Android MiniClient - ExoPlayer

[stuckless]

Some time ago, I updated to ExoPlayer 2x. I don't use ExoPlayer myself, because it requires 100% hardware decoding for audio and video formats, and it uses audio passthrough (and I can't see a way to turn it off). Audio pass-through is great if your TV can decode ac3 or if you are going through a receiver that decodes it, but otherwise, you get video without audio.

ExoPlayer 2x introduced "extensions" and one of the extensions was ffmpeg extension for audio. So I build ExoPlayer with the ffmpeg extension (enabling ac3) and now I get audio/video using ExoPlayer.

The problem of course, is that this likely disables audio-passthrough, so I won't be releasing it until I can figure out a solution to enable both (via configuration most likely).

I haven't spent much time with ExoPlayer, but, now that I can use it more reliably, I'll start using it, and see what other issues I encounter.

[cculpepp]

I'm new to all of this so this may have already been discussed, but the problem that I'm having with mini-client using Exoplayer on the Sheild is that live tv is very choppy and stuttery. Local files (mostly in mkv form) play fine, live tv is the issue. Does Exoplayer have a problem with mpeg2 or is it something else causing this problem on the Nvidia Shield. Everything plays fine with the default (ijk) player with no pass through (obviously).

[stuckless]

Originally Posted by cculpepp

I'm new to all of this so this may have already been discussed, but the problem that I'm having with mini-client using Exoplayer on the Sheild is that live tv is very choppy and stuttery. Local files (mostly in mkv form) play fine, live tv is the issue. Does Exoplayer have a problem with mpeg2 or is it something else causing this problem on the Nvidia Shield. Everything plays fine with the default (ijk) player with no pass through (obviously).

I don't really have any mpeg2 content (other than for testing)... but I haven't noticed any issues myself. Both ExoPlayer and IJKPlayer would use the hardware decoding for mpeg2... the difference is that with IJKPlayer it will software decode the audio if it's ac3. So maybe it's the audio that is causing the issue with ExoPlayer.

[cculpepp]

Originally Posted by stuckless

I don't really have any mpeg2 content (other than for testing)... but I haven't noticed any issues myself. Both ExoPlayer and IJKPlayer would use the hardware decoding for mpeg2... the difference is that with IJKPlayer it will software decode the audio if it's ac3. So maybe it's the audio that is causing the issue with ExoPlayer.

My Shield is connected to an Onkyo TXNR-616 via HDMI. Hmmm.....probably is something with the audio. I'm using the HDHomerun Connect as my tuner, and when I watch live tv on the Shield with the Live Channels or the HDHomerun View apps, ac3 passes through without issue. I wonder why it's choking on the mini-client with Exoplayer.

[stuckless]

Originally Posted by cculpepp

My Shield is connected to an Onkyo TXNR-616 via HDMI. Hmmm.....probably is something with the audio. I'm using the HDHomerun Connect as my tuner, and when I watch live tv on the Shield with the Live Channels or the HDHomerun View apps, ac3 passes through without issue. I wonder why it's choking on the mini-client with Exoplayer.

You can probably test that theory with the next MiniClient update (updated today)... There is a configuration setting to disable audio-passthrough. Try disabling it, and seeing if you still have stuttering issues.

I did look on the ExoPlayer issue list to see if there were issues related to mpeg2 playback... There has been some stuttering issues reported... but none are open (ie, they are all hardware specific or fixed).

[cculpepp]

Originally Posted by stuckless

You can probably test that theory with the next MiniClient update (updated today)... There is a configuration setting to disable audio-passthrough. Try disabling it, and seeing if you still have stuttering issues.

I did look on the ExoPlayer issue list to see if there were issues related to mpeg2 playback... There has been some stuttering issues reported... but none are open (ie, they are all hardware specific or fixed).

Ok. I updated to today's version of the mini-client. I enabled Exoplayer and disabled audio pass-through. Same results....very choppy video and no sound.

[stuckless]

Originally Posted by cculpepp

Ok. I updated to today's version of the mini-client. I enabled Exoplayer and disabled audio pass-through. Same results....very choppy video and no sound.

At least you know it has nothing to do with Audio... It may be something in the mpeg2 stream that ExoPlayer is having issues with.

[panteragstk]

Originally Posted by stuckless

At least you know it has nothing to do with Audio... It may be something in the mpeg2 stream that ExoPlayer is having issues with.

I would say it is an issue with mpeg2 and exoplayer. Everything else plays fine, but as soon as I try to play an mpeg2 file (HDHR) it fails to play properly.

[mlcarson]

The new version is working great with Exoplayer on my Nvidia Shield and Comcast MPEG2 channels. Is there any advantage in using Exoplayer over ijkplayer?

