Some Apple trailers stream flawlessly at 720p. Other's buffer so much they are unplayable.

[kiboy6 0]

Has anybody else experienced this? I haven't been able to identify which ones work and which don't. I have only Apple as my streaming trailer source and at least half of the trailers buffer so slowly that they are unplayable. 

Wonder if this is a common issue? 

[Matt 120]

What version of CinemaVision are you using?

Post logs of a time that it played fine and a separate log when it didn't and we'll take a look.

 

[kiboy6 0]

Hi Matt,

Thanks so much for looking into this! So kind of you - so awesome that you and others keep this going  -  This addon is so vital - amazing how few people take the time to set up and appreciate these things these days!

Anyway, 

I'm running CinemaVision 1.1.1.a12 version on Kodi Leia Coreelec

here's the paste:

https://pastebin.com/SiktiWEK

 

Here's a description of what happens in the log, including a  few odd behaviours even outside the one I mentioned:

1.) First time Cinemavision was asked to run (via context menu on library movie "Vacation Friends")  it went to black screen for a while then returned to Kodi movies library view without ever running. (this is unusual - not sure why it happened this time!) 

2.)  I then repeat instruction to run Cinemavision via context menu on same movie. This time it runs successfully

3.) Trailers intro bumper plays successfully.

4.) Trailer 1 out of 4 buffers unplayably til  I press skip. Trailers 2 and 3 stream just fine (I press skip after 20 seconds or so of successful playback) .  Trailer 4 out of 4 buffers unplayably til  I press skip. 

5.) Feature intro bumper is not played despite being selected in my Cinemavision sequence

6.) Ratings bumper and then feature work fine.

7.) Cinemavision reports error when i try to upload log to pastebin, and i had to do so manually.

Thanks so much again if you can shed any light on this. 

 

 

 

Edited September 15, 2021 by kiboy6

[bullwinkl 22]

I'm fairly certain this isn't so much a Cinemavision issue as it is an Apple being stingy with bandwidth all over issue.  Here's a thread I started from a couple of years ago about the same thing.

 

 

[kiboy6 0]

thanks bullwinkl   ,

looked over your thread and yes, I do think it's probably the same issue. The weird thing is that around half of the Apple trailers play flawlessly and half will buffer endlessly even if quality is limited to 480p.

If so we could still work around the problem if we could identify which trailers are problematic and have CV avoid those ones?

If not, I'm also rather interested in your mediahuman trailer downloading solution. Would be awesome if you could share the scripts you use. Is it possible to have the downloaded trailers deleted not only after a month but also after each one is played? That would also provide a solution to the other issue i have (mentioned here) with trailers repeating across the two separate kodi installations in my house.

Cheers!

[Matt 120]

I tested the trailers from the log in my system and there aren't issues with the specific trailers, so there's no way to make CV avoid them.  I still need to look into it further. 

Also, I noticed that every time you play a trailer you are getting errors for Skin Helper Service.  I don't necessarily think that's the reason for your problem, but it is an issue.

[kiboy6 0]

Thanks a lot for looking into it further .

Any idea what next step could be to troubleshoot / fix Skin Helper Service issue? 

[kiboy6 0]

I fixed (I think) the skin helper service problem by making sure it, and all related add-ons, were downgraded to official Kodi repo versions. 

 

But, as you suspected, the seemingly random buffering of certain Apple trailers continues. Weird. Wonder what the variable could be.

 Also, don't suppose you have any idea from my previous log why feature intro bumper didn't play?

 

Thanks so much

[Matt 120]

Is there a reason why you are using Kodi 18 and not 19? 

You should be able to disable the Skin Helper Service, but I don't think it is the cause of the issue.  It looks like you are a few version behind on it.  Here is the latest version: https://github.com/kodi-community-addons/script.skin.helper.service/archive/refs/heads/master.zip

On my end I need to try to get things set up in a way that I can recreate the issue to try to better understand what is going on.  I've had days where iTunes trailers are slow and buffer, but they have never buffered to the point where they won't load at all.  I'll talk about it with the developer @DexDeadly and see what we can come up with.

 

15 minutes ago, kiboy6 said:

 Also, don't suppose you have any idea from my previous log why feature intro bumper didn't play?

What are you referring to as the feature intro?  Is it the ratings or do you have the video set in one of the bumpers?

