Rhythmic Freezing Of 4K Movies/TV Series After November Update

Help and Support Vero 4K / Vero 4K +
41

Decided to do a fresh install of 2021-12.1 tonight.
Installed fine. Rebooted. Played a 4K video, played OK.
Rebooted. Played OK.
Rebooted. Played Ok.
Power off at the wall, wait 30 seconds, powered on. Play 4K video. Freezes.
Reboot. Still freezes.
Removed the powered hub, played 4K video off USB stick in white port, freezes.
Power off at the wall, etc, Played off the stick in the white port, the periodic freezing occurs, no change from the original problem.

Will turn on debug logging tomorrow and post a log.

What did my last log show?

42

Turned on at the wall & enabled debug logging. Plugged in a USB stick into the white port.
Rebooted twice. Played a 4K movie. It froze.
Uploaded the logs: https://paste.osmc.tv/eqedokedad

I will fresh install 2021-08.1 (Kodi 19.1)
That’s what I was originally on, which played the 4K movies fine before I updated to Kodi 19.3
I will report back.

43

Installed 2021-08.1 from SD card. The white USB port is not working.

So I can use the Vero 4K+ with both the white USB port working and 4K videos playing ok, I will now fresh install 2020-06.1 through the SD card.

Sam, until you are able to fix the 4K video playback problem with my 4K+, what version do you say I should install, that gives me both the white USB port working and OK playback of 4K video?

If you say for me to install a version other than 2020-06.1, do I install it via the USB or SD card?

44

The white USB port is fixed in the latest version of OSMC. The issue was introduced when we introduced the 4.9 kernel.

The freeze you report is actually a decoder error. There may be something up with the file. It would be good to get a sample so I can see if I can reproduce it here.

45

“a decoder error”, do you mean an error in the internal electronic/software in the Vero 4K+ or, an error in the actual video file? If you mean the file, see the next paragraph.

The rhythmic freezing happens on all 4K videos that I have sampled for this problem, not just one in particular. I have many, many 4K videos.
All of those 4K videos play perfectly on my other Vero, the 4K.
I have even swapped over the powered hubs, power plugs, bought brand new Ultra High-Speed HDMI cables, remove the hubs and play 4K videos from a USB stick.
The result is the same, rhythmic freezing.

Some of those 4K videos that I played, gave either a full, or partial, green screen, every couple of seconds.

The 4K plays the 4K videos fine, no matter what version of Kodi & has played them fine through all the updates.

The Vero 4K+ played 4K video fine before updating to Kodi 19.3

If you still want a sample, how would I do that?
It is not something I have done before.

If it will help, I can install the latest update on the 4K+ and play the same 10 4K movies on both the 4K and 4K+?
I don’t mind doing that as I will leave the 4K+ on the latest update and just swap them between the lounge & bedroom. I mainly use the Vero in the bedroom for the 1080p TV series.

The 4K+ is currently on 2020-06.1
What path should I take to upgrade to the latest, seeing 2020-06.1 is so old?
I suspect you do not want me to upgrade through My OSMC. Shall I install the latest version off an SD card?

46

The photo that Darietto84 posted here shows the same artefacts that are happening with my 4K+ when it freezes momentarily each time.

47

I solved it with a fresh install of osmc, the latest version; yesterday I made several attempts to reboot, shut down and the problem never occurred. I’ll try again today.

48

Just upload one affected file and send me a link.
We have a video sample uploading system – but it won’t be back for a little while yet and the file limit is 4.5GB. Usually a small sample is enough to reproduce a problem.

I had assumed you had done this – the December issue has a number of video playback fixes.

Do a fresh install from Download - OSMC – not an update, as the version you are on is very old and will result in a large download.

Cheers

Sam

49

In post #40 I had said that I went back to 2020-06.1 as that version played 4K video OK & had the white USB port seen.

I can trim the first minute off the video, upload it to my Mega.nz account & send you the link.
Do you want me to post the link in this thread or get it to you somehow?

I am having trouble finding a free video trimmer that will handle 2160p. The ones I have tried either won’t accept the 2160p or will only output it in 1080p, which alters the file.
Do you know of any free trimers that will handle 2160p?

I will do that over the next few days.
Wishing you a Happy New Year.

50

MKVToolNix?

51

Thanks. Did it.
Nice app.
Found how to cut a one minute segment from the start at https://forum.videohelp.com/
Put this in the search: “How to extract cut parts from a mkv including all audio and subtitle tracks”
If I put the actual link, this post gets populated with large graphics from the link.

52

I have put photos and a couple of short videos, taken with my phone, of the artefacts as they appear during playback, in a folder in my Mega.nz account. Included is a one minute segment I cut from a Hawkeye 4K TV episode, which is still at 2160p.
Here is the link: 228.24 MB folder on MEGA
I will do a fresh install of the latest update through the SD card, in about an hour and report back.

53

Finished testing the 4K+.
Soon, will test the same videos with the 4K, to compare differences, if any.

54

This will be lengthy. Sorry, but I feel I need to be explicit in explaining my testing steps, so the 4K video files do not get the blame.

When I say:
Warm Boot, it means that I have chosen Power/Reboot.
Cold Boot, it means that I have chosen Power/Power Off System. I then turn the power off at the wall for 30 seconds.

I will use the exact same 4K TV videos (five episodes of different series) and eight 4K movies in my testing on both the Vero 4K & 4K+. The videos are on different external HDDs and a USB stick.

