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The Fire Cube is much faster than the other generations of Fire TV/Stick. I have a Cube and a Shield Pro which I tried both on a 65” 4k. I much prefer the Shield to the Cube as the shield is much faster than the Cube. I do not use lean front, rather the MythTV plugin within Kodi. Some complaints about the Kodi plugin itself, but it works on both the Cube & Shield.



On Sep 15, 2020, at 9:06 AM, Jim Abernathy <jfabernathy@gmail.com<mailto:jfabernathy@gmail.com>> wrote:


I've been fighting multiple video problems this week and they are not really Mythtv related.

I've been trying to standardize on one platform to watch TV. The TV is a Smart TV, 4K UHD from Samsung and it has the usual app, but not Mythtv apps support.

I have a 2017 Nvidia Shield TV console connected to the Samsung. Since the Shield runs the MythTV Frontend and Leanfront very well it's the best platform until you start streaming from other sources like Netflix, Prime Video, or Hulu.

Roku Ultra works for everything except MythTV apps.

Both Netflix and Prime apps on the Shield have an annoying jump every 3-4 seconds, subtle but annoying. The forums say to change TV settings, but I find those change behavior but do not fix it. The Shield TV Hulu app is complete broken.

My wife uses the FireTV 4K stick on an HD 1080P Sony and all the apps work great for her but I notice a subtle jitter on mythfrontend but leanfront is perfect.

So now to my question, has anyone tested the FireTV Cube? And does it have a faster processor or better graphic hardware than the FireTV 4K stick?

I'm just trying to find one device that runs all my video apps well:

1. MythTV Frontend
2. MythTV Leanfront
3. Hulu+
4. Prime Video
5. Netflix

I'm thinking if the FireTV Cube is just a faster more powerful FireTV 4K, it might be a solution.

Jim A

P.S. when you add trying to standardize audio and Bluetooth audio, the matrix of options gets worse.


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On 9/15/20 2:32 PM, Scott Sumrall wrote:
> The Fire Cube is much faster than the other generations of Fire
> TV/Stick.  I have a Cube and a Shield Pro which I tried both on a 65”
> 4k.  I much prefer the Shield to the Cube as the shield is much faster
> than the Cube.  I do not use lean front, rather the MythTV plugin
> within Kodi.  Some complaints about the Kodi plugin itself, but it
> works on both the Cube & Shield.

Good to hear that the Cube is much faster. I noticed that
Mythtv-frontend loads in about 20 sec on the FireTV 4K and 10 seconds on
Shield TV.  But other than load time the playback quality is good on both.

I also figure that with the market share that Amazon has it's Fire TV
products will get the most attention by the app writers.

Have you noticed the minor jumpy issue that Netflix or Prime Video has
on the Shield TV?

At this point I'm dealing with the problems by having a 5x1 HDMI 2.0
switch with Roku, Shield TV, Xubuntu PC, and Bluray player. I'm trying
to simplify the remote difference between the platforms by using a very
flexible programmable remote.  But it would be a lot easier if the
Shield TV was better supported by Hulu, Netflix, and Prime Video.

Jim A



>
>
>
>> On Sep 15, 2020, at 9:06 AM, Jim Abernathy <jfabernathy@gmail.com
>> <mailto:jfabernathy@gmail.com>> wrote:
>>
>> I've been fighting multiple video problems this week and they are not
>> really Mythtv related.
>>
>> I've been trying to standardize on one platform to watch TV.  The TV
>> is a Smart TV, 4K UHD from Samsung and it has the usual app, but not
>> Mythtv apps support.
>>
>> I have a 2017 Nvidia Shield TV console connected to the Samsung. 
>> Since the Shield runs the MythTV Frontend and Leanfront very well
>> it's the best platform until you start streaming from other sources
>> like Netflix, Prime Video, or Hulu.
>>
>> Roku Ultra works for everything except MythTV apps.
>>
>> Both Netflix and Prime apps on the Shield have an annoying jump every
>> 3-4 seconds, subtle but annoying. The forums say to change TV
>> settings, but I find those change behavior but do not fix it. The
>> Shield TV Hulu app is complete broken.
>>
>> My wife uses the FireTV 4K stick on an HD 1080P Sony and all the apps
>> work great for her but I notice a subtle jitter on mythfrontend but
>> leanfront is perfect.
>>
>> So now to my question, has anyone tested the FireTV Cube?  And does
>> it have a faster processor or better graphic hardware than the FireTV
>> 4K stick?
>>
>> I'm just trying to find one device that runs all my video apps well:
>>
>> 1. MythTV Frontend
>> 2. MythTV Leanfront
>> 3. Hulu+
>> 4. Prime Video
>> 5. Netflix
>>
>> I'm thinking if the FireTV Cube is just a faster more powerful FireTV
>> 4K, it might be a solution.
>>
>> Jim A
>>
>> P.S. when you add trying to standardize audio and Bluetooth audio,
>> the matrix of options gets worse.
>>
>>

