VrtNu streaming problem

[azertyfred]

Hi, I'm using VrtNu add-on in Kodi on Raspberry Pi 3 for some years now. Recently playback fails: it works for some time (30 sec), but then stream starts to falter and a circle appear with percentages, the video can't play fluently anymore.

I've been through the discussions/proposed solution of inputstream adaptive, widevine, reinstalled Widevine because I first thought it was related to widevine (VTMGo has the same problem, the Arte add-on hasn't) but nothing has helped.

I recently changed my Proximus internet subscription from start to unlimited so the speed of my internet is even faster now, but still..

Also I verified by installing Kodi on my laptop (Linux Mint) where it works flawlessly and reinstalled Kodi on Raspberry Pi with a 'new' VrtNu add-on with fresh settings but hasn't helped either (I replaced a backup afterwards).

Anyone has a clue why the stream doesn't seem to buffer correctly?

Thks

• Operating system: LibreELEC 9.2.8 (kernel version Linux 4.19.127)
• Kodi version: 18.9
• Addon version: 2.5.6
• Using a VPN: no
• Country you are using the addon from: Belgium

[peno64]

The problem is related to the latest widevine cdm library. Restoring a backup to a previous version of widevine cdm solves the problem.

[mediaminister]

This is indeed a problem with Widevine CDM and the InputStream Adaptive plugin. The problem is reported at https://github.com/xbmc/inputstream.adaptive/issues/877

[mbsaerens]

Same issue with Raspberry Pi 2

Does the VrtNu add-on work with an older version of widevine? Can we use an older version of the VrtNu add-on? If so, is there a guide somewhere?

[peno64]

It works with an older version of widevine. Older version of vrt nu addon? I don't know. I guess not. To install an older version of widevine, in kodi goto Add-Ons, My add-ons, All, InputStream Helper, Configure, Restore Widevine CDB library and choose a previous version. After that, restart the pi

[mbsaerens]

@peno64 Thanks for the help! I already reinstalled LibreElec completely. My backup Widevine is lost because of this. Any other suggestions?

[peno64]

@mbsaerens Can you navigate to \\Userdata\addon_data\script.module.inputstreamhelper ? There should be a folder backup there. You can copy the files from a backup there (I hope you have a backup of your sd card). If you don't have a backup, I can provide the files from my PI.

[peno64]

I ment \ip\Userdata\addon_data\script.module.inputstreamhelper where ip is the ip of the pi. For example 192.168.1.120

[mbsaerens]

@peno64 No backup found. I would be surprised if there was one, since I cleared the SD card and installed LibreELEC from scratch.

LibreELEC:~/.kodi/addons/script.module.inputstreamhelper # ls -l
total 22
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root          1075 Jan 25 21:34 LICENSE.txt
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root         11957 Jan 25 21:34 README.md
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root          4151 Jan 25 21:34 addon.xml
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root           229 Jan 25 21:34 default.py
drwxr-xr-x    3 root     root          1024 Jan 25 22:47 lib
drwxr-xr-x    3 root     root          1024 Jan 25 21:34 resources

A copy of your files will be appreciated. Replacing the libwidevinecdm.so in ~/.kodi/cdm by a version i found in a random Chrome OS Recovery Image did not work well.

[dagwieers]

This issue is indeed very problematic for new users, but also for the non-technical user that suddenly is getting a newer CDM 😞

[peno64]

@mbsaerens See https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1rUKXlS_fZmIrT74wRh07cmvqV7emgWT0

[jefke-glider]

same problem here on a raspberry4. Reinstalled it with LibreElec10.0.1. At first everything seemed to work. Then one program asked for Widevine CDM, installed it, and after that, the stuttering started....

[mbsaerens]

@peno64 Thank you! Much appreciated.

The location of the inputstreamerhelper was at a different location on my device: /storage/.kodi/addons/script.module.inputstreamhelper After putting the backup folder there and a reboot, the plugin still couldn't find the backups.

For other people having this issue, The SlyGuy Common service add-on has now been updated and offered a solution for me. In case you need to install the SlyGuy Common service add-on, it is explained here In kodi goto Add-Ons, My add-ons, All, SlyGuy Common Click Configure On the left, lick Advanced and click (Re)install Widevine CDM. In the popup, select 4.10.2252.0

[azertyfred]

restoring a previous version of Widevine (4.10.2252.0) seems to fix the problem (for now). I had to use the workaround with the SlyGuy common service add-on because restoring a previous version in the 'normal' way didn't work (I already tried to reinstall Widevine earlier, maybe that's the reason?). Anyway, thks a lot for your help to all of you, I hope it will stay like this :)

[dagwieers]

We need to add the option to install an older Widevine version from the Internet. There is however a technical problem to do that for ARM (the most popular platform), and that is why it hasn't been done.

