[spazure]

The all-important pastebin: http://pastebin.com/Lpcce1mk

Platform: Apple TV2
Version of iOS/ATV: 4.4.4 (3330) -- tried to get 4.3 but didn't have blobs b/c i just bought it yesterday and it came with 4.4 *sigh*

XBMC: 11.0-RC1 (isn't this eden? why do i have eden? i thought i grabbed the latest stable release, according to the wiki) compiled 2/26/2011

Install method -- apt-get, running exact commands from the wiki


The exact problem: /any/ MKV I play, regardless of codec, stutters (both the video AND the audio). They play, they are just unwatchable.

This happens whether it's 1080p or 720, the only common ground I can find is that it only happens with files in the mkv container (in my library, this means anime dvd and blu-ray movie rips, mostly).

All files are streaming over SMB, some are off a USB drive, some are from a SATA internal hard drive on the share machine. Both machines doing the sharing are Windows 7 Professional with all patches applied and fully up-to-date. Windows Live Essentials have been installed and then uninstalled. We are streaming over a WIRED gigabit network, through a LLinksys E3000 router. For the sake of issue isolation, all PC usage on the machines hosting the content was STOPPED during testing -- this includes torrents and basic web browsing.

One file: 1080, vc1, dolby true hd, 16.9, file container mkv (on SATA drive connected over SMB)

Other file: 720, h.264, aac, 16.9, file container mkv (on USB drive connected over SMB)

At first I thought the issue was that the atv2 just couldn't handle 1080 (which is understandable, it's a freaking 11GB file), but when it also wouldn't play 720 I got concerned...

By contast, of course, xvid sd with mp3 audio plays fine.. but kinda defeats the purpose of purchasing a device designed to stream hd video directly to my tv (and bypassing my 360, which has been my primary media center thus far).

Keep in mind, I don't know much about codecs, I just know that I install CCP and Haali Media Splitter and Divx Codecs and my PC plays pretty much anything I throw at it.

Also, XBMC 10.1 on either Windows 7 machine plays these exact same files without issue (both over samba and locall) -- and I'd like to point out that both of these machines have craptastic GPUs that are over half a decade old, so they're not particularly special.

I'm willing to boot make an Ubuntu live CD and try hosting the files that way if necessary, although that would be a kludge solution b/c I'd have to reboot into linux everytime I want to serve a file... the only spare PC I have that I could dedicate to media is, well, still IDE so I doubt even the hdd could handle hd video.

.. and before you ask me to use the search function, I did. It's how I narrowed down the playback problem to only mkv content regardless of resolution, tried other files, tried on other platforms, etc (I also killed my brain for 6 hours before the thing finally agreed to jailbreak for me -- so I'm admittedly a bit scatterbrained atm). I may have missed something, I'm human. Please be kind.

(And, less importantly, I also can't get it to go into library mode anymore -- ever since I added video sources, the option to switch btwn file mode and library mode has vanished.. although that's more of an aesthetic issue than anything else, as long as the thing functions).

[Memphiz]

The IOS FAQ says that atv2 only can hardware decode h.264 content. Seems like 1080p VC1 is not such thing.

For your 720p content which seems h.264 it might be the AAC stream which is the issue. AAC has to be decoded by software on atv2 which might just be too much for that tiny cpu. Better go with AC3 or DTS sound an pass it through to an av-receiver (and let him do that nasty heavy work ...)

There are other limitations but since you didn't post mediainfo or logfiles (you should definitily read the first link in my signature) i don't do any crystal ball guesses here.

[spazure]

The IOS FAQ says that atv2 only can hardware decode h.264 content. Seems like 1080p VC1 is not such thing.

For your 720p content which seems h.264 it might be the AAC stream which is the issue. AAC has to be decoded by software on atv2 which might just be too much for that tiny cpu. Better go with AC3 or DTS sound an pass it through to an av-receiver (and let him do that nasty heavy work ...)

There are other limitations but since you didn't post mediainfo or logfiles (you should definitily read the first link in my signature) i don't do any crystal ball guesses here.

I did link my xbmc debug file first link of the OP, but since you missed it I'll also toss it in again right here.


As for mediainfo, sorry, I thought you meant the mediainfo from the "media info" view in xbmc.. didn't realize there was a third party app to give even more information.

Here you go:


Test for 1080: 1080p, vc1, dolby true hd, 16.9, file container mkv (on SATA drive connected over SMB) -- xml dump here, and also the plaintext version


Test for 720: h.264, aac, 16.9, file container mkv (on USB drive connected over SMB) -- xml dump here, and also the plaintext version


Also here's screencaps of all the info xbmc feels like giving me for the respective files:

http://imgur.com/H2yL4,AzBGQ#0


Syslog: http://pastebin.com/y76RqeuT

Crash Report: http://pastebin.com/1Ve883Q6 (not having problems with crashes, was kinda surprised to find i had crash reports)

[DLeavy]

For your 720p file, you may want to take a look at this:

http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid...nce+frames

[spazure]

For your 720p file, you may want to take a look at this:

http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid...nce+frames

Read the whole thread, then re-checked mediainfo output.. the 720 file /is/ at the 16 reference frames limit, unless I'm misunderstanding it? http://pastebin.com/8csuWsUf

[Memphiz]

Well i overlooked the logs - but more important are the mediainfo you provided know. My post is still right. I think i mentioned what i think is the issue.

1080p VC1 with True HD audio? <- NEVER!
720p h.264 wit 16 ref frames and AAC audio! <- NO NO NO!

Go for some serious encoder settings (1080p h.264 3ref frames, AC3 or DTS passthrough, 720p h.264 5ref frames, AC3 or DTS passthrough). These are my personal experience and such files are working for me.

Overall you should try to keep below 15 MBit/s overall bitrate with h.264 content (safe side of things).

[spazure]

Well i overlooked the logs - but more important are the mediainfo you provided know. My post is still right. I think i mentioned what i think is the issue.

1080p VC1 with True HD audio? <- NEVER!
720p h.264 wit 16 ref frames and AAC audio! <- NO NO NO!

Go for some serious encoder settings (1080p h.264 3ref frames, AC3 or DTS passthrough, 720p h.264 5ref frames, AC3 or DTS passthrough). These are my personal experience and such files are working for me.

Overall you should try to keep below 15 MBit/s overall bitrate with h.264 content (safe side of things).

OK. I went ahead and transcoded the 1080 file down to 720 h.264 ac3, I haven't had a chance to do the 720 file yet (because, well, the 1080 file took 6 hours lol). Thanks for the tip -- I'll let you know how things go when I have a chance to test the transcoded down versions.

Thanks for your help, I'm crossing my fingers that this'll make things watchable again, even if I have to give up some video quality to do it.


edit: Looks like I'm off to the Handbrake forums. Having some trouble with some codecs, but none of this is xbmc related. Thanks again!!