[anethema]

I know it has been said before, but I'm just wondering if ANYTHING can be done about it.

I've read through the threads, disabled the thumbnail thing. Right now I can't get it to reliably play any MKV in 720p.

I know its early and a bunch of stuff doesn't work, but I'm just trying to get basic video playback. Nothing fancy, no fancy features, just play a 720p file.

Xvids in standard def play 0 issues.

Is there a way to increase the buffer? Like max it out? Use all avail memory for buffering ?

Is there a way to find out WHY its buffering ? Like, there is no way to connect something locally, so it all has to run over the network, but I'm using a 100mbit network, direct connection, to a samba share. What could it be?

Any help at all would be hugely appreciated. From the other threads this seems to be a very pervasive and widespread issue. Seems many if not most, are experiancing this.

I know my vote doesn't count but if this is a coding issue, I vote this is #1 top and only worked on bug haha. Simple MKV playback in something with a hardware decoder should be possible I hope.

Again, any help as well, hugely appreciated.

[dazex]

I have no buffering issues with 720p MKV h.264 content along with the developers. I can even play widescreen/anamorphic 1080p where the vertical resolution doesn't exceed 800pixel or so.

The issue has been discussed. I see some people have buffering issues. But I know the davilla and others who don't see the issue. It's definitely hard to fix an issue we don't experience ourselves. I've consistently played video samples others with buffering problems aren't able to play so I don't know how else to help except to chime in that I don't have the issue plaguing you.

Hope you find the source of your problem.

[anethema]

Just wish I could see where the bottleneck is so I could either fix it or help get someone info to help do this.

Is there no way to play with buffer sizes etc?

[pooh]

I used to have the same issue. Then I re-JB my atv with seasonpass and voila, no more stuttering....

HTH

[ozblogger]

I had random buffering issues over 720p H264 content via SMB - Win 7
Changed sources to use ftp, and voila - no more buffering

using last Stable XBMC-atv2 (10.7) on 4.2

[anethema]

Ya I tried ftp. No help unfortunately ;(

[Cranial]

anathema,

I haven't had any of the buffering issues you describe, and many others haven't. This doesn't say you're imagining the problem

If you're cabled on a decent network, and other devices stream okay, it must be an issue with the ATV2/jailbreak.

Seeing as other people have been having similar problems, I think it's time to track it down.

I don't know anything about SMB, but the only reference to SMB is in "/private/etc/pam.d/samba".

Can you locate the file and check the permissions, file size, etc.

If someone can chime in that knows more about what files/folder locations are used with the SMB protocol? Perhaps we can track down the issue and see what's getting messed up for some people.

My ATV2 outputs:

ATV-XBMC:/private/etc/pam.d root# ls -lsa
total 64
0 drwxr-xr-x 2 root wheel 340 Mar 18 15:26 ./
0 drwxr-xr-x 12 root wheel 952 Mar 18 15:27 ../
8 -rw-r--r-- 1 root wheel 102 Feb 21 17:19 chkpasswd
8 -rw-r--r-- 1 root wheel 364 Feb 21 17:19 login
8 -rw-r--r-- 1 root wheel 191 Feb 21 17:19 other
8 -rw-r--r-- 1 root wheel 186 Feb 21 17:19 passwd
8 -rw-r--r-- 1 root wheel 142 Feb 21 17:19 samba
8 -rw-r--r-- 1 root wheel 408 Feb 21 17:19 sshd
8 -rw-r--r-- 1 root wheel 344 Feb 21 17:19 su
8 -rw-r--r-- 1 root wheel 281 Feb 21 17:19 sudo

[glod]

I have no idea if this helps, but I used to have problems with buffering of pretty much all MKVs - and it was a problem that got worse and worse over time.

What worked for me was a hard reset of the devices (pulling the power plug, and booting it back up, and voila; no more bufffering). Nowadays I do that to them every week or two just to keep things "fresh".

