[SOLVED] Choppy sound after upgrade

[Chiron]

Good afternoon.

Two days ago I updated my xbian, but had to downgrade because, while displaying TV shows, the sound was getting very choppy after 1 minute.

Code:

apt-get install linux-image-bcm2836=4.14.58+-1532545509 xbian-package-tvheadend=4.2.5-72-1532487463 xbian-package-config-shell=20180626-0

and it works again


Don't know what the culprit is. I use a brand new class 10 sdcard.

[Nachteule]

TVheadend: No changes in code since 2 months
config-shell: don't believe that this package is culprit
kernel: one version between current (4.14.66+ and 4.14.58+ (its .58 not .50) version). Can you please test those 2 kernel's again to see if kernel package (and if yes, which one) is the culprit

[Chiron]

Hello, sorry for the delay. :-)
I've fully updated and then I've downgraded the kernel, version by version, and seen what happened.

the available versions
[code]
apt-cache madison linux-image-bcm2836
linux-image-bcm2836 | 4.14.68+-1536170138 | http://apt.xbian.org stable/rpi2-stretch armhf Packages
linux-image-bcm2836 | 4.14.66+-1535023184 | http://apt.xbian.org stable/rpi2-stretch armhf Packages
linux-image-bcm2836 | 4.14.62+-1534333153 | http://apt.xbian.org stable/rpi2-stretch armhf Packages
linux-image-bcm2836 | 4.14.58+-1532545509 | http://apt.xbian.org stable/rpi2-stretch armhf Packages
linux-image-bcm2836 | 4.14.56+-1532352834 | http://apt.xbian.org stable/rpi2-stretch armhf Packages
linux-image-bcm2836 | 4.14.54+-1531266666 | http://apt.xbian.org stable/rpi2-stretch armhf Packages
linux-image-bcm2836 | 4.14.52+-1530495366 | http://apt.xbian.org stable/rpi2-stretch armhf Packages
linux-image-bcm2836 | 4.9.108+-1530490703 | http://apt.xbian.org stable/armv7l-stretch armhf Packages
[code]
The two versions more recent than linux-image-bcm2836=4.14.62+-1534333153 have the problem of choppy sound.
The other packages I mentioned earlier are unrelated to the problem.

[Nachteule]

(10th Sep, 2018 07:48 AM)Chiron Wrote:  Hello, sorry for the delay. :-)

No problem

Quote:The two versions more recent than linux-image-bcm2836=4.14.62+-1534333153 have the problem of choppy sound.
The other packages I mentioned earlier are unrelated to the problem.

Ok, that's what I expected. There is a revert of a commit which is included since 4.14.66+ (I suppose it is this commit)
This should solve some sound issues, seems that does not work of everybody

Can you please describe your system a bit more in detail
Does that sound stuttering also appears when watching a normal video?

[Chiron]

my system:

Code:

xbian@xbian ~ $ cat /proc/cpuinfo
processor    : 0
model name    : ARMv7 Processor rev 5 (v7l)
BogoMIPS    : 38.40
Features    : half thumb fastmult vfp edsp neon vfpv3 tls vfpv4 idiva idivt vfpd32 lpae evtstrm
CPU implementer    : 0x41
CPU architecture: 7
CPU variant    : 0x0
CPU part    : 0xc07
CPU revision    : 5

processor    : 1
model name    : ARMv7 Processor rev 5 (v7l)
BogoMIPS    : 38.40
Features    : half thumb fastmult vfp edsp neon vfpv3 tls vfpv4 idiva idivt vfpd32 lpae evtstrm
CPU implementer    : 0x41
CPU architecture: 7
CPU variant    : 0x0
CPU part    : 0xc07
CPU revision    : 5

processor    : 2
model name    : ARMv7 Processor rev 5 (v7l)
BogoMIPS    : 38.40
Features    : half thumb fastmult vfp edsp neon vfpv3 tls vfpv4 idiva idivt vfpd32 lpae evtstrm
CPU implementer    : 0x41
CPU architecture: 7
CPU variant    : 0x0
CPU part    : 0xc07
CPU revision    : 5

processor    : 3
model name    : ARMv7 Processor rev 5 (v7l)
BogoMIPS    : 38.40
Features    : half thumb fastmult vfp edsp neon vfpv3 tls vfpv4 idiva idivt vfpd32 lpae evtstrm
CPU implementer    : 0x41
CPU architecture: 7
CPU variant    : 0x0
CPU part    : 0xc07
CPU revision    : 5

Hardware    : BCM2835
Revision    : a01041
Serial        : 00000000bf32efdc

I think you already know which remote I own. ;-)

Code:

xbian@xbian /proc $ lsusb
Bus 001 Device 005: ID 07ca:3835 AVerMedia Technologies, Inc. AVerTV Volar Green HD (A835B)
Bus 001 Device 004: ID 0bc7:0004 X10 Wireless Technology, Inc. X10 Receiver
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 0424:ec00 Standard Microsystems Corp. SMSC9512/9514 Fast Ethernet Adapter
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 0424:9514 Standard Microsystems Corp. SMC9514 Hub
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub

The sdcard is 1 month old

Code:

xbian@xbian /proc $ df -h
Filesystem      Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
udev            256K  4.0K  252K   2% /dev
tmpfs            75M  1.3M   74M   2% /run
/dev/mmcblk0p2   15G  1.2G   14G   9% /
/dev/mmcblk0p2   15G  1.2G   14G   9% /lib/modules
/dev/mmcblk0p2   15G  1.2G   14G   9% /home
/dev/mmcblk0p2   15G  1.2G   14G   9% /home/xbian/storage
/dev/mmcblk0p1   68M   34M   35M  50% /boot
none            4.0K     0  4.0K   0% /sys/fs/cgroup
/dev/mmcblk0p2   15G  1.2G   14G   9% /xbmc-backup
tmpfs            75M     0   75M   0% /run/user/1000

The pi is connected a samsung TV Syncmaster T220HD

The choppy sound problem occurs only with TV, not with videos.