A big gripe I have with the shield is that it still has the MPEG2 bug
that has been around in nvidia devices for years. If you use hardware
(mediacodec) decoding on certain broadcast channels, there is frequent
pixellation, which nvidia have acknowledged is due to "longer than
expected motion vectors". This occurs on some channels that are sharing
frequencies. They have a highly optimized mpeg stream and manage to fit
good quality into a low bitrate.

Peter

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On 9/16/20 9:46 AM, Peter Bennett wrote:
>
> A big gripe I have with the shield is that it still has the MPEG2 bug
> that has been around in nvidia devices for years. If you use hardware
> (mediacodec) decoding on certain broadcast channels, there is frequent
> pixellation, which nvidia have acknowledged is due to "longer than
> expected motion vectors". This occurs on some channels that are
> sharing frequencies. They have a highly optimized mpeg stream and
> manage to fit good quality into a low bitrate.
>
> Peter
>
So would I see this problem on all channels or just the extra channels.
For example 5.1 is the HD 1080i for NBC in my area, but 5.2 and 5.3 are
things like StartTV, etc. at lower resolution and more compressed.

At this point I have not noticed anything on Mythtv or leanfront on the
Shield TV that bothers me other than lower quality on the #.2 or #.3
channels.  All my HD primary channels record great. My watching LiveTV
is really watching something I'm recording 10-20 minutes behind realtime.

Jim A


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On 9/16/20 9:46 AM, Peter Bennett wrote:
>
> A big gripe I have with the shield is that it still has the MPEG2 bug
> that has been around in nvidia devices for years. If you use hardware
> (mediacodec) decoding on certain broadcast channels, there is frequent
> pixellation, which nvidia have acknowledged is due to "longer than
> expected motion vectors". This occurs on some channels that are
> sharing frequencies. They have a highly optimized mpeg stream and
> manage to fit good quality into a low bitrate.
>
> Peter


Forgot to ask, does the MPEG2 bug not exist on FireTV 4K or FireTV
Cube?  FireTV products seem to have more compatibility with streaming
services so I'm thinking about retiring the Nvidia Shield TV (2017
model) and moving to the Cube.

Jim A


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On Wed, Sep 16, 2020 at 12:08:37PM -0400, Jim Abernathy wrote:
>
> On 9/16/20 9:46 AM, Peter Bennett wrote:
> >
> > A big gripe I have with the shield is that it still has the MPEG2 bug
> > that has been around in nvidia devices for years. If you use hardware
> > (mediacodec) decoding on certain broadcast channels, there is frequent
> > pixellation, which nvidia have acknowledged is due to "longer than
> > expected motion vectors". This occurs on some channels that are sharing
> > frequencies. They have a highly optimized mpeg stream and manage to fit
> > good quality into a low bitrate.
> >
> > Peter
>
>
> Forgot to ask, does the MPEG2 bug not exist on FireTV 4K or FireTV Cube??
> FireTV products seem to have more compatibility with streaming services so
> I'm thinking about retiring the Nvidia Shield TV (2017 model) and moving to
> the Cube.

No, it's an Nvidia-only bug, reportedly in the hardware so it can't be
fixed. If it bothers you that much, just create a hybrid, palyback
profile that does mpeg2 decoding in software and the rest with
mediacodec. That's what I do. The only thing you lose is Nvidia's
deinterlacing for mpeg2 which, in reality, isn't that much better than
what MythTV can do in OpenGL. Also, if youc care about time
stretching, you can pretty much forget about the FireTV devices. They
aren't powerful enough.

If you still want to get rid of your 2017 Shield, I'll take it off
your hands. I know some people who would put it to good use.

