Mailing List Archive

Kodi and MythTV, can't watch LiveTV
Posted this on the Kodi forum yesterday, but I figured I would have
more luck with actual mythtv regulars.

---
Hi.

Just installed Kodi on a Fire TV 4K ; all working well when it comes
to browser recordings, watch one, create a new recordings etc.
But no go with LiveTV.

Playback starts, I have a picture showing and a tiny bit of audio and
then it exists.

I tried running Kodi on a macOS device and I see the exact same behaviour.

It's a rather old backend installation (mythtv 29) but upgrading that
would be a headache and I haven't tinkered with mythTV in a while.

In the Kodi logs I see no particular errors:
https://paste.kodi.tv/ozuboxeval.kodi
But I'm no expert in Kodi, I've virtually only installed it less than
one hour ago.


On the mythtv backend I see nothing indicating an error, just that a
new frontend connected, a recording was started and then got
immediately closed.
https://paste.kodi.tv/yifayoworo
(now for mythtv however I do know the backend code pretty well and
it's definitely the frontend that disconnect, not the backend kicking
it out).

Sometimes in Kodi logs I do see this line:
ERROR <general>: SignalQuality: Add-on 'MythTV
(mediaserver.surrey1.avenard.org):http://192.168.10.14:6544' returned
an error: rejected by the backend

but there's nothing indicating as such on the mythtv side, just that
the client (kodi) disconnected.

If I start a recording of the channel I'm trying to watch, I can
immediately start watching that recording.

Just LiveTV gives this behaviour

Now this is a log when watching LiveTV with a real mythfrontend
https://paste.kodi.tv/esodezipac

We can see that there's a few connection/disconnection happening
before playback starts, which is curious.

Any ideas?

Am I using a too old version of mythtv-backend?
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Re: Kodi and MythTV, can't watch LiveTV [ In reply to ]
Upgraded to 31 (the backend at least).

Not working any better, same symptoms :(

On Mon, 9 Aug 2021 at 16:09, Jean-Yves Avenard <jyavenard@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Posted this on the Kodi forum yesterday, but I figured I would have
> more luck with actual mythtv regulars.
>
> ---
> Hi.
>
> Just installed Kodi on a Fire TV 4K ; all working well when it comes
> to browser recordings, watch one, create a new recordings etc.
> But no go with LiveTV.
>
> Playback starts, I have a picture showing and a tiny bit of audio and
> then it exists.
>
> I tried running Kodi on a macOS device and I see the exact same behaviour.
>
> It's a rather old backend installation (mythtv 29) but upgrading that
> would be a headache and I haven't tinkered with mythTV in a while.
>
> In the Kodi logs I see no particular errors:
> https://paste.kodi.tv/ozuboxeval.kodi
> But I'm no expert in Kodi, I've virtually only installed it less than
> one hour ago.
>
>
> On the mythtv backend I see nothing indicating an error, just that a
> new frontend connected, a recording was started and then got
> immediately closed.
> https://paste.kodi.tv/yifayoworo
> (now for mythtv however I do know the backend code pretty well and
> it's definitely the frontend that disconnect, not the backend kicking
> it out).
>
> Sometimes in Kodi logs I do see this line:
> ERROR <general>: SignalQuality: Add-on 'MythTV
> (mediaserver.surrey1.avenard.org):http://192.168.10.14:6544' returned
> an error: rejected by the backend
>
> but there's nothing indicating as such on the mythtv side, just that
> the client (kodi) disconnected.
>
> If I start a recording of the channel I'm trying to watch, I can
> immediately start watching that recording.
>
> Just LiveTV gives this behaviour
>
> Now this is a log when watching LiveTV with a real mythfrontend
> https://paste.kodi.tv/esodezipac
>
> We can see that there's a few connection/disconnection happening
> before playback starts, which is curious.
>
> Any ideas?
>
> Am I using a too old version of mythtv-backend?
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Re: Kodi and MythTV, can't watch LiveTV [ In reply to ]
Hi Jean-Yves

You can always try setting a recording on the program you want to watch,
then go and watch it while still recording.