[Nachteule]

Ok, and you're watching SD TV Live stream (DVB-T), PVR backend is TVheadend, and TV resolution is set to 1920x1080, sound over HDMI, right?

Are you using TVH's timeshift function - means buffering stream on sd-card?

[Chiron]

(11th Sep, 2018 07:52 AM)Nachteule Wrote:  Ok, and you're watching SD TV Live stream (DVB-T), PVR backend is TVheadend, and TV resolution is set to 1920x1080, sound over HDMI, right?

Are you using TVH's timeshift function - means buffering stream on sd-card?

SD TV Live stream (DVB-T) yes
PVR backend is TVheadend yes
TV resolution is set to 1920x1080 no it's 1024x768p
sound over HDMI yes
timeshift function yes, it's set to 60mns, path /home/xbian/timeshift, maximum size 1808 (I've just increased it to 5000, since I have a 16gb card)

[Nachteule]

(12th Sep, 2018 05:26 AM)Chiron Wrote:  timeshift function yes, it's set to 60mns, path /home/xbian/timeshift, maximum size 1808 (I've just increased it to 5000, since I have a 16gb card)

Thanks for your info. Already tried to disable timeshift? IMO it is a bad idea putting timeshift buffer on sd card (that will stress sd card too much)

[Chiron]

Something strange: I have another install of kodi on a laptop with another dvb-t usb dongle.
On this one timeshift is not enabled.
If I run the same tv show on both devices, I've noticed that on the raspi the show will be more and more late compared to the latop.

If I disable timeshift on the raspi, the devices stay synchronized.

[Nachteule]

That's why I don't use TVH for live tv - timeshift is still absolutely unsusable for me

But what about sound? Still garbage sound after disabling timeshift?

[Chiron]

The problem seems to be gone.
That could also explain why sometimes the image freezes during a show, and I have to do a stop/play.
That's strange that this feature has an effect, even if you don't have used it since the last reboot...

However it is very useful. What could be the solution? Connect a hard disk through an AC/DC powered usb hub, and create a mount point in the fstab?
Or through an nfs mount on my nas?

[Nachteule]

(12th Sep, 2018 07:10 AM)Chiron Wrote:  The problem seems to be gone.

Nice

Quote:That could also explain why sometimes the image freezes during a show, and I have to do a stop/play.
That's strange that this feature has an effect, even if you don't have used it since the last reboot...

TVH has 3 timeshift settings: Off, On, OnDemand
On means, timeshift buffer is written always
OnDemand means, buffer is written after the first time you'll pause live stream

Quote:However it is very useful. What could be the solution? Connect a hard disk through an AC/DC powered usb hub, and create a mount point in the fstab?
Or through an nfs mount on my nas?

You can try it on a mounted nfs share, maybe network for SD streams is fast enough. I tested that some years ago, but with 720p streams and over WLAN (AFAIR) connection - and under those conditions it was absolutely impossible to get a smooth live stream

[Chiron]

thanks very much.
I've given a try with an nfs share, it's working flawlessly.
My network is ethernet, gigabit.

I only lost one hour figuring out why this damn fedora nfs server would'nt let me connect. the answer was no_acl in /etc/exports

Code:

/home/jyl/TVstream 192.168.30.3(rw,no_root_squash,no_acl,sync)

Edit: I've been too optimistic, the choppy sound is back, but now after 5 minutes, instead of 1. :-D

[Nachteule]

(13th Sep, 2018 06:51 AM)Chiron Wrote:  Edit: I've been too optimistic, the choppy sound is back, but now after 5 minutes, instead of 1. :-D

Hmmm, that's weird.

I was testing it today with my devel Pi3B+, Kodi 18.0 Beta 2, Kernel 4.14.68+, DVB-C (spare part), SD and HD (720p) channels:

Was not able to get sound issues. But, my DVB-C device seems to have some issues, I'm always getting errors like that in the tvheadend log:

Code:

Sep 13 19:22:46 kmxbilr2 TS: dvb-c Home/402MHz/ServusTV: MPEG2VIDEO @ #2371 Continuity counter error (total 64)
Sep 13 19:23:00 kmxbilr2 TS: dvb-c Home/402MHz/ServusTV: MPEG2VIDEO @ #2371 Continuity counter error (total 68)
Sep 13 19:23:32 kmxbilr2 TS: dvb-c Home/402MHz/ServusTV: MPEG2VIDEO @ #2371 Continuity counter error (total 72)
Sep 13 19:23:43 kmxbilr2 TS: dvb-c Home/402MHz/ServusTV: MPEG2VIDEO @ #2371 Continuity counter error (total 75)
Sep 13 19:24:04 kmxbilr2 TS: dvb-c Home/402MHz/ServusTV: MPEG2VIDEO @ #2371 Continuity counter error (total 77)
Sep 13 19:24:04 kmxbilr2 TS: dvb-c Home/402MHz/ServusTV: MPEG2AUDIO @ #2372 Continuity counter error (total 7)
Sep 13 19:24:44 kmxbilr2 TS: dvb-c Home/402MHz/ServusTV: MPEG2VIDEO @ #2371 Continuity counter error (total 81)

This depends on the DVB-C stick - I know that this part does not work very well here (that's why it's spare part only )
.

[Dzintars Bergs]

I think, I have same audio glitches on Pi2 after recent upgrade. This happens while playing 720p mkv videos. Any suggestions how to resolve it?