Frame Drop Issue - tvOS

Beta Community Apple Beta
#1

I’m encountering a stubborn frame drop issue on my Apple TV4K. Attached is a pic of the stats. Is there any troubleshooting that I should be trying?

I’m on tvOS 18.3 (build 22K557). My CDVR server is on an M2 Mac Mini with a 2TB external HDD attached to it as storage. The ATV 4K is connected via wifi with a very strong signal and I can pull download speeds of 300 Mbps (unfortunately, it’s not in a spot where it can be wired). Feel free to request any other info you might need to help me troubleshoot.

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#2

The drops are on the Output side which means it is between the Apple TV and the display. Channels sends the video to the Apple TV unit and the Apple TV decodes that signal to forward on to the television. The decoder is doing just fine so the drops are happening after that.

You have the video drive on Legacy still, no real reason to do that anymore. Try changing that up and then try a different HDMI cable or HDMI input on the television/display.

#3

That’s great info. Thank you.

#4

What model of the Apple TV 4K is it? The first gen 4K can't decode 4K @ 60fps, it's not powerful enough. Especially with VP9.

This may be the case too. Additionally, it may be an issue on the Gen2+ with VP9 as well. You may have better experience with HEVC.

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#5

It’s a 3rd gen ATV.

That video was a virtual channel that I set up from downloaded YouTube playlist. Most of my viewing is using HEVC and I’m getting the frame drop issue with that video format too.

#6

Change video decoder from Legacy to Default

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#7

Unfortunately, I changed it to Default about an hour ago and I’m still experiencing the frame drops

#8

THIS!

I have the most current Apple TV 4K wired, and it struggles to play 4K 60FPS content, especially VP9 (i download alot of YT vids and many are 4K 60fps).
Even Infuse Player Pro has issues with dropped frames.

Is why i very much want a newer Apple Tv, and hope this years model is a good enough hardware upgrade to fix this issue.

If u can get 1440p 60fps VP9 video instead, it will play it with no dropped frames (the most current gen of ATV 4K that is.

#9

VP9 hardware decoding is required for good performance, but it requires special permission from Apple and they have only granted it to the YouTube app.

#10

Which is hilarious, cause, the YT app, very much always defaults to 1080p no matter what, and u have to manually change it to 4K every video. (even when i paid for YT Premium)

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#11

Wouldn't the dropped frames show as dropped by decoder if the problem was in the codec?

Asking for my own knowledge improvement.

#12

The decoder works, it's just slow and produces frames late so they cannot be displayed.

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#13

So the frame drops that are showing as "Output" could actually be due to the decoder?

#14

The frames arrive at the output late and are dropped at output. This can happen for any number of reasons.

#15

I was able to fix the issue. I had my Apple TV4K’s chroma setting at 4:4:4. After I switched it to 4:2:0, all is good.

Thanks to everyone for their feedback and thoughts. This product (and this community) rocks!

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