Drops in audio when playing h265 and 5.1 sound

I have the following setup: VDR as TV signal receiver (server) and Vero4k as the client connected to the TV. The plugin is VDR-VNSI (what else;-)
When watching tv or watching recordings from tv with stereo sound everything is ok. When watching something with 5.1 sound, both live TV and recordings have dropouts every 1 to 2 seconds. (As I have no 5.1 sond, a mixdown to sterou seems to happen)
I have checked several settings with no succes.

When watching the same records with VLC on my workstation, everything is fine.
You can find the logs here: https://paste.osmc.tv/nidahoxuno

These are the errors (I suppose…)

18:25:13.685 T:3707761648  NOTICE: Opening stream: 1 source: 256
18:25:13.693 T:3726050288   ERROR: CVideoPlayerAudio::DecodeFrame - Decode Error. Skipping     audio packet (-1094995529)
18:25:13.700 T:3752555504   ERROR: Previous line repeats 11 times.
18:25:13.700 T:3752555504  NOTICE: CAMLCodec::OpenDecoder - using V4L2 pts format: 64Bit
18:25:13.706 T:3726050288   ERROR: CVideoPlayerAudio::DecodeFrame - Decode Error. Skipping audio packet (-1094995529)
18:25:18.894 T:3726050288   ERROR: Previous line repeats 484 times.
18:25:18.894 T:3726050288   ERROR: CVideoPlayerAudio::DecodeFrame - Decode Error. Skipping audio packet (-1163346256)
18:25:18.904 T:3726050288   ERROR: CVideoPlayerAudio::DecodeFrame - Decode Error. Skipping audio packet (-1094995529)
18:25:18.918 T:3726050288   ERROR: Previous line repeats 18 times.
18:25:18.918 T:3726050288   ERROR: CVideoPlayerAudio::DecodeFrame - Decode Error. Skipping audio packet (-1163346256)
18:25:18.918 T:3726050288   ERROR: CVideoPlayerAudio::DecodeFrame - Decode Error. Skipping audio packet (-1094995529)
18:25:18.941 T:3726050288   ERROR: Previous line repeats 18 times.
18:25:18.941 T:3726050288   ERROR: CVideoPlayerAudio::DecodeFrame - Decode Error. Skipping audio packet (-1163346256)
18:25:18.941 T:3726050288   ERROR: CVideoPlayerAudio::DecodeFrame - Decode Error. Skipping audio packet (-1094995529)
18:25:18.966 T:3726050288   ERROR: Previous line repeats 28 times.
18:25:18.966 T:3726050288  NOTICE: Creating audio stream (codec id: 86066, channels: 6, sample rate: 48000, no pass-through)
18:25:19.225 T:3726050288   ERROR: CVideoPlayerAudio::DecodeFrame - Decode Error. Skipping audio packet (-1094995529)
18:25:19.958 T:3752555504   ERROR: Previous line repeats 3 times.

The latest version of kodi doesn’t do passthrough with live tv

Can you explain your audio setup, and show your configuration options for audio. Dropouts can occur if you don’t configure them correctly

Hi Sam,
thanks for the quick response!

The network connection between VDR and Vero is via cable.
Audio goes from vero via hdmi to the tv. (I tried the audio jack from the vero as well - no difference)
Player Settings:
Sync playback to display: On or Off without any effect

Language:
Preferred audio language: Originals streams language
Prefer default audio streams: yes

System Settings
Audio:
Audio output device (both have the same problem)
Number of channels: 2
Output configuration: Best match
Volume control steps: 90
Maintain original volume… [on]
Stereo upmix [off]
Boost centre channel when… 0dB
Resample quality (tested all with no difference)
Threshold for pitch correction: 2
Keep audio alive: 1 min
Send low volume noise [off]

Audio passthrough [off]

Enable audio DSP processing [off]

Anything else you need to know?

Holger

What’s the selected audio device? Should be HDMI, not PCM based on your setup description.

Decode Error. Skipping audio packet (-1163346256)

Usually means a bit / low signal.
Do you get the problem with other channels? Do you get the same problem with a recording of this channel?

Sam

As I said above: I tried HDMI and the audio jack from vero. Both have the same problem - or did I get you wrong?

Well, if everything is connected via HDMI, you should still configure audio correctly.

Answering the above questions may also yield some clues.

I get audio issues if I use a DVB-T2 adapter with low SNR.

Do you have a good signal? Does everything else play back as expected from local storage?

May I quote myself;-)

When watching the same records with VLC on my workstation, everything is fine.

This means: VDR sends to VLC (same as VDR to Vero) and everything works as expected.
I don’t have any other problems with audio.
The selected audio device is AML-M8AUDIO, HDMI
SNR is at 100%.
What abot the error mesages from the logs? Don’t they show there’s something wrong?

Right, but the issue is on OSMC, not VLC? This is why I have asked these questions

Yes, the issue is in OSMC.
VDR to VLC is fine, VDR to OSMC has dropouts.

Can you please answer the above questions?
A recording would be interesting: because the issue may actually be in the VDR client.

You also haven’t told me whether you experienced the problem with local content or other sources or not.

The problem is with every channel which sends in h.265 and 5.1 audio. It doesn’t matter if it’s live or a recording of the same channel.
(Are these the questions you were referring to? I’m starting to loose oversight…)
The VDR recordings are in ts stream format and with 1.8 GB really large… I think I have to record a smaller piece to upload it somewhere?

If you find a small clip that is problematic, I can look at it.

The reason I wanted to know if you can replicate with a recording, played from a network share not the PVR client, is to confirm it’s an issue with the transport stream.

Ok, I will try to make some tests and to grab a few minutes of recordings.

