Stuttery streaming of live TV

Channels Fire TV
#1

I’m having a weird but persistent problem and can’t work out what is causing it.

I have two TVs, an Apple TV and a Fire Tv and my network is mesh enabled.

My HDHomerun is upstairs at the back of the house and connected via Ethernet to node 2. My channels DVR server is next to it and also connected to node 2 via Ethernet.

My Apple TV is downstairs at the front of the house and connects to the mesh master via WiFi which is also at the front of the house.

My Fire TV is downstairs at the back of the house and connect to node 1 (also downstairs) via WiFi.

ChannelsDVR on my Apple TV is perfect
HDHomerun App on my Apple TV is perfect

Channels DVR on my FireTV often results is stuttery playback of live TV and recorded programs. Also often the sound is out of sync. Some channels appear to me more affected than others but difficult to say for sure.

HDHomerun App on my FireTV is perfect

When testing the speed of the connection to the Channels server on my Fire TV it says the speed is around 68Mb. If I test the speed of the Internet on the FireTV it’s around 180Mb.

I don’t understand how Channels DVR can be stuttery when HDHomerun on the same TV is fine. Is this a FireTV thing, a channels DVR thing or a network thing?

I tried reducing the streaming quality down to its lowest in the channels DVR app settings but it didn’t make any difference to the stuttering.

#2

Try Original quality Direct, no transcoding

#3

Is this in the app on FireTV? If so, that’s what it’s set to

#4

where in the server?

yes, but the server can override the client setting.

without more detail or logs I can only guess the firetv is streaming 'remote', or there's something weird with your network routing setup.

edit; I'm not much help with logs, but others around here are.

#5

The speed to your server is rather slow though fast enough yet what is the latency?

I don’t understand how Channels DVR can be stuttery when HDHomerun on the > same TV is fine. Is this a FireTV thing, a channels DVR thing or a network thing?

Different paths if you don't have tuner sharing enabled. Try enabling tuner sharing. It's a server setting.

Node 1 appears to have a poor quality WiFi link in your mesh. You may need to relocate it or add an intermediate node which will reduce speed. Another possibility is one of the channels you are using is busy with a nabor's traffic. Also check that your devices are connected on 5-Ghz. Mesh networks can have issues and work best with nodes and a router that have 3 radios or use a wired backhaul.

#6

I think you mean disable tuner sharing on the Fire TV client so it connects directly to the HDHR tuner like the HDHR app does to compare?

Client device Tuner Sharing
Settings > Playback > Advanced > Tuner Sharing

[OFF] Client device <-> HDHR Tuner
[ON]  Client device <-> Channels DVR Server <-> HDHR Tuner

If you set Original Quality delivery to Direct, the above is true.

If you set Original Quality delivery to Stream, then
Settings > Playback > Advanced > Tuner Sharing

[OFF]  Client device <-> Channels DVR Server <-> HDHR Tuner
[ON]   Client device <-> Channels DVR Server <-> HDHR Tuner
#7

You are correct that Tuner Sharing uses the server to share the tuner and having it on would create a different path.