search

amzn / exoplayer-amazon-port

Official port of ExoPlayer for Amazon devices
Apache License 2.0
171 stars 80 forks source link

FTV Stick 4K interlaced video playback leads to media player crash #94

Closed leone007 closed 3 years ago

leone007 commented 5 years ago

Following the latest update (6.2.6.4) interlaced videos can crash FTV Stick 4K's media player, which won't be able to play any more content until a complete device restart.

video of the issue

samples that will crash the MP:

1, 2, 3

Fire OS 6.2.6.4 (NS6264/1995)
Fire TV Home Version 6.1.6.0-727
gb160 commented 5 years ago

Smart iptv is not usable at all due to stuck/crash issues. I have just bought the fire tv 4k stick and wasnt aware about this bug and amazon/vendor not being able it fix it in half a year....

My advice is to return it while you still can, it seems Amazon aren't concerned.

Wojooma commented 5 years ago

Just to confirm, non 4k version of stick works perfect with iptv.

gb160 commented 5 years ago

Just to confirm, non 4k version of stick works perfect with iptv.

However, it doesn't support x265 10 bit color space, only 8bit....pretty useless in all honesty.

y2000j commented 5 years ago

It is really a mess that there is no interest in solving that issue on Amazons page. Even if the problem can´t be solved, it would be great if somebody from the programmers is telling us about it.

I bought the 4kstick cause it is much faster then the 2nd gen stick, the sound is working much better with my Teufel Soundbar then the second gen stick and there is x265 support. But the little crash issue ruins everything.

If the issue can be fixed, the 4kstick in my opinion is the best media device you can have for that little money.

But the hope dies last. I am checking the updates every day. And in the last 2 weeks i had 3 component updates. Issue was not solved, but maybe they are working on it. I hope so.

iandarbey commented 5 years ago

@amzn really? Nothing?

I'd rather a "can't fix" or even a "won't fix" than this silence.

humiboy commented 5 years ago

every week a new component update and nothing fixed.

y2000j commented 5 years ago

Sometimes every two days i receive a component update too. But i dont know if it has to do with our issue. Problem is still there and need to be solved.

pixeluk commented 5 years ago

A real shame this issue is proving so long for a fix - as someone previously noted I suspect we represent a tiny population of users to Amazon so not a priority. Mayby FireTV 4K Stick model 2, whenever it comes, will finally resolve this. In the meantime I'm just using two Sticks in my TV (they are relativley inexpensive afterall!) - the 4K one for H.265 stuff and the older Stick for watching UK Freeview-HD TV in Kodi with a NextPVR backend. Both work really well it just would be nice to have one device do it all.

mleo77 commented 5 years ago

With Version Fire OS 6.2.6.4 (NS6264/1996) still not working!!!

Do we have a Hardware Problem which can‘t be fixed with Firmware/Software Updates?

Would be nice to hear a Statement from Amazon, because the return time of the Hardware is limited by Amazon ;(

gb160 commented 5 years ago

With Version Fire OS 6.2.6.4 (NS6264/1996) still not working!!!

Do we have a Hardware Problem which can‘t be fixed with Firmware/Software Updates?

Would be nice to hear a Statement from Amazon, because the return time of the Hardware is limited by Amazon ;(

Return it while you still can...Amazon aren't in the slightest bit bothered by this.

humiboy commented 5 years ago

very bad from Amazon Developer Team not fix this problem

clubsms commented 5 years ago

Update to Fire os 6.2.6.5 (NS6265/2155) Fire tv home version 6.1.7.0-713 did not fix the problem :(

gb160 commented 5 years ago

Update to Fire os 6.2.6.5 (NS6265/2155) Fire tv home version 6.1.7.0-713 did not fix the problem :(

Hardly a surprise mate.

jebos commented 5 years ago

However, something got fixed, though for me things are much more stable as of lately. Not sure if its the stick or the source material that has changed, but I do not need to transcode the content anymore. i am on -713

gb160 commented 5 years ago

However, something got fixed, though for me things are much more stable as of lately. Not sure if its the stick or the source material that has changed, but I do not need to transcode the content anymore. i am on -713

Made zero difference for me.

