[Draconix]

I watched a full 4K BluRay (The Outfit) on my 2019 Nvidia Shield using the "Jan 19" build posted by @jogal. The passthrough audiotrack was set to IEC.

As for the audio, it was completely flawless throughout. TrueHD Atmost passthrough worked as expected, with zero audio dropouts! It may still be too early to declare victory, but this is so far a really good sign that the fix by fritsch is indeed working.

The issue I had was actually with the video. I observed a frequent sort of "frame skip" where it felt like it was jumping ahead by a frame every so often. At around the 15 minute mark I decided to stop the playback and then play it again, resuming at the same position that I stopped at. Immediately the video was completely smooth and I was able to finish the rest of the movie with no issues.

I should be clear that I have only ever experienced video issues on Kodi v20+ when I played a file with 4K video and TrueHD Atmos. Every other video/audio combination always ran perfectly (including 1080p with TrueHD Atmos). While I'm definitely glad that the audio dropout issue appears to be fixed, I'm still hoping to find a version of Kodi that plays 4K + TrueHD without issues. Next I'll be testing supertoto1977's build from the original post to see if there's a potential solution there. Thank you to the devs for your continued hard work!

[supertoto1977]

Please test the "official" fix from fritsch first.
You can test my fix in a second time.
A part of my fix has already been discussed with fritsch and it's too agressive to be validated by him.
Don't forget to say which fix you have tested and the results.

[Draconix]

Please test the "official" fix from fritsch first.
You can test my fix in a second time.
A part of my fix has already been discussed with fritsch and it's too agressive to be validated by him.
Don't forget to say which fix you have tested and the results.

As I mentioned in my previous post, I did test on the official nightly build posted by jogal. I found that the audio fix by fritsch worked perfectly, but I still experienced stuttering video. As I was not satisfied with the results, I'm going to be testing your build next.

I only experience stutters on some videos with the following combination: High bitrate 4K video + TrueHD Atmos.
Every other combination works perfectly.

[Tanzbaerli]

Just to fully understand it .... 

To test it on the NVidia shield tube (32 bit) where i have Atmos-Micro-Dropouts i have to ....

• Install the kodi 20 release over my 19.5 version manually (it was not offered in the google store yesterday evening)
  
• Use the https://mirrors.kodi.tv/nightlies/androi...bi-v7a.apk (or newer) and install it over the release
  

Correct ?
Or can i go directly to the nightly?

But in all ways i loose my release version ?
Is this a stable version for everyday use or just for test ?

[SoulReaver]

Just to fully understand it .... 

To test it on the NVidia shield tube (32 bit) where i have Atmos-Micro-Dropouts i have to ....

• Install the kodi 20 release over my 19.5 version manually (it was not offered in the google store yesterday evening)
  
• Use the https://mirrors.kodi.tv/nightlies/androi...bi-v7a.apk (or newer) and install it over the release
  

Correct ?
Or can i go directly to the nightly?

But in all ways i loose my release version ?
Is this a stable version for everyday use or just for test ?

Always make a backup first.

These are test builds.

You should be able to update directly to nightly version yes.

[Tanzbaerli]

Just to fully understand it .... 

To test it on the NVidia shield tube (32 bit) where i have Atmos-Micro-Dropouts i have to ....

• Install the kodi 20 release over my 19.5 version manually (it was not offered in the google store yesterday evening)
  
• Use the https://mirrors.kodi.tv/nightlies/androi...bi-v7a.apk (or newer) and install it over the release
  

Correct ?
Or can i go directly to the nightly?

But in all ways i loose my release version ?
Is this a stable version for everyday use or just for test ?

I think i am wrong.
There is no 32 bit version to test this fix.
The "test-build" from above is for 64 bit only and i assumed the nightly has this fix too.

Do i have to wait for he nightly from 19.1.2023 or is there a 32 bit build with the fritsch fix?
What is the correct Android 32 bit version including the "fritsch" fix?

[SoulReaver]

Do i have to wait for he nightly from 19.1.2023

Yes, unless you are lucky to get a test-build before that like with the 64-bit release.

[jogal]

fritsch's test builds:

ARM64:
https://mirrors.kodi.tv/test-builds/andr...64-v8a.apk

ARM:
https://mirrors.kodi.tv/test-builds/andr...bi-v7a.apk

From tomorrow also in:
https://mirrors.kodi.tv/nightlies/androi...8a/master/
https://mirrors.kodi.tv/nightlies/android/arm/master/

[Draconix]

I just tested the KODIFOO21 build posted by @supertoto1977 using the same file as the previous test. I only had time to watch the first 45 minutes but from what I've seen so far, it was completely perfect! I never experienced a single frame stutter or audio dropout so far. I hope that the Kodi team looks into @supertoto1977's fix because it has been far superior to fritsch's fix in my early testing. I may end up just using the Kodifoo version from now on if the official build doesn't implement @supertoto1977's fix, since it works so much better for me.