Seems like at least for me it was something that degrades over time, and just quitting XBMC and starting it again doesn't help. That might also explain why some people have had the issue and some haven't - some people maybe power their devices off regularly.

Applies to both my ATV2s, both running 4.2.1 with GP RC6 jailbreak, and XMBC 10.0.0-7

[bircoe]

anethema: you've provided very little in the way of information about your environment, tell us more about your samba share...

What is the share hosted on? NAS, PC/Mac, Router?
If PC/Mac what OS are you running? Have you checked firewall settings?
If NAS/Router what make and model?
What read and write speeds do you get from your samba share?
If it's a NAS/Router what file system is the disk formatted in?

A little information goes a long way to solving your problems...

[anethema]

Sorry. The share is hosted on a linux computer with a Drobo mounted in /mnt/Drobo. This directory is shared via samba.

There is no firewall.

The rouer is a WNDR3700 802.11N router with gigabit ports.

I can get about 10-25 megaBYTES per second from the samba share. When the buffering occurs, the activity light indicates almost no traffic across the drives. I tried also streaming from the hard drive of the server itself (>50 megabytes/sec) with no change.

It is all in ext3.

If there is any other info that would help let me know.

[SandmanCL]

anathema: Have you tried scp'ing a .mkv file locally to the ATV to see how it behaves then ? Make a new dir /private/var/media and copy it there, then add that as a source.

If a locally played file still stutters, then a xbmc debug log would go a long way. If this fixes your problem then you've gotten the confirmation that it is network related.

[anethema]

I actually haven't yet but had planned to do it next. Considering the next-to-nothing amount of space atv2g has, I really could use it working over the network though.

I'll paste back what it does from a local file in a bit though.

Another thought I had was to trick it using sshfs or something along those lines to make it think it is a local file and maybe use higher buffers.

Either way I'll report any results I get.

[SandmanCL]

Yeah, copying one < 6GB file at the time before watching obviously isn't a good permanent solution :-) But it should help you track down the root cause. Does the buffering improve for you if you reboot the atv box just before starting an xbmc session ?

[cloudn9ne]

I have had buffering and stuttering issues with a few larger MKV files encoded with Dolby digital. Once I change the audio track from 5.1 Dolby Digital to stereo in the movie onscreen sound options it fixes the buffering. Might be worth a try since there are quite a few audio bugs still out there.

[mjtice]

I actually have the same problem with SD content (mkv's [and mp4]). Reading through posts I thought maybe it was overhead associated with samba. I created an HTTP source to my videos but I have the same problem. To eliminate the network as a problem I copied a file to the local ATV2 - but I still get the buffering (and some dropped frames). I updated to the latest nightly build - it seemed to help a little with the dropped frames but I still get buffering.

Here is some (perhaps) interesting debug output:

Code:

