yuliskov
Videos buffer a LOT
I've read the FAQ on buffering issues but I've tried all those options and none of them worked well like changing buffer settings didn't change anything and also changing to avc didn't even play the video so I don't think avc videos can be played on my android tv. For some videos, it would even buffer at the start of the video and for some it buffers every 5 seconds or so. I have a 100mbps plan so I don't think there's an issue with my wifi.
So summing it up
Tried all the solutions listed on the FAQ Avc videos don't get played Changing buffer settings didn't solve the problem Sometimes I do get errors like invalid code or atom issue with a series of numbers I even tried reinstalling but it didn't solve the issue
Device - Mi Box S 4k running Android 9
I'm also having issues, mostly with long videos in 4k. Using the app (last version) on a fire tv cube gen3. Cube is connected via Ethernet on a gigabit fiber internet.
It was never an issue before.
Started happening with one of the latest betas here, I think version 20.x. Had mo issues before that, so something was either changed by Youtube, or version 20.x brought in the issue. Using Smarttube on a Mibox 4 (Armv7a)
Now 4k videos don’t even start anymore, and even with 720p videos I get buffering issues.
@yuliskov can I debug the recent buffering issues through adb? Do you have a FAQ for this? Thank you!
@musicadi the problem is more complicated that you might though. It's more Google issue than the app.
@musicadi the problem is more complicated that you might though. It's more Google issue than the app.
Great, then not much we can do about it, is it? I don't suppose they are doing it on purpose, eh? LOL
@musicadi I would appreciate it if you compare the performance of the latest stable (20.05) and the latest beta (20.21)
@musicadi I would appreciate it if you compare the performance of the latest stable (20.05) and the latest beta (20.21)
Ok, will try it. I am using the latest beta btw (forgot to mention)
Started happening with one of the latest betas here, I think version 20.x. Had mo issues before that, so something was either changed by Youtube, or version 20.x brought in the issue. Using Smarttube on a Mibox 4 (Armv7a)
Now 4k videos don’t even start anymore, and even with 720p videos I get buffering issues.
Ohh, yea almost all videos are buffering
@musicadi the problem is more complicated that you might though. It's more Google issue than the app.
I see
I have same issue. My app version is 20.05. Some videos are working fine, some are constantly buffering. Sometimes app throws errors like "Unknown error: Invalid NAL length", goes to black screen and tries to reload video (successfully or not).
@stillrinzler your version of the app, please?
I'm on the latest stable update which is 20.05 and I'm having the same issue as @Bielecki like reloading the video and stuff
I'm on the latest stable update which is 20.05
I'm awaiting your feedback regarding the latest beta.
I'm on the latest stable update which is 20.05
I'm awaiting your feedback regarding the latest beta.
I'll let you know as soon as I test different formats in various videos 😄
I'm on the latest stable update which is 20.05
I'm awaiting your feedback regarding the latest beta.
I’m on beta 22.23 now and here’s my test from this morning:
Video quality setting: none
-4k music video - no buffering issues -1080p video (only a cover art, no moving video) - buffering issues. At one point the video just stopped working.
I set the video quality to 1080p vp9+ hdr and tried to play the second video again and got this error -Java:SocketTineoutExpception
Then I set the video quality setting back to none and tried playing the same video
- After about a minute of buffering: error 503 (I suppose it’s HTTP error code?)
- then the Java SocketTimeoutException error again
Tried playing the same video on Youtube app on iPadOS and it actually took a while to load (there was no ad on the beginning of the video)
Then opened it in Safari (iPad Pro) and voilá…. an AD straight away and then the video playing without any problems.
So I realized it has to do with ADS, so I disabled SponsorBlock in SmartTube and the video started working straight away without any buffering issues:
Here is the video in question: https://youtu.be/Y9CqoQIfkZg
So it seems the buffering issues are due to SponsorBlock (at least in my case)
@musicadi can you confirm that with SponsorBlock off you don't have the buffering on others videos too?
@musicadi can you confirm that with SponsorBlock off you don't have the buffering on others videos too?
Ok, here's what I got after some testing:
Version: Beta 20.23 Device: Mibox 4
- above video (https://youtu.be/Y9CqoQIfkZg) started playing as soon as I turned SponsorBlock off
- SponsorBlock off - even 8K/60fps videos play without issues.