In the log it looks like you don't have any files for it to display. Here's the section:

[VideoBumper] u'Trivia Intro'
    - Random
    - No matches!
    - NOT SHOWING
[Trivia] 10m
[VideoBumper] u'Trivia Outro'
    - Random
    - No matches!
    - NOT SHOWING
[VideoBumper] u'Courtesy'
    - Random
    - No matches!
    - NOT SHOWING
[VideoBumper] u'Theater Intro'
    - Random
    - No matches!
    - NOT SHOWING

Do you have the file in the correct location?  Have you updated the content in CV?

 

[OTA 78]

4 hours ago, Matt said:

Is there a reason why you are using Kodi 18 and not 19?

He may be in the same boat as me.  I run CoreELEC on my Odriod C2 and the latest they support is Kodi 18.9 for that hardware.  I don't have a TV that supports HDR, so there's no reason for me to upgrade to another media player until I get a newer display.

Edited September 17, 2021 by OTA

[Matt 120]

1 hour ago, OTA said:

He may be in the same boat as me.  I run CoreELEC on my Odriod C2 and the latest they support is Kodi 18.9 for that hardware.  I don't have a TV that supports HDR, so there's no reason for me to upgrade to another media player until I get a newer display.

I bet they'll have some great deals on TVs for Black Friday.  We need you on the 19.

[kiboy6 0]

18 hours ago, Matt said:

Quote

Is there a reason why you are using Kodi 18 and not 19? 

Yes, as OTA guessed, it's due to running the latest stable version of Coreelec  an Android AMLOGIC boxes. I too have everything setup in a fairly futureproofed way hardware-wise for a least another year or two so I may be "stuck" on Kodi 18 for a while yet.

Hope the eventual solution to the trailers buffering issue might be version independent! Fingers crossed.  

I'm also considering running a script to download a bunch of trailers offline as bullwinkl mentioned in his other thread. Only thing I'm wondering is if it would be feasible with such an arrangement for trailers to be deleted after being viewed. Anybody have any smart ideas for that?
 

Quote

 

What are you referring to as the feature intro?  Is it the ratings or do you have the video set in one of the bumpers?

Do you have the file in the correct location?  Have you updated the content in CV?

 

No I have it set to play one random "Feature Intro' video before the feature. There are several video files in the correct "Feature Intro" content folder, just as there are in the "trailers Intro" folder which works correctly. I wonder if the issue is just updating content in CV? (Can't check now - will be able to a bit later) - Is updating CV content something we need to do on a regular basis or only when the content in the folders has changed? 
 

Cheers

 

 

 

[OTA 78]

On 9/17/2021 at 1:54 PM, Matt said:

I bet they'll have some great deals on TVs for Black Friday.  We need you on the 19.

I think I saw LG had an 83" OLED LED now.  Might upgrade my 83" DLP sometime soon.

 

On 9/18/2021 at 2:24 AM, kiboy6 said:

I wonder if the issue is just updating content in CV? (Can't check now - will be able to a bit later) - Is updating CV content something we need to do on a regular basis or only when the content in the folders has changed? 

Yup.  If folder files change you need to update the content.  Give it a shot and see what it does.

[Matt 120]

@kiboy6 I have tried 10 trailers a day for the past 10 days and haven't encountered any that didn't stream properly.  I'm not sure if it is a network issue, a file issue, a scraper issue or a hardware issue.  One thing that I did notice is that you are using a different version of CV than what I normally use.  I don't think there is any difference in the trailer portions of these, but you may want to try this version and see if it behaves differently.

Also, you may want to consider using this program that was posted in the chat to download trailers:
https://github.com/aag/apple_trailer_downloader

 

[bullwinkl 22]

On 3/11/2021 at 7:55 AM, SlottedPig said:

I am using 1.1.1.10a is there a different version that’s higher posted somewhere?

 

8 minutes ago, Matt said:

 

Also, you may want to consider using this program that was posted in the chat to download trailers:
https://github.com/aag/apple_trailer_downloader

 

If you look at the open issues on that project, they're having issues with speed as well that match what I was seeing while I was still using Apple trailers.  I really do think it's some sort of throttling on the Apple side.

[Matt 120]

3 minutes ago, bullwinkl said:

If you look at the open issues on that project, they're having issues with speed as well that match what I was seeing while I was still using Apple trailers.  I really do think it's some sort of throttling on the Apple side.

You are probably correct.  The good thing about downloading the trailers ahead of time is that if it slows down at least that isn't affecting your movie watching experience.