19:36:10 T:137809920 M: 97468416 WARNING: Decode - avcodec_decode_video didn't consume the full packet. size: 2240, consumed: 0
19:36:10 T:137809920 M: 97452032 WARNING: Decode - avcodec_decode_video didn't consume the full packet. size: 3781, consumed: 0
19:36:11 T:137809920 M: 97722368 WARNING: Decode - avcodec_decode_video didn't consume the full packet. size: 1248, consumed: 0
19:36:12 T:137809920 M: 97546240 WARNING: Decode - avcodec_decode_video didn't consume the full packet. size: 1188, consumed: 0
19:36:14 T:137809920 M: 97370112 WARNING: Decode - avcodec_decode_video didn't consume the full packet. size: 4379, consumed: 0
19:36:16 T:137809920 M: 97550336 WARNING: Decode - avcodec_decode_video didn't consume the full packet. size: 5563, consumed: 0
19:36:17 T:137809920 M: 97550336 WARNING: Decode - avcodec_decode_video didn't consume the full packet. size: 5213, consumed: 0
19:36:18 T:137809920 M: 97550336 WARNING: Decode - avcodec_decode_video didn't consume the full packet. size: 5121, consumed: 0
19:36:19 T:137809920 M: 97398784 WARNING: Decode - avcodec_decode_video didn't consume the full packet. size: 3027, consumed: 0
19:36:20 T:107335680 M: 97550336    INFO: CheckIdle - Closing session to http://192.168.0.2 (easy=0x4b65000, multi=0x234704a0)
19:36:21 T:137809920 M: 97361920 WARNING: Decode - avcodec_decode_video didn't consume the full packet. size: 3685, consumed: 0
19:36:22 T:137809920 M: 97370112 WARNING: Decode - avcodec_decode_video didn't consume the full packet. size: 2618, consumed: 0
19:36:24 T:137809920 M: 97632256 WARNING: Decode - avcodec_decode_video didn't consume the full packet. size: 3072, consumed: 0
19:36:26 T:138772480 M: 94617600 WARNING: CDVDMessageQueue(audio)::Get - asked for new data packet, with nothing available
19:36:26 T:137809920 M: 94617600 WARNING: Decode - avcodec_decode_video didn't consume the full packet. size: 2250, consumed: 0
19:36:27 T:137809920 M: 94351360 WARNING: Decode - avcodec_decode_video didn't consume the full packet. size: 4174, consumed: 0
19:36:27 T:137809920 M: 94351360 WARNING: CDVDMessageQueue(video)::Get - asked for new data packet, with nothing available
19:36:28 T:138772480 M: 94351360   DEBUG: CDVDPlayerAudio:: Discontinuity - was:99295952.375228, should be:99136039.375228, error:-159913.000000
19:36:28 T:138772480 M: 94351360 WARNING: CDVDMessageQueue(audio)::Get - asked for new data packet, with nothing available
19:36:29 T:137809920 M: 94613504 WARNING: Previous line repeats 5 times.
19:36:29 T:137809920 M: 94613504 WARNING: CDVDMessageQueue(video)::Get - asked for new data packet, with nothing available
19:36:29 T:138772480 M: 94433280 WARNING: CDVDMessageQueue(audio)::Get - asked for new data packet, with nothing available
19:36:30 T:138772480 M: 94433280 WARNING: Previous line repeats 2 times.
19:36:30 T:138772480 M: 94433280   DEBUG: CDVDPlayerAudio:: Discontinuity - was:101757719.041895, should be:101568041.166895, error:-189677.875000
19:36:30 T:138772480 M: 94433280 WARNING: CDVDMessageQueue(audio)::Get - asked for new data packet, with nothing available
19:36:32 T:137809920 M: 94609408 WARNING: Previous line repeats 1 times.
19:36:32 T:137809920 M: 94609408 WARNING: CDVDMessageQueue(video)::Get - asked for new data packet, with nothing available
19:36:32 T:138772480 M: 94609408   DEBUG: CDVDPlayerAudio:: Discontinuity - was:103715931.541895, should be:103509038.833562, error:-206892.708333

I'm running IOS 4.2.2 with XBMC v. 10.0-7 (nightly as of May 25).

Here is the mkvinfo from one of the videos in question (in case it helps):

Code:

