1080p mkv playback on the The New Apple TV

Platforms Apple TV
#1

Hey guys!

I wanted to migrate from OSMC running on a Raspberry Pi 1 to Infuse, but I’m having some issues. I have problems playing back 1080p mkv files. Playback is choppy. With some files, it just looks like frame skipping every so often, in other cases it’s very clearly visible, continuous problem. I’ve tried the files on several different players. VLC is a bit better, but not perfect. Also, it’s UI is lacking. PlayerXtreme is completely useless, I got about 10 frames per second on some mkv files with no audio (I’m not sure if there is a difference between the free and paid version in this regard). The benchmark is still the OSMC.

I wanted to switch because my Raspberry Pi / OSMC combo has some limitations. The setup can be complicated, dealing with the UI using the TV remote is cumbersome, menus are slow to load, but surprisingly, this little thing has no issues with playing 1080p high bitrate mkv files. What’s the cause of this? Is it that the Apple TV does not allow the use of some sort of dependencies for video players, and Infuse just have to make do what’s available for mkv playback? Or is it just lack of optimisation that could be fixed?

Any help would be appreciated!

#2

Need the mediainfo details from this video file. Please post this here. Thx

#3

Not sure if this is what you are looking for but here is the info on two files that I definitely have problems with.

#4

iOS version no issue? Which iOS devices has you?
Can you add a sample file? Then the developer or beta tester test this. Thx

#5

I’m running the latest tvOS. Also, just now I received the 5.1 update for Infuse, but no change. If something, it got even worse. I don’t have sample files at the moment, I delete them from the network drive. (Both the OSMC and the Apple TV is connected to the router through cable, not WiFi, and the drive is connected to the USB3.0 port, so I should be good on these fronts). I will try to find something that has a sample and not playing smoothly though.

#6

For fun, you may try Wi-Fi to see if that performs any better.

Apple TV Ethernet = 100mbs
Apple TV Wi-Fi (802.11ac) = 1gbs

#7

Gave it a go but sadly, no dice. My 1080p files are good quality, but not THAT good :slight_smile:

#8

With wifi connection better?

#9

No but I have done some more testing. One of the problematic files won’t even play properly on my PC with my default mkv player (MPC), only with VLC. So that is almost certainly a problem with encoding. The other problematic file is using pretty old libraries, so that could very well be the problem with that. I’ve tried several other movies, some of them with bitrates up to 15-19 Mb/s, and it seems like those are playing fine, while the ones that don’t have much lower bitrates. That just confirms it’s not a lack of hardware problem. I don’t really understand encoding, but probably some media players have better fallback solutions in case the encoding is not perfect, and others don’t. I guess I just have to look for trusted sources and check sample files a bit more often and I will be fine

#10

If you have a chance, we’d love to take a look at one of your problematic files to see if there’s something we can do to improve how Infuse handles them.

Samples can be uploaded here. https://firecore.com/upload

#11

What is the size limit? I don’t have the samples. I delete them, as they can be annoying when the app picks it up as a separate movie/episode. I can upload a whole file, but that would be north of 4 gigs. :slight_smile:

#12

No size limit. :wink:

#13

WiFi is faster than Ethernet on Apple TV 4??? wow

#14

I’ve uploaded one with a link to this thread. Thanks for the help, and have a nice holiday season!

#15

To make a sample, you can use MKVTooLNIX and cut very fast a part of the movie.

Of course, only if the sample comes from a mkv file ('cause the problem maybe is in other format and has no sense change the format)

I leave here how to in an image

Hope helps

mkvtoolnixgui2_cut.png
mkvtoolnixgui2_cut.png966×658 60.6 KB

#16

thank you