Pi3 Video Problem with Hyperion

Hey guys,

I just changed from Raspi 2 + OSMC (where everything was working perfectly) to Raspi 3 + OSMC. The latest update is installed (2016.02.04). My power supply is at 5V/2.5A and I thought it should be enough for the Pi 3. I already tried w/ and w/o overclocking.

Problem: When I try to play some 1080p videos I only see the video for about half a second, then the screen stutters to black and the audio stops playing, till after some seconds the video+audio continues for 0.5 seconds and then same thing happens again.
I tried to watch the video directly via the Kodi Vimeo-AddOn and also downloaded it on my PC and tried to play it from a plugged USB-stick on the Pi.
The following video is meant in particular (I didn’t try other 1080p clips so far because this video was working on my Pi 2 and I want to know why it isn’t any more): https://vimeo.com/108679294
Another similar video I downloaded and played via USB has the same issues: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DjdJydl-ds

I made a logfile from the start of OSMC going directly to play the video from a plugged USB drive (http://paste.osmc.io/ifatomales) but didn’t know exactly which parts to log so it could be a little too big, sry.

I already tried searching around the forum+Google for this but I only found problems with video playback via network on the Raspberry Pi 3 and playing it via USB was always considered to work as a solution there.

Thanks for your help :slight_smile:

I have downloaded the Vimeo file and played it without any stutter or glitch on my Pi3.
So if you have a problem it must be related to your setup or hardware.

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Did you remember the codec purchase from the pi foundation!

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When you transferred your install from the Pi 2 to Pi 3 did you get new codec licenses and install them ? The codec licenses from your Pi 2 won’t work on another Pi.

It’s unclear from the log whether you are trying to play a file that requires the codecs - for some reason the log does not say what codec the files have, so a Mediainfo of the file you’re trying to play would be helpful.

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Sorry I forgot to mention that I purchased+entered the 2 codecs and when I check them via SSH the system says they are both enabled.

Here is a MediaInfo of the file I am trying to watch:
General
Format : MPEG-4
Format profile : Base Media / Version 2
Codec ID : mp42 (mp42/mp41/isom/avc1)
File size : 101 MiB
Duration : 3mn 19s
Overall bit rate mode : Variable
Overall bit rate : 4 246 Kbps
Encoded date : UTC 2014-10-16 12:14:04
Tagged date : UTC 2014-10-16 12:14:04

Video
ID : 1
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : High@L4
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames : 4 frames
Codec ID : avc1
Codec ID/Info : Advanced Video Coding
Duration : 3mn 19s
Bit rate : 3 987 Kbps
Width : 1 920 pixels
Height : 1 080 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16:9
Frame rate mode : Constant
Frame rate : 25.000 fps
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.077
Stream size : 94.6 MiB (94%)
Writing library : x264 core 142 r2453 ea0ca51
Encoding settings : cabac=1 / ref=3 / deblock=1:0:0 / analyse=0x3:0x113 / me=hex / subme=7 / psy=1 / psy_rd=1.00:0.00 / mixed_ref=1 / me_range=16 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=1 / 8x8dct=1 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / fast_pskip=1 / chroma_qp_offset=-2 / threads=48 / lookahead_threads=8 / sliced_threads=0 / nr=0 / decimate=1 / interlaced=0 / bluray_compat=0 / stitchable=1 / constrained_intra=0 / bframes=3 / b_pyramid=2 / b_adapt=1 / b_bias=0 / direct=1 / weightb=1 / open_gop=0 / weightp=2 / keyint=75 / keyint_min=25 / scenecut=40 / intra_refresh=0 / rc_lookahead=40 / rc=crf / mbtree=1 / crf=20.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=5 / qpmax=69 / qpstep=4 / vbv_maxrate=4950 / vbv_bufsize=13500 / crf_max=0.0 / nal_hrd=none / filler=0 / ip_ratio=1.40 / aq=1:1.00
Encoded date : UTC 2014-10-16 12:14:04
Tagged date : UTC 2014-10-16 12:14:04
Color range : Limited
Color primaries : BT.709
Transfer characteristics : BT.709
Matrix coefficients : BT.709

