@CubsWin,
Do you have an option for decoding in the app on your 2020 Sony? I assume you do on your Shield?
If so are they set to Software?
I don't see a decoding option.
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Ok, well so far using v2.1.20 release I only see blips of buffering randomly. I haven't had it buffer for extended periods yet so it sure is acting different than the Beta.
VLC is terrible on my Shield. The menu when u scroll gets all janky. Video quality is trash.
(hate vlc on pc for local files. it also is trash imo. there are far better players out there(MPC-BE, pot, MPC-HC, gom, etc), but, VLC is good for streaming from network or urls, it in my experience the only thing it is good for.)
Are you sure MPV was using Hardware decode and not software?
There is a toggle on the OSD bar.
And u have to enable it in the settings first.
It will default to software if no compatible hardware decoder is found.
U can mess with the scaler filters with MPV.
I use ewa_lanczossharp for upscale and down scaling.
I think bicubic is default, that is the lowest quality for compatibility.
(u may need a mouse to change this if ur nav buttons wont select it)
Debanding GPU.
Interpolation, display-resample
Temporal interpolation filter: oversample
uncheck Low-quality video decode
u can do a tiny bit more via the .conf option, (like sharpen=1.0) read the mpv.io docs on syntax. but aside from that it is barebones on mobile, (more so compared to players like MX Player Pro which has a crap ton of options available to the user and a ATV app) i find MPV still top performer on my hardware and uses.
it is really nice to be able to use my remote to on the fly adjust the picture as i need, like more gamma or brightness for dark content, more contrast and saturation for anime....cause again, large computer monitor not tv i use, so no such settings to adjust easy on the fly.
how are u testing a different player?
Playing local files that are stored on the TV??
Channles has no way to re-direct the video data stream i shows from itself elsewhere to another app. I think maybe one can load up the TVE streaming ulr with auth key in it into MPV or VLC perhaps that is what u mean by testing?
mmm. he says possible network issues, which is what i too was thinking and suspected at first, after all the other things u have tried.
most often users state "my network is solid" but often logs tell a different story.
Well, Channels streams from networks and and URLs so it sounds greats to me.
It is enabled to check for hardware first. There is another setting, Debanding, for GPU (Black screen with audio just like my Pixel 4 XL), CPU (Choppy Video with Audio) and Disabled which works. I cannot select anything in the timebar. Direction Up or Down on the remote causes the video to go back or forward in time. The timebar did have an SW I could see when the video was working with the disabled setting I spoke of above. All other settings are default. I didn't change anything.
Look trying this thing for testing is fine I don't mind that, but I am paying for a service that is suppose to be fully supported. The Devs should be working with me if they don't own the hardware. Maybe they should say they support it if they cant test it...I don't know, but that is why we have testing.
I'm going into the URL section and typing the address as Eric told me to to stream from the DVR. VLC works the same way and they also can scan the local network where I can see the HDHR tuners and play directly from them.
.. when everything I do is working without issue and only Channels is messed up... its time to stop passing the buck.... sorry.
That was an old log when I was testing ipv6. I have installed the new Beta and am running Software decoder without issue. this TV can handle it. I'll test Software and Hybrid and see if it improves.
That is normal and expected behavior. Up and down keys are default to seek 30 secs for mpv, left right is 10 secs.
As i stated, the app is meant for touch screen not physical button navigation. It is gonna have issues on unsupported devices.
I have ausb RF remote on my shield that plugs to the usb, it is a air mouse remote, u can also use a mouse to get a cursor on Android or ATV (bluetooth mouse can work too if u have no usb port). that i find is the only way to work the OSD on ATV with no touchscreen.
there is a toggle icon on the OSD bar to switch from HW to SW decode. if u have HW enabled in settings, and is is using SW, then it failed to load HW decode, Pressing the OSD button triggers a force use HW, but it may just do nothing, or it may trigger a app crash if the hardware decoder is not compatible.
U can also press "i" as in Info, if u have a keyboard attached ( my media remote has a mini qwerty keyboard on it) and it will show an OSD live stats of the video, bit rate, fps, render dropped frame etc. (this live OSD overlay ability or a "stats for nerds" i have requested Channel have, Emby and Plex have it)
Again, i have never tried it on a TV, only on my Pixel 3 and Shield and PC.
And i only use it for playing local .mp4 or .mkv files.
(the Debanding works fine on my Pixel 3 btw.)
I very much understand your reasoning and frustrations with that statement, that mirrors what experience I had with Emby when i wanted to use it on my Shield for Live TV. Same drawn out thing, and in the end, ws told, nothing we can do really...so no point asking anymore. Shame, i actually like Embys more mature and Advanced UI better. ( i still use it to play my collection of media as a home media sever from time to time)
The dev already stated, it is an issue with the Sony TV AND how Channels software interacts with that specific hardware.
If it was a Channels issue entirely and solely, then others using other hardware would have the same specific issues as you.
{A similar situation with specific device compatibility or quirks arises, for example, with YTTV and using a Nvidia Shield as the Channels DVR server. If you use that setup, then u can NOT use YTTV as a TVE source. That is due to a limitation/issue with the Shield device it self that Channels can not control or fix cause it is locked code in the Nvidia ATV ROM on the device. (something to due with the bundled Chrome build Nvidia uses in it).}
This is good to hear...maybe some progress can be made then if software decode is working for you.
I don't agree that nothing can be done with other video players are working fine. That's my issue.
