Android Walmart Onn.TV box (gen 1, 2 and pro) Live TV buffering every few minute

[txinga]

Hello Martin,

Moving my question from Kodi to here on your suggestion. I can't figure out how to grab files from the Onn box but I've enabled every log I can and see no errors when the live tv goes through a buffer. NPVR logs from 4PM on WTOC are where I was most recently seeing the issue. Again, it's only on these Onn boxes that I experience it. I've tried wireless, wired with a FireTV network dongle. The PC and the Onn device are on the same switch, in the same room. 

 Howdy folks,
 

Looking for some advice on settings. We are experiencing buffering on Live TV (Antenna) to our Onn.TV boxes. I have gen 1, 2 and pro boxes, not the dongles. NextPVR is the backend running on a Ryzen 5 / Windows 11 box.

I've noticed that if I click to record the show then play that while it records it does not buffer. Not sure what the difference would be as I'm not well versed in all this  Using default recording settings in NextPVR. 

I tried Jellyfin as a server client with NextPVR plugin and found that it will transcode to these Onn.TV boxes in both Live TV and recordings (all .ts files) Maybe that's the issue; the Onn.TV boxes just don't have the horsepower? Anyone use these little guys with success for Live TV over Antenna without transcoding?

I also tried Plex as I have an old lifetime sub. I don't recall if ffmpeg was kicking off on the PC but it doesn't buffer. Plex unfortunately has a few issues with recording that are hard to get around so I don't want to use it.

I can turn on Transcoding in Kodi PVR client settings but it pretty quickly fills up the local storage on the Onn.TV box. Not sure how healthy it is to continually write to the internal storage. For now I've set a 1 hour limit and it is set for 720p. it will eat about 1G of storage in an hour that way.

Appreciate any guidance y'all may have on this.

txinga n over here.

[mvallevand]

Actually you where probably right posting on the Kodi forum but you forgot to include the Kodi debug logs as explained here. https://kodi.wiki/view/Log_file/Easy

Did try uidroid as I suggested to see how it plays your files to see if it was a hardware or Kodi issue?

Martin

[txinga]

I just bought the Android client from the play store. When I start one of the channels I see the banner that it is transcoding. I have the dropdown set to Default and the box ticked for Avoid transcoding where possible (for better performance)

[mvallevand]

Sorry there are two Android clients and I asked you to try uidroid (not on the Play Store) I can't help much with sub's app. There is an option in his client for direct play but I think uidroid uses newer libraries.



Martin

[txinga]

Sorry! Didn't realize there was another Android client. Working on getting that one setup

[txinga]

OK, 30 minutes in with UIDroid, no buffering. Do see ffmpeg kicking off on the PC but it doesn't appear to be doing anything. I'll now try your suggestion on the fallback framerate in Kodi.

Regards

[mvallevand]

I didn't think it would buffer based on my ONN experience. That is a direct play API so ffmpeg won't be used with Kodi or uidroid.

Since uidroid uses the same timeshifting method as Kodi it looks like a Kodi issue hope. It's in the right Kodi forum now but based on other posts don't get your hopes up for a solution.

Martin

[txinga]

Thanks for your help. If they resolve it great, if not no big deal. Your app works perfectly. Feels full circle now from GBPVR / NMT remotes!

Regards,

txinga