David
--
David Engel
david@istwok.net
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On Wed, Sep 16, 2020 at 1:37 PM David Engel <david@istwok.net> wrote:

> On Wed, Sep 16, 2020 at 12:08:37PM -0400, Jim Abernathy wrote:
> >
> > On 9/16/20 9:46 AM, Peter Bennett wrote:
> > >
> > > A big gripe I have with the shield is that it still has the MPEG2 bug
> > > that has been around in nvidia devices for years. If you use hardware
> > > (mediacodec) decoding on certain broadcast channels, there is frequent
> > > pixellation, which nvidia have acknowledged is due to "longer than
> > > expected motion vectors". This occurs on some channels that are sharing
> > > frequencies. They have a highly optimized mpeg stream and manage to fit
> > > good quality into a low bitrate.
> > >
> > > Peter
> >
> >
> > Forgot to ask, does the MPEG2 bug not exist on FireTV 4K or FireTV Cube?
> > FireTV products seem to have more compatibility with streaming services
> so
> > I'm thinking about retiring the Nvidia Shield TV (2017 model) and moving
> to
> > the Cube.
>
> No, it's an Nvidia-only bug, reportedly in the hardware so it can't be
> fixed. If it bothers you that much, just create a hybrid, palyback
> profile that does mpeg2 decoding in software and the rest with
> mediacodec. That's what I do. The only thing you lose is Nvidia's
> deinterlacing for mpeg2 which, in reality, isn't that much better than
> what MythTV can do in OpenGL. Also, if youc care about time
> stretching, you can pretty much forget about the FireTV devices. They
> aren't powerful enough.
>
> If you still want to get rid of your 2017 Shield, I'll take it off
> your hands. I know some people who would put it to good use.
>
> David
> --
> David Engel
> david@istwok.net


I guess it doesn't bother me since I don't know what to look for. I mostly
record HDTV OTA MPEG2 stuff from my antenna connected to an ATSC tuner like
HDHR. All of the stuff I watch is with mythfrontend or leanfront and I
think it looks as good as with my PC with Nvidia GT1030 gfx card.

Also I've been working with Nvidia tech support on fixing my Netflix
framerate problem on European content and I fixe Hulu by canceling them and
switching to Youtube.tv that does work. So I'm real close to having the
Shield TV work for everything very well.

Jim A

On Wed, Sep 16, 2020 at 03:00:30PM -0400, James Abernathy wrote:
> On Wed, Sep 16, 2020 at 1:37 PM David Engel <david@istwok.net> wrote:
>
> > On Wed, Sep 16, 2020 at 12:08:37PM -0400, Jim Abernathy wrote:
> > >
> > > On 9/16/20 9:46 AM, Peter Bennett wrote:
> > > >
> > > > A big gripe I have with the shield is that it still has the MPEG2 bug
> > > > that has been around in nvidia devices for years. If you use hardware
> > > > (mediacodec) decoding on certain broadcast channels, there is frequent
> > > > pixellation, which nvidia have acknowledged is due to "longer than
> > > > expected motion vectors". This occurs on some channels that are sharing
> > > > frequencies. They have a highly optimized mpeg stream and manage to fit
> > > > good quality into a low bitrate.
> > > >
> > > > Peter
> > >
> > >
> > > Forgot to ask, does the MPEG2 bug not exist on FireTV 4K or FireTV Cube?
> > > FireTV products seem to have more compatibility with streaming services
> > so
> > > I'm thinking about retiring the Nvidia Shield TV (2017 model) and moving
> > to
> > > the Cube.
> >
> > No, it's an Nvidia-only bug, reportedly in the hardware so it can't be
> > fixed. If it bothers you that much, just create a hybrid, palyback
> > profile that does mpeg2 decoding in software and the rest with
> > mediacodec. That's what I do. The only thing you lose is Nvidia's
> > deinterlacing for mpeg2 which, in reality, isn't that much better than
> > what MythTV can do in OpenGL. Also, if youc care about time
> > stretching, you can pretty much forget about the FireTV devices. They
> > aren't powerful enough.
> >
> > If you still want to get rid of your 2017 Shield, I'll take it off
> > your hands. I know some people who would put it to good use.
> >
> > David
> > --
> > David Engel
> > david@istwok.net
>
>
> I guess it doesn't bother me since I don't know what to look for. I mostly
> record HDTV OTA MPEG2 stuff from my antenna connected to an ATSC tuner like
> HDHR. All of the stuff I watch is with mythfrontend or leanfront and I
> think it looks as good as with my PC with Nvidia GT1030 gfx card.