To be clear, fritsh's fix absolutely does solve the TrueHD audio dropout problem with IEC. However, I was still getting video stutters (which according to fritsch is an Nvidia Shield issue). Using @supertoto1977's build, I had no audio dropouts AND smooth/flawless video playback on my 2019 Shield.

I only had one issue with the Kodifoo build, so this is a question for @supertoto1977:
I use an Xbox controller to navigate Kodi, but your Kodifoo21 build seems to emulate the Shield Remote's buttons on my controller. So in the regular Kodi, I can use the X button to pull up the context menu, but on your build I have to hold A for a second to get the context menu because X just acts as the B button. (The controller on the Kodifoo build also makes the same kind of sounds as the Shield Remote when pressing buttons, whle in the regular Kodi it is silent). Is there any way to restore normal controller function in Kodifoo? If not, could you perhaps make me a build with your TrueHD IEC fix that uses the regular controller inputs?

[masonlee]

what a nice fix~!
does fritsch's fix also work for dts hd ma and dts x audio passthrough?

[Tanzbaerli]

fritsch's test builds:

ARM64:
https://mirrors.kodi.tv/test-builds/andr...64-v8a.apk

ARM:
https://mirrors.kodi.tv/test-builds/andr...bi-v7a.apk

From tomorrow also in:
https://mirrors.kodi.tv/nightlies/androi...8a/master/
https://mirrors.kodi.tv/nightlies/android/arm/master/

Thank you very much, i hope i will have time to check all this today.
Just downloaded the builds.
Does it make sense to test the new Kodi 20 first or does it make more sense to test the "fritsch's" build immedeately?

As far as i see here, Kodi 20 should have the same Audio problems as 19.5?

I had this Audio problems (micro audio drops) on the "James bond - No time to die" german Atmos track every few minutes. (Kodi 19.5)

[supertoto1977]

I updated the first post with the fritsch's fix nightly builds links (thk @jogal).
Moreover, i added 32-bit version of my fix (same code than 64-bit).

@Draconix , i don't know for your issue.
Did you restore a backup from kodi to KodiFoo? As it is not the same application name, some addons/settings could not be restored properly.
Or it is an effect of the nightly build. My version has been build asof 2023-01-15.
Will see during the week end to provide an updated version.

[Draconix]

@Draconix , i don't know for your issue.
Did you restore a backup from kodi to KodiFoo? As it is not the same application name, some addons/settings could not be restored properly.
Or it is an effect of the nightly build. My version has been build asof 2023-01-15.
Will see during the week end to provide an updated version.

Yes, I used your 2023-01-15 KODIFOO21 build and I copied my org.xbmc.kodi folder and renamed it to org.xbmc.kodifoo21. I don't use any addons except weather (which worked fine), and I also double-checked all my settings. In fact, as I said previously, your org.xbmc.kodifoo21 build gives me perfect video and audio for everything (using IEC)! I am very happy with your code changes because it's the only thing that gives me perfect audio and video. I did try fitsch's build with the fix (the one that @jogal posted) and it does fix audio dropouts, but it doesn't fix the video stuttering problem on the Shield like your build does.

So again, your Kodifoo build is amazing! I just wanted to know how to get my Xbox controller to function properly with your build, because it behaves very differently from any other Kodi build.

[Tanzbaerli]

My test results:
The problem is that the test is very time consuming because the problem happens randomly!

James-Bond - No Time to die - UHD - HDR - German TrueHD Atmos Track
Sound Delay +0.2 seconds ... otherwise its not lip sync!
Onkyo Receiver with 5.1.2 sound setting - Home Cinema Beamer Epson 9400
Nvidia Shield TV "cube" 2019 (newest update)
Movie on Synology NAS shared by SMB

Fortuneately (for testing) the dropout happens (on Kodi 19.5) very often in this movie during the James Bond Theme  in the first minute of the movie. So i can do a quick test very fast!

Kodi 20 release:
Micro dropout during first minute of movie in 5 from 6 cases!
(no improvement to Kodi 19.5)

kodi-20230119-5715cb0c-master-27961-armeabi-v7a (nightly)
No micro dropouts after 7 tries during the Intro. 
But after 10 to 20 minutes there was always the first micro dropout on different positions. (Restarted 3 times and it happened 3 times)

kodifoo21-armeabi-v7a-release_2023-01-15 from Supertoto
No micro dropout during the Intro. (tried it 3 times)
No micro dropouts in the movie during the first 30 Minutes (tried 2 times).

My  impression is that the "fritsch"-changes are a big improvement but only the "agressive" Supertoto-fix solves the problem really!

[Hitcher]

In fact, as I said previously, your org.xbmc.kodifoo21 build gives me perfect video and audio for everything (using IEC)!

So the question is what changes were made that would affect video playback?