Live TV Playing In Slow Motion on Apple TV 4k

Channels Apple TV
#160

There is no identified fix yet. There is no fix on the beta version. There is no fix to deploy as a wide release.

We're still gathering information.

What we know, is what we've posted to this thread. When we have more information, we'll post again.

To repeat: It's an issue with interlaced content from HDHomeRun devices. When utilizing the Hardware deinterlacer, this issue pops up. When switching away from that, the issue does not show up.

This issue was introduced with tvOS 26.4. What changed with that is anyone's guess. Apple's systems are black boxes.

Will it get fixed with 26.5 because Apple fixed a bug they introduced in 26.4? Maybe. But we're still trying to track down the exact reason this is happening to see if we can resolve it ourselves. So far, we have not been able to.

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Multi-View Bug A/V gets out of sync
#161

The problem does not exist with the TestFlight beta Channels app, you can run it all day with Hardware Deinterlacer and it works fine, it only happens in the public version of the app.

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#162

Thank you, Jon!

In my case it is much improved, but a slight audio/video sync issue still exists with interlaced content via OTA/HDHomeRun.

#163

Except that your Testflight betas seem to have resolved the issue for many of us..... So, something you guys changed in the beta resolved the issue, or am I missing something?

#164

Exactly Ivan!

#165

We have not made any changes to Hardware Deinterlacing in any of the TestFlight betas, only added additional diagnostic logging to try to isolate if it really is the Hardware Deinterlacer.

If it is fixed in the TestFlight betas, that would point to the issue actually not being in the Hardware Deinterlacer but in something else, which is even more confounding.

Multi-View Bug A/V gets out of sync
#168

It’s possible that building with the 26 SDK resolved it.

But I very specifically tested this after we first got on the 26 SDK to see if it fixed it, and saw the same issue.

So, very peculiar indeed.

Multi-View Bug A/V gets out of sync
#169

Not sure what to tell you because I am not an engineer but with the public Channels app it happens everyday, all day, with the TestFlight Beta Channels app it never happens on the same Apple TV4K and the same HDHomerun Quatro so something in my non technical mind says it has to be different.

#170

This is happening to me too. I've submitted diagnostics from my ATV a couple of times and just sent a follow up email.

#171

Same for me. The Testflight Beta works great (other than an occasional glitch with scrolling the guide), the public release, not so much.

#172

I’m going to repeat myself here

1. Submitting diagnostics from the App Store build (7.0.2) is not going to help us on this issue — it doesn’t have the info we need

2. Saying it’s still happening on the latest TestFlight without submitting diagnostics is not going to help us figure out this issue — we can’t see what’s going on without the diagnostics

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Multi-View Bug A/V gets out of sync
#174

Let me reiterate Ivan's post and also say: Since one of the Testflight updates a few weeks back, I stopped having the issue with hardware deinterlacing as well. You can scroll up to see my post on it from 4/21.

Looking in testflight I can see that the 4.15.250 build has "First build with iOS/tvOS 26 SDK" in it's release notes. 4.21.522 has "Match Context and Frame Rate was not being kicked off when starting playback"

Maybe one of those fixed it?

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#175

You really need to chill out. As a software developer myself I will say that there are clearly a lot of moving parts to this problem and various people in this thread appear to be experiencing a varying level of success with the current builds over the last few weeks.

The situation is hardly as dire as you are painting it to be:

  1. There is a workaround available (disable hardware deinterlacing)
  2. There are beta builds available which seem to resolve the issue for some or most of us?

On top of which it appears to be an issue introduced by changes Apple made, not Channels themselves. There is no open record of what Apple is changing and there is no commit history to spelunk through that might offer some insight into what happened on their end like you would have with FOSS software.

So give it a rest and let the developers do their work. We are on the path to a resolution and we'll get there.

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#176

If the beta has the solution then there is a know resolution. HDHomeRun on the same Apple devices have no issues with this.

Not all users are as technical and comfortable with what is entailed in loading the beta or the other steps required. I am simply saying that 6 weeks later something is not right and someone should call it out.

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#177

Please update to the latest Testflight beta, reproduce the issue with the Hardware Deinterlacer, submit diagnostics again, and let us know:

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Multi-View Bug A/V gets out of sync
#178

Any reports of it occurring on an iOS device, besides maybe this one with iPad app on mac mini?

#179

Additionally:

you need to TELL us that you experienced the problem and sent diagnostics.

We get hundreds of submissions a day of people just SENDING diagnostics thinking that's going to result in something. It will not. You need to contact us, either in this thread, or at [email protected], so we know you had the issue and submitted diagnostics, so we can go find them and inspect them.

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#180

Could channels thinking that an atsc 1.0 hdhr feed is progressive when it is actually an interlaced broadcast feed cause these kind of slow mo issues?

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#181

I made an observation the past couple of mornings that may or may be of some help. I live in an area between two markets and I am 50 miles from one and 65 miles from the other. Obviously due to this I have occasional signal issues. The exception to this is early in the morning. The tv market that is 65 miles away from me carries the news I like to watch. The past two days the signal on this channel is dead perfect from about 5:00 am to 9:00 am (pegged out at 100% across the board according to the HDHomerun tuner). I was able to watch the news and leave it on that channel for two hours with absolutely zero issues. This was a 1080i channel that runs at a constant 13.5 mbps. I have noticed that sometimes when it goes into this half frame rate slow motion routine that it occurs when I have a significant signal issue. I am not running the test flight beta either. I do think this is something that Apple has created though as it started (or I noticed it) after the 26.4 update. It does seem that signal dropouts make this issue worse or speeds up the timeframe on which it starts. Again, don't know if this helps any or not, but it is something I have noticed.

#182

I agree that the problem seems to have coincided with the drop of TVOS 26.4 (or maybe even 26.3). My question for the developers is this, if the beta seems to have remedied the issue for most of us, why is it not considered a "fix"? If I were to guess, I would think that maybe all the beta does is force hardware interlacing off, irrespective of what the setting actually says, as a workaround?

Response?

Thank you for continuing to work this issue for us, as speaking for myself, I do appreciate it!

David

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