Judder/stutter after 30 minutes of playback



Hello everyone,

I am currently experiencing a strange issue with Kodi (latest version [Omega] for Android TV): Up until the 30 minute mark videos run smoothly, then judder begins and gets worse over time.

  • The playback device is an Android TV Dongle (Benq QS01) running Android TV 12.
  • I have set frame rate matching to “ON”, so 24p content plays at 24Hz (TV refresh rate switches).
  • The source files are located on my NAS and I have tried playing them via Kodi directly (source = network location) and via the addon “PlexKodiConnect”, since I am running a Plex server as well.
  • The judder also happens in the official Plex app on this device after 30 minutes.
  • The judder does NOT happen on Amazon Prime Video (maybe due to the lack of native framerate-switching?)
  • The videos/movies play fine on other playback devices (Nvidia Shield, PC), in Kodi and the Plex app.

I have tried changing the settings “Disable HW Overlay” (in Android TV developer menu) and “number of buffers used by graphics driver” (in Kodi):

  1. Kodi graphics buffers to 2 with HW Overlay disabled
  2. Kodi graphics buffers to 3 with HW Overlay disabled
  3. Kodi graphics buffers to 2 with HW Overlay enabled
  4. Kodi graphics buffers to 3 with HW Overlay enabled

Sadly these settings didn’t solve the issue.

The only way I have found to mitigate the issue is enabling the Player Debug Info OSD in the top left corner.
As long as this OSD is on, the video runs smoothly.
I have uploaded a video of the issue here (you can see when debug OSD is on): Kodi Judder issue

Can anyone tell me how the debug OSD is handled and why it fixes the frame pacing?