it as a distribution like libreelec and openelec.

We need to figure out why buffering happens when it shouldn't. Again, i proved it doesn't have to with the above config.
Caching is an implied assumption that we too should try to figure out.

Sidenote, should i jut make a PR that puts those settings as default? It seems like 0 people besides me care or even want to spend time on it anyhow. And as these settings don't seem to break anything, i'd consider them better defaults.