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So my video stutters on playback. Pretty sure its an audio issue after all the reading I've been doing on the forums.

I think its the dts issue I've seen documented elsewhere. Where if you have the pi try to handle the dts audio its too much for it.

Here's my question though. I tried raspbmc and playback worked fine. Dts audio played just fine. But on Xbian, it stutters. So I'm wondering if that seems normal to others. Everything else on Xbian is faster and smoother, but raspbmc handles playing my files better.

Any ideas on how to go forward troubleshooting this. To get my xbian to work as well in playback?

Software
XBian version: 1.0 Beta 1.1
XBMC version:Whatever comes default on the downloaded image
Overclock settings:"Xbian", but I've tried with High and Moderate with same results

Hardware
Power supply rating: 2.1A
RPi model (model A/B 256mb/512mb): Model B, 512mb
SD card size and make/type:8Gb, Class 10, generic
Network (wireless or LAN): LAN
Connected devices (TV, USB, network storage, etc.): TV, NAS drive, mounted at boot is where the videos are

Problem description:
As stated above. Playback is choppy/stutters/skips/whatever you want to call it when playing videos with DTS or TrueHD audio. But they play fine with raspbmc. So I think my hardware can handle it.

I've tried "adjust display refresh rate to match video" with it On and Off, no change.

I've tried Sync playback to display with Video clock and Audio clock, and nothing works.

I've tried different Overclock settings, with nothing that works.

If I manually edit the config to do the hdmi_edid = 1 issue. I get smooth playback, but no sound (currently only have TV with no dts support).

Thats how I'm pretty sure it is a audio playback issue. But like I said, it works find on raspbmc, so its got to be doable with my Pi. I really want to stick with xbian, but I don't know at this point.


Thanks everyone.

(30th Sep, 2013 09:49 PM)nertskull Wrote: [ -> ]So my video stutters on playback. Pretty sure its an audio issue after all the reading I've been doing on the forums.

I think its the dts issue I've seen documented elsewhere. Where if you have the pi try to handle the dts audio its too much for it.

Here's my question though. I tried raspbmc and playback worked fine. Dts audio played just fine. But on Xbian, it stutters.

what month's raspbmc release?

with b1.1, what xbian-package-xbmc version? for b1x there are four releases. 2.1 2.2 2.3 and 2.4.

in xbmc/rpi one week of development is like 1:10. go for nightly xbmc frodo or jump to beta2.

simply the code base is changing so fast (and specially) bugs / efficiency problems like those are created and fixed on daily basis. XBMC on RPI is so wide definition like to declare my car is faster than your. there is simply no specific information behind.

you can even be perfect by reporting 1st lines of xbmc.logs

(30th Sep, 2013 10:11 PM)mk01 Wrote: [ -> ]what month's raspbmc release?

with b1.1, what xbian-package-xbmc version? for b1x there are four releases. 2.1 2.2 2.3 and 2.4.

in xbmc/rpi one week of development is like 1:10. go for nightly xbmc frodo or jump to beta2.

simply the code base is changing so fast (and specially) bugs / efficiency problems like those are created and fixed on daily basis. XBMC on RPI is so wide definition like to declare my car is faster than your. there is simply no specific information behind.

you can even be perfect by reporting 1st lines of xbmc.logs

Well I'm at work now, so I can give more details tonight. But I know I downloaded Xbian on Fri night from the main download page. So I guess it would be from september.

But good to know it develops so quick, I will have to try again with those other builds you mentioned. See if that helps or not.

It could be your NAS drive. SSh into your NAS and watch the wait state when you're playing DTS movies especially 1080p.

I can play a 1080p DTS via SMB on my PC - and the RPi is at around 80% CPU. If I play the same file on the NAS, it stutters or hangs for a bit. Checking top on the NAS shows it to be in a 90% wait state.

