Playback stopping randomly

Channels Apple TV
#1

Since updating to tvOS 18 I'm having an odd issue on my AppleTVs. I did confirm the app is fully updated, my server is on 2024.09.17.0218. I've only noticed the issue so far on live content coming from the HD HomeRun.

The issue is, while watching live TV the stream will randomly freeze. Like it has been paused. The actual status of the app does not change to paused though. The app continues to buffer content as it should. In order to get playback to start I have to "pause" and then unpause the app. Playback then resumes like normal.

It is happening on both of our most common used Apple TVs. Is anyone else seeing this issue?

#2

Do you have tuner sharing enabled or disabled in the Channels apps on your Apple TV's?
Settings > Playback > Advanced > Tuner Sharing

If enabled, the stream goes
Original Quality Delivery > Direct = HDHR tuner > Channels DVR Server > Apple TV
Original Quality Delivery > Stream = HDHR tuner > Channels DVR Server > Apple TV

If disabled, the stream goes
Original Quality Delivery > Direct = HDHR tuner > Apple TV
Original Quality Delivery > Stream = HDHR tuner > Channels DVR Server > Apple TV

#3

This is a useful flow to know - thank you @chDVRuser

#4

I have been seeing this recently too. Diagnostics submitted from my Apple TV.

Edit: actually my issue is slightly different. The player seems to be crashing but I've only noticed it while playing back from HDHR channels.

#5

Yeah that's the issue that I've seen, the video player randomly crashes back to the recording section. It's somewhat rare and I submitted diagnostics for it before.

#6

Mine too. During recorded football today, it just stops and dumps back to the home screen. Also, every now and then, the records skips ahead a minute or so. No consistency to it. It just jumps over a minute or two. Happened on two different NFL recordings today (09/22/24).

#7

I just looked. It is turned off. I assume that is why my Channels server webadmin shows no activity when streaming from the HDHomeRun box.

Is the benefit of this feature allowing multiple boxes to watch the same channel and not each use separate tuners?

#8

Correct. The server gets the stream from one HDHR tuner and shares it with any client (and recording) accessing that channel. Otherwise multiple HDHR tuners will be used, one for each client and recording.

#9

Just curious if no one else is seeing this issue. I’m getting it every 20 minutes or so.

#12
#13

@alai @GTFan @steve0617
What you're reporting is different than the issue the OP is having.

This topic seems more in line with what you're reporting Video playback stops on a random basis

#14

I just discovered it only happens when using the HomePod for audio.

#15

I remember issues came up when tvOS 17 was released using HomePods.

#16

Happy annual “Apple messed with audio in the latest tvOS update, breaking our HomePod support” to all those that celebrate.

We’ll look into it soon.

Please submit diagnostics from the app when you see this happen and report it here, so we have as much info as possible to track down the issue.

#17

I am getting the issue when I select a recording to play. The first time (and only the first time) I select a recording, it will stop playing and go back to the screen with the "WATCH MORE TRASH" buttons. When I re-select watch, it will momentarily show the time of the point it stopped playing before it corrects it to 00:01 and continues playing from the beginning. This most recent time, it showed 44:23 briefly (which is where it stopped - I jumped into late in a 1hr show) then corrected to 00:01 and started playing from the beginning. I had to scrub back to where I was when it dropped out.

This is all after the new version of Channels was updated. Old version did not have this problem. I thought it was because I had like 6000 hours of recordings and broke something. Sounds like it's just a bug in the new Channels.