Blu-ray disc constantly buffering

  • I've added the KEYDB.cfg file to my LibreELEC and was able to run a movie from a Blu-ray disc. Unfortunately, every couple of minutes the video stops for about 2-3 seconds and the loading circle indicates buffering in progress.

    I'm wondering whether there's any way to adjust this? Maybe the buffer isn't large enough or it doesn't start buffering in time?

    (I don't have any problems with playing 1080p files from a local drive.)

  • It does depend on which hardware you are trying to play your BR disc... A Raspberry Pi, an Intel PC, an Android-type box, your coffee machine perhaps?

    Upload your debug-enabled kodi.log file to Pastebin.com so we can have a closer look at what is happening during/after watching a video.

  • It does depend on which hardware you are trying to play your BR disc... A Raspberry Pi, an Intel PC, an Android-type box, your coffee machine perhaps?

    Upload your debug-enabled kodi.log file to Pastebin.com so we can have a closer look at what is happening during/after watching a video.

    My coffee machine runs a AMD E-350 Fusion APU with 4GB RAM, an SSD drive for the system and a Samsung SH-B123L for Blu-Rays.

    I'll try to create that log as soon as I can. I was just hoping that there's a general way to adjust the BR playback, cachesize, etc.

    For adjustments regarding the buffering, please read this:

    HOW-TO:Modify the video cache - Official Kodi Wiki

    I don't see any BR or DVD related settings there, so in my understanding I would need to set buffermode=1 to allow changing the cache size for all local sources? Local playback from an internal hard drive works flawlessly, so I'm a little hesitant to change settings that affect that as well. I guess I could try and change it back later?

  • Here's the log:

    External Content pastebin.com
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    The playback was interrupted at 18:44.

    What does "[Qlock] - Delaying 240 secs" mean? That's the last line before the interruption.

  • But I did enable it!?

    Code
    18:32:52.740 T:139745957099648  NOTICE: Enabled debug logging due to GUI setting. Level 2.

    I ran the BR after enabling the debug logging. Otherwise there wouldn't be any DEBUG output like the Qlock message I've pointed out.

    What exactly are you looking for?

  • Can anyone please help me interpreting the log after that line?

    Code
    18:42:58.931 T:139745040508672   DEBUG: ### [Qlock] - Delaying 240 secs

    The problem occurs beginning with the next line that happens 2 minutes later (at 18:44:04.115).

    Before I start playing around with cache settings for all local sources, I'd really like to understand what has been logged in the requested debug log.

  • Can anyone please help me interpreting the log after that line?

    Code
    18:42:58.931 T:139745040508672   DEBUG: ### [Qlock] - Delaying 240 secs

    The problem occurs beginning with the next line that happens 2 minutes later (at 18:44:04.115).

    Before I start playing around with cache settings for all local sources, I'd really like to understand what has been logged in the requested debug log.

    Perhaps "Qlock" is from an add-on you've installed? I can't find any reference to "Qlock" in the source code used to build LibreELEC.

    Start with a "clean" .kodi folder without any additional add-ons or repositories and see if the problem continues.

  • Thanks milhouse. Based on that background information I did some research on the web and in my kodi folder and found out that Qlock is a screensaver addon. Apparently I had this installed years ago. Although I've uninstalled it, it was still there in the kodi\addons folder, so I manually deleted it there (and in the addon_data folder). After rebooting and looking at the log, it wasn't there anymore. So far so good. But it didn't change anything regarding the actual problem. I've created a new log file with the problem.

    External Content pastebin.com
    Content embedded from external sources will not be displayed without your consent.
    Through the activation of external content, you agree that personal data may be transferred to third party platforms. We have provided more information on this in our privacy policy.

    The log actually contains multiple runs, but please look around the 22:40 time mark:

    Code
    22:39:29.740 T:139992053348096   DEBUG: CDVDInputStreamBluray::Logger - bluray.c:1536: PlayMark 2 reached (1709443968)
    22:39:29.740 T:139992053348096   DEBUG: CDVDInputStreamBluray::Logger - register.c:420: bd_psr_write(): PSR5    (CHAPTER) 0x2 -> 0x3
    22:41:03.291 T:139992096556800  NOTICE: CVideoPlayerAudio::Process - stream stalled
    22:41:03.292 T:139992053348096   DEBUG: CVideoPlayer::SetCaching - caching state 1
    22:41:03.292 T:139992053348096   DEBUG: CDVDClock::SetSpeedAdjust - adjusted:0.000000
    22:41:03.293 T:139992096556800   DEBUG: CDVDAudio::Pause - pausing audio stream
    22:41:03.824 T:139992044955392 WARNING: CRenderManager::WaitForBuffer - timeout waiting for buffer
    22:41:12.590 T:139992053348096   DEBUG: CVideoPlayer::SetCaching - caching state 2

    Having watched the same BR now multiple times to reproduce the problem, I've realized that the first problem occurs always at the same scene. Looking at the log, there's a chapter change. After that the buffering runs into a problem.

    After the buffering interruption the playback continues normally for about 10 minutes. Then the playback starts to stutter. See log at 22:51. Apparently there's also a chapter change. But in contrast to the first problem there's no buffering interruption. The playback just keeps on stuttering on and on.

    What could be the problem? Are there BR-specific settings that I could adjust?

  • I fully understand that nobody is obligated to help me with this problem. I'm just wondering why it was so important to create and post the log if no one's actually saying anything about it (aside the misleading but unrelated Qlock part).

    Just to clarify: I can continue to watch my Blu-rays with my Playstation as I did before. I was just exited to find out that LibreELEC is now able to do this as well (last time I checked some years ago it wasn't possible - apart from some makemkv experiments).

    I don't think that my setup is weak or incompatible. So I guessed if I have this problem, maybe others do as well. My intention is to find and document the reason for this problem, so it is of general help. If there are Blu-ray settings that can be adjusted, I'll be happy to try them. If there's a software problem, then this might be a good opportunity to fix it for improving disc support in LibreELEC/Kodi.

    That's the only reason I invested several hours analyzing this problem and creating these logs (the Blu-ray needs to play for a while until the problem occurs and I need to sit there and watch the same scenes over and over for the time codes). It would've been easier just to continue using my Playstation.

    I just continue to ask for help because I don't want the work with the logs to be wasted time. Thank you for your understanding.

  • No need to complain about anything. The log you posted is just not what was requested:

    Start with a "clean" .kodi folder without any additional add-ons or repositories and see if the problem continues.

    22:16:20.052 T:139993730074752 NOTICE: ADDONS: Using repository repository.angelscry.xbmc-plugins

    22:16:20.053 T:139993730074752 NOTICE: ADDONS: Using repository repository.slashing

    22:16:20.053 T:139993730074752 NOTICE: ADDONS: Using repository repository.xbmcadult

    So yeah. If you don´t follow advices, we can´t do anything.

  • Either “Nobody is going to help you if you don’t wipe/reset your system first.” is simply wrong or you should make this a general rule and precondition for posting logs. Why ask for the log in the first place if it’s only “valid” for clean systems?

    In my understanding milhouse suggested this to solve the Qlock question as I initially assumed it’s part of the system but he pointed out that it wasn’t. But I found and removed the cause directly. Wiping the whole system is quite radical just for the sake of it. As I’ve said, I have no other issues with the system and local video files of any kind playback flawlessly. Nevertheless, I’d be willing to change or remove parts of the system if they might be a plausible reason for such a problem.

    In this sense, I have no idea why you’re pointing out those three repositories. If you really think, that solely the existence of another repository might cause a buffering problem between two chapters of a Blu-ray, then you should really question the architecture of the whole system. I really hope that’s not the case. If resetting the whole system is the precondition, then I’m afraid I can’t do that right now due to lack of time. Having said that, if you see an indication in the log that specifically those repositories or something else might be the reason for this problem, I’ll be glad to remove them.

    Regardless of the log, my initial question still remains unanswered: Are there (buffer) settings specifically for Blu-ray playback (or disc playback in general)?

  • In addition to what chewitt said, noone asked to wipe your complete system.

    Instead of whining you could easily ssh into your machine and do mv /storage/.kodi /storage/kodi-bak. Then reboot, test without adding anything else and provide the debuglog if something fails. If not, then you solved your problem with a clean installation ;).

    After that testing you could easily restore your old system (as we did a backup in the "kodi-bak"-folder) by: rm -rf /storage/.kodi && mv /storage/kodi-bak /storage/.kodi. That will remove the newly created .kodi folder and rename the backup-folder (kodi-bak) to .kodi again. After the next reboot everything is as it was before (including your issue ofc). But then we would have a clean debuglog.

    Don´t get this wrong. We don´t judge anyone if he uses banned repositories. But we decide to not give any support while those are being used. So, in the end it´s up to you to deal with the consequences which are the same at kodi.tv forums as well as in here if you are using those repos.

    Milhouse pretty clearly asked for a "clean"!!!! debuglog which you did not provide. And yes, we have seen such problems if some addons/repos are installed, that those are causing issues with the core system. Hence why we do not support those.

    So either provide a clean debuglog as descriped above or stop complaining if you don´t have the time to rename a folder, reboot, reproduce your issue, provide a log and then delete and rename a folder again. Which is a task for about 5 minutes or so?!