Frodo and VU+ PVR ongoing problems
#1
All

I have a significant problem that is stopping me from upgrading XBMC and openelec and worse - it is annoying the other half...

I use 3 Raspberry Pi's running OpenElec and the VU+ PVR client pulling streams from a VU+ SOLO2.

On Openelec release 12928 and earlier everything works fine (there are a number of small bugs that cause crashes etc, but nothing too bad). Upgrading to a later release though and my LiveTV hits upon two major issues.

The first is the black screen issue when choosing some channels, this is discussed elsewhere so I will leave that. The other problem though is to do with audio - certain channel (for example Nick Jr) when you start the stream the pause icon flashes and the audio hiccups - after around 5-10 seconds of this the audio then breaks to the point it only plays bursts of audio...

XBMC log shows the following, repeated constantly

09:31:57 T:2702177376 INFO: COMXPlayerVideo - Stillframe detected, switching to forced 25.000000 fps
09:31:57 T:3042779136 DEBUG: PrepareNextRender no buffer, out: 0, current: 0, display: 4
09:31:58 T:2620388448 DEBUG: Previous line repeats 5 times.
09:31:58 T:2620388448 DEBUG: video stream stalled. start buffering
09:31:58 T:2620388448 DEBUG: COMXPlayer::SetCaching - caching state 2
09:31:58 T:2620388448 DEBUG: OMXClock::OMXSetSpeed 0 buffering 0
09:31:58 T:2620388448 DEBUG: COMXPlayer::HandleMessages - player started 2
09:31:58 T:2620388448 DEBUG: set caching from pvr to done. audio (1) = 17. video (1) = 6
09:31:58 T:2620388448 DEBUG: COMXPlayer::SetCaching - caching state 0
09:31:58 T:2620388448 DEBUG: OMXClock::OMXSetSpeed 1 buffering 0
09:31:58 T:2702177376 INFO: COMXPlayerVideo - Stillframe left, switching to normal playback
09:31:58 T:3042779136 DEBUG: PrepareNextRender no buffer, out: 0, current: 0, display: 4
09:31:58 T:2637165664 DEBUG: COMXPlayerAudio - CDVDMsg:TongueLAYER_SETSPEED
09:31:58 T:2620388448 DEBUG: Previous line repeats 43 times.
09:31:58 T:2620388448 DEBUG: COMXPlayer::HandleMessages - player started 1
09:31:58 T:3042779136 DEBUG: PrepareNextRender no buffer, out: 0, current: 0, display: 4
09:31:58 T:2702177376 DEBUG: Previous line repeats 7 times.
09:31:58 T:2702177376 INFO: COMXPlayerVideo - Stillframe detected, switching to forced 25.000000 fps

This looks to be a buffering issue - but the stream is absolutely fine on the earlier release, to the point I can simultaneously watch it fine on one rpi (older version) and the other it stutters

A number of channels are completely unaffected by this, all the FTA for example and Movie channels - other channels are hit and miss as to whether they are affected... but all the Nick Jr's are terrible (naturally, the kids favourite)

Any help would be *greatly* appreciated

Thanks

Sz
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#2
Additional info - it looks as though the "stutter" is coming from the VU+ box... if I stream using VLC I get the following warnings;

main warning: computed PTS is out of range (9309), clearing out
main warning: computed PTS is out of range (50984), clearing out
main warning: PTS is out of range (50984), dropping buffer

So the stream isn't healthy - however the way XBMC copes with this isn't ideal (breaking the audio). There is certainly no issues with the audio using the older version of XBMC

I have raised a ticket with the VU+ guys, but it would be good if there is a fix (see workaround) at the XBMC side... i.e. behave the same as the older versions
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#3
What image you are using on your VU+?

