Interlaced content crashes fire stick 4k and other android devices

Play store link for beta: https://play.google.com/apps/testing/com.getchannels.dvr.app

OK it now obscured just says channels dvr beta (1.
(Im pretty sure I have had it installed before but perhaps i was still using/didnt delete the public version)
settings are: home streaming = maximum | decoder = software | refresh rate matching = on ap launch | stretch to fit off.

Will test this out

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Again thanks for your help @tmm1. My feedback thus far: Had 5 or so hours of continuous HD playback. The live tv can be quite jittery/choppy/strobey when watching interlaced video. I did have live tv freeze at the end of this period (logs sent) I also had a problem whereby I was watching a recording and it came out of the recording and tuned a live tv channel. Another family member has said this happened to them on a fire stick (again logs sent under other) The ap eventually become unresponsive (again logs sent under crash)
I did have a play with the recording of a 1080i programme. Like i say watching it back it still had a jittery/choppy appearance. For comparison a firestick 4k wouldnt play the live tv stream it would just freeze. It would however play the recording back albeit in the beginning it was like watching a scratched dvd, in the end it turned out to be a good picture.
I converted this file to 1080P using mcebuddy/handbrake with decomb set to bob. The jittery choppy playback disappeared. I kept watching the original 1080i and converted 1080p file back, but didnt get the same result evertime.

Thanks for the update.

We have opened up a line of communication with our contact at Nvidia about these issues. Some of them are new to the Tube model. If you have a 1080i recording which reliably crashes the SHIELD, please upload to google drive (or similar) and email the link to [email protected]

Great thanks. Its really strange the pro doesnt have these issues, they say the only difference is more ram on the pro model. Maybe its the way is packaged (smaller etc and gets too hot or something) anyway thats a complete stab in the dark! Il dropbox link these video clips to you asap but it will be tomorrow now as its almost 2 in the morning here :+1:

Im afraid this issue appears to be sporadic. Ive managed to capture 3 recordings at the time the issue occurs on live tv - but when you watch them back there is no issue. Its doubtful at this stage I will be able to supply you with a video that crashes the SHIELD. I will keep trying though. I have sent logs around the time the issues occur. In general playback seems good today has there been any changes to your knowedge?

So heres what I found yesterday 09-05-20
Duration: 12hrs (ish)
Channel 5 HD
Main issue: Live TV Jitter/choppy/stobe playback similar to a slowmotion effect.
Notes:

Starts off ok but with time gets worse and plateaus.
If you skip back 7 seconds and re watch issue isn't there. Issue is sporadic when you watch recording back though.
Seems the issue happens with SD same channel as well and is not limited to interlaced.
Compared channel 5 hd to another HD channel. Channel 5 was broadcasting 1080P and other was 1080i yet Channel 5 had jitter etc. Both channels had 86% strength and 100% on both quality. everything is connected by ethernet.
Furthermore HDHomerun ap player had same jitter etc issue but Android tv live channels ap did not. Neither did watching the live tv through tv's input of hdhome run.
Other issues:
Watching a programme and it came out of what i was watching and tuned something else.
Pixelation and then intense jitter ect then smoothed out.
hicups/vinyl crackle in the audio during commercials
Watching a recording hustled the player by skipping back and forth. This completely crashed the ap - had to restart shield to get it to respond.

Today 10-05-20:
Duration: 5hours ish
Channel5 HD
Issues

Very little if any jitter etc :slight_smile:
Watching live tv slight pixelation then went back about 30 seconds and started playing and continued to play.
During 1080P live tv - Pixelated went jittery then smoothed out and played well ever since.
***Correction today 10-05-20 I believe decoder has been set to hardware, when I briefly set it to software the Jitter etc seemed to come back. (Im sure it was set to software when beta was first installed)

I have this issue with UK HD channels on my firestick 4K, they can get very choppy, I donā€™t think itā€™s a signal issue because itā€™s fine if I set the decoder to Hardware, but Software decoder is better for overall for UK tv on firestick, and in recent months HD channels have been behaving more, so Iā€™m hoping that itā€™s just something that will smooth out in coming months.