There are other (better?) options for the fire stuck 4K: leanfront and
mythfrontend for android

https://github.com/bennettpeter/android-MythTV-Leanfront

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

Peter

On 8/9/21 3:24 AM, Jean-Yves Avenard wrote:
> Upgraded to 31 (the backend at least).
>
> Not working any better, same symptoms :(
>
> On Mon, 9 Aug 2021 at 16:09, Jean-Yves Avenard <jyavenard@gmail.com> wrote:
>> Posted this on the Kodi forum yesterday, but I figured I would have
>> more luck with actual mythtv regulars.
>>
>> ---
>> Hi.
>>
>> Just installed Kodi on a Fire TV 4K ; all working well when it comes
>> to browser recordings, watch one, create a new recordings etc.
>> But no go with LiveTV.
>>
>> Playback starts, I have a picture showing and a tiny bit of audio and
>> then it exists.
>>
>> I tried running Kodi on a macOS device and I see the exact same behaviour.
>>
>> It's a rather old backend installation (mythtv 29) but upgrading that
>> would be a headache and I haven't tinkered with mythTV in a while.
>>
>> In the Kodi logs I see no particular errors:
>> https://paste.kodi.tv/ozuboxeval.kodi
>> But I'm no expert in Kodi, I've virtually only installed it less than
>> one hour ago.
>>
>>
>> On the mythtv backend I see nothing indicating an error, just that a
>> new frontend connected, a recording was started and then got
>> immediately closed.
>> https://paste.kodi.tv/yifayoworo
>> (now for mythtv however I do know the backend code pretty well and
>> it's definitely the frontend that disconnect, not the backend kicking
>> it out).
>>
>> Sometimes in Kodi logs I do see this line:
>> ERROR <general>: SignalQuality: Add-on 'MythTV
>> (mediaserver.surrey1.avenard.org):http://192.168.10.14:6544' returned
>> an error: rejected by the backend
>>
>> but there's nothing indicating as such on the mythtv side, just that
>> the client (kodi) disconnected.
>>
>> If I start a recording of the channel I'm trying to watch, I can
>> immediately start watching that recording.
>>
>> Just LiveTV gives this behaviour
>>
>> Now this is a log when watching LiveTV with a real mythfrontend
>> https://paste.kodi.tv/esodezipac
>>
>> We can see that there's a few connection/disconnection happening
>> before playback starts, which is curious.
>>
>> Any ideas?
>>
>> Am I using a too old version of mythtv-backend?
> _______________________________________________
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> MythTV Forums: https://forum.mythtv.org
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Re: Kodi and MythTV, can't watch LiveTV [ In reply to ]
On Tue, 10 Aug 2021 at 02:02, Peter Bennett <pb.mythtv@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Hi Jean-Yves
>
> You can always try setting a recording on the program you want to watch,
> then go and watch it while still recording.

The UI of Kodi is super nice and very intuitive, playback is also
super smooth which is what I liked about it (I have a FireTV 4K stick
that I was given by my work a couple years back to debug some code)
>
> There are other (better?) options for the fire stuck 4K: leanfront and
> mythfrontend for android

Yes, I now realised that.

Leanfront UI is pretty poor I found, getting to the Live TV channels
takes lots of keypresses and playback take over 15s to start.

Mythfrontend was a nice surprise, it looks exactly like what I'm used to.

Weirdly enough, I've had better playback performance using the pure
software decoder and OGL as rendering. I had to set Audio sync at
-500ms however which is problematic (and it varies between channels)

When I enable MediaCodec with rendering, the video tears it looks like
there's no v-sync applied.
With MediaCodec decoding only playback doesn't start at all.

The MythTV wiki gives settings to apply that I can't find anywhere such as :
"Enable new timestamp based playback speed (AVSync2)"
"Advanced Playback Settings -> Allow YV12 "
"Advanced Playback Settings -> Extra stage "
I use MythTV 31, the doc seems to have been written for 30, I'm
guessing those options were integrated by default and removed.
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Re: Kodi and MythTV, can't watch LiveTV [ In reply to ]
On Tue, Aug 10, 2021 at 10:17:14AM +1000, Jean-Yves Avenard wrote:
> On Tue, 10 Aug 2021 at 02:02, Peter Bennett <pb.mythtv@gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > Hi Jean-Yves

Hey Jean-Yves, long time, no see.

