Fixed in next beta
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It appears to be working ... great job Dvevelopers.
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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.
I am retired too but do PC support and upgrading from home.... so also have a lot of time to beta test.
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
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.
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@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!
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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
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.
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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.
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.
A Remux should be enough, the videos play outside of the home, but not inside.
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.
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?
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.
Thanks!!!
Please submit diagnostics after playing one of the files that doesn’t work without transcoding. We may be able to fix it.
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I've never really understood exactly how the submission of diagnostic logs works. If I submit logs from the client shortly after an unexpected event, you'll know exactly why the logs were submitted without me following up here or via email?
Nope.
You'll need to let us know when you sent them and why. Just submitting diagnostics will just push them to the ether and no one will see them or even know why they were submitted. Many people do this, but it does nothing.
If you see something funny, submit diagnostics, then contact us in some manner, then we have information to go off of.
Thank you for explaining that. I'm definitely guilty of submitting meaningless diagnostic logs. I will follow up in the future.