I will first play off a USB stick in the white port & then plug in a powered hub and play the stick & other HDDs from the hub. I will use this configuration after each Warm & Cold boot on both Vero’s.

Vero 4K+
SATURDAY 01/01/2022.

Installed 2021-12.1 from SD card. Now on Linux 4.9.113-60 -osmc Kodi 19.3
In case it may be thought I have configured the setup wrong, this is what I did (some
things left at default):
Setting Level: Expert.
System/Display defaulted to 1920×1080p (2D). Refresh Rate 59.94. Whitelist is not active.
System Audio Output/ changed to HDMI. Channels left at 2.0
Output Configuration/ left at Best Match.
Audio Passthrough/ I allowed everything except AC3 transcoding.
Settings/Interface/Skin/Configure Skin/Show Date Above System Time.
Settings/Regional/Unit Formats/Regional Default Format/UK (12hr).
Timezone Country/New Zealand.
Speed Unit/ changed to Km/h.
Settings/Player/Videos/Playback/Default at Start/Stop.
Display 4:3 Videos As/ Default at Normal.
HDR Processing is at default: Normal.
Media/General/ticked Allow File Renaming And Deletion.
My OSMC/Updates/Schedule/changed from Daily to Never.

After installing and configuring the above, I did NOT Warm or Cold boot.

All the 4K videos on the USB stick & external HDDs played OK.

Warm Boot:
USB stick only connected. The 4K videos played OK.
Connected the powered hub and played the USB stick 4K videos again. Played OK.
Played a 4K video from an HDD, it played OK.
Backed out of the video and got an Orange screen. No response to the remote control.
Had to power off at the wall. (I suppose this may be considered a Cold Boot?).
Played all the 4K videos from the USB stick & HDDs.
All the 4K videos played OK.
No more Orange screens, even when backing out from the file it happened with previously.

Warm Boot:
All 4K videos played OK.

Warm Boot:
All 4K videos played OK.

Cold Boot:
All 4K videos played BAD. Same rhythmic freezing as previously reported and shown in my submitted photos/phone videos.

Warm Boot:
All 4K videos played BAD.

Cold Boot:
All 4K videos played OK.

Cold Boot:
All 4K videos played BAD.

Warm Boot:
All 4K videos played BAD.

Warm Boot:
All 4K videos played BAD.

Warm Boot:
All 4K videos played BAD.

Cold Boot:
All 4K videos played BAD.

Cold Boot:
All 4K videos played BAD.

Cold Boot:
All 4K videos played BAD.

Warm Boot:
All 4K videos played BAD.

Cold Boot:
All 4K videos played BAD.

Powered off, went to bed.

Vero 4K+
SUNDAY 02/01/2022

Turned on at the wall.
All 4K videos played OK.

Warm Boot:
All 4K videos played OK.

Cold Boot:
All 4K videos played BAD.

Warm Boot:
All 4K videos played BAD.

Cold Boot:
All 4K videos played BAD.

Warm Boot:
All 4K videos played BAD.

Turned it off.

Testing My Other Vero, the 4K.
Was on 2021-11.1 Linux 4.9.113-55-osmc. Kodi 19.3

All 1080p & 4K videos played OK.

Installed 2021-12.1 from SD card. Now on Linux 4.9.113-60 -osmc Kodi 19.3
Configured it exactly the same as I did to the Vero 4K+

I did NOT Warm or Cold boot.

All the 4K videos on the USB stick & external HDDs played OK.

Warm Boot:
All 4K videos played OK.

Cold Boot:
All 4K videos played OK.

Warm Boot:
All 4K videos played OK.

Turned off.

Both Vero’s play 1080p & 3D OK.

Some of the 4K movies that I used for this testing, I have had for a few years and I have viewed them more than once. They have always played OK before on the various versions of OSMC that the Vero’s updated too. I have had the 4K since June 2017 & the 4K+ since December 2020.

The rhythmic freezing only started after I updated to Kodi 19.3 … and ONLY on the 4K+

I understand that you can get a bad 4K video file. The number of 4K videos I have tested with, that have always played OK on both Vero’s previously, surely points to a problem between Kodi 19.3 & the 4K+

The 4K plays all my 4K video files faultlessly.

With both Vero’s now on Kodi 19.3, why is it that only the 4K+ has the playback problem with the same 4K videos?

55

No idea. Race condition when booting and loading video ucode maybe?
I assume the Vero 4K was also formatted with 2021-12.1 and updates disabled to rule out any differences between the two devices?

Do you know how to use SSH?
If so – and you can reproduce this problem reliably enough (which it seems you can), we can run some commands to see if we can get more info.

56

Before doing the test. The 4K has never had this problem on any version.

Then did the testing on both Vero’s.
Updates configured to Never.

I have used SSH before but it was only a couple of times a few years ago. I will need to read up again on what to do. One of the Moderators helped me out last time in how to input commands.

What do you mean by “race conditions” & what is “ucode”?
A brief ‘layman’s’ explanation will do. :slight_smile:

Update:
I have found the information that @darwindesign gave me in Feb 2020 on how to log in and do commands. So, when you give me instructions as to what you want me to do, treat me like a complete noob.

57

I encounter exactly the same sequence of errors posted by the oldfather with files that I have viewed them more than once.

58

What would cause the screen to go Orange & the 4K+ to become unresponsive?

59

We may be experiencing the same problem. A fix for mine may be a fix for yours. Let’s hope so.

60

This user says in his thread that it only occurs with newer versions (Kodi v19) and not older versions.

So I am not sure the issue is related.