topic Re: VLC player stutters when showing a new part of the subtitle in Android TV

VLC player stutters when showing a new part of the subtitle

FlowRush78 — Mon, 11 Sep 2017 14:29:50 GMT

I recently bought a new Sony Bravia KD-49XE9005 Android TV. When streaming mkv videos from my NAS using VLC player the image constantly stutters ('hangs') briefly when a new part of the subtitle (a new line of the subtitle text) is shown on the screen.

I've tried to alter every setting, mostly in regard to subtitles, codecs and hardware acceleration, but nothing seems to help.

I really hope someone can help me out with this, thanks in advance.

Re: VLC player stutters when showing a new part of the subtitle

cass_n — Tue, 12 Sep 2017 08:50:12 GMT

Hi @FlowRush78,

It might be related to MotionFlow - could you trying turning it off and see if this makes any difference?

Cheers,

Re: VLC player stutters when showing a new part of the subtitle

Jecht_Sin — Tue, 12 Sep 2017 12:17:24 GMT

The VLC app in Google Play is over one year old. You may want to either join the beta (which isn't really stable anyway) or try Plex (if your NAS supports the server) or Kodi.

Personally I moved from Plex to SPMC (link in the first post. You must sideload it), because it allows to convert to Dolby the DTS audio in pass-through (which isn't working at all otherwise). Also both Plex and Kodi/SPMC have a great way of organizing the video/music libraries. Kodi seems superior but Plex is more straightforward.

Re: VLC player stutters when showing a new part of the subtitle

Kuschelmonschter — Tue, 12 Sep 2017 12:25:16 GMT

Processor in Sony Android TV is pretty slow. Apps need to be well optimized for proper video playback with OSD overlays. If they have been developed on a nVIDIA SHIELD and work well there, they might struggle on the slow Sonys.

Re: VLC player stutters when showing a new part of the subtitle

FlowRush78 — Tue, 12 Sep 2017 20:58:19 GMT

Hi Cass, thanks for your reply. Yes I tried turning it off but unfortunately it made no difference. I tried to change several settings on the TV but it made no difference... 😞

Re: VLC player stutters when showing a new part of the subtitle

FlowRush78 — Tue, 12 Sep 2017 21:03:16 GMT

Hi Jecht Sin, unfortunately my NAS is too slow to run Plex. I also tried to use Kodi and MXPlayer but both we're lagging when showing subtitles, I found the performance of both players sub optimal.... Which I don't really understand actually since I'm seeing a lot of people advising to use Kodi.

Re: VLC player stutters when showing a new part of the subtitle

FlowRush78 — Tue, 12 Sep 2017 21:06:51 GMT

Hi Kuschelmonschter, thanks for your reply. I'm inclined to agree with you on the slow processor based on my experiences so far... But then why are all these apps available on Android TV if they can't perform normally on a €1500,- television? 😞

Re: VLC player stutters when showing a new part of the subtitle

Kuschelmonschter — Wed, 13 Sep 2017 07:33:53 GMT

FlowRush78 schrieb:
Hi Kuschelmonschter, thanks for your reply. I'm inclined to agree with you on the slow processor based on my experiences so far... But then why are all these apps available on Android TV if they can't perform normally on a €1500,- television? 😞

Because there are Android TV boxes out there that perform way better than Sony TVs. The bad MediaTek SoC is far from premium which Sony claims their products to be. From a Smart TV and integrated tuner point of view, Sony TVs are cheap garbage.

Re: VLC player stutters when showing a new part of the subtitle

Jecht_Sin — Wed, 13 Sep 2017 09:14:41 GMT

FlowRush78 wrote:
Hi Jecht Sin, unfortunately my NAS is too slow to run Plex. I also tried to use Kodi and MXPlayer but both we're lagging when showing subtitles, I found the performance of both players sub optimal.... Which I don't really understand actually since I'm seeing a lot of people advising to use Kodi.

I have a 49XD8099 but the hardware for Android is practically identical, and with Kodi/SPMC I can stream with subtitles even 4K HDR videos, stored in a MacBook used as NFS/SMB/SSH/WebDAV server. 4K doesn't stutter/buffer only via WebDAV, though.

So, since we are talking about streaming you must first get the best performances from the network. Make it sure that you are not using WiFi 2.4Ghz. WiFi 5Ghz ac, at a closer distance is supposely better than ethernet (at least for the TV, which only has a 100Mbps ethernet port). But ethernet (which is what I use) is stable, the bandwidth with it is constant.

With my Mac as a server (connected via WiFi 5GHz ac, the WiFi is stonger on it) and the TV wired I measured more or less the following traffic speed limits (values in Mega Bytes):

SMB/SSH: 3.5-4 MB/s
NFS: 4-6.5Mb/s
WebDAV: 11-12 MB/s (thus close to the 100Mbps ethernet connection on TV)
FTP: 11-12 MB/s (but it's going to be discontinued by Apple in macOS High Sierra)
DLNA (from Plex server): 11-12MB/s

Please don't ask me why there is so much difference, I hate this TV already. As I don't know if they depend on the server's OS either. Maybe SMB works better from Windows, no clue.

In conclusion I's say your best shot should be the following:

NFS wired
TV wired
Use either FTP or WebDAV in Kodi.

DLNA in Kodi doesn't allow to build the libraries, it takes them as they are from the DLNA server.

Re: VLC player stutters when showing a new part of the subtitle

Kuschelmonschter — Wed, 13 Sep 2017 09:24:17 GMT

I also use NFS shares on my Synology NAS for media. I once tried with the jellyfish encodes and I could go beyond 100mbps over AC WiFi.

Re: VLC player stutters when showing a new part of the subtitle

Jecht_Sin — Wed, 13 Sep 2017 09:54:00 GMT

@Kuschelmonschter wrote:
I also use NFS shares on my Synology NAS for media. I once tried with the jellyfish encodes and I could go beyond 100mbps over AC WiFi.

Interesting. I tried with SMPC/NFS the 90, 120 and 200 Mbps HEVC videos. ~~They all stream without stuttering (but dropping frames I suppose) at nearly 12MB/s. Constant.~~ TV always wired.

So why with other contents it's a pain??

EDIT: Never mind. I forgot to check the source of the library. It was WebDAV indeed. With NFS I get 5.5-8.5MB/s.

Re: VLC player stutters when showing a new part of the subtitle

phil1980 — Sun, 19 Nov 2017 18:48:02 GMT

I know I'm a bit late to the party, but VLC is bugging me as well.

Unfortunately this seems to be a VLC issue, not a Sony/Bravia one.

The subtitle stutter is present on other Android devices as well.

Solution I found so far:

Turning off subtitles.

Or use MX Player or the build-in Video.

Downside of the former: no network streaming

Downside of the latter: no volume normalizing, so normal conversation might be quite low, while action sequences get super loud.

Re: VLC player stutters when showing a new part of the subtitle

jumpsuit — Sun, 19 Nov 2017 18:58:57 GMT

Hi @phil1980 and welcome to the Community

Yeah VLC seems to have let itself go a bit.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that MX Player would play files /codecs that VLC

would have problems with on my tablet.

Re: VLC player stutters when showing a new part of the subtitle

phil1980 — Wed, 29 Nov 2017 06:55:54 GMT

It also seems that DVD aka VOBSub subtitles (which are stored as images) do not cause stutter, while text based ones like .srt do.

So converting and remuxing them might be a workaround if you must use VLC.