I've been streaming Fox New Channel TVE for an hour and I haven't had one blimp....not one. So far it has improved my experience because I didn't only have one issue. I need to test more...longer and with OTA as well. I want to do the the same tests with Hybrid.
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The Devs would have to confirm but I believe the client-side buffer may be handled differently when viewing live versus DVR recorded content. I seem to remember one of them mentioned there is less client-side buffering when watching a DVR recording because it can always go back to the server for more if needed. However, when viewing live content, the client is responsible for all the buffering, and much more of a buffer may be retained on the local client. If my memory is correct and the issue is related to this, the problem might be with the storage on these devices. Perhaps it is slow or flaky, causing issues for the local buffer. Just speculating.
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I would agree if, all video players used on this device with the same content had the same problem. That makes me scratch my head.
I have posted a log and a video in the Fox news thread since using the new beta app that enabled Software and hybrid decoding have been enabled fixed almost every problem I was having except for streaming live on TVE. The log appears to show some sort of buffering issue.
The video shows the buffering experience with the growing timeline and then it also shows me going back after and replaying the buffering event to show it is playing smooth without any missing data.
Definitely some good insight that it is likely a buffering problem. I did have surround sound enabled with causes some issues with OTA SD channels mainly that is well known. I switched back to stereo and am testing again.
> 03-31 23:43:00.262 17789 17837 V mpv : [lavf] EOF reached.
> 03-31 23:43:00.278 17789 17837 V mpv : event: unpause
> 03-31 23:43:00.279 17789 17837 V mpv : event: unpause
> 03-31 23:43:00.279 17789 17837 V mpv : [cplayer] End buffering (waited 49.981429 secs) [0.000000s].
> 03-31 23:43:00.279 17789 17837 V mpv : [af] filter input EOF
> 03-31 23:43:00.279 17789 17837 V mpv : [af] filter output EOF
> 03-31 23:43:00.279 17789 17837 V mpv : [cplayer] Enter buffering (buffer went from 100% -> 0%) [0.000000s].
> 03-31 23:43:00.280 17789 17837 V mpv : [cplayer] Still buffering (buffer went from 0% -> 4%) [0.042667s].
> 03-31 23:43:00.281 17789 17837 V mpv : [cplayer] Still buffering (buffer went from 4% -> 0%) [0.000000s].
> 03-31 23:43:00.284 17789 17837 V mpv : [cplayer] Still buffering (buffer went from 0% -> 4%) [0.042667s].
> 03-31 23:43:00.284 17789 17837 V mpv : [cplayer] Still buffering (buffer went from 4% -> 21%) [0.213333s].
> 03-31 23:43:00.318 17789 17837 V mpv : event: unpause
> 03-31 23:43:00.318 17789 17837 V mpv : [cplayer] End buffering (waited 0.044195 secs) [1.066667s].
> 03-31 23:43:00.322 17789 17837 V mpv : property: buffering = false
> 03-31 23:43:00.322 17789 17789 V PlayerActivity: state BUFFERING -> PLAYING
> 03-31 23:43:00.432 17789 17837 E mpv : [ffmpeg/video] h264: error while decoding MB 52 37, bytestream -16
> 03-31 23:43:00.432 17789 17837 V mpv : [ffmpeg/video] h264: concealing 637 DC, 637 AC, 637 MV errors in P frame
> 03-31 23:43:00.457 17789 17789 V mpvstats: AV: 1728.879 A-V: 0.000 Dropped: 10 Cache: 1.536s + 0KB
> 03-31 23:43:00.757 17789 17789 V mpvstats: AV: 1729.146 A-V: 0.000 Dropped: 10 Cache: 1.280s + 0KB
> 03-31 23:43:01.996 17789 17837 V mpv : event: unpause
> 03-31 23:43:01.996 17789 17837 V mpv : [cplayer] Enter buffering (buffer went from 100% -> 0%) [0.000000s].Buffer is stored on the client device.
How much storage space is on the device?
If it gets full, then there will be issue.
or if the internal storage is too slow or busy to handle the i/o, also cause issues.
but the logs would indicate that.
Plenty, 3.7GB available. This ONLY happens with TVE content. 
I think that is quite low actually.
HD files can be quite large once the buffer fills up. i think 90 min is the limit.
but again, u woudl see errors in the log of low or out of space. so not that most likely
TVE content is lower bit rate so does use less space.
Have u run a disk i/o benchmark just to see if the read/write speeds are good?
Is there a way to add in additional storage like a fast micro sd card or usb 3.0 stick?
I have my Shields setup so that the external storage i added on to it is formatted as internal shared storage. dont know if a ATV set has that kinda option.
But yea, if only TVE streams with issue and not OTA or local files.....I don't for see storage being a factor......
that is a weird one.
The buffer only needs to be large enough for the current being played.... Any buffering/recording from pausing is all done on the DVR.
No, not true. The playback buffer for live TV is local to the client. The DVR only maintains a minimal buffer for TVE/Locast streams. Also, while a small cache is used for transcoded programs, it is not used for timeshifting in any way.
The more free space there is on the client device, the longer/larger its live buffer is.
I know the buffer is.... I'm saying any buffer you have from pausing is saved on the DVR.
If that's not accurate then I'd love to know.
the whole buffer is stored on the device. so if u pause it for say 60 min, u wil have used say like 2GB or whatever.
it has been stated here before in places...i see if i can find the posts via search.
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Not accurate. The pause buffer is local to the client only.
Thank you for the informative response. I hate crow
Either way I've never paused for more than 10 minutes.
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