> The UI of Kodi is super nice and very intuitive, playback is also
> super smooth which is what I liked about it (I have a FireTV 4K stick
> that I was given by my work a couple years back to debug some code)

Must bite tongue. :) Seriously, Kodi always looks nice but always
leaves a power user like me lacking. I use lots of MythTV frontend
features to make my TV wathcing as efficient as possible.

> Mythfrontend was a nice surprise, it looks exactly like what I'm used to.

That's the point. It *is* the same frontend. Unfortunately, it is
quite heavy wwight for many Android devices. I almost exclusively use
Nvidia Shields. I know they're too expensive for many but the MythTV
experience on them is qutie good.

I also have a Fire Stick 4k but haven't update and used it in a long,
long, time. No guarantees but I'll see if can reporduce your problem
in the next few days.

> The MythTV wiki gives settings to apply that I can't find anywhere such as :
> "Enable new timestamp based playback speed (AVSync2)"
> "Advanced Playback Settings -> Allow YV12 "
> "Advanced Playback Settings -> Extra stage "
> I use MythTV 31, the doc seems to have been written for 30, I'm
> guessing those options were integrated by default and removed.

That information is dated and should be ignored. For A/V sync, IIRC,
the only thing you should normally need to fiddle with is audio read
ahead. For the others, it's best to use the defaults in the standard,
playback profiles.

David
--
David Engel
david@istwok.net
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Re: Kodi and MythTV, can't watch LiveTV [ In reply to ]
>Leanfront UI is pretty poor I found, getting to the Live TV channels
>takes lots of keypresses and playback take over 15s to start.

Try using Leanfront for watching recordings.  The UI for accessing the recordings is great and the video quality is great on my Fire TV Stick.

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Re: Kodi and MythTV, can't watch LiveTV [ In reply to ]
>
> >Leanfront UI is pretty poor I found, getting to the Live TV channels
> >takes lots of keypresses and playback take over 15s to start.
>
> Try using Leanfront for watching recordings. The UI for accessing the
> recordings is great and the video quality is great on my Fire TV Stick.
>

Leanfront is pretty good. There are some things that I think could be
improved. For example there seems to be a big focus on thumbnails which I
think slows the UI down. And displaying the date a program was recorded
would be a welcome addition.
Re: Kodi and MythTV, can't watch LiveTV [ In reply to ]
On Wed, 11 Aug 2021 at 10:46, Phill Edwards <philledwards@gmail.com> wrote:
> Leanfront is pretty good. There are some things that I think could be improved. For example there seems to be a big focus on thumbnails which I think slows the UI down. And displaying the date a program was recorded would be a welcome addition.

Playback is indeed excellent, but find recordings is a PITA ; like I
can't watch Live TV, so start a recording, and that new recordings
isn't immediately available at the top.
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Re: Kodi and MythTV, can't watch LiveTV [ In reply to ]
On Tue, 10 Aug 2021 at 12:20, David Engel <david@istwok.net> wrote:
> Hey Jean-Yves, long time, no see.

Indeed!
I wish I could go back to contribute more, but work has taken all my
hobby time away.


> That's the point. It *is* the same frontend. Unfortunately, it is
> quite heavy wwight for many Android devices. I almost exclusively use
> Nvidia Shields. I know they're too expensive for many but the MythTV
> experience on them is qutie good.

>
> I also have a Fire Stick 4k but haven't update and used it in a long,
> long, time. No guarantees but I'll see if can reporduce your problem
> in the next few days.

The advantage of the Fire TV is that it's totally out of sight. It's
plugged to the HDMI port of my LG TV and powered by USB from the TV
too.
The shield wouldn't allow me to do that which with a TV attached to a
wall is problematic.


> That information is dated and should be ignored. For A/V sync, IIRC,
> the only thing you should normally need to fiddle with is audio read
> ahead. For the others, it's best to use the defaults in the standard,
> playback profiles.

I'm up to about -500ms audio shift ; and 650ms read-ahead. There
doesn't appear to have been much changes to how the decoding loop is
processed and if we reach the end of the audio buffer things will
start to stutter badly and it never recovers.

I don't get that with the MediaCodec decoder, but then there's
terrible tearing happening.
Interestingly though, the CPU usage is rather similar between
MediaCodec and ffmpeg ; about 60% on all 4 cores when watching h264
1080i content
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