[peno64]

@dagwieers What do you mean with that there is a technical problem on ARM? As explained by azertyfred, SlyGuy has in its common addon an option to do that.I tried it and it seems to work ok. This is my PI4 under the latest libreelec. It only says that the OS doesn't support this widevine version yet, but it allows to install it and it seems to work ok (tried with vtm go playing a movie).

[michaelarnauts]

Slyguy has a location where he hosts the extracted windevine binaries, but this isn't allowed due to the Widevine redistribution license. Not really an issue for a 3th party add-on that isn't in the Kodi repo, but as soon as you want to do include your add-on in the repo, there are some rules you need to follow.

This is why Inputstream helper downloads the chromeos images from the Google servers and extracts it from that image.

[peno64]

@michaelarnauts Sounds like a very logical explanation. Thx

[kverkind]

Problem exist on Nvidia shield. Slyguy gives me no option to restore older version. Any idea?

[peno64]

@kverkind For android, widevine is part of the OS (or maybe it is the chrome browser) and as such comes with updates of android. As such, I don't think it is possible in android to let the user choose the version.

[kverkind]

@kverkind For android, widevine is part of the OS (or maybe it is the chrome browser) and as such comes with updates of android. As such, I don't think it is possible in android to let the user choose the version.

What is the solution in that case?

[peno64]

I have no idea. It's the first time I hear that the problem also occurs on other devices than raspberry pi.

[wimpunk]

On my raspberry 3 with libreelec I got the timer very much. Did the next steps:

• used SlyGuy to downgrade widewine, didn't helped to play "het journaal" in a decent way
• rebooted, didn't helped
• disabled Inputstream Adaptive, didn't helped, couldn't even start playing
• enabled Inputstream Adaptive, worked.

Not sure if it helps anyone, at least it helped me. Only thing left to do is add cooling to my raspberry.

[Jefken]

@peno64 Thank you! Much appreciated.

The location of the inputstreamerhelper was at a different location on my device: /storage/.kodi/addons/script.module.inputstreamhelper After putting the backup folder there and a reboot, the plugin still couldn't find the backups.

For other people having this issue, The SlyGuy Common service add-on has now been updated and offered a solution for me. In case you need to install the SlyGuy Common service add-on, it is explained here In kodi goto Add-Ons, My add-ons, All, SlyGuy Common Click Configure On the left, lick Advanced and click (Re)install Widevine CDM. In the popup, select 4.10.2252.0

This works as well for amlogic devices. Thanks!

[kverkind]

Is this a bug in Widevine or in this package?

[peno64]

It's a result of a change in widevine. It does also appears with other addons.

[mediaminister]

Is this a bug in Widevine or in this package?

It's a feature, some kind of nasty game. Widevine has changed something without publishing the details. The open-source community has to guess how to fix this. Someday watching content encrypted with proprietary Widevine DRM will fail on open source systems like Kodi. It's a shame that a publicly funded broadcaster like VRT uses this proprietary DRM technology.

[Jefken]

Hopefully, someone finds a replacement for this feature, this would make us independent from "Google" I assume.

[mediaminister]

There was an open-source DRM implementation available: HLS AES encryption. But last summer VRT removed this stream: https://www.vrt.be/heb-je-een-vraag/s/article/Waarom-werkt-sinds-19-juli-2021-de-stream-van-de-VRT-niet-meer-op-mijn-toestel

[pwauters]

Thank you so much for sharing the information about a broken Widevine! It took me a couple of frustrating days to find out that was the root cause of all my recent issues. The SlyGuy trick did the job for me. No more live streaming issues.

[Bart80-1]

I found an interesting comment: https://github.com/xbmc/inputstream.adaptive/issues/877#issuecomment-1114117848 Seems like a newer version of Widevine has fixed this issue? Can anybody confirm/deny that updating to the latest Widevine now solves the issue? Would be great as otherwise, the lack of a recent Widevine that works seems like a timebomb underneath the Kodi/Plugins fun...