[EnterNoEscape]

Audio passthrough appears to be the only big one that comes to mind. Also it's nice to have options; which is another reason why ExoPlayer is there.

[stuckless]

Originally Posted by mlcarson

The new version is working great with Exoplayer on my Nvidia Shield and Comcast MPEG2 channels. Is there any advantage in using Exoplayer over ijkplayer?

Originally Posted by EnterNoEscape

Audio passthrough appears to be the only big one that comes to mind. Also it's nice to have options; which is another reason why ExoPlayer is there.

Initially I chose IJKPlayer because it's a ffmpeg based player and it could software decode formats if the hardware didn't have hardware decoders (more useful on a phone/tablet, since those generally are lacking on the hardware decoding side).

Narflex later suggested that I look at ExoPlayer, and so I did. Initially it didn't support mpeg2-ps, so Narflex added that to ExoPlayer... but I also would run into some issues on some files, and so I tended to stick with IJKPlayer. I the 2.xx release of ExoPlayer is pretty stable, and as of the release I did on on the weekend, I'm going to try to use ExoPlayer as the default player (in my setup), to see other issues I encounter. I've watched about 10 shows with it so far, and I haven't found any issues, yet.

ExoPlayer is a pure java player with no native parts (makes it easy to build and work with). The exception is that with the release I did on the weekend, it can use ffmpeg to software decode ac3 audio if you don't have an audio-passthrough setup (which I don't).

[jptheripper]

i know so little, but barely reading the forums

is there a chance using dcadec in ffmpeg would allow dts decoding as well as ac3?

[cncb]

I just tried the new version using ExoPlayer with my MPEG-2 recordings on my Shield TV and unfortunately it still has a lot of problems. With my Sage recordings, it seems to stick on the first frame of video and not play at all or in a strange fast-forward fashion. It plays .ts recordings from another program OK but skipping around is still an issue where the timeline jumps to the end of the recording unexpectedly (even though this was fixed in Plex with the last firmware update). I might be able to upload some samples if you have any time or desire to take a look.

[KarylFStein]

It seems like (for me) it has trouble with 720p@60 MPEG2-TS (CableCard) and skipping. Eventually it will just skip all the way to the end. I tried a couple 1080i@29.97 MPEG2-TS files (CableCard and OTA) and skipping was fine with those.

Also, a couple times I exited the app and no longer had audio and had to reboot to get it back. In those cases if you pressed the volume on the controller instead of giving you the volume bar it said something about being in surround mode and to use the receiver volume control.

[stuckless]

Originally Posted by jptheripper

i know so little, but barely reading the forums

is there a chance using dcadec in ffmpeg would allow dts decoding as well as ac3?

Yeah, I think that's possible. I just added "ac3" but if there's a "dcadec" codec that can be enabled, then I can enable that as well. (I don't have anything to test though, since I don't have any dcadec media files.

[jm9843]

Originally Posted by cncb

It plays .ts recordings from another program OK but skipping around is still an issue where the timeline jumps to the end of the recording unexpectedly (even though this was fixed in Plex with the last firmware update).

Were you using audio passthrough when the jump to the end happened? ExoPlayer issue 1522 had to do with this but has been marked closed since it was device specific to the Nvidia Shield and should have been fixed in the last firmware update.

For the curious, do you have a link to the discussion about this being fixed in Plex? Maybe they had to do something on the software side in combination with Nvidia's fix.

[Daweeze]

Hey Stuckless,

Any idea when MiniClient 1.1.0 will hit the Amazon App Store or are you waiting to fork that version before deploying the next release there?

-Travis

[cculpepp]

Originally Posted by mlcarson

The new version is working great with Exoplayer on my Nvidia Shield and Comcast MPEG2 channels. Is there any advantage in using Exoplayer over ijkplayer?

I'm completely stumped. Anytime I try to play OTA mpeg2 channels with ExoPlayer, it's very choppy with no sound. Is your Shield connected to an AVR then to your TV, or directly to your TV?

[jptheripper]

Originally Posted by stuckless

Yeah, I think that's possible. I just added "ac3" but if there's a "dcadec" codec that can be enabled, then I can enable that as well. (I don't have anything to test though, since I don't have any dcadec media files.

https://ffmpeg.zeranoe.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2385

awesome test file site (once you click the link, click the video in the middle of all the ads
http://www.demo-world.eu/2d-demo-trailers-hd/

Look for something about halfway down with DTS-HD MA 7.1

[stuckless]

Originally Posted by Daweeze

Hey Stuckless,

Any idea when MiniClient 1.1.0 will hit the Amazon App Store or are you waiting to fork that version before deploying the next release there?

-Travis

I could push 1.1.0 to the Amazon App Store... I just ignored it... since EvilPenguin had a separate fork with Amazon's version of ExoPlayer. If people want, I can publish 1.1.0 to the Amazon store.