Can I ask what source you are using?, TV Headend? Version?

humiboy commented 5 years ago

Support is endet to fix the problem?

iandarbey commented 5 years ago

Anyone know if the issue is present with the fire TV cube? If not I'll just return my stick and wait for the cube

humiboy commented 5 years ago

Where are the Amazon Support devs? After 10-11 month of release the peoblem is still exist.

Shame Amazon for this Support. What have Amazon fixed with the componentupdates in the last days weeks? For me nothing...

dougie175 commented 5 years ago

I agree this is shocking, also anyone who seemed to understand what the issue may even be seems to have gone quiet has everyone just given up?

geekypenguin commented 5 years ago

The issue is that the problem lies with a 3rd party firmware and there isn't a lot Amazon can do until they publish an update. Last time this took about 6 months, so we might get something by the end of the year.

On Thu, 5 Sep 2019, 09:31 dougie175, notifications@github.com wrote:

I agree this is shocking, also anyone who seemed to understand what the issue may even be seems to have gone quiet has everyone just given up?

— You are receiving this because you are subscribed to this thread. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub https://github.com/amzn/exoplayer-amazon-port/issues/94?email_source=notifications&email_token=ACP36GZ3NM4D5AZLKWLVIGTQIC7WHA5CNFSM4H26KMS2YY3PNVWWK3TUL52HS4DFVREXG43VMVBW63LNMVXHJKTDN5WW2ZLOORPWSZGOD56JTMA#issuecomment-528259504, or mute the thread https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/ACP36G2T37OL7PDL4VPXUHLQIC7WHANCNFSM4H26KMSQ .

humiboy commented 5 years ago

Where is @rinoshs for give us more Information to fix this problem?

Last comment for many weeks...

geekypenguin commented 5 years ago

@humiboy read this: https://github.com/amzn/exoplayer-amazon-port/issues/94#issuecomment-507332389

On Thu, 5 Sep 2019, 09:44 humiboy, notifications@github.com wrote:

Where is @rinoshs https://github.com/rinoshs for give us more Information to fix this problem?

Last comment for many weeks...

— You are receiving this because you are subscribed to this thread. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub https://github.com/amzn/exoplayer-amazon-port/issues/94?email_source=notifications&email_token=ACP36G2MNWUSU523J5JKBXLQIDBHXA5CNFSM4H26KMS2YY3PNVWWK3TUL52HS4DFVREXG43VMVBW63LNMVXHJKTDN5WW2ZLOORPWSZGOD56K2WY#issuecomment-528264539, or mute the thread https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/ACP36G6KLWUYS6GD2EH5A7DQIDBHXANCNFSM4H26KMSQ .

humiboy commented 5 years ago

For Amazon is this problem very very very low priority

geekypenguin commented 5 years ago

Of course. They sell the sticks to deliver their paid for content, so that's what they focus on. Our problem is a very small share of the market

On Thu, 5 Sep 2019, 12:40 humiboy, notifications@github.com wrote:

For Amazon is this problem very very very low priority

— You are receiving this because you are subscribed to this thread. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub https://github.com/amzn/exoplayer-amazon-port/issues/94?email_source=notifications&email_token=ACP36G5BITBQTMSYOXGP6K3QIDV3ZA5CNFSM4H26KMS2YY3PNVWWK3TUL52HS4DFVREXG43VMVBW63LNMVXHJKTDN5WW2ZLOORPWSZGOD56ZKOQ#issuecomment-528323898, or mute the thread https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/ACP36GYRVQJRMOMJDHBGQI3QIDV3ZANCNFSM4H26KMSQ .

