Buffering 4K HEVC video on ATV4K

[rogbott]

This is a known problem with the Kodi implementation of SMB (and also NFS): With large files, you can run into massive buffering problems even if your connection should be more than fast enough.
I had the same problem before when I had a ~120 mbit/s wifi connection (checked with iperf) trying to play a ~50mbit/s Blu-ray rip and it would buffer every 10 seconds...

Usually, the best workaround is mounting the partition in the OS directly (eg. via fstab). For example on my NVIDIA Shield TV, it makes a world of difference if I use the Kodi/MrMC implementation of SMB or NFS vs. mounting the drives on the Shield OS level.

However, unfortunately mounting the partition in the OS is not an alternative on IOS/TVOS. At the moment, the only solution I know of if your connection is too slow is to change the protocol. When I had the same problems back then, things got way better using (don't lough) FTP... except for database updates / cleanups, those took ages on FTP (no surprise there).

The problem seems to be with the SMB / NFS settings concerning read ahead and can't be fixed easily on the user level. There are more than enough threads for this problem on the net (see for example https://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=285288 ).

Davilla, do you think libsmb2 on MrMC 3.7 could do something to solve those problems? Thanks!

So I set it up using FTP and though I was a little worried about slow read rates, it seems to be working. I will keep playing around with it and, yes, library updates do take a lot longer, or seems the trade - off may be worth it for now. Of course when expanded support for smb is released I will give that a shot. Thanks everyone for the insight.

[amet]

just to be clear, not all users have issues with large files buffering... I use SMB as my main protocol but have setup NFS as a test and read speeds are plenty fast for any 4k video file I throw at it.

I suspect the LAN setup and the server play huge role in it.

[rogbott]

For sure. I think my LAN setup is about as optimized as it can get, though I am using the Orbi router built-in switch (whose performance I cannot totally vouch for), but most of my network is wireless. But I think your point on the server portion is probably spot-on. I am using a WD My Cloud 4TB single bay NAS which I know is not a performance workhorse or anything. I am assuming you are using a NAS/server that can do link aggregation? I would be curious if that is the main reason for the issues. I am seeing.

[ogrim1]

I also own an Orbi and a WD MyCloud Pro NAS as well as a cheap Synology NAS. The problem definitely has something to do with the infrastructure. I just found it very interesting that FTP worked very well when SMB and NFS were both buffering all the time. I also described the problem in a lot of detail on the Netgear Forums, but the support there was very ... limited.

[amet]

I have TS-669 Qnap and no link aggregation, just one CAT6 cable going in it... serves 2-3 apple tvs on a weekend when everyone in a house watches different things

all apple TVs are hardwired, nothing is running on wi-fi

[rogbott]

Interesting development yesterday. On all my iOS and tvOS devices I updated to the newly released 3.7 running on iOS and tvOS 12. I then enabled libsmb2 on those devices to see if it made a difference. My NAS is set to allow SMBv3 but when I went to play a file it wouldn't start. It would just stay on the mrmc menu. I then just unchecked that option and my files played over SMB. Interestingly even my 4K movies played fine over SMB. So I guess it is more an education question for me on why enabling libsmb2 would fail on iOS and tvOS.

PS- love the new default skin!

[davilla]

Interesting development yesterday. On all my iOS and tvOS devices I updated to the newly released 3.7 running on iOS and tvOS 12. I then enabled libsmb2 on those devices to see if it made a difference. My NAS is set to allow SMBv3 but when I went to play a file it wouldn't start. It would just stay on the mrmc menu. I then just unchecked that option and my files played over SMB. Interestingly even my 4K movies played fine over SMB. So I guess it is more an education question for me on why enabling libsmb2 would fail on iOS and tvOS.

PS- love the new default skin!

libsmb2 needs a real IP with user/pass and share point during setup.

[rogbott]

I totally forgot that you mentioned that in an earlier post. I redid my setup that way and it started working. Seems like 4k now plays fine on my phone and iPad as well so I think things are good. I'll keep playing around with it and report back if anything changes