Vero 4k+ hangs always on stop/forward action

Hi.
I’ve bought a Vero 4k+ to replace a raspberry pi 3 that I’ve been testing for 3 years with OSMC successfully. That’s the reason that I was very excited to use a Vero, it’s a lot quicker. My configuration is exactly the same as on the Raspberry as I make a regular backup of .kodi directory. Sometimes the Vero was hanging from the beginning, without any reason. I suspected the heat, with no success, as the temperature was between 68 and 78 degrees max. I suspected the digital sound, with no susccess either. 2 weeks ago, on 1st September, I noticed a new problem, like very much users, with Live TV, then Amazon Prime : the subject has been discussed on another topic, we discovered that it was related to a problem with Google Widevine library. After a very good tuto from matt, I’ve patched the glibc of my Vero OSMC successfully and I can now watch Live TV and Amazon again, and other streaming services : the latest Windevine lib works. Despite, I have a more and more frequent problem : my Vero hangs now systematically when stopping a video (LiveTV, movie, Netflix, Disney or Amazon) or when using Next button (for the next episode for example), or with automatic forward function like in Disney+ or Netflix. It’s awfully unusable. Ath this time, the Vero is totally freezing, no more SSH, a hard reboot is needed by unplugging, waiting a few seconds and restarting it. I’m so fed up with that this morning, I put my Vero away and replaced it with a new Raspberry that I bought for testing Widevine problems with OSMC and LibreElec. So, I’m using LibreElec now and it seems stable, working fine with the exact same .kodi backup, hyperion and spdif Toslink output with a hifiberry DAC. I’m disappointed with the Vero, but more, I can’t explain the problems. When hanging, sound sometimes freeze with some glitches (sorry in English it’s difficult for me to explain), then no more sound 3s later and total freeze. I suspect from the beginning a problem with spdif sound, I’ve read several times the procedure and all settings were set as told in your own procedure. I don’t understand, but now I don’t want to break again my system, so I unpolug it until a more stable release is out. After the Windevine problems, I tested all 3 latest releases, and after several tries, the more stable was the oldest: 2020-10 release, as it was on my Raspberry Pi 3 with OSMC. So, can you explain the problem ? I cannot make tests anymore, I’m not a novice, but the Vero is back in its box, cause fed up, and I don’t really like wasting my time. All I’d like is stability. Otherwise the system was working perfectly. Thanks in advance for a solution.

Hi

We will need some logs to see why you are experiencing this issue.

One thing for sure is that you cannot swap out backups of the Kodi directory across different devices and different operating systems. This will cause serious problems.

Have you tried from a fresh start?

Sam

Hi. Swap is perfectly possible with the same OS (OSMC here). Plugins are strictly identical on both platforms (raspberry and Vero) ! I’ve been doing that for years without any problems. 2 days ago, I made the same procedure on my new LibreElec, and there are absolutely no problems either, cause it’s Leia on the 3 systems. Plugins that can’t be used are automatically deactivated, if it happens. Despite, for example, for LibreElec, as I know very well the differences between the systems, I removed inputstream.adaptive, in order to be sure not to override it, cause the release is different. But it’s very exceptional. However I’m very sure that is not the origin of the problem, because this problem happens even with a fresh system. I’ve reinstalled 3 times my Vero and immediately set the audio settings, got my libs (network library) and… hangs are ineluctable with SPDif passthrough (I don’t care HDMI sound, I don’t use it).
I’ve already read the logs, there is absolutely nothing in the logs that gives a clue. And after restart everything seems normal… until it hangs. Sometimes after one day, sometimes after a few minutes. With auto-next on Disney or Netflix, you can be sure that it will hangs at the end of an episode grrrr. And, as I said, when stopping/forwarding a video stream. I’ve already read about that somewhere… even on this forum. And I’ve read and applied several times your own procedure for the sound settings.

I must say : If it’s absolutely needed, I could send send back my Vero with my installed system on it for diagnostic. It could be perhaps a better solution for you and you can make as many test as you want. The problem is you won’t access my movie library, and all my configured streaming plugins won’t work either in UK, or make some geolocalized alerts.

You cannot swap OSMC backups from a Pi to a Vero for example. This will cause problems, particularly with hardware acceleration and audio output.

You can send it back to us to inspect, but the more logical step would be to send us some logs (rather than saying they contain nothing) and start with a completely fresh installation.

Ok. Already made 3 fresh installations within 3 days, sorry I give up. Too much time already wasted for my own investigation. If I’m asking for help, that’s because I’m really stuck and have tested everything several times. I don’t like default theme and I need all my plugins in order to have my apps playing : it’s not only a kodi for me, it’s a full all-in-one media hub.
If you want some logs, tell me exactly what you need please, when I have time, I’ll plug it again for the logs with great pleasure. My LibreElec is now working like a charm, despite you think it’s not a good solution (hardware settings have always to be verified before using them - but SPDIF settings are SPDIF, whatever the product : you only have to choose the right one and the other settings must be the same). It’s a pity for the Vero which is set back in its box. I’ve even suspected the patched glibc for Widevine to be the cause, as it seems worse since this patch. But without it, the Vero is useless for me. Not the Vero, OSMC in fact… yet I really like OSMC. But with the latest img with Matrix, there are a lots of other problems : it’s worse.

