Kodi Live TV - choppy video

Svartalf · Post time 2016-09-24 02:22:20

Edited by Svartalf at 2016-09-24 02:23

Freelance replied at 2016-09-23 19:56
Buffering is not the problem for Live TV.
The problem is that GT1 uses software decoding ff-h264 ...

IMO GT1 not using at all hardware decoding with Kodi Live TV. h265/hevc in 4k playing in software mode too, as i can see... Very, very disappointed :((

Svartalf · Post time 2016-09-25 06:08:21

beelink says that new firmware will be released next week OTA. Cross my fingers in hope that new firmware solve our issue... live TV is unusable until that bug will be solved...

paulo72 · Post time 2016-09-26 22:49:54

Edited by paulo72 at 2016-09-26 23:36

Svartalf replied at 2016-09-25 06:08
beelink says that new firmware will be released next week OTA. Cross my fingers in hope that new fir ...

Live TV has been working well on my box, could be better, but is a lot better than my other box (which cost twice as much as the GT1). It's weird but the playback was choppy the second day I used the box. Now video (live TV) is working well. Will wait anxiously for the firmware update. I'm loving the GT1. For the price I may order one more, and sell my other box. I love the simplified remote, I use a wireless keyboard for android, but for kodi remote is good. Also I couldn't backup kodi addons/settings to a USB Flasdrive, but found a work around, by backing up to local drive, then cutting and pasting to a flash drive. I will need this to copy my kodi setup to the new box.

Freelance · Post time 2016-09-27 01:26:45

paulo72 replied at 2016-09-26 22:49
Live TV has been working well on my box, could be better, but is a lot better than my other box (wh ...

Paulo, could you please press "o" during Live TV and make note of the codecs used?
If you are only watching mpeg streams and codec ff-mpeg2video than software decoding works fine, processor is capable to decode without hiccups, that's why some channels works fine.
Most of the DVB-S2 HD channels are coded in h264 and for that we need hardware decoding. Simply GT1 is not choosing amc-h264 which is availble and used for video playing. It uses ff-h264 which is software codec and the CPU use goes to 98% and causes hiccups ...
amc-h264 is used for recorded TV so it's again very simple confusion in the firmware settings. Programmers did not bother to test all functionalities before they released the firmware ...

paulo72 · Post time 2016-09-27 08:42:22

I see vq in video at 99% and aq in audio at 99%. The highest I see on any one of the 8 cores is 49% for a brief moment. All on 720p live TV (Paid) I don't have any problems. I have updated the firmware already, hear that there will be a new OTA Firmware next week. This is the best performing Android Media Player I've used, and is the least expensive. I love this little box, planning on buying another before discount is up. Will sell my S905 Box I paid almost double for which cannot compare in speed and video quality. Live TV in android and kodi works well.

paulo72 · Post time 2016-09-28 03:05:33

Edited by paulo72 at 2016-09-28 03:07

paulo72 replied at 2016-09-26 22:49
Live TV has been working well on my box, could be better, but is a lot better than my other box (wh ...

I have noticed the flickering a few times yesterday (about 4 times) . Then it stopped and never returned. This is a powerful box. A few firmware updates will make it awesome, especially considering the cost.

Freelance · Post time 2016-09-28 14:54:37

Paulo, please connect keyboard and press "o" during streaming, there you can see the codecs used. I bet it's ff-mpeg2video which is manageable by CPU software decode. Looking into system info you will only see cpu load and signal which is not relevant.
What is your stream source, which TV channels do you watch? DVB-C , DVB-T or DVB-S2? Tvheadend as server?

floki · Post time 2016-09-29 05:56:51

Hi guys, I need help. I'm thinking about buying this box and I plan to use it almost exclusively to watch live tv with the app Xfinity To Go. Has anyone tested this app, is the video playback good in this box?

Recently I bought a Nexbox s905x and had to return it because live tv was choppy, I don't want to do the same mistake. Fire Stick plays perfectly and I wonder if Beelink GT1 is as good?

Thank you.

Freelance · Post time 2016-09-29 14:08:28

floki replied at 2016-09-29 05:56
Hi guys, I need help. I'm thinking about buying this box and I plan to use it almost exclusively to ...

Question is why was the Nexbox s905x choppy, due to buffering or hardware? GT1 have also bad Wi-Fi and than it also depends on the source capacity. Both S905X and S912 are more than capable to play any streaming video, if you have good source and bandwidth.
In this tread the problem is that the S912 have wrong programming in the firmware and does not choose the hardware for decoding for LiveTV in Kodi only. If you stream recorded TV it plays perfectly.

floki · Post time 2016-09-29 20:49:48

Freelance replied at 2016-09-29 14:08
Question is why was the Nexbox s905x choppy, due to buffering or hardware? GT1 have also bad Wi-Fi ...

Thank you Freelance.

Nexbox s905x played Youtube videos well, recorded content as well and the bandwidth was more than enough (ethernet connection) but it just wasn't fluid on live tv, it was watchable but certainly not pleasant, not even half of the resolution obtained by old Fire Stick.

I bought GT1, couldn't pass on it for just 45€, I hope while I wait for it to arrive, the right firmware is released. :o