$ mkvinfo Sons\ of\ Anarchy\ -\ S01E01.mkv
+ EBML head
|+ EBML version: 1
|+ EBML read version: 1
|+ EBML maximum ID length: 4
|+ EBML maximum size length: 8
|+ Doc type: matroska
|+ Doc type version: 2
|+ Doc type read version: 2
+ Segment, size 470370379
|+ Seek head (subentries will be skipped)
|+ EbmlVoid (size: 172)
|+ Chapters
| + EditionEntry
|  + EditionUID: 998379424
|  + EditionFlagDefault: 1
|  + EditionFlagOrdered: 0
|  + ChapterAtom
|   + ChapterUID: 1644941309
|   + ChapterTimeStart: 00:00:00.000000000
|   + ChapterDisplay
|    + ChapterString: Chapter  1
|  + ChapterAtom
|   + ChapterUID: 1762670842
|   + ChapterTimeStart: 00:05:40.340000000
|   + ChapterDisplay
|    + ChapterString: Chapter  2
|  + ChapterAtom
|   + ChapterUID: 788762098
|   + ChapterTimeStart: 00:09:20.393166666
|   + ChapterDisplay
|    + ChapterString: Chapter  3
|  + ChapterAtom
|   + ChapterUID: 524822980
|   + ChapterTimeStart: 00:11:43.703000000
|   + ChapterDisplay
|    + ChapterString: Chapter  4
|  + ChapterAtom
|   + ChapterUID: 579749415
|   + ChapterTimeStart: 00:15:57.126755555
|   + ChapterDisplay
|    + ChapterString: Chapter  5
|  + ChapterAtom
|   + ChapterUID: 1898253444
|   + ChapterTimeStart: 00:21:41.003622222
|   + ChapterDisplay
|    + ChapterString: Chapter  6
|  + ChapterAtom
|   + ChapterUID: 1152239604
|   + ChapterTimeStart: 00:26:45.274255555
|   + ChapterDisplay
|    + ChapterString: Chapter  7
|  + ChapterAtom
|   + ChapterUID: 1143618161
|   + ChapterTimeStart: 00:31:17.913288888
|   + ChapterDisplay
|    + ChapterString: Chapter  8
|  + ChapterAtom
|   + ChapterUID: 1982234710
|   + ChapterTimeStart: 00:32:58.650822222
|   + ChapterDisplay
|    + ChapterString: Chapter  9
|  + ChapterAtom
|   + ChapterUID: 1730028358
|   + ChapterTimeStart: 00:37:09.234488888
|   + ChapterDisplay
|    + ChapterString: Chapter 10
|  + ChapterAtom
|   + ChapterUID: 1879606224
|   + ChapterTimeStart: 00:40:36.941988888
|   + ChapterDisplay
|    + ChapterString: Chapter 11
|  + ChapterAtom
|   + ChapterUID: 362152209
|   + ChapterTimeStart: 00:42:04.362655555
|   + ChapterDisplay
|    + ChapterString: Chapter 12
|+ EbmlVoid (size: 3708)
|+ Segment information
| + Segment UID: 0xe9 0x0e 0x1b 0x40 0x34 0x3d 0x04 0x9f 0x50 0x0d 0x8b 0xd5 0xd5 0x24 0x42 0x15
| + Muxing application: libmkv 0.6.4.1
| + Writing application: HandBrake 0.9.5
| + Timecode scale: 1000000
| + Duration: 2723.253s (00:45:23.253)
|+ Segment tracks
| + A track
|  + Track number: 1
|  + Track UID: 661332790
|  + Track type: video
|  + Lacing flag: 0
|  + Codec ID: V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC
|  + CodecPrivate, length 47
|  + Default duration: 41.708ms (23.976 fps for a video track)
|  + Default flag: 1
|  + MinCache: 1
|  + Video track
|   + Pixel width: 720
|   + Pixel height: 480
|   + Display width: 853
|   + Display height: 480
| + A track
|  + Track number: 2
|  + Track UID: 1269124653
|  + Track type: audio
|  + Lacing flag: 0
|  + Codec ID: A_AAC
|  + CodecPrivate, length 2
|  + Language: eng
|  + Default flag: 1
|  + Audio track
|   + Sampling frequency: 48000
|   + Channels: 2
| + A track
|  + Track number: 3
|  + Track UID: 962337294
|  + Track type: subtitles
|  + Lacing flag: 0
|  + Codec ID: S_VOBSUB
|  + CodecPrivate, length 349
|  + Language: eng
|  + Default flag: 0
|+ Cluster

JailBroken with seas0npass (as noted here: http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=Ins...MC_on_ATV2 )