HLS option

Channels Android TV
#106

I have to force reboot going to need tuners for baseball ... no choice. Disabled HLS ...

Activity
Recording ch6197 for Skip and Shannon: Undisputed until 9:01AM: buf=0% drop=0%
Recording ch6088 for Tremors 3: Back to Perfection (2001) until 11:01AM: buf=0% drop=0.34%
Recording ch6084 for No Highway in the Sky (1951) until 10:16AM: buf=0% drop=0%
Detecting commercials in The Keys of the Kingdom (1944) 2022-10-07-0614.mpg
Watching ch6.1 from Edwin's Fire TV (Starting)
Watching ch735 from Edwin's Fire TV (Starting)
Watching ch736 from Edwin's Fire TV (Starting)
#107

Logs have been submitted as 626986e9-1c30-4169-ac5c-fc0c257de76c .

Updated to latest pre-release DVR and beta client. Using my Sony Google TV with HLS option enabled on the client, started a channel from the On Now screen. The stream was opened and playing properly. Then I selected another channel from the Quick Guide and it opened up two new file streams of the selected channel. After 30 sec the original playing stream closed, but I still have two streams of the newly selected channel. Then I select another channel using the Quick Guide and two more file streams start up. Ater 30 sec, one of the streams closes but leaves one file stream running. I exited the app and the file streams are still being generated on the DVR. They never stop generating the streaming files ever. This is a big problem for the HLS option and will need to be fixed before anyone should use this option.

Note: I am using two of the 4 channel Silicon Dust flex tuners. I noticed the second stream that was opened always started on the other tuner and it was the stream that would end after 30 sec. I was left with file streams still running on my primary tuner only.

#108

I gave up on HLS ordered a bunch of Flash Drives for extra storage (early Access) they also worked on my Cheap Toshiba Fire TV's. Moved Channels DVR to Flash Drives ... so no longer need to use HLS option.

#109

Yes, I don't really need the option, since I have added extra storage memory on all my main streaming devices. But I think it is such a great option for people who don't have the expertise or want to modify their Android or FireTV devices, I just hate to give up on getting it right. The devs have been adding some great features to the Android TV clients lately and I would guess they maybe getting ready to release a version 5 for Android. I think it would be nice if the HLS option was ready. But it could be that most people just don't really need this option. Since we have a workaround for our devices, it doesn't cause me any issues.

#110

I agree it needs to be fixed ... but it sure sucks up tuners at the moment.

Live TV buffer questions
#112

Fixed in next beta

2 Likes
#113

It appears to be working ... great job Dvevelopers.

1 Like
#114

Yes, it is working great for me also. Just for a test, I will likely install a second DVR server on my Shield tomorrow and see if the client debug HLS option works well with multiple streams on that device. I am retired so I generally have plenty of time to test different scenarios.

#115

I am retired too but do PC support and upgrading from home.... so also have a lot of time to beta test.

#116

Just thought I would chime in on this thread regarding HLS being enabled and what I am experiencing- on both iPad Pro and Apple TV 4K, when ‘Always use HLS for streaming’ is enabled, the first minute or so the stream stutters really bad. If I pause the stream for 5 seconds and then play the stream the stuttering goes. This is using the latest builds from TestFlight (updated 14 hours ago).
If I don’t enable HLS I don’t experience the stuttering
Haven’t tried it yet on Fire Cube

#117

This is because an additional program has to be started to start generating the HLS segments. A little hiccup in the beginning is expected.

This means the server has had enough to time generate the segments and queue them for delivery. If you started to seek further into playback, you may experience stuttering again as the system needs to generate new files. If you only seek 30s to a few minutes you probably will not experience any lag because generating the segments occurs more quickly than live.

The lack of stuttering is because nothing has been changed: what the DVR receives is what is sent; HLS requires at least some level of additional software to transform (remux) the stream into HLS and segment it.

2 Likes
#118

@racameron thank you for the explanation. Much appreciated.
Last night I found a different thread (M3U channels constantly stuttering/buffering - #13 by Townsmcp) regarding buffering using M3U. The suggestion on that thread was to set Deinterlace Mode to linear instead of hardware. When I checked, I was already on linear. So I changed that to hardware just to see if M3U buffering stopped. It has now stopped buffering completely for me (this is on an Apple TV 4K).
So today I have performed another test - enable HLS (while having deinterlace mode set to hardware). The difference is phenomenal to HLS - when I load a stream now, either the channel starts immediately or there is a 3 second delay to load the stream (which I find acceptable). In both scenarios, the stuttering of having HLS enabled has gone completely!

2 Likes
#119

We've moved the HLS setting out of Debug and to the Playback menu and made it controllable via the DVR to match iOS and tvOS.

For more details, see Direct Play, Direct Stream, Transcoding - #16 by walkerx

Latest Beta Version / Playback Failed / HLS
#120

Really great for us that like to watch live TV and use devices with limited storage along with a wifi only connection. I find it to be very reliable. The stream option maybe could use some fine tuning to get a stream started smoothly with minimal delay, but it works more reliably for me than the Direct option with added client storage. TVE streams sometimes take 7 or 8 seconds to start completely with the Stream option, and OTA streams generally only take around 5 seconds or less.

1 Like
#121

I've been experimenting with this on the FireTV Beta Client, it seems to only work with Live TV. I have many older TV Shows in my collection that do not play in the Channels App without transcoding. I was hoping this feature would alleviate that need, and also not have to change the quality of the video in the process.

Is this something that could be added? The other option is to allow my to set transcoding for a TV series so I' not having to go back and forth int eh app changing that setting. Or maybe even easier would be to allow Software Decoding for a series. Software decoding works for these old files, but chokes on any newer content, and its a pain to have to go deep switching this setting all the time.

#122

That feature only does a Remux no transcoding unless you choose to transcode on the Client.

What type are your old recordings DIVX ?

Have you tried Hybrid Decoding and playing.

#123

A Remux should be enough, the videos play outside of the home, but not inside.

#124

The Videos probably play fine outside the home because it is transcoding. I do not think that recorded media when using HLS option gets remuxed or use HLS option.

When watching LiveTV I see Remux on the web page when viewing recording all I see is watching.

#125

I was confused, I also have movies that play, but hang unless a Remux is running. The TV Series is XviD. So I'm guessing my best bet is to Remux (not sure if this is the right term here) them to another format with Handbrake or something that Channels/FireTV can deal with. What's the best format to choose...Any ideas?

#126

MPeg4 H264 is the most compatible. You could try a simple remux with FFMPEG to mkv... or provide a sample of a recording to Channels Support.