- SponsorBlock back on - for some weird reason, videos played now (had some audio artefacts on a 1080p video, so something is not 100% right)
So I have no idea what exactly is happening, that's why it would be interesting if there was a debugging procedure I can implement while the buffering errors are occurring.
In any case, this specific video has an ad at the beginning and that's definitely messing something up. Here's some other test results where I tried playing it:
Version: Beta 20.16 Device: Mibox 3S
- video not loading at all. Response code: 503
Version: Beta 20.23 Device: Mibox 3S
- video playing both with SponsorBlock on and off
So, apparently in Beta 20.23 it's fixed and maybe on my Mibox 4 something involving SponsorBlock got stuck after the update, but as soon as I turned SponsorBlock off, it was fixed.
@musicadi thanks for the feedback. In case you'll have something to add feel free to do this.
I'm on the latest stable update which is 20.05
I'm awaiting your feedback regarding the latest beta.
So I've updated to 20.22 beta and I've tried around 6 videos with Sponsorblock turned on including the video that @Bielecki had to problem with and I didn't face any buffering or any errors while playing those videos.
I've tried both 4k as well as 1080p
I'm on the latest stable update which is 20.05
I'm awaiting your feedback regarding the latest beta.
Well unfortunately it's still buffering in the latest beta, it buffered in this video 👇 https://youtu.be/HJJsPWoX1TI
Major buffering here on both my Shield and and Google Chrome.Tried everything suggested above but nothing seems to help.Maybe 1 in 5 videos will play without buffering.Big donation on the way if it gets sorted ;)
The buffering is insane. So hard to watch anything. I found if you turn on Stats for Nerds, you can see the buffer size. You can see when it stops requesting more data and the buffer drops the seconds. It will get to 0 and stop the video. But sometimes it gets down low and then requests another chunk and builds the buffer size back up. This hardly ever happens now. If you see that the buffer isn't working when watching the buffer size, if you go to the buffer settings and select the same setting you already have, it will load it again and build the buffer up before it gets down to 0. Its a hit and miss. I pause when buffer is low, and click the buffer setting and build it back up before continuing a video.
Just jumping in to say I'm having the same buffering issue on my Toshiba Fire TV on the latest official and beta versions (black screen or spinning wheel eventually resulting in "java.net.SocketTimeoutException" error). The problem started only about 2-3 weeks ago and I assume it's a result of a change on YouTube's end. Altering SponsorBlock or buffering settings doesn't help at all. The only action that seems to the affect the problem is clearing the application cache. However, after one or two successful plays of these problem videos post cache clearing, the issue returns. Please help!
[update: here is one of the problem videos https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNcXZCE61cE]
@d3rpd3rpd3rp thanks for the feedback, friend. I'll try to do something with the buffering.
Same buffering issue on 20.23. Tested on 37Mbps 4K video on SmartTube. Sponsorblock on = buffering (getting around 25-30Mbps according to my network monitoring on the device). Sponsorblock off = no buffering, buffer completely fills to 44s according to stats.
Yes I also get all those same errors with the buffering. I don't use sponsorblock at all and still have the problems so it's not that.
@yuliskov just updated to the new 20.26 beta and did some more testing.
It appears the buffering issue is only there on some videos, so we need to find out what is common in the videos which have the issue. I suspect it is related to 25 fps.
Here are my video player related settings:
- video quality: none
- buffering: none
- developer options: all off
- AFR: everything off
I can play this 4k video without issues:
https://www.youtube.com/live/HF4qn7f4XCA
Resolution: 3840x21060@60 Codecs: x-vdn.on2.vp9(315)/mp4a-latm(140) Bitrates: 45.88 Mbps/0.16 Mbps
...but I have constant buffering issues on this video (both on beta 20.23 and 20.26)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvdXVVBmj8M
Resolution: 3840x21060@25 Codecs: x-vdn.on2.vp9(313)/mp4a-latm(140) Bitrates: 10.10 Mbps/0.13 Mbps
On 20.26, as soon as I set the buffering to "Low", it plays well.
The weird thing is, the video is 4k, but first time I played it, it loaded the 480p version, then next time the 1080p version
I also tested beta 20.26 the video from my previous test: https://youtu.be/Y9CqoQIfkZg
I still get buffering issues, although it's a bit better than on 20.23 (there, if buffering was set to "none", the video didn't even stat).
In all cases, the buffer size goes down to 0 seconds and it doesn't refill. In this last video, it happened both with vp9 and avc (although with avc it's a bit better)
Hope this helps.