If your TV can handle AC3, you can convert the files with "Audio Converter" on Windoze from DTS to AC3

So I tried switching to the nightly builds found here

https://github.com/xbianonpi/xbmc-nightly

Still no luck. Here is the top of logfile from after installing those.


And here is the logfile after starting playback of a movie with DTS-HD (One I know works fine on raspbmc)

I can try the AC3 switch. I don't love having to do that for all my videos though. Especially since they ALL play in raspbmc. I may just switch to that and deal with the slightly slower menus.

Anything else to try other than re-encoding my videos?

(1st Oct, 2013 09:02 AM)nertskull Wrote: [ -> ]So I tried switching to the nightly builds found here

https://github.com/xbianonpi/xbmc-nightly

Still no luck. Here is the top of logfile from after installing those.

[code]18:57:27 T:3042078720 NOTICE: -----------------------------------------------------------------------
18:57:27 T:3042078720 NOTICE: Starting XBMC (12.2 Git:20130502-32b1a5e), Platform: Linux (7.1, 3.9.8+ armv6l). Built on May 14 2013

nertskull, this is still May-2nd. frodo-nighly should read something like Sep-09th.

or just upgrade to Beta2 without this manual back-forth hacking.

(1st Oct, 2013 09:13 AM)mk01 Wrote: [ -> ]nertskull, this is still May-2nd. frodo-nighly should read something like Sep-09th.

or just upgrade to Beta2 without this manual back-forth hacking.

So what am I missing? You are right, it didn't update. But I've followed the instructions on git-hub three times now and rebooted each time and I don't get the nightly builds updating.

So I guess I don't know how to do it.

Also, by Beta2 I assume you mean Beta1.2??

---

I tried to install the beta2 package. But I get the following error after updating my package sources.


I tried installing kpartx alone, but it wouldn't work.

Hard to guess, but Beta2 is currently on the exact same git Frodo-nighlty (with no mods, just the way as you got it from there).

No for Beta1.2. Beta1.1 was just small rush hot fix to Beta1. Now it is time for Beta2 - properly grown and prepared.

---

There are still some fine ideas in development but seems to more for Beta3 then and if all will be fine it could be marked as RC or proper 1. But until then we have to make the ideas into real things and this will not happen overnight.

---

so you just followed this three steps there ?

http://forum.xbian.org/thread-1312-post-14837.html#pid14837

---

be sure you don't use any other source for xbian packages than the one IVKA57. my sources for beta2 looks like:

Well that was a bust. I got the beta2 installed following the instructions you posted.

But the skipping/stuttering issue is still there. Plus the audio is much worse overall now. It sounds hollow/mechanic/robotic now on the DTS-HD videos.

The DTS videos sound ok, but still get the stuttering issues.

Other videos (non-DTS) still work though. So it didn't break everything.

Here is the top of the log

Here is a log after starting playback of a video if it helps

can you make a sample of such video ?
and we are speaking about playing them without passthrough, right ?

(just asking what setup to test)

---

and I just wanted to get info about the actual connection / source you are using but it seems this info has not been discussed.

so in general protocol and whether it is mounted on system level and XBMC is using "local access" through the mount, or XBMC using own libs to access smb/nfs… via own defined source.

---

I have just some DTS-ES, will test in hour or two but the bitrate would be max of 1580kbps for the sound so maybe make no sense.

---

I found in the log you sent earlier, it is USB hdd auto mounted under media, right ?

---

if you cant do sample, can you sent torrent file or magnet link ?

---

and please send

mount | grep /media/Aspartic_Acid

when disk is mounted

---

and also please do

maybe the distorted sound is because yesterdays new nightly with some Semptembers back ports.

the 2.9-10.10 is maybe 2 weeks older, with some bugs, but none about audio problem / sound.

---

one idea more from me, the 10.10 back ports were fit to Sep10 firmware, just remember popcorn was requesting firmware upgrade again for latest patches, but there was no guarranty for 100% correct fw. so I let be at Sep10.

merging latest now, will post link in few minutes for you to try.