pixeluk commented 5 years ago

Here in the UK we are about to get the new updated FireTV Cube - big question is whether this shares the same flawed decoding firmware. Whislt I, like many, would prefer a fix to the FireTV 4K Stick this would at least give us an Amazon product that can do it all (unless of course we find something else wrong with this new device)

dougie175 commented 5 years ago

I'm not sure anyone will be able to answer that at this point. But hopefully the cube fixes the issue. I will be purchasing 1 to have a try with when they are released. The FireTV is the perfect device for myself and family bar this issue

geekypenguin commented 5 years ago

Same, but I just use my tvheadend server to transcode it first.

On Fri, 6 Sep 2019, 13:12 dougie175, notifications@github.com wrote:

I'm not sure anyone will be able to answer that at this point. But hopefully the cube fixes the issue. I will be purchasing 1 to have a try with when they are released. The FireTV is the perfect device for myself and family bar this issue

— You are receiving this because you are subscribed to this thread. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub https://github.com/amzn/exoplayer-amazon-port/issues/94?email_source=notifications&email_token=ACP36G3JB3KCUODQDEAKEODQIJCLVA5CNFSM4H26KMS2YY3PNVWWK3TUL52HS4DFVREXG43VMVBW63LNMVXHJKTDN5WW2ZLOORPWSZGOD6CU7JY#issuecomment-528830375, or mute the thread https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/ACP36GYV7HE6RTUIEBKXNQ3QIJCLVANCNFSM4H26KMSQ .

iandarbey commented 5 years ago

@geekypenguin can you let me know how you do this? If I could deinterlace at the server I'd be happy out

geekypenguin commented 5 years ago

@iandarbey sure. On the assumption you are already using tvheadend, under config, streaming, streaming profiles, I added a new profile and selected transcode as the type. I think everything worked on default settings using the MP4/av-lib container, except I had to change the audio codec to "copy codec type" else I had no sound.

Then if youre using Kodi you can set the stream profile to use "transcode" under the addin config, or you can set it as the default in tvheadend.

I still record using the "pass" profile as my hardware can only do 4 HD transcodes simultaneously on the CPU, but you can have it record direct to MP4 instead of TS, by changing the recording profile too. Instead, I pass the video file through handbrake using a post process script, to do the conversions on the GPU. Only downside of this method is I can't watch a recording until it's finished, unless it's on a SD stream. The GPU will transcode the finished file in about 30seconds for a HD show and I also get the benefit of comskip by waiting so I'm prepared to live with it.

On Fri, 6 Sep 2019, 13:35 iandarbey, notifications@github.com wrote:

@geekypenguin https://github.com/geekypenguin can you let me know how you do this? If I could deinterlace at the server I'd be happy out

— You are receiving this because you were mentioned. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub https://github.com/amzn/exoplayer-amazon-port/issues/94?email_source=notifications&email_token=ACP36G3KE3U624ALTM3NMADQIJFANA5CNFSM4H26KMS2YY3PNVWWK3TUL52HS4DFVREXG43VMVBW63LNMVXHJKTDN5WW2ZLOORPWSZGOD6CWTVI#issuecomment-528837077, or mute the thread https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/ACP36G7WRWEUOZBY7I7M22TQIJFANANCNFSM4H26KMSQ .

geekypenguin commented 5 years ago

Oh, also set the height to 0 to copy the input resolution. Took me a while to spot, wondering why HD shows suddenly looked like SD

leone007 commented 5 years ago

This shouldn't be in this thread, but since @amazon doesn't give a shit about this, I'll comment here anyways.

iandarbey commented 5 years ago

The fire tv cube has a mali based GPU similar to the non 4K fire stick which de-interlaces fine.

Logic would suggest the cube will not have any issues on this and I'd consider my stick a £50 voucher towards one.

dougie175 commented 5 years ago

The fire tv cube has a mali based GPU similar to the non 4K fire stick which de-interlaces fine.