If you had the problem, you'd definitely notice it. You'd also see it
on your GT1030. It sounds like you're lucky and none of your local
channels are using the encoder parameters or encoders that cause the
problem to show up.

David

> Also I've been working with Nvidia tech support on fixing my Netflix
> framerate problem on European content and I fixe Hulu by canceling them and
> switching to Youtube.tv that does work. So I'm real close to having the
> Shield TV work for everything very well.
>
> Jim A

> _______________________________________________
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> http://lists.mythtv.org/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users
> http://wiki.mythtv.org/Mailing_List_etiquette
> MythTV Forums: https://forum.mythtv.org


--
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On Wed, Sep 16, 2020 at 02:44:17PM -0500, David Engel wrote:
<snip>
> >
> > I guess it doesn't bother me since I don't know what to look for. I mostly
> > record HDTV OTA MPEG2 stuff from my antenna connected to an ATSC tuner like
> > HDHR. All of the stuff I watch is with mythfrontend or leanfront and I
> > think it looks as good as with my PC with Nvidia GT1030 gfx card.
>
> If you had the problem, you'd definitely notice it. You'd also see it
> on your GT1030. It sounds like you're lucky and none of your local
> channels are using the encoder parameters or encoders that cause the
> problem to show up.


I have been seeing a problem like this for quite a while but
I was putting it down to glitches in the tv cards or something.
It was always a puzzle because I have decent signal strength
and I see it on all tuners (dvico, leadtek usb, hauppage quad).

Let me list the symptoms to check

- DVB-T transmission (PAL)
- 7MHz channel width
- MPEG2 video
- Nvidia GeForce GT 710
- Content mostly 720p, some 1080p, no 4k
- v29 for the moment
- current playback profile is 'slim' but I see similar things
with other profiles like vdpau or opengl

Still a match?

create a hybrid, palyback profile that does mpeg2 decoding
in software and the rest with mediacodec.

Not sure how to go about creating a custom playback profile.
https://www.mythtv.org/wiki/Playback_profiles looks like the
place to start...guessing the steps are
- make a new playback group
- tweak the profile so Decoder is 'ffmpeg' for all resolutions
- not sure what's next

Any hints?
Vince
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On 9/17/20 8:05 AM, lists@arewethere.net wrote:
> On Wed, Sep 16, 2020 at 02:44:17PM -0500, David Engel wrote:
> <snip>
>>> I guess it doesn't bother me since I don't know what to look for. I mostly
>>> record HDTV OTA MPEG2 stuff from my antenna connected to an ATSC tuner like
>>> HDHR. All of the stuff I watch is with mythfrontend or leanfront and I
>>> think it looks as good as with my PC with Nvidia GT1030 gfx card.
>> If you had the problem, you'd definitely notice it. You'd also see it
>> on your GT1030. It sounds like you're lucky and none of your local
>> channels are using the encoder parameters or encoders that cause the
>> problem to show up.
>
> I have been seeing a problem like this for quite a while but
> I was putting it down to glitches in the tv cards or something.
> It was always a puzzle because I have decent signal strength
> and I see it on all tuners (dvico, leadtek usb, hauppage quad).
>
> Let me list the symptoms to check
>
> - DVB-T transmission (PAL)
> - 7MHz channel width
> - MPEG2 video
> - Nvidia GeForce GT 710
> - Content mostly 720p, some 1080p, no 4k
> - v29 for the moment
> - current playback profile is 'slim' but I see similar things
> with other profiles like vdpau or opengl
>
> Still a match?
>
> create a hybrid, palyback profile that does mpeg2 decoding
> in software and the rest with mediacodec.
>
> Not sure how to go about creating a custom playback profile.
> https://www.mythtv.org/wiki/Playback_profiles looks like the
> place to start...guessing the steps are
> - make a new playback group
> - tweak the profile so Decoder is 'ffmpeg' for all resolutions
> - not sure what's next
>
> Any hints?
> Vince
> _______________________________________________

There are fairly detailed instructions in the wiki (RTFM) :

https://www.mythtv.org/wiki/Android#Nvidia_Shield


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On 9/16/20 1:36 PM, David Engel wrote:
> Also, if youc care about time
> stretching, you can pretty much forget about the FireTV devices. They
> aren't powerful enough.

I assume you mean speedup of playback?

