Shield TV: Micro + Macro Stutters, Audio out of sync when skipping (All non 4k)

Posted on Author Kodi Community Forum - All Forums

Loooong time XBMC/Kodi user and I’d usually try to fix issues on my own before asking for help, but I’m really at my wits end here. The last few month I’m experiencing these problems:

  • Micro Stuttering – not even a second of halted video and sound during playback
  • Macro Stuttering – A few seconds of halted video and sound during playback
  • Audi out of sync – when skipping back or forward
  • All this at random intervals and not consistent

I’m using the same setup for years now, which is a 1080p TV with a Yamaha receiver (along with the same cables) and various Kodi hardware. I’ve had never, ever had any problems playing smooth video WITH pass-trough audio until about about 3 months ago using the setup with the 2015 Nvidia Shield. The same Shield that used to play content without any problems

I’ve done my fair share of clean installs on both the Android and Kodi part but, replaced many a cable but the problems seems persistent. I just can’t figure out what the problems is or where to look for it. Is it the latest Android 5.1 update or the latest Kodi 17.1, a combination of both or just a less desired setting?

All content (720, 1080) played from a local cabled Windows file server using a gigabit network with these settings:

  • Adjust display refresh rate: Mostly OFF, tried Always, On start Stop
  • Video settings: enable HQ scalers 20%
  • Allow hardware acceleration Mediacodec Surface On, but tried OFF
  • Allow hardware acceleration Mediacodec On
  • Audio Settings: Audio default with Pass-through enabled, E-AC3 disabled

I can see that at the occurrence of every stutter the log produces this similar error:

Code:
19:50:50.053 T:138586068048  NOTICE: CVideoPlayerAudio::Process - stream stalled
19:50:50.273 T:137890923600   ERROR: CDVDMediaCodecInfo::ReleaseOutputBuffer ExceptionCheck index(14), render(1)
19:50:54.213 T:138585031760   ERROR: Previous line repeats 17 times.
19:50:54.213 T:138585031760 WARNING: CRenderManager::WaitForBuffer - timeout waiting for buffer
19:51:34.844 T:138281763920 WARNING: Previous line repeats 8 times.)

I’ve added a debug log and a normal log over a longer period (it’s acceptable to watch you’re CPU time for a little while but it becomes irritating in the long run Smile)

Debug Log, Normal Log

Please advice where to look for the culprit