I recently changed from VTI to VIX, and all my problems regarding streaming are gone now (though I'm not using XBMC with an RPi)

Maybe it is worth a try?
VU+ / Enigma2 PVR Client: Documentation | Development | Discussion
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#4
I'm using VU+ Uno with BlackPole image, it is working fine in streaming contents to XBMC and VLC too.
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#5
Quote:The first is the black screen
Where is this discussed?
As i have a similar issue when selecting channels that sometimes the Screen just stays black and when selecting the same channel again after some Minutes it works.
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#6
(2013-03-18, 20:58)niemand0815 Wrote:
Quote:The first is the black screen
Where is this discussed?
As i have a similar issue when selecting channels that sometimes the Screen just stays black and when selecting the same channel again after some Minutes it works.

I suffer from this problem every so often, so it isn't something that I have been actively chasing (as opposed to the stuttering audio issue). In fact, I assumed the two were related until I fixed (worked around) my main issue (see below) and I still have the odd black screen....

Anyway, here is one thread I have found here - though search for OMXplayer and "black screen" and you will probably find more.

Interestingly, one of the things I found whilst trying to fix the stuttering audio issue is that if when you get the black screen you go to audio options on the channel and change HDMI to Optical then the stream works

I am pretty sure there is no fix for this yet... let me know if you find something though

Thanks

Sz
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#7
(2013-03-17, 19:37)jdembski Wrote: What image you are using on your VU+?

I recently changed from VTI to VIX, and all my problems regarding streaming are gone now (though I'm not using XBMC with an RPi)

Maybe it is worth a try?

Thanks Jdembski.... I have changed from BlackHole to Vix and still had the problem (the emphasis on "had")

I did a bit of digging in the source code and found the following in OMXPlayerVideo.cpp

//Okey, start rendering at stream fps now instead, we are likely in a stillframe
if( !m_stalled )
{
if(m_started)
CLog::Log(LOGINFO, "COMXPlayerVideo - Stillframe detected, switching to forced %f fps", m_fFrameRate);
m_stalled = true;
pts += frametime*4;
}


"likely in a stillframe" doesn't fill me with confidence....

After hunting through the code to figure out why I am ending up in this "if" statement and then trying to regress a few earlier patches I plumbed for the dirty hack and (please look away now if you are a coding guru - just keep in mind I am a network bod, barely touching coding) - I simply created a patch to comment out setting m_stalled to true and setting the PTS (I left in the debug so I could see if I was still hitting the code).... recompiled and voila, perfectly streamed "Peppa Pig" (a Nick Jr favourite).

I suspect there is an issue with either some of the channels I am watching - though this also affects non kids channels such as "UK Food" and "Dave", so unlikely if nobody else is affected, or there is an issue with the streaming on the VU+ combined with these channels (though again, why aren't others affected, is this such an unusual setup?)... whatever this downstream issue is that is causing the PTS to drift, XBMC is reading the stream as having many still frames and repeatedly setting "stalled"Huh

All I can say is that the audio and video are perfect when I take those two lines out.... as I appear to be on my lonesome with this I either need to brush up on my code or simply keep patching and recompiling (I can't imagine there will be a huge amount of interest in "fixing" this if the code may not even be at fault)

Thanks for your input though... and keep up the good work, your client is a life saver in our house

Cheers

Sz
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#8
Hi!

I think you should share your findings in the RPi support forum, as this may affect not only PVR users, but also others. I'm sure one of the XBMC gurus can help out Smile

Cheers,

Joerg
VU+ / Enigma2 PVR Client: Documentation | Development | Discussion
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#9
(2013-03-19, 23:01)jdembski Wrote: Hi!

I think you should share your findings in the RPi support forum, as this may affect not only PVR users, but also others. I'm sure one of the XBMC gurus can help out Smile

Cheers,

Joerg

Interesting, so the RPI forum as opposed to the OpenElec or XBMC forums.....

I'll take your steer on this and submit my findings.

Cheers

Sz
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#10
No, I meant the XBMC forum, but the sub section dedicated to the RPi Smile
VU+ / Enigma2 PVR Client: Documentation | Development | Discussion
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#11
Any news in this ? Still have black screen and xbmc crash sometimes when zapping around
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Frodo and VU+ PVR ongoing problems0