Logic would suggest the cube will not have any issues on this and I'd consider my stick a £50 voucher towards one.

That mali based glu bit sounds like good news. I don't have enough room behind quite a few of my TVs for cubes but on the main living room TV at least the issue will be fixed there upgrading to a cube.

I think we have more chance if plaiting fog than Amazon giving a cash exchange on the 4k for the cubes. I would be nice though as I now have 7 4Ks with this issue and watching UK TV is a nightmare

gb160 commented 5 years ago

Id have serious reservations in buying another Amazon stick/box, considering the way they've dealt with this issue, or not dealt with it in this case.

The lack of feedback has been absolutely pathetic. And before people start on that its not their fault, and a third party vendor has two deal with it...that's not my problem, Amazon has chosen to use these third parties, not me.

dougie175 commented 5 years ago

Id have serious reservations in buying another Amazon stick/box, considering the way they've dealt with this issue, or not dealt with it in this case.

The lack of feedback has been absolutely pathetic. And before people start on that its not their fault, and a third party vendor has two deal with it...that's not my problem, Amazon has chosen to use these third parties, not me.

I agree and have the same reservations but in fairness the cube is still the most cost effective solution for myself for now. It's a shame as the 4k is much cheaper and tidy behind the TV but I honestly don't see this issue ever getting fixed now

gb160 commented 5 years ago

I honestly don't see this issue ever getting fixed now

It won't get fixed now...my guess is a fundamental hardware issue/oversight has been identified by the vendor, passed on to Amazon, who are now keeping quiet. Probably better for them to bury their heads in the sand rather than acknowledge it.

humiboy commented 4 years ago

Amazon support is not existent very bad from Amazon not fixed after 11 month

No Statement nothing zero

Arcitec commented 4 years ago

@rinoshs Why is it taking so long to comment on the issue? Your last comment was 3 months ago when you told us to create this ticket. This ticket has been open for 3 months with zero comments from Amazon developers. Not even a basic courtesy ”we are investigating”!

We know that a 3rd party is responsible for the decoder hardware. That 3rd party was able to fix 50% of the deinterlacing bug (half the crashing videos now work; but the other half still fail)... so I have faith that the remaining bug can be fixed via software too.

But the way you are being completely silent for 3 months makes me think the remaining bug is actually unfixable and you have been told to stay quiet...

What else are we supposed to think?! Speak to us! This is pathetic. We have been extremely patient, and provided tons of files to reproduce the bug, and you reward us with silence...

I am lucky that our family doesn’t watch sports, since most sports is broadcast interlaced and can trigger the crash... But we still see the bug pretty often on regular channels, such as when an Ad break plays a sudden interlaced ad... and crashes the hardware. It is the highest priority bug for anyone who bought a FireTV 4K. Wake up!

And if you are actually in contact with the 3rd party and working on a fix then tell us... we are waiting in the blind here for 3 freaking months... Just letting customers know if it’s being investigated would have avoided so much hate that Amazon is rightfully getting now...

gb160 commented 4 years ago

But the way you are being completely silent for 3 months makes me think the remaining bug is actually unfixable and you have been told to stay quiet...

Bingo.

I get that we are a tiny fraction of the userbase of what is an extremely popular device, what I don't get is why they dont just put their hands up, and issue a few hundred refunds...they're the biggest and most valuable tech company in the world. Maybe Jeff's divorce settlement is having a bearing on this.

dougie175 commented 4 years ago

I can't imagine I am the only 1 who feel's like this but if this issue is not going to be fixed I would really appreciate Amazon being honest. As it starts I feel like there is some sort of false hope that the 4K stick will 1 day do everything I want it too. If that's not the case I would just prefer to know now and find an alternative solution going forward. Keeping people in the dark is less likely to hold onto future sales than being honest about a failure!

leone007 commented 4 years ago

I don’t know how difficult it is, but letting the FTVS4K to operate in 1080i resolution would solve this whole issue.

