Constantly Buffering/Loading Issues

[mattm3]

Hi,

Ever since the past few updates I've been having constant buffering/loading issues. It will buffer and then resume a number of times when watching a video.

Sometimes the buffering/loading is longer and shows an error that says "Video source isn't working or correct time." It then resumes and plays for a bit and then buffers again.

I've tried restarting my device but that didn't fix it.

Anyone else having this issue?

[mkil5]

I have had this happen for months. I posted an issue for it a couple months ago and nothing has changed, and at that time, I had had the buffering for a while. Things like this had happened in the past and they always fixed them fast. Not sure what is happening here. I am actually here now to see if there was an update on it. I am using an Nvidia Shield. It does seem to have gotten worse lately though, the app went from being essential to barely usable with all the buffering.

[DTK21]

Ok so I wasn't the only one dealing with this

[brunostan]

I’m also dealing with this problem, but only for live streams.

(TV - TCL C715)

[lpuglia]

+1 on TCL TV

[puppet-head]

Performance on livestreams on 15.30 is really bad, it was fine with previous versions but this one has killed it.

[lpuglia]

@mattm3 @DTK21 @brunostan @mkil5 Hello guys, it sounds like you had exactly my problem, i just found a solution that worked for me, maybe it is worth for you to give it a shot.

First thing I did was to use my phone as a wifi hotspot in order to use my mobile internet on the tv. I immediately saw the difference in speed. This gave me a clue that the problem may have been in my router. I started to play around with the options until one did the trick:

I disabled an option called "allow IPv6 on LAN" (each router is different so you will have to find the equivalent item) and like magic now the apps works fast again. Hopefully it will work for you as well.

[brunostan]

@lpuglia the app have an option for that. Mine’s enable now, lets see how it goes.

[lpuglia]

@lpuglia the app have an option for that. Mine’s enable now, lets see how it goes.

Not sure about that, the option in my router disable ALL the IPv6 connection inside the LAN. This looks like to be just for DNS. But it may be a factor

EDIT: just tested, it does not solve the problem for me

[rpgdev]

Sometimes the buffering/loading is longer and shows an error that says "Video source isn't working or correct time."

I'm having this issue as well. Basically a video buffers, the toast "Video source isn't working or correct time." shows up, then that video is effectively no longer playable while I can watch other videos just fine. I'm guessing it has to do with the way the app deals with the cache at that point. Quite annoying.

[netahoy]

This issue doesn't seem to go away even after recent releases as late as of current 15.45. it's been few weeks since this started and is annoying due to the fact that

1. each video loading takes almost thrice the time before showing first frame.
2. Live streams almost are unplayable as the loading circle is shown multiple times in between or mostly constantly as the video is unable to resume. (SS attached)
3. Video souce error comes post many live videos,though this is specific to few streams only. (SS attached)
4. Thumbnails now take long to load
5. The user thumb on top too seems to have stopped showing the actual profile photo since 15.40 (SS attached)
6. Somehow the whole app it self has become slow, though all things were almost perfect till version 15.2x or 15.3x
7. Lastly another peculiar issue.... When going to channel page, the content only show past live streams section only, despite trying again and again to view the whole channel the result is the same. (SS attached)

Hope the issues gets troubleshooted....

[brunostan]

Hey guys, I did a clean install of the app and only activated the option “Enable DNS over HTTPS” under “Video Config > Dev Options”. I’m not facing any issue since then.

[lpuglia]

@brunostan it looks like your issue was only relevant to the video player. The other people can't even get the video list on the main interface.

@netahoy have you look into your router if you have any configuration regarding IPv6 on the lan? That may be solve your issue

[netahoy]

@brunostan it looks like your issue was only relevant to the video player. The other people can't even get the video list on the main interface.

@netahoy have you look into your router if you have any configuration regarding IPv6 on the lan? That may be solve your issue

Thanks for the response. However ipv6 is enabled and used in other services on my network. And as mentioned in above comments, the STN has this Enforce ipv4 which has been enabled for as long as i remember. Additionally neither is Google dns used on my network. Also like mentioned these issues are new in recent versions only, so unless YT changed something at thier end, it's upto our great dev @yuliskov only who could shed some light on this or we endup only fiddling with setting in an arbitrary manner. Lete try do a fresh install too when time permits. Thanks.

[yuliskov]

@netahoy as I find out, options for ipv6 compatibility cause problems on the users (even ones who has ipv6 services). So, for now I decided to remove them all and leave all switches in auto. Check future betas and let me know about the results. I bet nothing will change at all.

