Freezing Video, Audio OK

[Heuer 76]

The latest versions of EATV have made playback on my AMLogic Mbox impossible with the freezing every few seconds although the audio track plays fine. Live TV will not play at all. My system is:

 

Emby Server running on Win 7 i3 HTPC; Emby Classic; Emby Theatre

AMLogic Mbox running Android 4.2.2 with ethernet connection

Nexus 6 Android Marshmallow

Client PC's

 

All videos (mkv and wtv) play perfectly on client PC browsers and via Emby Classic/Theatre. All video plays perfectly on Nexus 6 EA via WI-Fi (except Live TV which requires VLC player to be disabled). All videos play perfectly if I use the bundled DLNA media player on the Mbox streaming off the Emby server. EATV is broken however. The network connection is working perfectly because a) I can stream HD via the BBC iPlayer b ) I can use the Nexus from a Wi-Fi hub on the same switch and c) the DNLA player works fine.

 

I have tried uninstall/install of EATV with no improvement. I installed EA as an experiment (with no IR remote control it was impossible to scroll down to 'settings') but that was even worse with tearing, stuttering and pixellation of the video. Both EATV and EA used to work on the Mbox as indeed did MediaBrowser 2.38 but all are now broken as far as playback is concerned. 

 

Any thoughts? Happy to provide whatever log files are required.

 

Edited December 29, 2015 by Heuer

[Heuer 76]

Server logs attached.

transcode-4be315e7-e1c1-4327-8ae1-0ce49d332b85.txt

server-63586810805.zip

[Heuer 76]

I enabled the logging option in EATV and there was a promise of a 'log' button on the home screen. It does not appear though and I can't find any logs anywhere on the Mbox file system. When I was running MB 2.38 there was a dedicated directory for logs. Anyone know where I should look on a Android 4.4.2 device?

 

In meantime I have enabled Plex which is performing just fine on the Mbox!

[Heuer 76]

Well, after a day of testing the problem turned out to be the AMLogic Mbox not being powerful enough, I believe, to handle either transcode or direct streaming. All very odd as it was working fine until recently  I tried a second server on a more powerful PC but it made no difference. So I bought an Nvidia Shield, which is one incredible gadget,and that plays perfectly.

 

In my testing I came across a couple of issues which someone might want to look into.

 

1. The log button does not appear on the Home screen even if you select it (Edit: works on the Shield)

2. Unlike the superb EA app, EATV does not allow you to select a server. Only way seems to be to exit the application and even then it is hit 'n miss if you are given the choice. It would be good to have the option within 'settings'

Edited December 31, 2015 by Heuer

[ebr 16169]

1. The log button does not appear on the Home screen even if you select it (Edit: works on the Shield)

 

The send logs feature doesn't work for the 1st gen FTV so it just doesn't show it.  The box you were using is not a true ATV device so it was probably being mis-identified.

 

 

2. Unlike the superb EA app, EATV does not allow you to select a server. Only way seems to be to exit the application and even then it is hit 'n miss if you are given the choice. It would be good to have the option within 'settings'

 

If you have multiple servers and have the app set to show a log-in screen (instead of logging in directly), it will show you a list of servers to choose from.

[Heuer 76]

Thanks. Makes sense I suppose although I would like to see some cohesion across the apps in the long term. Plex is quite cute as there is one app and it allows the user to select the Mobile or TV interface from settings which must reduce development and support effort. Emby is a far better solution overall though IMHO. 

Edited January 4, 2016 by Heuer

[ebr 16169]

We will probably end up with a universal app eventually.