But I agree that the silence is the worst possible reaction, it keeps up - probably false - hope in ppl. If you know it isn’t going to be fixed, at least you know, and can move on.

gb160 commented 4 years ago

I don’t know how difficult it is, but letting the FTVS4K to operate in 1080i resolution would solve this whole issue.

But I agree the silence is the worst possible reaction, it keeps up - maybe false - hope in ppl. If you know it isn’t going to be fixed, at least you know., and can move on.

Im fed up with the issue, I dont want excuses. I just want my money back, I feel conned.

When I first bought the device I honestly thought the issue would be fixed, that's why I didn't return it...after six months a fix finally appears, which doesn't actually fix the problem.

Id be interested to know where we stand with consumer rights and rights to a refund.

iandarbey commented 4 years ago

If the cube fixes the issue (different GPU) Ill be arguing (profusely) for a refund to offset the cost.... Given I've resigned myself to spending money to get a solution at this stage

leone007 commented 4 years ago

Does the FTVS4K advertisement say “watch your favorite channels”?

"With top apps from BBC, ITV, Sky News and more, watch your favourite programmes live"

mleo77 commented 4 years ago

Oh dear... so many misunderstandings here. Let me summarize what has happened:

  • Interlaced MPEG2 videos only displayed a green picture (#58). Status: FIXED
  • Interlaced H264 videos crashed the player and required a reboot (#81). Status: FIXED (the exact video samples provided by the original author are playing perfectly now)
  • Interlaced H264 videos in unusual color formats (best theory so far thanks to the research by @leone007) still crash the player. Status: YOU ARE READING THIS THREAD RIGHT NOW

Nobody had discovered the final problem in the previous thread, because there were sadly no sample files provided with that newly discovered crashing format... so they've only fixed the general deinterlacing issue, but had missed the fact that there was another way to crash the player too... and literally nobody knew about it until now... :-(

Software or Hardware problem?

Answer: Software problem. The hardware decoder chip has a firmware (kind of like a BIOS) which decides what parts of the hardware to use for decoding various features of various video formats, and in what way...

To fix this final issue, Amazon has to tell the decoder chip manufacturer to fix their firmware again, for this newly discovered separate problem. Amazon does not have the source code for the hardware manufacturer's chip (that's their proprietary trade secret).

How long will it take to fix?

It depends on the hardware chip manufacturer. The only thing Amazon can do for us is to ask them to hurry up this time.

Releasing a fix took the the hardware chip maker around 4 months last time, because their process is as follows (it was described by Amazon in the previous H264 ticket):

  • Identify the problem.
  • Code a fix, which takes time.
  • Test all other formats again over a period of time, to ensure the fix didn't break anything else instead.
  • Release the new firmware.

After receiving the fixed firmware, Amazon has to do their own internal testing and OS development too, which took 2 months last time.

  • Test the new fix.
  • Ensure that everything in the system is still stable.
  • Release the fix together with the next OS update.

Hopefully this time they'll skip step 3 and do a quick "out-of-order" update of the decoder firmware. But unfortunately they may not be able to do that due to company routines. Sigh... From what we learned in the last thread, Amazon does all testing on their latest in-development (non-public) OS version and releases everything new "all at once" in a single finished OS update package, rather than risking bugs from sending out separate bugfixes to people running older software than what they themselves use in their development area...

But please, break that tradition this time. As soon as you receive the firmware fix, please do testing on the current public OS version and then release the fix for all of us! I can see that people are going to be very angry and it will cause a lot of ill-will towards Amazon if people have to wait 6 months yet again for the final fix... it will damage the reputation of the Amazon FireTV and it will be known as a device where fixes "take forever, if ever" to arrive...

My hope and advice is that you therefore strongly pressure the hardware chip vendor for a quicker fix for the final problem, and that you release it to us as soon as possible on the current OS version.