Ok, now I have a sample from the great ESC from last Sataurday. (Files are on my nextcloud: https://owncloud.dehnhardt.org/index.php/s/OkkYJs24jDzj3qP)
It’s VDRs .ts format.

  • It plays well on my l laptop and my workstation (with one short dropout at the beginning)
  • I transcoded it to mp4
  • it plays fine in my laptop with the same small dropout at the beginning
  • I copied the transcoded file to the Vero4k and the dropouts every ~ two seconds are still there.

Can you paste your debug log of the dropouts?

The Kodi-Log?
Then see below. Anything else?

20:53:40.979 T:3748836336  NOTICE: CDVDVideoCodecFFmpeg::Open() Using codec: H.264 / AVC / MPEG-4 AVC / MPEG-4 part 10                                                   
20:53:43.694 T:4108607488  NOTICE: VideoPlayer: Opening: /home/osmc/Movies/00001.m4v                                                                                     
20:53:43.695 T:4108607488 WARNING: CDVDMessageQueue(player)::Put MSGQ_NOT_INITIALIZED                                                                                    
20:53:43.695 T:3592418288  NOTICE: Creating InputStream                                                                                                                  
20:53:43.699 T:3592418288  NOTICE: Creating Demuxer                                                                                                                      
20:53:43.813 T:3592418288  NOTICE: Opening stream: 0 source: 256                                                                                                         
20:53:43.813 T:3592418288  NOTICE: Creating video codec with codec id: 28                                                                                                
20:53:43.815 T:3592418288   ERROR: Unable to load libamplayer.so, reason: libamplayer.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory                      
20:53:43.815 T:3592418288 WARNING: CAMLCodec::CAMLCodec libamplayer.so not found, trying libamcodec.so instead                                                           
20:53:43.819 T:3592418288  NOTICE: Creating video thread                                                                                                                 
20:53:43.819 T:3600806896  NOTICE: running thread: video_thread                                                                                                          
20:53:43.819 T:3592418288  NOTICE: Opening stream: 1 source: 256                                                                                                         
20:53:43.819 T:3592418288  NOTICE: Finding audio codec for: 86018                                                                                                        
20:53:43.821 T:3592418288  NOTICE: Creating audio thread                                                                                                                 
20:53:43.821 T:3609195504  NOTICE: running thread: CVideoPlayerAudio::Process()                                                                                          
20:53:43.839 T:3609195504  NOTICE: Creating audio stream (codec id: 86018, channels: 2, sample rate: 48000, no pass-through)                                             
20:53:43.861 T:3600806896  NOTICE: CAMLCodec::OpenDecoder - using V4L2 pts format: 64Bit                                                                                 
20:54:06.119 T:3592418288  NOTICE: CVideoPlayer::OnExit()                                                                                                                
20:54:06.119 T:3592418288  NOTICE: VideoPlayer: eof, waiting for queues to empty                                                                                         
20:54:06.119 T:3592418288  NOTICE: Closing stream player 1                                                                                                               
20:54:06.119 T:3592418288  NOTICE: CDVDMessageQueue(audio)::WaitUntilEmpty                                                                                               
20:54:06.129 T:3609195504   ERROR: Got MSGQ_ABORT or MSGO_IS_ERROR return true                                                                                           
20:54:06.130 T:3609195504  NOTICE: thread end: CVideoPlayerAudio::OnExit()                                                                                               
20:54:06.130 T:3592418288  NOTICE: Waiting for audio thread to exit                                                                                                      
20:54:06.130 T:3592418288  NOTICE: Closing audio device                                                                                                                  
20:54:06.537 T:3592418288  NOTICE: Deleting audio codec                                                                                                                  
20:54:06.538 T:3592418288  NOTICE: Closing stream player 2                                                                                                               
20:54:06.538 T:3592418288  NOTICE: CDVDMessageQueue(video)::WaitUntilEmpty                                                                                               
20:54:06.538 T:3592418288  NOTICE: waiting for video thread to exit                                                                                                      
20:54:06.538 T:3600806896   ERROR: Got MSGQ_ABORT or MSGO_IS_ERROR return true                                                                                           
20:54:06.538 T:3600806896  NOTICE: thread end: video_thread                                                                                                              
20:54:06.539 T:3592418288  NOTICE: deleting video codec                                                                                                                  
20:54:07.138 T:4108607488  NOTICE: CVideoPlayer::CloseFile()                                                                                                             
20:54:07.138 T:4108607488  NOTICE: VideoPlayer: waiting for threads to exit                                                                                              
20:54:07.138 T:4108607488  NOTICE: VideoPlayer: finished waiting                                                                                                         
20:54:07.138 T:4108607488  NOTICE: CVideoPlayer::CloseFile()                                                                                                             
20:54:07.138 T:4108607488  NOTICE: VideoPlayer: waiting for threads to exit                                                                                              
20:54:07.138 T:4108607488  NOTICE: VideoPlayer: finished waiting

A full log please.
You also need to enable debugging.

Sam,
now you can find the zipped log file together with the video files here:
https://owncloud.dehnhardt.org/index.php/s/OkkYJs24jDzj3qP

You can find the LogFile on http://paste.osmc.io/aqotekumeh.md as well

Thanks for your support

Holger

Anything new with this issue?

Hi Holger,

Sorry I didn’t get back to you sooner. I checked earlier but your NextCloud didn’t seem to be working before. Now I can see your log from our Pastebin.

I can’t see your audio settings, but I think it may be a potential configuration issue.
Can you:

  • Screenshot audio configuration (with Expert Settings enabled)
  • Post output of cat /sys/class/amhdmitx/amhdmitx0/aud_cap

The only other thing I can think of is a problem with the Live TV recording. I’ll test the clips shortly. If there was a problem, it may work in VLC with SW decoding, and only trip up hardware decoders.

Sam