Yes I still have the issues with my Android sticks. I think the main problem is interlaced content and becomes worse when the broadcast switches between interlaced and Progressive quickly e.g during adverts. TBH I have set my devices to Transcode to 720 as I cant be bothered to deal with the consequences anymore. I do love the flexibility of iptv so this seems the best compromise for now. (Although recordings generally playback ok at full res?)
Interestingly I have also noticed this jittery / strobey playback problem on a BT box too -which I believe is Android platform.

what did you do to set your devices to transcode at 720? the settings in the channels app, or the device settings?
Ive been playing with a 2020 firestick, it works fine on hardware, best picture actually, with the exception of channels 7, 49, 51, 60, which don't want to play or does a green choppy thing before the picture crashes and just continues with sound.
its a shame I cant set these 4 channels to software decoding and leave the rest at hardware, then everything would be fine.

Yea set the streaming limit within the ap on your stick. (I don't think you can do this on your server, or if you can can its only for the web browser) The picture going green in my experience is the crash caused by interlaced content. From the research I have done, I believe If you use the hardware setting you are more likely to experience problems because the GPU in the Fire stick is either not man enough to handle it or there is a bug/problem in the GPU itself. Putting the setting to software allows the app developers to workaround this problem to utilise the resources of the stick better.

Thanks for the reply, Iā€™ve been playing about with it, but I donā€™t think my raspberry pi server has the umph to serve 2 or 3 TVs at the same time to get this working around the house without significant buffering on the clients, I had to set the quality to 4mbps to minimise this, also everyone thinks there is something wrong when we have to wait for a channel to buffer and appear when we go on a channel.

Apart from the channels that donā€™t work, Hardware gives a real crisp picture on the rest of the channels on 2020 Firestick, some channels feel almost HD, so Iā€™m stuck between a rock and a hard place, do I want to sacrifice 4 or 5 channels I hardly watch for the rest to work really nicely, or do I want to impose some buffering and slower speeds using the channels app, to make sure every channel works, all though at the expense of some buffering and quality loss.

I really want my cake and to be able to eat it too, high quality channels on hardware, and some how set the channels that donā€™t work to software so it all just works, itā€™s tedious going in to settings and swapping the decoder.

All the channels work really clearly non the official HD Homerun app, but user interface is just crap.

FYI: Fire Tv sticks still seem to have the same issue so I bit the bullet and bought myself an Apple TV HD 1080 content only (A1652 '4th' generation) I believe this has the same chip in as an Iphone 6 and also believe this is the 1st of the series to allow you to download your own choice of Apps. This plays 1-5 UK HD channels with no issues, and produces a beautiful picture. It sometimes has a few hicups when transitioning from PIP and you may have to tweek stuff here and there like the refresh rate, but in the main its been pretty flawless. Most of us who choose Android streamers are looking for a cheap and cheerful solution but you can now pic up a 2nd hand Apple Tv HD for about the same money as a new 4k fire tv stick. I'd have the Apple all day long

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I've been thinking about making the swap to Apple TV, but I have invested too much in the amazon infrastructure and services around my home to start swapping things out.

If the channels guys could get the SD channels to run on software mode, the HD channels in Hardware mode, I would be very happy as it would hopefully all just work.

I used to have a dodgy IPTV app which would let me swap decoders on a per channel basis, so I would hope its possible on something more official like the channels app.

I'm not too up to date on programming, so I don't know how hard it would be to implement a broad approach.
If station == HD
then Hardware mode
Else
Software mode

I believe Plex did something along those lines (not exactly what you are suggesting but similar) with their live tv to address the issue. I was very hopeful this would work. However it still had issues. I believe it initially would take a snapshot of what you had tuned into but if you stayed tuned into that channel through adverts or over long periods (multiple programs) it still thinks the content is the same i.e. I assume it did refresh quickly enough so would still get itself in a muddle. I haven't used plex recently for live tv so I cant comment whether that has been ironed out.

I used to be in your same boat. I have 4 firesticks and an nvidia shield tube. I had the same issues with the firestick and decided to get the shield. Then I found I have an ota station that is affected by the hardware bug in the shield that will never be fixed. So I ditched them and bought 3 Apple TV's. I am not an apple fan either, you could probably classify me as an apple hater :slightly_smiling_face:. I carry an android phone and have an android tablet. The only thing I have in the ios ecosystem is the apple tvs. I have to tell you I haven't been happier with Apple tv. It just works (even better if you are on the test flight builds, use expiramental video and deinterlacers).
The tvos interface is 1000times better than anything else as well. I still have 1 tv on the firestick. It's in my office and barely gets used. However, every time I do use it I realize just how terrible it is and how much better apple tv is :blush:

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