Android app on Nvidia shield stutters with subtitles

[nikkijay 5]

Hey there! I've been trying the android app on my shield and it's fantastic except one thing.

I have it set to switch resolution and frame rate to match the video, and sometimes when a subtitle pops up, there's a noticeable stutter in playback as it shows the subtitle. Just a frame or two, but definitely there. It's difficult to capture and nothing in logs shows any issues.

It's not present on the android TV version of the app.

Is there anything I can do to give a better report on this?

[nikkijay 5]

Happens consistently in Severance S2 episode 3 (4k, DV) at 2min55, the subtitle that comes up as mark steps out of the elevator causes a frame skip. Without the subtitle it's fine, on android TV it's fine.

[nikkijay 5]

Turning off the frame rate match stops the stutter 

[Luke 42077]

8 hours ago, nikkijay said:

Turning off the frame rate match stops the stutter 

HI, that's helpful. We'll take a look at this. Thanks.

[nikkijay 5]

If it helps I did a bit more digging on this to find out potentially helpful details.

The video file is 23.976fps, the android TV app uses exoplayer at 59.94fps (refresh rate switching is switched on, guess it couldn't find an exact match for it), the android app uses MediaCodec at 23.98.

 

[nikkijay 5]

More digging! It also happens with some subtitles in The Orville, there's a very slight stutter in the very first subtitle (music symbol, which doesn't render correctly) of S01E01. That's another video where the frame rate is 23.976 but the display mode is set to 23.98. Can't see it happening on any file where the frame rate matches exactly. With exoplayer in the TV app it's fine though with the display mode set to 23.98.

Yeah, I'm very sensitive to this stuff, haha

[Guest]

8 hours ago, nikkijay said:

Yeah, I'm very sensitive to this stuff, haha

I wouldn't call it being sensitive..... it's more like you expect things to work correctly.   

I'm dealing with stutter / buffering on the android app I never experienced on the androidTV app.  If I came into the emby ecosystem with this performance I never would have settled down and used emby long term. 

[d13g0 2]

Hi, I noticed this issue with some of my movies and tv shows. I noticed watching the last peacemaker episode and in alien earth. In the moment a subtitles appears, (not always) there is a micro shutter. My wife can't noticed but I'm very sensitive to this kind of video/audio things, In my case my player is a fire cube 3 gen with the universal android app not the Android tv one with Plex works ok 

Edited September 30, 2025 by d13g0

[Luke 42077]

On 9/30/2025 at 7:55 AM, d13g0 said:

Hi, I noticed this issue with some of my movies and tv shows. I noticed watching the last peacemaker episode and in alien earth. In the moment a subtitles appears, (not always) there is a micro shutter. My wife can't noticed but I'm very sensitive to this kind of video/audio things, In my case my player is a fire cube 3 gen with the universal android app not the Android tv one with Plex works ok 

We are looking into this. Thanks.

[Luke 42077]

For video stuttering, please try Emby for Android 3.5.25 and let us know how that compares:

https://emby.media/emby-for-android.html

Thanks.

[nikkijay 5]

Looks like that's fixed it for me! Thanks!