FWIW leanfront now handles speedup, including on the FireTV 4K.

Peter

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On Thu, Sep 17, 2020 at 12:17:23PM -0400, Peter Bennett wrote:
>
> On 9/16/20 1:36 PM, David Engel wrote:
> > Also, if youc care about time
> > stretching, you can pretty much forget about the FireTV devices. They
> > aren't powerful enough.
>
> I assume you mean speedup of playback?
>
> FWIW leanfront now handles speedup, including on the FireTV 4K.

I didn't think the FireTV 4k could handle much speedup. How high can
it go? I still have mine connected but haven't built a package for it
in ages.

David
--
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david@istwok.net
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On Thu, Sep 17, 2020 at 09:36:29AM -0400, Peter Bennett wrote:
>
> On 9/17/20 8:05 AM, lists@arewethere.net wrote:
> > On Wed, Sep 16, 2020 at 02:44:17PM -0500, David Engel wrote:
> > <snip>
> > > > I guess it doesn't bother me since I don't know what to look for. I mostly
> > > > record HDTV OTA MPEG2 stuff from my antenna connected to an ATSC tuner like
> > > > HDHR. All of the stuff I watch is with mythfrontend or leanfront and I
> > > > think it looks as good as with my PC with Nvidia GT1030 gfx card.
> > > If you had the problem, you'd definitely notice it. You'd also see it
> > > on your GT1030. It sounds like you're lucky and none of your local
> > > channels are using the encoder parameters or encoders that cause the
> > > problem to show up.
> >
> > I have been seeing a problem like this for quite a while but
> > I was putting it down to glitches in the tv cards or something.
> > It was always a puzzle because I have decent signal strength
> > and I see it on all tuners (dvico, leadtek usb, hauppage quad).
> >
> > Let me list the symptoms to check
> >
> > - DVB-T transmission (PAL)
> > - 7MHz channel width
> > - MPEG2 video
> > - Nvidia GeForce GT 710
> > - Content mostly 720p, some 1080p, no 4k
> > - v29 for the moment
> > - current playback profile is 'slim' but I see similar things
> > with other profiles like vdpau or opengl
> >
> > Still a match?
> >
> > create a hybrid, palyback profile that does mpeg2 decoding
> > in software and the rest with mediacodec.
> >
> > Not sure how to go about creating a custom playback profile.
> > https://www.mythtv.org/wiki/Playback_profiles looks like the
> > place to start...guessing the steps are
> > - make a new playback group
> > - tweak the profile so Decoder is 'ffmpeg' for all resolutions
> > - not sure what's next
> >
> > Any hints?
> > Vince
> > _______________________________________________
>
> There are fairly detailed instructions in the wiki (RTFM) :
>
> https://www.mythtv.org/wiki/Android#Nvidia_Shield

The shield entry should be updated to recommend kernel deinterlacing
instead of linear blend. I don't know if the firetv 4k can handle it.
If it can, it should be updated too.

David
--
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On 9/17/20 12:43 PM, David Engel wrote:
> I didn't think the FireTV 4k could handle much speedup. How high can
> it go? I still have mine connected but haven't built a package for it
> in ages.
>
> David
> -

This is leanfront not mythfrontend

I just ran a test with a 1080i recording. It goes up to 800% speedup,
but it seems the wifi connection is not fast enough to maintain that so
it pauses after a while to buffer. At speeds of 500% and above it is a
bit jerky, like fast forward, and the audio is just a gabble. At 200% it
seems usable, but I am not sure what quality is expected. I have it hard
coded for a set of speeds for 50% to 800%. 800% is the maximum for audio
speedup but video is supposed to be able to go faster.

Peter



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On Wed, Sep 16, 2020 at 1:37 PM David Engel <david@istwok.net> wrote:

> On Wed, Sep 16, 2020 at 12:08:37PM -0400, Jim Abernathy wrote:
> >
> > On 9/16/20 9:46 AM, Peter Bennett wrote:
> > >
> > > A big gripe I have with the shield is that it still has the MPEG2 bug
> > > that has been around in nvidia devices for years. If you use hardware
> > > (mediacodec) decoding on certain broadcast channels, there is frequent
> > > pixellation, which nvidia have acknowledged is due to "longer than
> > > expected motion vectors". This occurs on some channels that are sharing
> > > frequencies. They have a highly optimized mpeg stream and manage to fit
> > > good quality into a low bitrate.
> > >
> > > Peter
> >
> >
> > Forgot to ask, does the MPEG2 bug not exist on FireTV 4K or FireTV Cube?
> > FireTV products seem to have more compatibility with streaming services
> so
> > I'm thinking about retiring the Nvidia Shield TV (2017 model) and moving
> to
> > the Cube.
>
> No, it's an Nvidia-only bug, reportedly in the hardware so it can't be
> fixed. If it bothers you that much, just create a hybrid, palyback
> profile that does mpeg2 decoding in software and the rest with
> mediacodec. That's what I do. The only thing you lose is Nvidia's
> deinterlacing for mpeg2 which, in reality, isn't that much better than
> what MythTV can do in OpenGL. Also, if youc care about time
> stretching, you can pretty much forget about the FireTV devices. They
> aren't powerful enough.
>
> If you still want to get rid of your 2017 Shield, I'll take it off
> your hands. I know some people who would put it to good use.
>
> David
> --
> David Engel
> david@istwok.net


I had some time today to work on the Shield playback profile. Turns out my
default was for MPEG2 to use Standard software, 4 cpu for decode and
deinterlace. I deleted that one and put in one that just had Mediacodec
hardware decode and deinterlace. Both look flawless to me on HD ATSC MPEG2
720p and 1080i programs.

I'll see if any of the side channels, low-resolution content have
problems, but I'll keep an eye out. At least I know that the OpenGL
software only is just as good as the mediacodec hardware. I need to test
H.264 as I use that on some content but not broadcast.

JIm A

On Thursday, September 17, 2020, 04:44:27 PM EDT, James Abernathy <jfabernathy@gmail.com> wrote:



On Wed, Sep 16, 2020 at 1:37 PM David Engel <david@istwok.net> wrote:

On Wed, Sep 16, 2020 at 12:08:37PM -0400, Jim Abernathy wrote:
>
> On 9/16/20 9:46 AM, Peter Bennett wrote:
> >
> > A big gripe I have with the shield is that it still has the MPEG2 bug
> > that has been around in nvidia devices for years. If you use hardware
> > (mediacodec) decoding on certain broadcast channels, there is frequent
> > pixellation, which nvidia have acknowledged is due to "longer than
> > expected motion vectors". This occurs on some channels that are sharing
> > frequencies. They have a highly optimized mpeg stream and manage to fit
> > good quality into a low bitrate.
> >
> > Peter
>
>
> Forgot to ask, does the MPEG2 bug not exist on FireTV 4K or FireTV Cube? 
> FireTV products seem to have more compatibility with streaming services so
> I'm thinking about retiring the Nvidia Shield TV (2017 model) and moving to
> the Cube.

No, it's an Nvidia-only bug, reportedly in the hardware so it can't be
fixed.  If it bothers you that much, just create a hybrid, palyback
profile that does mpeg2 decoding in software and the rest with
mediacodec.  That's what I do.  The only thing you lose is Nvidia's
deinterlacing for mpeg2 which, in reality, isn't that much better than
what MythTV can do in OpenGL.  Also, if youc care about time
stretching, you can pretty much forget about the FireTV devices.  They
aren't powerful enough.

If you still want to get rid of your 2017 Shield, I'll take it off
your hands.  I know some people who would put it to good use.

David
--
David Engel
david@istwok.net

I had some time today to work on the Shield playback profile.  Turns out my default was for MPEG2 to use Standard software, 4 cpu for decode and deinterlace. I deleted that one and put in one that just had Mediacodec hardware decode and deinterlace.  Both look flawless to me on HD ATSC MPEG2 720p and 1080i programs.
I'll see if any of the side channels, low-resolution  content have problems, but I'll keep an eye out. At least I know that the OpenGL software only is just as good as the mediacodec hardware. I need to test H.264 as I use that on some content but not broadcast.
JIm A

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On Thu, Sep 17, 2020 at 09:36:29AM -0400, Peter Bennett wrote:
>
>
> There are fairly detailed instructions in the wiki (RTFM) :
>
> https://www.mythtv.org/wiki/Android#Nvidia_Shield
>

Thank you. Not owning a shield I didn't think to look there...
David's comment suggested this was generic to many nvidia cards,
which is what I was really asking about (should have tweaked the
subject line)
The page you pointed to looks impressively detailed and I'll use
it as a reference when I get on to v31.

Kind regards
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