Choppy video

[jmdapozzo]

Here is my setup:

• HDHomerun Extent
  
• Raspberry Pi 4 booting from an SSD Samsung T5 drive
  
• Schedules Direct EGP
  

Everything works fine except for a few irritating pauses in the video.
Note that these cuts seemed less obvious when there was no EPG configured; but then again this was only a feeling.


Any idea how to solve this?
From what I read, the Raspberry Pi 4 was suitable to run NextPVR.

[mvallevand]

No the RPi4 is not suitable to use with NextPVR if you want to use the web app and you aren't using IPTV. You would need to use a client like Kodi that doesn't need transcoding.

Unfortunately NextPVR will reject your Extend's built in h264 transcoding because transcoding is all or nothing. You actually might be able to get it to work on the web app as an extra if using Kodi isn't an option

Martin

[BrettB]

Here is my setup:

• HDHomerun Extent
  
• Raspberry Pi 4 booting from an SSD Samsung T5 drive
  
• Schedules Direct EGP
  

Everything works fine except for a few irritating pauses in the video.
Note that these cuts seemed less obvious when there was no EPG configured; but then again this was only a feeling.


Any idea how to solve this?
From what I read, the Raspberry Pi 4 was suitable to run NextPVR.

You didn't include any logs from either NextPVR or your client (Kodi?) so we can only speculate! We have no indication of what O/S you're using, what client you're using, or even what specific tuner you're using (ATSC, QAM, etc.).

My first guess would be that you're trying to play a video from the webserver which requires transcoding and will not work well because the RPi 4 doesn't have the CPU capacity to really support that (at least in general). Possibly if your HDHR Extend is configured to send H.264 encoded video/audio, then it wouldn't need transcoding, but I believe that you have do some special setup to get that to work.

[jmdapozzo]

Thanks for your quick responses Martin and BrettB.

You are right BrettB, my info was only partial, sorry about that!
Here are further informations:

• OS is the latest Raspberry Pi OS 32-bit (formerly Rasbian) Lite including all the latest upgrades
  
• NextPVR is the latests version 5.0.9.201026
  
• As for the client, I did try a browser (Chrome) but I will normally use NextPVR on an Apple TV or iPad. The choppiness appears on all these clients
  
• Log files in attachment
  

Since I am a newbie to this world, I cannot answer your question about the tuner (ATSC, QAM, etc.).
All I know is that I am using the default HDHomerun mobile Default Transcode Profile.
Also, when I use the HDHomerun app on a Mac or Apple Tv I do not get that choppy effect.

Martin, you say that the RPi4 is not suitable. Would the RPi3 with h264 hardware accelerated encoding be suitable?
If not, what are my options if I want to keep the HDHomerun?

Thanks again all,
Jean-Marc

[Graham]

what are my options if I want to keep the HDHomerun?

NextPVR saves recordings in the same format as the broadcast.  This might be MPEG2 or H264 plus audio in the broadcast format.  Some client devices and software are able to play recordings (and Live TV) in the format of the original broadcasts.  A widely used example is Kodi.

NextPVR transcodes the video and audio when NextPVR cannot be sure that the client device or software will be able to play the broadcast stream.  For example, NextPVR transcodes the stream when it send a recording to play in the NextPVR Web App.

RPi devices are typically not powerful enough to perform the transcoding quickly enough and the result is choppy video.

What happens if you watch a recording using the NextPVR-addon in Kodi?

[mvallevand]

My comment was the RPi4 was not suitable for web browser transcoding. Earlier versions would be worse. I see it is transcoding to Apple as well sub would need to tell you if apple devices support direct play.

You are in Canada so you aren't using clear QAM.

As it is now the RPi4 can't quite keep up for real time transcoding.

2020-10-30 10:32:25.805 [DEBUG][19] {"status": "Transcoding.... (100% speed: 0.867x)","final": true,"speed": 0.867,"duration": 0,"percentage": 100}

The mobile transcode profile would be ok if sub was only transcoding audio. That is why I suggested an extra if you willing to try.


Martin

[mvallevand]

The logs also show that you are using the options feature to transcode recordings. That is fine and it will allow recordings to play on your device however during the time it takes to do the transcoding your system your system won't be good for much and that will be one hour after a one hour recording.

You would probably be better served with a post processing script that transcodes the audio.

Martin

[sub]

The Apple TV app doesn't do any transcoding.

Try playing live tv or a recording from the Apple TV, then post the logs again and we'll take another look.

[mvallevand]

Knowing that info I see the pinstripe user agent streaming without transcoding here

2020-11-01 10:38:36.891 [DEBUG][107] /live?channeloid=7182&sid=e33d115f2f804d3db8417322f2e70b00&client=e33d115f2f804d3db8417322f2e70b00

I don't see a problem there.

When you are streaming to the Apple TV can you check the signal and quality level at the HDHR

http://192.168.86.27/tuners.html

Martin

[jmdapozzo]

Some comments about all your replies.

Graham: Kodi is not really an option since I want the final client to be an Apple TV, and sometimes an iPad to setup some recordings (no issue there).
Martin: "The mobile transcode profile would be ok if sub was only transcoding audio. That is why I suggested an extra if you willing to try." Are you talking about a web app option? If this is the case, this is not really an option since I don't have a TV with a browser.
sub/Martin: I will post a log and check the signal and quality level at the HDHR and get back to you.

Thanks again, I greatly appreciate your fast responses!