Nvidia Shield - Video Skips and Slips out of Sync After a While

Channels Android TV
#1

Hello!

Wanted to bring an issue I've been noticing a few times as of late I've been having with my Nvidia Shield (Pro 2019 model).

While watching sports, specifically basketball has been each time I've noticed this, after some time the video will start to stutter, skip, and slip out of sync after some time during the game. To fix this, I can either just jump back and then back to live, or exit out and enter the video once again. I did send in an e-mail about this right after hitting Submit Diagnostics on 1/6/2020 but did not hear anything in response.

At that time, I was running off of Wi-Fi and figured that might be the issue. I changed to an Ethernet connection and the issue still occurred just last evening. I did not hit submit diagnostics at that time. This is totally a new issue as I mainly watch only sports and this hadn't happened prior to a few weeks ago. Any help would be fantastic, thanks so much!

(Also, as an aside, my Pixel 3a XL in the last week or two has decided to play any Channels DVR video in stretched full-screen, whether it be in portrait mode --yikes!-- or landscape. Just thought I would throw that out there!)

#2

There is an option in the settings of the app to control Stretch to Fit.

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#3

Please submit diagnostics again and leave a message here after you do so we can find them and look.

#4

Yea the skipping is tied to audio. If surround is on it happens. Its not just the Shield, happens on my Sony Android TV. It's even worse when watching a 480i OTA channel....doesn't play unless you hit back once.

I have already sent a report and corisponded via email weeks ago. No reply about s fix or anything.

#5

That's no good! :frowning:

So naturally, the issue didn't present itself the entire night after I posted this topic (good thing!) but there's another game on tonight so I'll have to check if the issue resurfaces.

I do have the Shield set to surround sound, and sometimes I do notice even on DVR recordings that I'll have to hit the Skip Back button once because the audio is out of sync. The other issue I just assumed was due to surround sound is that during commercial breaks, and when coming back to the regular programming, it pauses for a brief moment and the timeline bar shows up. I figure that was just the way it handled a change in the audio format being broadcast or something.

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#6

Just happened! Except it was while viewing a DVR program, which I didn't know could also occur. Really hope something's not up with my NAS.

Anyway, submitted diagnostics. Thank you!

#7

Turn off surround and everything works better. Surround mode on Channels is a poor integration.

#9

Is this issue indeed tied to Surround Sound? I would hate to have that turned off, having a 5.1 system attached to the TV.

I left Channels running on the Shield overnight and woke up to this issue happening once again (video out of sync, stuttering and freezing every few moments - sound is not affected, the sound is playing just fine). I paused it for a moment which only fixed it temporarily, and then the issue came back. If I back out of the channel and go back in, it plays just fine.

Just submitted another diagnostic. Thanks!

#10

Have your AVR upscale surround. Disable it in the app. It's the only way to fix it until the devs take this seriously and fix it.

#11

Thanks for the tip. I was waiting to see if there would be any official response about this, but then went ahead and disabled surround sound. Since then, I've yet to notice this issue occurring again. Disappointing, but, I'd rather this than having to back out of the channel after every so long.

#12

It's getting to the point I can't even use the app on Android TV. Even with surround sound off, the lipsync never syncs up properly. HdHomerun never had this issue.

#13

Are you using the 2019 shield model? Some users reported that the new "AI Upscaling" feature causes lip sync issues.

#14

No, I am using a 2018 Android TV. I can never get the lipsync to line up. HdHomerun works just fine.
If I turn off lipsync on my TV, the sync falls further and further away so weird. It's like the video and audio are running at a different pace.

#15

In my case, I am using the 2019 model - this issue I'm having was never noticed on the 2017 model I was previously using.

I'll check to see that the AI Upscaling isn't enabled, though it may very well try to do it by default. I know when hitting the button during TV playback, it usually yells at me saying that the Framerate isn't supported, so I figure it wasn't doing it. Nevertheless, I'll see to it if I can completely disable that feature (it's not one I particularly care about) and see if the issue returns. Turning off surround sound, however, seems to have alleviated the issue (of stuttering video/out of sync after a while of playback).

#16

They are similar as mine has the same studdering etc when surround sound is enabled. My sync is just slightly off but maintains steadily. It's annoying not to be right on though.

I can't even manually adjust the sync because the audio is already delayed.

#17

It appears that the AI Upscaling can only be set to "Basic," as far as I can tell. I don't know if that means it is turned off or just running at the very lowest level. However, I did that and re-enabled Surround Sound and the issue just happened again. This didn't seem to happen with the AI Upscaler at Basic with Surround Sound turned off.

I took a short video to show you the issue: https://youtu.be/YqLWBQeo-0U

The sound stays consistent, however the framerate goes off, like it's quickly pausing or chugging along. You'll see the players skating on the ice freeze up every number of frames. The only way to get this to return to normal is to pause it, rewind it, or back out and go back in.

Usually it takes some time for this to happen, but this only took just a few minutes of viewing. I checked the DVR logs but nothing was there to indicate a problem. Submitted diagnostics around 4:10pm EST.

#19

I am confused, so u are not using a Nvidia Shield?
There is no 2018 Shield that i know of.
If so, then your issue is not relevant to this thread.

#20

U can set it to Enhanced. It only reverts to basic when it detects unsupported content.
Far as I can tell, the only real difference is that Enhanced gives u the option to add sharpening.

U can enable Demo mode and use the menu button on the remote to toggle it form AI to basic to off. it will tell u when it is not acitve and the reason, unsupported framerate, resolution etc. AI Upscaling only activate under certain set video sources.
https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/shield/support/shield-tv-pro/ai-upscaling/

I have used it fine with not just certain LIVE TV channels, but also other apps media playback and have not had any issues. both on my computer monitor and its AUX jack out to my speakers with the Pro model in use, or the tube model on my livingroom tv and a Vizio sound bar using Toslink. Though, i am using 1080p, so that may be a factor.

#21

They are both Android TV and have both the same symptoms so yes it's relevant.

#22

But they have different hardware. and most likely a different versions of Android TV software.
Your TV might not have a strong enough CPU or something to handle it there could be many factors.
Point is this is a Nvidia shield specific thread not an Android TV generic thread. Anything system setting we tell you to do here won't apply to you because you have no such settings to adjust. It would be more beneficial to you to create your own separate Topic. And off-topic thread hijacking is quite rude.

I have 2 Nvidia shields and cannot reproduce this issue. Even with surround sound on. My neighbor and Buddy 2 States over, and one on the other end of the continent, from me have a straight-up Android TV each of some sortv and I gave them remote access to my channels server as well as emby server and they do not have any lip sync issues are stuttering issues. So this issue is not repeat not a 100% only a Android TV issue it is related to your hardware or software or some setting you have.