[netahoy]

@netahoy as I find out, options for ipv6 compatibility cause problems on the users (even ones who has ipv6 services). So, for now I decided to remove them all and leave all switches in auto. Check future betas and let me know about the results. I bet nothing will change at all.

Thanks for sharing details. Will be on a lookout for any changes in future. Meanwhile let me fiddle with the network which I hate. Cheerios

Edit 1 - Observations for 15.47

1. The force ipv4 setting removed
2. Use https for dns removed
3. Performance better than last 2/3 version for low end tv 2GB
4. Loading issue NOT experienced as yet.

[lpuglia]

@yuliskov thanks for the update, i just tested the new releases but it doesn't seem to improve my situation as much as disabling IPv6 in my LAN

[yuliskov]

@lpuglia check NewPipe app. I need to know whether the same behavior observe there. I could copy the solution.

[netahoy]

@yuliskov @lpuglia well the experience for me is almost normal now post the 15.47 and 15.51 versions.

1. I have not yet disabled or made any changes on ipv6 on router/network.
2. Newpipe 23.1_r1 works normal too like before, it used to be slow in loading videos way back in version 19/20 something. Since 22 all is good.
3. However my earlier observations though minor on profile thumbnail being blank, few channels showing just past streams remain to be looked at.
4. Though not sure if the bug in 15.47 while seeking video showing thumbs of previous video is still there or not.

[lpuglia]

@yuliskov just tested again STN, it went from unusable to barely usable (when IPv6 is enabled), which is an improvement. I also tested NewPipe, when i enable ipv6 on the lan the main menu load normally but the videos takes significantly more to start playing.

[yuliskov]

@lpuglia hi, thx for the feedback. I wanna know which parts of the app affected by ipv6. Sections like history, subs etc loading fine?

[lpuglia]

basically everything: main menu items (all but the configuration page), player initialization and playback, sometimes it also stuck during the playback and takes some time to start again. I can produce a video if you want.

[yuliskov]

@lpuglia it's all I need to know. I'm one step closer to the solution now.

[yuliskov]

@lpuglia are you brave enough to contact with me via telegram? I'm testing some related tweaks there. Please, answer yes. t.me/yurok9711

[lpuglia]

@yuliskov will do when i get a second

[rpgdev]

For the record I haven't gotten this issue for a while after uninstalling and installing the app again several times.

[rpgdev]

For the record I haven't gotten this issue for a while after uninstalling and installing the app again several times.

I spoke too soon! Today, out of nowhere, I started to get this issue again. Loading a video would freeze on the first frame for around 5+ seconds, then play 2 or 3 seconds, then it keeps buffering throughout the video every 3-5 seconds making the app unusable. I uninstalled and downgraded to 14.8X and still kept getting the issue. Changing quality to 720p seemed to help a little bit but the issue was still there. Restarting the device (MeCool KM9 Pro) doesn't help.

[brunostan]

For the record I haven't gotten this issue for a while after uninstalling and installing the app again several times.

I spoke too soon! Today, out of nowhere, I started to get this issue again. Loading a video would freeze on the first frame for around 5+ seconds, then play 2 or 3 seconds, then it keeps buffering throughout the video every 3-5 seconds making the app unusable. I uninstalled and downgraded to 14.8X and still kept getting the issue. Changing quality to 720p seemed to help a little bit but the issue was still there. Restarting the device (MeCool KM9 Pro) doesn't help.

Me too! This same behavior started today for me. I believe it should be a problem/instability with the API devs use.

[rpgdev]

I was suspecting the APIs @brunostan.. we're all vulnerable to Google shutting down those APIs :sigh: by any chance does anyone know if there is a way to easily change the API keys the dev uses for a local build? Is that something that has been explored before? (I might need to create an issue for this).

[brunostan]

I was suspecting the APIs @brunostan.. we're all vulnerable to Google shutting down those APIs :sigh: by any chance does anyone know if there is a way to easily change the API keys the dev uses for a local build? Is that something that has been explored before? (I might need to create an issue for this).

Further, since the buffering is not showing on the timeline this could be the consequence of an API instability.

[rpgdev]

I realized something interesting: if I log out in smarttube and play videos in the recommended section I don't suffer the issue. But if I log back in the issue starts happening again right away 🤔. This issue might be linked to our users.. is YouTube throttling certain users through this API? For reference, I tried setting the kodi youtube addon, I'm able to login after I set the custom API keys and everything but going into any section of the addon like 'subscriptions' throws a quotaExceeded message--even though the point of creating custom keys was to avoid that message.