Nvidia Shield - is smooth video and 5.1 audio possible?

[Telecore]

I have been using the miniclient more frequently on my Nvidia Shield and this weekend my wife noticed stuttering/jerky video watching football games (MPEG-2 cable or OTA) when the exoplayer is selected. The video seems to be smoother with the ijkplayer selected, however, that one does not seem to support 5.1 audio. Anyone else notice this dilemma? From what I understand this is most likely a problem with Android and not the miniclient. Is it possible to get smooth video and 5.1 audio with the miniclient on the Nvidia Shield?

[KarylFStein]

Originally Posted by Telecore

I have been using the miniclient more frequently on my Nvidia Shield and this weekend my wife noticed stuttering/jerky video watching football games (MPEG-2 cable or OTA) when the exoplayer is selected. The video seems to be smoother with the ijkplayer selected, however, that one does not seem to support 5.1 audio. Anyone else notice this dilemma? From what I understand this is most likely a problem with Android and not the miniclient. Is it possible to get smooth video and 5.1 audio with the miniclient on the Nvidia Shield?

This is why I have not retired my HD300s. If the video is transcoded it seems to fix things and OpenDCT does allow for on-the-fly transcoding. (I tried it once and it did not work out, but I know others do it fine.) From what I understand the streams are not "clean" enough and Exoplayer is picky. IJKPlayer handles things better, but does not support bitstreaming, which is a no-go in my book.

[wayner]

I am assuming that this is just an issue with MPEG-2 and not with H.264?

[Telecore]

Originally Posted by KarylFStein

This is why I have not retired my HD300s. If the video is transcoded it seems to fix things and OpenDCT does allow for on-the-fly transcoding. (I tried it once and it did not work out, but I know others do it fine.) From what I understand the streams are not "clean" enough and Exoplayer is picky. IJKPlayer handles things better, but does not support bitstreaming, which is a no-go in my book.

I am going to keep my HD300's running as well - I have had the Nvidia Shield (2015 model) for a while now (used infrequently for evaluation) but now with my first 4K/HDR TV I've been using it more. The Shield seems to have good potential to be a single unifying box for SageTV and streaming.

Originally Posted by wayner

I am assuming that this is just an issue with MPEG-2 and not with H.264?

Yes - MPEG-2 - our cable co. (Frontier FIOS in Texas) has most channels as MPEG-2. I will have to see if the problem exists with MPEG-4 channels or with an HD-PVR MPEG-4 encoded stream.

Is there some light "clean-up" that OpenDCT+FFMPEG can perform, short of transcoding the video to MPEG-4 to address the problem? (My SageTV PC is only a Core-i3, so maybe some container or other clean-up?)

[jm9843]

Originally Posted by Telecore

I have been using the miniclient more frequently on my Nvidia Shield and this weekend my wife noticed stuttering/jerky video watching football games (MPEG-2 cable or OTA) when the exoplayer is selected. The video seems to be smoother with the ijkplayer selected, however, that one does not seem to support 5.1 audio. Anyone else notice this dilemma?

I've noticed this issue before, including once over the weekend watching playoff football (Comcast MPEG2 from HDHR Prime, ExoPlayer for 5.1). When this occurs, I'm able to 'fix' it by killing the miniclient and restarting playback. The easiest way to do that with Android TV (running Nougat or later) is to double-tap the Home button to display the task switcher, navigate to SageTV, and press down to highlight and select the 'X' beneath it.

I'm not sure if this is a bug with the miniclient or an underlying issue with the Android media framework. It happens so infrequently that I don't worry much about it.

[wayner]

It is a shame that there are issues with SageTV AndroidTV clients and MPEG-2 content because using SageTV to capture OTA, augmented with streaming services and streaming TV network content is a great solution for cord-cutters in areas where there is lots of OTA content. With an AndroidTV device like a Shield as a sole source at your TV you can get everything you would want.

[KarylFStein]

It would be nice to jyst use the SHIELD, but for me it only seems reliable if I transcode. At least if I want bitstreaming audio and I didn't invest in all that audio great to not use it .

I'm not sure if there is some light way to just clean up the steam, but that would be nice. I don't really understand all the video stream stuff and why sombre cause issues with Exoplayer.

[wayner]

The audio side of capture is becoming a bit of an issue. IMHO the way forward is going to involve HDMI capture devices like the BM-3000 but that only captures stereo audio. Very annoying.

[TwistedMelon]

Exoplayer in SageTV will not properly play many MPEG2 streams. On my OTA lineup that includes most channels,while others seem to work. I keep it set to IJK but for the most part don't watch anything in Sage anymore - stereo audio out of the mini client and onto my sound system is brutal - volume is lower than all other sources and I have to up-mix with my AV processor to make it sound even semi-natural.

That said, I just point Plex at the recording folders and play shows from there once they finish recording* - I treat them the same way as regular imported TV, but in their own library, using only Plex's default scanners. * this is the important part. Plex does't know anything about partial recordings that grow, so it will crap out when it reaches the original end of file.

When I move the Sage service to a new system, likely a docker/unraid setup, I'll look into transcoding for all recordings - it just not possible on my current dual-core system. Then I hope to be able to use Exoplayer with pass-through and get back to watching partial recordings.

[DigiDAD]

Originally Posted by wayner

It is a shame that there are issues with SageTV AndroidTV clients and MPEG-2 content because using SageTV to capture OTA, augmented with streaming services and streaming TV network content is a great solution for cord-cutters in areas where there is lots of OTA content. With an AndroidTV device like a Shield as a sole source at your TV you can get everything you would want.

My H96 Pro Android box streams MPEG2 TS recordings and Live TV without issue over gigabit ethernet from HD Homerun and Hauppauge tuners. The box has an Amlogic S912 with gigabit ethernet and AC WiFi.

[panteragstk]

Originally Posted by DigiDAD

My H96 Pro Android box streams MPEG2 TS recordings and Live TV without issue over gigabit ethernet from HD Homerun and Hauppauge tuners. The box has an Amlogic S912 with gigabit ethernet and AC WiFi.

Does it do it using the sageTV app with 5.1 audio? Mpeg2 works fine under the mini client as long as stereo audio is OK.

[cat6man]

excuse my technical ignorance on the subject of android, but I see VLC in the github code listings.

doesn't VLC handle all the coders, audio and video, under discussion?
or am i missing something simple?