[Bearnet]

I've been successfully watching HD TV  (H.264) streams from my own Tvheadend server over a VPN connection with Kodi on Chromecast for Google TV 4k. A few days ago, I installed Kodi on a Chromecast for Google TV HD that's in the same local net as the Tvheadend server. On this device, the video stream seems smooth for a few seconds but starts stuttering and lagging badly only after a few seconds. Commercial streaming apps such as Netflix and HBO Max run smooth as butter on the HD device.

I've uploaded the debug log. Can someone with more knowledge try and see if there's something I'm doing wrong? The debug log is from 20.2 but the same issue manifests on version 19.5 and the latest v21 prerelease build, as well.

[Bearnet]

I'm surprised no-one else seems to have experience related to my issue, working or not. Anyway, I did further testing with a recorded TV stream (TS H264 1080i50). Neither Kodi, Plex nor VLC can play back the file without extreme stuttering. Again, the 4k version of the device works perfectly. My guess is that it may be a hardware issue or limitation (unlikely) or a bug in firmware. Unfortunately, I don't have the expertise to investigate further.

So, if you're considering purchasing the Chromecast with Google TV (HD version) and planning to play back interlaced video on it, be warned that it didn't work for me.

[fritsch]

Interlaced content is most likely the problem. This thingy from the past is not really what such devices are made for anymore. There is basically no streaming service that would use interlaced technology anymore.

[hello_world.c]

Yes, thank you. I've experienced the exact same thing as the OP and ended up here. Indeed it's only the 1080i H264 streams that exhibit this problem and nothing in the settings (system or Kodi) I tried could alleviate that. The Chromecast for Google TV 4k has the stronger hardware and doesn't show this problem.