Stutter when using HW acceleration

[koying]

@koying and @davilla: Must have been asked for like thousand times, but why you guys don't join forces? Or can this already be considered like the current state?

We don't have exactly the same vision for the app as a whole.
I try to stick close to Kodi, while MrMC is more ambitious.
I can't be bothered by Apple, MrMC can't be by Win32.
...

But the basics (the player) are the same, so there are convergences...

[davilla]

Well, it's a bit hit-and-miss.
"Plain" mediacodec should be used as fallback, but that usually doesn't fare well on mpeg2 HD (at least on Shield)

MrMC vectors all mpeg2 to FFMpeg as there is no mpeg2 content that cannot be handled under sw decode for the platforms we support. Since mpeg2 tends to be from PVR, FFMpeg can handle all the twitchiness that seems to come with PVR.

[davilla]

@koying and @davilla: Must have been asked for like thousand times, but why you guys don't join forces? Or can this already be considered like the current state?

But ment it more like one MrMC and for example with Support for Plugins on the plattforms where it is allowed, like Google Play store for example. But then you would share the player part...just a thought

We have joined forces in a way We watch SPMC, Koying watches MrMC and we compare notes.

[vlaves]

@koying and @davilla: Must have been asked for like thousand times, but ...

We have joined forces in a way We watch SPMC, Koying watches MrMC and we compare notes.

Good to hear that

[jamesp26]

Hi all - i've been away for a few days and just caught up with the thread. I thought i would give SPMC a try to see how it compared to MrMC for live TV. Interestingly, SPMC fared better with MediaCodec and MediaCodec surface. For reference, i was using SPMC-16.5.2-spmc-2d86e3f-aarch64.apk.

Different acceleration options gave the following outputs:

MrMc

ffmpeg- Bob Inverted Deinterlacing. Struggles with high bitrate BBC content (previous MrMC released fared better when forcing ffmpeg to use 2 cores).
Mediacodec - Bob Deinterlacing needed. Rarely works on both live tv and recorded tv. Usually runs at half speed (with or without deinterlacing)
Mediacodec surface - Never plays from livetv (always vectors to ffmpeg). Will play recorded tv, but its usually half speed (with or without deinterlacing).

SPMC

ffmpeg- Bob Inverted Deinterlacing. Struggles with high bitrate BBC content. Seems exactly the same as MrMC to me.
Mediacodec - Works ok with Bob (better than MrMC). Stutters frequently though.
Mediacodec surface - Never plays from livetv (always vectors to ffmpeg). Will play recorded tv and copes with high bitrate content fine. However, deinterlace options doesn’t seem to do anything, or if it is its a blend deinterlacer and not a doubler.

In both I would say ffmpeg gives the best output with bob inverted, but both struggle with high bitrate stuff. MediaCode surface seems to work well for recorded tv in SPMC but the deinterlacer isn't great. This does cope with high bitrate content very well though (plays my running clip fine).

For some reason, SPMC is currently much better than MrMC using MediaCodec and MediaCodec surface. MediaCodec surface is great in SPMC for progressive content.

Don't know if my ramblings help! I think in the short term ffmpeg bob is still the best option, but the use max cores issue is stopping high bitrate stuff being played.

Ta!

[davilla]

2.8.1 will returning to forcing two cores for FFMpeg.

[jamesp26]

Hi.

Just wanted to report that 2 days in the latest release seems to have fixed all my livetv problems. I've not noticed the micro stutter that i saw prior to 2.8.0, and the fire tv has played everything i have thrown at it. Many thanks!

Looking to the future, i've noticed that Koying has got live tv + deinterlacing working pretty much perfectly using Mediacodec now (and when running it uses a fraction of the CPU's that ffmpeg does). Interestingly this introduces other complications, as SD tv still has to use ffmpeg and mediacodec and ffmpeg need to use different derinterlace settings. However, definitely a good sign that there could be some good improvements to come!

James