---

and I asked you which raspbmc release it was - august? older? septembers? and was it stable or with special branch xbmc ?

this you didn't answer. then I would be able to take closer look into differences.

---

http://ivka57.dyndns-ip.com/others/xbian-package-firmware1.4-7.deb

it is dated today. personally just tried whether it boots.

@nertskull

last 3h I was going through 4 movies randomly selected 1080p, DTS (even ES) and I turned off passthrough. source network (not even local storage).

got no one shutter. even dpkg was updating kernel package in the background. please send file (sample or link).

(1st Oct, 2013 10:16 PM)mk01 Wrote: [ -> ]can you make a sample of such video ?
and we are speaking about playing them without passthrough, right ?
(just asking what setup to test)

So I'm happy to post, I'm not sure about legalities though. All I have is my own BD rips. I've tried on a bunch and its the same, mainly I've been testing with Lord of the Rings with DTS-HD. Honestly I'm not great with video so I'd have to figure out how to even cut it down to a minute or two to even share.

Quote:

---

and I just wanted to get info about the actual connection / source you are using but it seems this info has not been discussed.

so in general protocol and whether it is mounted on system level and XBMC is using "local access" through the mount, or XBMC using own libs to access smb/nfs… via own defined source.

---

I'm on a router with gigabit speed (wndr 4500). All my cabling is cat5e or cat6. I currently have things mounted system level and xbmc is access my videos through a "local" drive (that is mounted at boot using fstab).

In regards to this, I just found this out. I thought I should maybe try with the xbmc nfs settings. But I actually can't. So maybe that plays into this. But I can find my nfs share with xbmc. I can see the shared drives. But xbmc won't let me actually open those shared drives.

Quote:I have just some DTS-ES, will test in hour or two but the bitrate would be max of 1580kbps for the sound so maybe make no sense.

---

I found in the log you sent earlier, it is USB hdd auto mounted under media, right ?

---

if you cant do sample, can you sent torrent file or magnet link ?

I was thinking maybe save the title sequence of a movie that stutters. Probably wouldn't have copyright issues that way. I just need to figure out how to save just the first minute or two and I'll try to post something.

Quote:

---

and please send

mount | grep /media/Aspartic_Acid
when disk is mounted

---

That returns nothing.

Quote:and also please do

Code:

sudo -i
cd /tmp
wget http://ivka57.dyndns-ip.com/rollback/xbian-package-xbmc_2.9-10.10_armhf.deb
dpkg -i xbian-package-xbmc_2.9-10.10_armhf.deb

maybe the distorted sound is because yesterdays new nightly with some Semptembers back ports.

the 2.9-10.10 is maybe 2 weeks older, with some bugs, but none about audio problem / sound.

Done. Tried it. No go. Doesn't play the file at all.

Here is the log with it failing

Quote:

---

one idea more from me, the 10.10 back ports were fit to Sep10 firmware, just remember popcorn was requesting firmware upgrade again for latest patches, but there was no guarranty for 100% correct fw. so I let be at Sep10. merging latest now, will post link in few minutes for you to try.

---

and I asked you which raspbmc release it was - august? older? septembers? and was it stable or with special branch xbmc ?
this you didn't answer. then I would be able to take closer look into differences.

---

Here is from the raspbmc log. It was the stable download.


I still have it on another SD and it is working just fine.

Quote:http://ivka57.dyndns-ip.com/others/xbian-package-firmware1.4-7.deb

it is dated today. personally just tried whether it boots.

Yeah it still doesn't work with that. Here is the log file

ok, will just comment without quotes

I was discussing this today with Ricardo (to get insights into all the DTS-x). Until now my perspective was just ok, it works (beside the OMX issues with broke DTS-x before).
RPI can't play DTS-HD. It will open it though and take just the DTS stream out. So the performance impact (bitstream amount to decode) is no different there. But I was following the discussions at RaspBMC around that and remember this as being a fact. OMX wasn't able to open it at all, later it was opening but not for all files. Popcorn was describing some garbage in the -HD part RPI didn't like. I was checking the commits and they are in upstream so XBian has them.

