HD300 Replacement options

[panteragstk]

Originally Posted by cncb

I have "lip sync" problems when playing through my AVR which I assume is due to bitstreaming/passthrough being unavailable for ijkplayer.

Not an issue at all for me. I have tons of mpeg2 recordings. I would think this would affect mpeg4 recordings as well since the audio codec is likely the same.

One thing I've noticed that isn't shield related is that different AVRs handle streams differently. My cheap pioneer 521 is lightning fast when it comes to recognizing a stream and starting to play it. My not at all cheapo Onkyo 809 is slow as can be and often takes a second or two to lock onto a stream. I haven't used the Onkyo with the shield yet, but I'm wondering if the differences in the way receivers get the HDMI handshake info might have something to do with it?

Does it happen with bitstream at all?

[cncb]

Originally Posted by panteragstk

Not an issue at all for me. I have tons of mpeg2 recordings.

I have no problems with MPEG-2 in Plex or Kodi on the Shield so it seems to be isolated to the ijkplayer. I also don't have sync problems with ExoPlayer in the Sage client, but it has its own playback problems with Sage MPEG-2 recordings.

[KarylFStein]

Originally Posted by cncb

I have no problems with MPEG-2 in Plex or Kodi on the Shield so it seems to be isolated to the ijkplayer. I also don't have sync problems with ExoPlayer in the Sage client, but it has its own playback problems with Sage MPEG-2 recordings.

I had a host of problems with MPEG-2 on the Shield and tablet, ijkplayer and Exoplayer, (and Placeshifter). I think for me it was just Comcast screwing things up. I now transcode everything and playback/skipping has been fairly stable on all platforms. I'm traveling right now and have watched several shows on the tablet with very few problems skipping, (and I could skip past the end of commercial then skip back to get around the problems I had). Some slight audio sync here and there, though, but my WiFi is pretty crappy right now so maybe that has something to do with it and the skipping. When on the LAN skipping was solid and fast. Unfortunately I do now have occasional problems with the UI freezing which is still keeping me from retiring the HD300s at home.

[stuckless]

Originally Posted by KarylFStein

I had a host of problems with MPEG-2 on the Shield and tablet, ijkplayer and Exoplayer, (and Placeshifter). I think for me it was just Comcast screwing things up. I now transcode everything and playback/skipping has been fairly stable on all platforms. I'm traveling right now and have watched several shows on the tablet with very few problems skipping, (and I could skip past the end of commercial then skip back to get around the problems I had). Some slight audio sync here and there, though, but my WiFi is pretty crappy right now so maybe that has something to do with it and the skipping. When on the LAN skipping was solid and fast. Unfortunately I do now have occasional problems with the UI freezing which is still keeping me from retiring the HD300s at home.

For the UI freezing do you have option (exit on pause) enabled. If not, then try that... I can't say that I've ever had the UI freeze up and I use it on a shield, daily.

[panteragstk]

Originally Posted by cncb

I have no problems with MPEG-2 in Plex or Kodi on the Shield so it seems to be isolated to the ijkplayer. I also don't have sync problems with ExoPlayer in the Sage client, but it has its own playback problems with Sage MPEG-2 recordings.

Curious as to what your source is. It's odd that I'd have no issues when we have the same hardware and software.

[KarylFStein]

Originally Posted by stuckless

For the UI freezing do you have option (exit on pause) enabled. If not, then try that... I can't say that I've ever had the UI freeze up and I use it on a shield, daily.

No, I don't have that checked. I'm not sure when the UI freezing started as I gave the mini-client a break for a bit until I started transcoding things. Before the break the UI was fine, but playback was unreliable. I won't be home for a bit to try that, but will say that I'm pretty happy now that the tablet has been working well.

[cncb]

Originally Posted by panteragstk

Curious as to what your source is. It's odd that I'd have no issues when we have the same hardware and software.

My source is OTA from HDHomerun Connect.

[panteragstk]

Originally Posted by cncb

My source is OTA from HDHomerun Connect.

Yeah, that is really odd. We are even using the same source.

I'm curious now as to why we'd see different behavior with a setup that is as identical as it can be.

If you want you can upload a clip and I'll see if it acts funny on my system. Maybe I can help pinpoint what (if any) differences we may have.

[cncb]

Originally Posted by panteragstk

If you want you can upload a clip and I'll see if it acts funny on my system. Maybe I can help pinpoint what (if any) differences we may have.

Thanks for the offer, but even without the lip sync problems I probably wouldn't use it much due to the lack of surround sound.

A general problem I have with the Shield and MPEG-2 recordings is it often cannot handle a "blip" in the recording (momentary signal interruption). In Plex and Kodi, the video freezes while the audio continues and several seconds later the video starts up again at the appropriate position. The Sage client with ijkplayer behaves similarly but when the video starts up again it "fast forwards" until it reaches the current position.

I am going to try a PC client (Apollo Lake) for a while and see how that goes .

[panteragstk]

Originally Posted by cncb

Thanks for the offer, but even without the lip sync problems I probably wouldn't use it much due to the lack of surround sound.

A general problem I have with the Shield and MPEG-2 recordings is it often cannot handle a "blip" in the recording (momentary signal interruption). In Plex and Kodi, the video freezes while the audio continues and several seconds later the video starts up again at the appropriate position. The Sage client with ijkplayer behaves similarly but when the video starts up again it "fast forwards" until it reaches the current position.

I am going to try a PC client (Apollo Lake) for a while and see how that goes .

I agree about the lack of 5.1, but I'm testing live transcoding to see if that will solve that problem for me. I don't remember having any issues with mpeg4 recordings and exoplayer. I'll report back once I get the bugs out of the live transcoding.