Problems With Android 9+ Devices

[persim]

Recently updated both phone and tablet. Went from Nexus 5X on 8.1 to Pixel 3a on 10 and a Fire 7 HDX running a version of 7 to a Samsung sm-p200 running 9.

Both are having general app slowness issues like guide and recording thumbnails loading. The Pixel interface is also pink for some reason. But the main problem is that whenever a transcode is started from one of these devices, ffmpeg just stops in the task manager on server machine after about 10 seconds and the video stops on the playback device.

I've tried going back to the old devices and everything works fine (except live tv transcode stopping after 30 min but always been like that).

Is there anything I can do to get playback on these devices working? Will this be addressed in the eventual update?

Wasn't sure whether to attach logs because when I looked at the modified timestamp on the log files nothing seems to have updated when I initiate playback from these devices.

[ATTACHMENT NOT FOUND]

[mvallevand]

One of my devices was 9 and is now 10 it doesn't have any problems. Each Android device will have different playback capabilities which is a more likely source of a the problem then the newer OS version. Certainly your best bet is to use devices that supports DirectPlay without server transcoding. If you want any help with transcoding logs are required but note that v5 is much better at transcoding.

Martin

[sub]

Is there anything I can do to get playback on these devices working? Will this be addressed in the eventual update?

I don't have any physical devices with updates to Android 9 offered, but I'll try it in a simulator.

Revisiting the Android app is on my todo list, but I haven't got to it yet - been busy with v5.

[persim]

I've gotten it to kind of work again by force closing the app every time I open, previously only needed to close it from app switcher. For some reason this does not kill ffmpeg on the server machine. While it starts the transcode and plays properly, the video will stop and start every few seconds like there is not enough bandwidth but that shouldn't be an issue.

2019-09-29 10:17:51.047 is the relevant time for the start of the transcode. There seems to be a lot of ErrorData messages. Not sure if that means anything.

[mvallevand]

Those ErrorData messages are normal logging. I do see you are trying to play a recording on the internet does it work on the local lan?

Martin

[persim]

I have done a lot of testing and the issue seems to mainly be caused by a change to the openvpn server I use at home for my public wifi connections. There are still some small glitches when I connect locally or not through the vpn externally but they don't kill ffmpeg, just some playback stutter.

It is still necessary for me to force close the app before I open but after that I can mostly get everything to work.

Not really sure what's going on as I can stream Netflix HD and Youtube 1080P without issue through the vpn. I can even direct play the few h.264 channels (my current phone and tablet do not have the ability to playback mpeg2) fios has fine through the vpn on an outside network.

Something just seems to go wrong when I transcode through the vpn even at the lowest quality settings.

Will see if I can tweak some of the openvpn settings to get stable transcode and playback.

[persim]

Did some more testing. I was able to transcode and playback from an outside network, while connected to the VPN, as long as I log into nextpvr through a browser, not the app.

The interface through chrome is a little clunky on the tablet but it works. Even had no issues setting profile to 1080P 4Mbs.

Think this successful test points to something going on with the app.

[mvallevand]

Did you try remote with the vpn disabled temporarily?

Martin

[persim]

Today no, but think I have in the past few days as my previous post mentions it working from outside with no vpn. Been trying so many configurations lately it's hard to keep track, probably need to setup a spreadsheet.

Today only tested from outside with vpn. App starts fine but stops within 10-20 seconds, that was the 720p 1.5mbs profile. Then through chrome login both 720p 1.5mbs and 1080p 4mbs worked fine. This was done on the same public wifi right after one another.

[mvallevand]

Because of the nature of internet bandwidth and public wifi conditions you probably need to test VPN on and off, and chrome vs the app all at the same time. There may be an issue with how the Android app buffers vs the browser but if it works without the vpn it would appear to be a bandwidth issue. For this test I assume you are running the Android app using transcoding.

Martin