However...

The last we heard from Amazon was in the previous thread, where @rinoshs acknowledged this final problem and asked us to make a ticket. We haven't heard anything since then. It's still only been 7 days, but we would really appreciate hearing from someone at Amazon to know what work is being done.

We're all ready to help you do the research but we're at a point where we need your input as well... To test the various samples in this thread and trying to figure out if it's indeed a colorspace issue (BT.709 colors might be the cause of the crashes).

The bright side!

It's a software issue. It only affects a few TV channels. It'll be fixed. And I'm very happy with my FireTV 4K. It's cheap. It's small. It has a great remote control (lots of tactile buttons; far better than NVidia Shield TV or Apple TV). It's super powerful at running any software. It's 4K. It's HDR/Dolby Vision/Dolby Atmos. It's great!

We get a good explanation why it takes so long! So I would accepts the long timeframe. But what is not acceptable is that no Comment comes from Amazon. Its your product, so please give a statement that we know you care about the issue!

gb160 commented 4 years ago

@mleo77 Just to clarify @VideoPlayerCode doesn't work for Amazon....he's a disgruntled owner like us.

rinoshs commented 4 years ago

Just to clarify, this issue is being tracked internally within Amazon by the respective device team. There are no updates to share as of now.

On another note, this issue is strictly not with Amazon's port of the ExoPlayer per se, and depends on fixes to a specific device's firmware. This forum should primarily be used for ExoPlayer specific issues. Device issues such as this are better followed up with Amazon Customer Service, who will route it directly to the device teams.

gb160 commented 4 years ago

haha brilliant.

geekypenguin commented 4 years ago

We understand that, but you never get any feedback from the customer care team. At least keeping this issue open we can see others who are affected and any progress being made.

But thank you for the update all the same

On Fri, 13 Sep 2019, 12:44 rinoshs, notifications@github.com wrote:

Just to clarify, this issue is being tracked internally within Amazon by the respective device team. There are no updates to share as of now.

On another note, this issue is strictly not with Amazon's port of the ExoPlayer per se, and depends on fixes to a specific device's firmware. This forum should primarily be used for ExoPlayer specific issues. Device issues such as this are better followed up with Amazon Customer Service, who will route it directly to the device teams.

— You are receiving this because you were mentioned. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub https://github.com/amzn/exoplayer-amazon-port/issues/94?email_source=notifications&email_token=ACP36G4MPLIBAUYAVXTUFNLQJN4KNA5CNFSM4H26KMS2YY3PNVWWK3TUL52HS4DFVREXG43VMVBW63LNMVXHJKTDN5WW2ZLOORPWSZGOD6UY3VI#issuecomment-531205589, or mute the thread https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/ACP36G7XX7OR4DTQVCMWHADQJN4KNANCNFSM4H26KMSQ .

leone007 commented 4 years ago

On another note, this issue is strictly not with Amazon's port of the ExoPlayer per se, and depends on fixes to a specific device's firmware. This forum should primarily be used for ExoPlayer specific issues.

Never heard this argument in the previous threads about FTVS4K de-interlacing issues, so coming up with it right now feels a bit awkward.

this issue is being tracked internally within Amazon by the respective device team. There are no updates to share as of now.

This sounds like corporate BS

Device issues such as this are better followed up with Amazon Customer Service, who will route it directly to the device teams.

Even more corporate BS

But hey, thanks for your effort and letting us know about the big nothing "the device team" has done over the last 3 months. BTW in the previous thread - the one that you closed - somehow someone managed to mention that the problem was on the vendor side, and BIOS update was necessary, and it fixed half of the problems with THIS hardware. Isn't it weird, that after half solving an issue that was clearly an issue with the DEVICE, suddenly this forum isn't the right place to deal with this. Especially in the light of this comment:

This issue is specific to the 4k pendant. Regarding 4k stick, I would suggest that you create a new issue for your specific issue.