For next steps would be essential to provide the sample. I you said I don't need the movie, I will be fine with opening / closing credits. How to strip just part of this - not any knowledge around this either but people are providing this so I'm sure google will tell.

As for the "The_Lord_Of_The_Rings_The_Fellowship" log output, I remember the Input Stream error from around 4w ago, where DTS-ES was broken as well and unplayable. But this is no more actual. But again, -HD not being in my library.

And because I'm a little lost already, just update to latest available - as it is not breaking anything for you and I have the same versions and just shortly tell me - which DTS are fine, which shutter and which are not able to play at all (I assume all is software decoding without passthrough being on).

When you provide the samples, I will get back this and discuss with popcorn if needed.

Also I'm a bit confused the mount is not returning anything as the files in logs are clearly opened from this location so it has to exists? Anyhow the output would provide some info about NFS2/3/4, buffers set, being tcp/udp or other details.

If you from command line run

what average speed you get?

According the log from RaspBMC (being Stable and having 3.10.13 kernel) it is the release from yesterday (or some days)? so really fresh.

(2nd Oct, 2013 10:19 AM)mk01 Wrote: [ -> ]ok, will just comment without quotes

Also I'm a bit confused the mount is not returning anything as the files in logs are clearly opened from this location so it has to exists? Anyhow the output would provide some info about NFS2/3/4, buffers set, being tcp/udp or other details.

If you from command line run

Code:

dd if=/media/Aspartic_Acid/media/video/Movies/ProcessedBD/The_Lord_Of_The_Rings_The_Fellowship_Of_The_Ring_2001_extended_Disc_1.mkv of=/dev/null bs=1M count=150

what average speed you get?

According the log from RaspBMC (being Stable and having 3.10.13 kernel) it is the release from yesterday (or some days)? so really fresh.

So that is interesting. With raspbmc doing the file transfer over NFS I ran a bunch of times and average about 120 MB/s.

On my main computer (which also pulls from the NFS server) I get average of about 120MB/s (just for comparison)

But, on Xbian. I'm only averaging about 10.5 MB/s.

So I was thinking maybe that could be my problem. Maybe the NFS setup is not working right on my Xbian install.

To test, I moved the file to an external drive and plugged it in through my USB on the Xbian Pi. And now my movie works just fine. No stuttering, no lag, plays DTS audio just fine like raspbmc did.

Therefore, I'm no longer thinking its cpu/processor issues on the pi. But instead streaming/nfs issues on Xbian. NFS works fine on raspbmc. And I know that it works fine on all my other computers. But Xbian definitely is slower.

So I guess the question is. How do I troubleshoot NFS on Xbian? Is that the next step?

---

Also, I can keep working on getting a sample file if you still think that would be helpful. But I'm assuming that since it is an NFS issue, it probably is not file specific.

sample would be still useful if you have file NOT WORKING at all. otherwise not anymore.

and to clear my confusion now, with MB/s you mean MegaBits (Mb) per sec, not megabytes (MB/Mbyte), right? as RPI can hardly do over 15MB/s. 120MB would be quite much even for standard PC on 1Gbit network.

So if then recalculate 10.5Mb you report for XBian that's not even 1.5MB/s and with this speed I'm surprised FullHD DTS movie even plays. Can you post your fstab?

There will be something broke as If I try hard (stop XBMC etc) I can get 12.5MB/s from my NFS4 box so even if I admit not everyone running 3com network etc, even on china stuff the difference can not be 1:10. Simply told I would accept to hear 10, 9, maybe even 7. Considering it is only NAS (so not ultra CPU power). But not 1.5. Don't worry, we find it