Airplay got worse after updating to new build of libreelec on rpi4

1st Official Post

    Dear All,

    (moved from Airplay got worse after updating to new build of libreelec on rpi4, since I got the feeling that it´s the wrong forum to post this in)

    I got a hiccups in my previous installation of libreelec so that it wouldn´t launch any longer, and had to reinstall it.

    For this reason, I´m not sure which version I was running before - all I can tell is that it´s now the latest, 9.2.4.

    I´ve been using Tuneblade on Windows alot for a long time with no major issues to stream audio to airplay on the pi with libreelec, but after the new installation of libreelec, I get a lot of glitches in the audio within minutes, and then the connection dies.

    I don´t know if it´s airplay itself that´s the problem, or some power saving thing or network limitation set in the new installation that is causing it, but it´s very frustrating.

    Anyway, I decided to try with a downgrade to 9.2.0 and guess what: Everything works really great again. I´d be really happy if somebody could figure out what´s wrong with the more recent versions, so that I can safely update libreelec again.

    The downgrade was done after that libreelec had autoupdated itself to latest version when installing a fresh 9.2.0, which had the issues mentioned, and then with 9.2.0 in the .update folder. Just to avoid any speculations here about if I´d tweaked some settings that made things go smooth in 9.2.0 - everything´s the same whether if in 9.2.0 or latest build.


    Thanks in advance!

    • Official Post
    Quote from jazzlpunk

    I´d be really happy if somebody could figure out what´s wrong with the more recent versions, so that I can safely update libreelec again.

    As far as I know, the problem is this: Airplay is proprietary protocol from Apple. Airplay needs to be reverse-engineered to make it work in open-source applications like Kodi. Apple changes the inner workings of Airplay from time to time, which requires the open-source people to catch up. That cat & mouse game has been going on for years now. So what it comes down to is: sometimes Airplay works in Kodi, and sometimes it doesn't.

    Good summary. Also worth noting - Apple approved Airplay clients include an authentication chip that can only be bought from Apple approved sources after Apple has approved the product design (a complex and expensive process). As a free / open source project, Kodi has no such possibilities and like other unapproved Airplay implementations in commercial products, it may break from time to time.

    Thanks guys, so the issues I experience is because that the airplay version used in latest Kodi is different from in older versions, because Kodi developers have been trying to keep up with protocol changes, introducing bugs on some none-apple devices?
    In that case, it´d be great if it would be a separate module that can be easily downgraded.

    • Official Post
    Quote from jazzlpunk

    In that case, it´d be great if it would be a separate module that can be easily downgraded.

    Some things are placed in addons already, such as rar/zip support. I'm not sure if Airplay will ever make it to that status. (I'm not a dev myself)

    I wouldn't be surprised if developers just simply had enough of having to do yet another fix.

    Quote from jazzlpunk

    Thanks guys, so the issues I experience is because that the airplay version used in latest Kodi is different from in older versions, because Kodi developers have been trying to keep up with protocol changes, introducing bugs on some none-apple devices?

    I am not aware of version specifics, but it is more likely that this has broken as a result of changes to iOS from Apple (whether iOS 14, 14.1, etc. - who knows...).

    Quote from S80_UK

    I am not aware of version specifics, but it is more likely that this has broken as a result of changes to iOS from Apple (whether iOS 14, 14.1, etc. - who knows...).

    But we agree that it´s the airplay implementation within Kodi which is broken because of trying to keep up with that? I mean, at my end I´m using no apple stuff, just Tuneblade which has not been updated since last year.

    I honestly don't know. Did it break because of what Apple might have done or because of some other regression, directly related or not...? Your added information about Tuneblade (that's new to me) may be pertinent. I don't use Airplay with Kodi - I was simply trying to add some background regarding the way that Apple control Airplay and how that may affect unofficial clients for which the developers have to try to figure out what changes are needed each time that Apple make a change.

    Quote from S80_UK

    I honestly don't know. Did it break because of what Apple might have done or because of some other regression, directly related or not...? Your added information about Tuneblade (that's new to me) may be pertinent. I don't use Airplay with Kodi - I was simply trying to add some background regarding the way that Apple control Airplay and how that may affect unofficial clients for which the developers have to try to figure out what changes are needed each time that Apple make a change.

    Tuneblade was mentioned initially, but thanks for your still vaulable inputs. I´m just thinking that if the only two pieces of code involved here are libreelec on my raspberry and Tuneblade on my pc, then if Tuneblade has not been updated, and libreelec works better with airblade in its older versions, then the culprit is libreelecs airblade implementation that differs between libreelec versions, to please protocol changes launched by apple.

    I just tried achieving the same with DLNA btw, where I found a win app called "streamwhatyouhear" but there I get a dropout every two mins or so, using the lossless audio mode. Not sure if it works fine with mp3 compression, which is another option but I want it to be lossless.