That is definitely something he can try, my TV fails to play the stream when transcoding no matter the quality setting....
I'll repeat this though for clarity. Anytime you play TVE content it comes from the DVR unlike OTA where live bypasses the DVR unless you enable tuner sharing. All transcoding does is repackage the stream.
No luck with that. The TV plays the stream, but I still get the video freezes.
Your TV plays the stream? Mine starts it for a second then it stops and just stays buffering indefinitely.
Yes, it buffered for a second at the beginning, and then played smoothly after that (except for the video issue).
Wow that's interesting. I'm going to clear my data uninstall the app and start over and see. Are you using the Channels Beta app?
I'm on 2020.03.27.1730 on my server, and the latest stable release on the TV. I have not installed any of the betas.
On my server I'm on the latest beta 2020.03.30.0009.
On my TV I'm using the latest beta 2.1.21.beta-v103122200
Edit: When you say you turned on transcoding, you set the stream in the player to anything other than original correct?
Edit2: I uninstalled and reinstalled the app and I still have the issue with transcoding.
Correct. I set it to 1080p 8 MB instead of 'Original'.
EDIT: @eric Well i uninstalled the BETA and installed v2.1.20 and now Transcoding works! Imagine that! It's the App that causes Transcoding to fail.
Maybe a result of the updates they are working on to the player to try to address our issues? Or is that wishful thinking?
The way I look at it, which may be oversimplified is:
There must be something different about how DVR content is played back, which is causing problems on our specific devices. Can't Live/delayed TV be made to play back the same way as DVR content? Even if that is just an advanced setting for people like us who are having issues to override the default and make Live TV stream differently. Is that a possibility?
I agree 100%, DVR'd content is perfect and live/delayed playback has issue.
I don't know what the differences are, only the Devs would know or could figure that out...maybe.
It appears at first glance the the v2.1.20 release buffers more often than then beta. The beta typically goes for an hour or two before it buffers like crazy for 1-3 minutes then its good again. I need to use this release more to make a real judgement.
I know there are some issues using the Shield as well and it appears when they switch the decoder to Software appears to fix it which we don't have on the Sony.
@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.
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.