VLC player stutters when showing a new part of the subtitle

[FlowRush78]

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.

[cass_n]

Hi @FlowRush78,

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

Cheers,

C

[Jecht_Sin]

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.

[Kuschelmonschter]

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.

[FlowRush78]

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... 😞

[FlowRush78]

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.

[FlowRush78]

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? 😞

[Kuschelmonschter]

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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? 😞

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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.

[Jecht_Sin]

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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.

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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.

[Kuschelmonschter]

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.