To get a better understanding of the problem you are experiencing we need more information from you. The best way to get this information is for you to upload logs that demonstrate your problem. You can learn more about how to submit a useful support request here.

Depending on the used skin you have to set the settings-level to standard or higher, in summary:

  • enable debug logging at settings->system->logging

  • reboot the OSMC device twice(!)

  • reproduce the issue

  • upload the log set (all configs and logs!) either using the Log Uploader method within the My OSMC menu in the GUI or the ssh method invoking command grab-logs -A

  • publish the provided URL from the log set upload, here

Thanks for your understanding. We hope that we can help you get up and running again shortly.

OSMC skin screenshot:

Hi.
First log here.
https://paste.osmc.tv/sunafasuho
I put Disney+, let an episode play fully, and as expected, Vero hanged at the end of the episode, just before going next. Hanged, not crashed : latest image is still on the screen, but no answer from SSH and CEC or http remote are hanged. Needed to hard reboot by unplugging and plugging again.

Adjust display refresh rate: Off

Firstly, this should be set to On Start/Stop or Always. Could have an effect on some of your issues.

We recommend people with 4K TV’s set their user interface (UI) to 1080p. Kodi’s UI is not optimized for 4K yet and this can put unnecessary demands on your device and can lead to a suboptimal picture quality, as well as potentially cause other issues.

The settings we recommend are as follows…

Settings>System>Display>Resolution> 1920x1080p
Settings>System>Display>Whitelist> (empty) *
Settings>Player>Videos>Adjust display refresh rate> On start/stop

Some televisions may also need, or benefit from, the following being set…

System>Display>Force 4:2:2 colour subsampling> (enable)

With the above settings your UI will be output in Full HD and your 4K content will be output in 4K.

My TV resolution is force in 1920x1080p in Vero settings, because it’s only a full HD LED TV, 10 years old, not a 4k one. I never told about 4k problems, I don’t care about 4k !
I’m going to verify your other tips.

But you still want the TV refresh rate to match the frame rate of the video, I would think…? So you still want to set Adjust display refresh rate to On start/stop.

Ok, I’ve just verified.
Already done
Settings>System>Display>Resolution> 1920x1080p OK
Settings>System>Display>Whitelist> (empty) * OK
System>Display>Force 4:2:2 colour subsampling> (enable) OK

Just modified
Settings>Player>Videos>Adjust display refresh rate> On start/stop

For the audio settings, everything here

“When using the S/PDIF output of your OSMC device for audio” part
is done

Watched LiveTV during 5 minutes, then Stop, and Vero hanged immediately again.

It makes sense to provide new updated logs after every change to the system.

New log here.
Live TV, then Netflix, and this time OSMC gave the sad face before attemting to start again. Without any success. No SSH. Hard reboot.
https://paste.osmc.tv/ziqunixuju

Hi. I’m afraid my Vero has completely crashed after enabling logs. I had to reboot it one more time, and it didn’t survive : it hanged during boot after “Please stand by”… I can’t do anymore tests or logs with the current version.

Quite angry, I’ve put the latest OSMC Vero release (2021-08) and I’m beginning some new tests when I have time. OSMC is not out of the box for my usage. There are some patches for Widevine, netflix preparation, hyperion preparation etc. I must verify all the audio and video settings, as you suggest above. They seem to be ok. After that we can install the usual plugins. I find Vero very slow with Matrix, a lot more slower than with Leia. Live TV is installed, but swapping between the channels or starting LiveTV is so…oooo boring and slow (cpu is 1.5GHz wow).

I’ve got a dilemma : attempt to finish a Vero installation with the default skin (mine is not working fully well with Matrix), or keep my Raspberry Pi with LibreElec that really does the job, (my skin works fawless on it). Don’t know how to answer yet.

Hope digital sound will work : that was the only problem before that. Now I’ve plenty of problems…

These changes were very recent and will be addressed in a near future update.

Hyperion and Netflix are not officially supported – nor do we claim to advertise official support for them. It will always be the case that this needs to be installed manually.

There seem to be too many issues with your device, and I strongly suggest uploading some logs when you are able so we can solve this.

Hello. I’ve never said you claimed for supporting Hyperion and Netflix, but OSMC seems so light that it isn’t easy to have everything functional, at the difference of other distros. OSMC on my Raspberry was installed a long time ago and I don’t remember what I had done to make everything work : I’ve just updated it until 2020 August release, the latest releases were unstable on Raspberry pi 3 too and I quickly gave up.
My Vero works for the moment, but it seems rather slow. Of course, as I said, I don’t use default skin that is fluent I must say. But I can compare with oldest release on Vero and with Raspberry Pi with a lower cpu fequency (1200 MHz). I’m afraid I’ve got a lot of work nowadays. I’ll see later for logs but I don’t want to crash it again and waste a lot time to re-enable everything.