Audio
ID : 2
Format : AAC
Format/Info : Advanced Audio Codec
Format profile : LC
Codec ID : 40
Duration : 3mn 19s
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 256 Kbps
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Channel positions : Front: L R
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Frame rate : 46.875 fps (1024 spf)
Compression mode : Lossy
Stream size : 6.08 MiB (6%)
Encoded date : UTC 2014-10-16 12:14:04
Tagged date : UTC 2014-10-16 12:14:04`

As mentioned I that file works fine on mine. I suggest you try a clean install maybe on a second SD Card.

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Well a clean install did it (same SD card, same Pi3, …).
I did nothing more than entering the codecs so far and it works. Now I’m going to set up everything (updates, menu, Samba, Hyperion, overclocking) to see whether it still works afterwards, but I have no free time this weekend so it will take till monday before I can tell more.

Thank you so far and sorry for wasting your time xD

Why the hell would you need overclocking on a Pi3?

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Why the hell would you need overclocking on a Pi3?

I don’t know exactly, but I installed coolers on my Pi 3 and thought that overclocking is not dangerous or something at all - so why should a bit higher speed be bad?

But back to the original topic: I removed the “solution”-marker because my problem is back and now I can tell a little better what it is caused by. I did all the steps mentioned in my last post and in between I always tested the video playback from USB drive. Everything worked perfectly until I installed Hyperion by executing the following commands (SPI support is enabled in Pi-config)

sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get upgrade sudo apt-get install libqtcore4 libqtgui4 libqt4-network libusb-1.0-0 ca-certificates wget -N https://raw.github.com/tvdzwan/hyperion/master/bin/install_hyperion.sh sudo sh ./install_hyperion.sh

using this hyperion.config.json I created with HyperCon:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/46124185/hyperion.config.json

After I restarted the Pi I had my old problem back as described in the first post. The Ambilight is behaving normal (blue xD) in OSMC menu and the playback works fine again if I stop the Hyperion-service and than start to watch the video, but I am really interested in getting it back to work as it did before on the Pi 2.
Maybe it is indeed just a problem of a too weak power supply, because everything is working as intended if I watch the video from Vimeo in 720p instead of 1080p from the same USB drive.

Because you can! :wink:

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Well it doesn’t seem to be a power problem …

I changed the USB cable I used to power the Pi and that removed the undervoltage symbol regularly blinking in the top right corner even in OSMC menu, but the 1080p video problem still remains.

Source of the video?

What do you mean? I already posted the links to the Vimeo video and the MediaInfo of the file I downloaded above in this thread.

Because the maximum speed of a CPU is not infinite… :wink:

If you go too high the system will become unstable and crash randomly, this can also lead to data corruption which causes knock on problems as once your file system is corrupted you may have problems that can only be resolved by a re-install.

Overclocking is not dangerous on the Pi in terms of hardware damage as the CPU speed will be throttled back if it gets too hot to stop it going past 85 degrees, however that says nothing about the CPU not crashing.

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OK thanks I disabled overclocking now but my video+Hyperion problem on Pi 3 is still alive :o

Try changing the Hyperion framegrabber to be 64x64

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It worked, thank you!

But one more question (as I am total noob to hyperion): Can you please explain what this grabber-config does, why it didn’t work before and why it does work now on 64x64?

Hyperion needs to grab the dispmanx frambuffer to work out what LEDs to light up.

With 100 or thereabouts LEDs, there’s not much point capturing at 720 or 1080 as its wasted effort.

The framegrabber will downscale for us but there does seem a weird interaction with recent OSMC builds. I’ve no idea who’s “at fault”

Height < 16 will definitely cause it, as do non power of 2 settings but only for SOME people.

There are more threads on this topic on Hyperion github

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Thanks for the explanation :slight_smile: