Posts by duffbeer

  • Multi channel PCM issues

    I think I may have solved this issue by accident.

    Through sheer frustration, I decided to change a few settings in the audio section to see if it would make any difference. Most of them didn't but then I saw the "Keep audio device alive" section and it was set to 1 minute. When I disable this option every source that has either DTS or AAC audio is output as Multi Channel PCM.

    I have no idea why that setting makes a difference but it definitely does. Maybe this is a bug of some sort? I never noticed it before because everything was being re-encoded to DD5.1. Dolby sources were never affected they always seemed to work correctly so I feel like this is something to do with however the audio is decoded to PCM.

    Hopefully this helps someone else with a similar issue when they find this thread.

  • Multi channel PCM issues

    I have a better example of the issue that may be a little easier to analyse.

    The following logs are from the same file on the same hardware. The source is 2160p with HDR and DTS-HDMA.

    The first log is with everything working correctly - the audio is output as Multi Channel PCM.

    https://paste.libreelec.tv/versicolor-addison.log

    The second log is where I only get FL and FR PCM channels.

    https://paste.libreelec.tv/unmonopolized-lilyanna.log


    I get the same results with 1080p sources. So I'm confused!

    The thing that concerns me is the inconsistency. No settings were changed but I can get different results each time I watch something.


    Thanks for your help and advice so far. I hope these logs are more useful.

  • Multi channel PCM issues

    Thanks again for you suggestions.

    I have installed the latest nightly build but it made no difference to my particular issue.

    Is there any way to confirm if it is an HDMI bandwidth limitation? I would rather be sure before I'm forced to upgrade.

    Any logs or debug mode or similar?

  • Multi channel PCM issues

    Thanks very much for your reply - that makes a lot of sense. I just checked and my NUC is a NUC8ieBEK that does indeed use an LSPCON chip to achieve HDMI2.0b.

    I think it's probably time for an upgrade so I was looking at the Asus NUC14 Essentials as that has HDMI 2.1.

    I've checked a few threads here to see if if will be compatible with Libreelec but I'm not 100% clear on the current status. It sounds like there may be issues with wired network and possibly HDR. I believe the chipset requires Linux kernel 6.14?

    Can anyone confirm if this model is supported with the latest nightly builds?

  • Multi channel PCM issues

    I would like to start off by saying that I have been using Libreelec for many years and very rarely have any issues whatsoever. It's a fantastic piece of software and I would like to thank everyone who contributes to the development.

    My setup for the last few years was only capable of playing DD 5.1 so I was setting Kodi to output 2.0 and then selecting to re-encode everything to DD 5.1. This was fantastic and meant that I could play all of my media regardless of the sound format.

    Recently, I have upgraded my soundbar to one that supports Dolby Atmos and Multi Channel PCM via eARC. It sounds SO much better and I'm really pleased with it. I changed the audio settings within Kodi to output 5.1 and selected TrueHD capable receiver but left all the DTS options disabled. This way I can get TrueHD or Dolby Atmos when available and if the source is DTS-HDMA or AAC then it outputs Multi Channel PCM. Perfect! That's exactly what I was hoping it would do.

    This was working when I first set it up and tested a few different files to ensure everything played OK. Since then I have noticed a random problem. Sometimes when I play a file with DTS-HDMA or AAC 6 channel audio, Kodi will only output the FR and FL channels. There is no surround sound and crucially there is no centre channel so there is no dialogue! This doesn't happen every time - it seems to be random. I have to reboot my Intel NUC once, twice or sometimes three times before it will output the full 6 channels. When it starts working, everything is fine for the duration of that particular file. Dolby TrueHD, EAC3 and Dolby Atmos always play correctly.

    I assume it's not a common problem so it may be a problem with my hardware or my particular installation of Libreelec. I don't have any additional add-ons installed, I like to keep things as simple as possible.

    When I first upgraded the soundbar I was running version 12.0.2 but I have since updated to 12.2.1 but my particular issue remains.

    I don't think any of my settings are wrong because when it eventually decides to work, it's perfect.

    Obviously this is a little frustrating so I would be very grateful for any suggestions of what may be going wrong here.

  • Need help/advice with Intel NUC buffering problems

    I really hope that someone here can offer me some advice as I have been trying to resolve this issue myself for a long time with no success.

    My setup is as follows:

    NUC8i3BEK with 8gb of RAM running the latest bios with Libreelec 9.2.6. The only thing I use Kodi for is to watch my media files stored on my NAS, I have no additional addons and I do not watch anything via http. My Synology NAS is connected using homeplugs (I know these are not the best solution but they have worked without issue for a few years and I have no way of running a network cable between the 2 rooms.) The media files are streamed using NFS protocol rather than SMB.

    I have been using this setup for a few years with no issues, 1080p files play perfectly both AVC and HEVC. The problems began when I started watching 4K media files.

    These files will play OK until the bitrate increases during a high action scene or similar. The high bitrate causes the video to freeze and then after a couple of seconds the blue circular icon appears on screen and counts up to 100 while the buffer is refreshed (I assume this is what's happening.)

    I understand that the home plugs are probably the issue here and they just can't keep up with the higher level of data throughput. After a little research I discovered the video cache settings page on the Kodi wiki. I have tried a few different variations of the advancedsettings file but nothing seems to work for me. In fact, they all make the playback worse not just with 4K but even with the 1080p files that play correctly with the default settings.

    When I change the video cache settings it causes the video to freeze within 1-2 seconds of the start and it does not display the blue circular icon that I mentioned earlier, it just freezes and does nothing until I press stop. I assume I'm doing something wrong here but I can't figure it out, surely these cache settings should help the file to play correctly? As I mentioned earlier, the 4K files play mostly OK with just a few freezes during the high bitrate scenes so I don't think it is too far away from working OK.

    I have tried the following advancedsettings.xml flies:

    <advancedsettings>

    <cache>

    <buffermode>1</buffermode>

    <memorysize>139460608</memorysize>

    <readfactor>20</readfactor>

    </cache>

    </advancedsettings>

    I tried inceasiing and decreasing the readfactor and also buffermode 4

    <advancedsettings>

    <cache>

    <buffermode>1</buffermode>

    <memorysize>52428800</memorysize>

    </cache>

    </advancedsettings>

    Also tried with buffermode 4

    <advancedsettings>

    <cache>

    <buffermode>1</buffermode>

    <memorysize>0</memorysize>

    <readfactor>30</readfactor>

    </cache>

    </advancedsettings>

    I was surpised this one didn't work for me either because according to the wiki page, setting the memorysize to 0 means it should buffer the data to the local hard drive rather than the RAM. I really thought this would make some difference but it behaves exactly the same as all the other files above.

    Every one of these options makes the playback worse in my setup and I just don't understand why. I would be really grateful for any advice as I'm completely stuck and I don't know what else to try.

  • How much RAM for NUC8i3BEK?

    I've read a few comments about the built-in infrared receiver being poor. That's pretty worrying - I don't want to plug in an extra receiver.

    I'm upgrading from a D54250WYK that is just over 4 years old now. The software decoding HEVC @ 1080P works great but I was hoping that the hardware decoder would produce a better image.

  • How much RAM for NUC8i3BEK?

    Quote from jbinkley60

    I have a NUC8i7BEH and memory utilization remains low. CPU remains low as long as HW decoding is enabled. Attached is a top command output of my NUC playing a 12mbps MPEG2 1080P file while doing 4K upscaling. You can see it isn't braking a sweat. It has 8GB of memory but 4 is sufficient.

    That's exactly what I wanted to hear! Thanks very much for posting this info.

    My intention is to get the cheapest nvme SSD and 4gb RAM as Kodi does not need high performance so anything more is a waste. Hopefully that's a good plan.

    Can you comment on the noise from your i7? I've seen reviews mention that the cooling fan on the NUC 8 is a little noisy for a HTPC. I realise that noise is subjective but I would value your comments. Have you ever used an older NUC to compare?

  • Refresh rate problem after update from Openelec


    Thanks for your post. Seems a little harsh? Quite a few people having similar issues.

    I'm certainly not criticizing...I think LIBREELEC is amazing.

    Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

  • Refresh rate problem after update from Openelec

    Quote from hat_dk


    You are not alone.

    I'm having that same issue with my nuc->Yamaha avr->optima projector setup.
    When booted the refresh rate always default to 60, however changing between default and HDMI input in the settings menu allows me to choose 23.98.
    Back in the openelec days I solved this issue by sleeping a few secs and then setting the refresh rate manually via the autostart.sh script. However this approach does seem to work anymore with libreelec. Maybe autostart.sh isn't, supported anymore?

    This issue really suckz big-time....


    Sorry to hear you're having the same problem but it's good to know that I'm not alone.
    The fixes suggested above don't seem to work for me but my temporary solution means I can use Kodi for now.

    Let's hope this gets fixed soon as there must be other people affected.

    Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk