New 6.0.4 Buffer Question

The new buffer in 6.0.4 is truly amazing. I paused it for a a bit and noticed, it had buffered nearly a half hour of high quality video.

While this gigantic buffer is amazing for streaming, my question is where does it store all this video? I didn’t think the apple tv had that much ram.

Thanks.

Awesome question. I would love to know too. I have a pc dedicated as a Plex server. I noticed it draws around 130 mbps from the pc when playing 4K movies.

Answer is simple: video buffer is stored on the flash memory (ssd) of ipad/iphone or apple tv.
There is no enough ram:D
You can see (using iPad) that during video playback infuse utilizes more and more device’s storage memory (easy to verify on ipad in PiP mode)

Quick edit: any chance to turn this “super buffer” off? It’s possibly big write cycles maker, which as far as I know is not good for flash memory.

Glad to hear it’s working well for you! :smiley:

For a bit of background, Infuse now uses a robust disk-based cache with read-ahead option which allows for much improved streaming, especially when using Wi-Fi. This is generally more efficient than storing things in memory, and provides a number of versatile options we simply don’t have when using RAM.

In essence, Infuse will cache all video data on the disk, and work to continue caching data while the video plays or during a pause. This ensures Infuse always has enough buffer to continue playing the video smoothly, even if variable network conditions exist. Additionally, if you’re trying to play a video under poor network conditions, you can opt to increase the buffer to a large size on your own. This can be done by simply pausing the video for a few moments, and allow Infuse to pre-cache a chunk of video, and then resuming in the video. The pre-cache amount can be seen in a light gray color in the playback bar.

A few notes. This pre-caching is not currently available for a few video types, namely folder-based videos like VIDEO_TS and BDMV (this is something we’ll be adding in the future). Also, the pre-caching will only be enabled if the device has extra free disk space (Infuse will use normal caching if your device is nearly full).

With regard to write cycles, we have no reason to believe the extra bit of data being cached by Infuse will cause any long-term impact on the performance or reliability of flash memory - especially compared to the Apple TV’s normal housekeeping routine of removing & re-downloading cached data.

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@James
Thanks for the explanation. There seems to be one bug associated with the new buffer though. When playing a large file (file size greater than the ATV storage) the buffer will fill to maximum and stop buffering ahead.

For example, i’ll play a 60GB file, and it buffers nearly half the movie. It then continues to stream with minimal buffer (after the buffered data has been played).
I’m thinking that, perhaps it’s not deleting the old buffer and making room for new data.

If you have a chance, can you play a video to replicate this issue and then send in a report (Settings > Submit Diagnostics) so we can take a deeper look? You can either post the 5 digit code here, or email it to the address shown on the confirmation screen.

Thanks!

Thanks for looking into this. Here is the 5 digit code: STYBP

Thanks. We’ll take a look.

to me its completely different. my infuse 5 pro have so much buffer and the 6 runs smoothly. you still have those beta test? I was a beta tester of infuse 4 and 5. and now I have an Apple TV 4k and im obsessed with the quality movie experience.

We’ve added a handful of improvements for read-ahead buffering for the upcoming 6.0.7 update. This should improve usability when there isn’t enough space to buffer the video in its entirety.

If you’d like to try the beta early, let me know.

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Hello James. I would love to try the beta versions. Have been a loyal fan of infuse for a long time now. If I may, I would love to suggest a few features to be added. If there is a better place to suggest new features I would love to post threads there.

  1. Being able to set a buffer level. Now with the newly added buffering feature, videos are able to be buffered for better viewing experiences, but I noticed infuse buffers the entire video if it can regardless how large the file is. Sometimes one can only watch a video a little at a time, the buffer will be wasted everytime the video is turned off. Or when you exit the app to check something the buffer can also be lost, and it has to rebuffer again. If a setting is available to let infuse buffer only like 5, 10, 20, 40 minutes ahead, that would be even better. It can reduce the strain it puts on the hard drive it is pulling data from.

  2. Adding a feature where it allows reduce loud noise while you are watching a video. this will reduce the needs to exit out the app and change the settings outside the app. I noticed some of the other apps like HBO and netflix have this option. Not sure if this is possible.

  3. Let folders excluded from the library not show up in “continue watching” or “up next” or “recently added” list. This way some private videos can be hidden.

Thank you for your consideration, and thank you for making such an amazing app.

I’ve just sent you an invite for the beta.

For the other suggestions, I’d recommend you add them in the Suggestions area (Suggestions - Firecore) as they will be able to get more visibility and foster better discussion. If possible, search for existing threads or add a new thread for each suggestion.

I would be happy to beta test as well. I’m always excited to see new features.

What happens when you stream from Google Drive? Does Infuse behave the same as if it was a file stored locally on the network? I’m looking into using Google Drive with Infuse, but I have 1 TB data cap on my home internet.

I am streaming from a remote Plex server and it buffers as well. So my guess would that it caches as well from Google Drive. Maybe you can see it: start a movie, press pause, if you see a gray bar filling up then it means it caches the data.

James,

I’m having the same buffering issues with 6.0.6. Can you send me a invite for the beta?

Joster

Infuse 6.0.7 with a few improvements in this area is now available. :slight_smile:

James,

problem continues. I’m having buffering issues with Cold Pursuit:

General
Unique ID : 55231193434103715942076874791656795933 (0x298D2413FB58AC0245C748DB4ABAAF1D)
Complete name : /Volumes/video/Movies/Cold_Pursuit.mkv
Format : Matroska
Format version : Version 4
File size : 56.2 GiB
Duration : 1h 59mn
Overall bit rate mode : Variable
Overall bit rate : 67.6 Mbps
Movie name : Cold Pursuit
Encoded date : UTC 2019-05-10 11:34:41
Writing application : mkvmerge v33.1.0 (‘Primrose’) 64-bit
Writing library : libebml v1.3.7 + libmatroska v1.5.0
Video
ID : 1
Format : HEVC
Format/Info : High Efficiency Video Coding
Format profile : Main 10@L5.1@High
HDR format : SMPTE ST 2086, HDR10 compatible
Codec ID : V_MPEGH/ISO/HEVC
Duration : 1h 59mn
Bit rate : 62.0 Mbps
Width : 3 840 pixels
Height : 2 160 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16:9
Frame rate mode : Constant
Frame rate : 23.976 (24000/1001) fps
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0 (Type 2)
Bit depth : 10 bits
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.312
Stream size : 51.5 GiB (92%)
Language : English
Default : Yes
Forced : No
Color range : Limited
Color primaries : BT.2020
Transfer characteristics : PQ
Matrix coefficients : BT.2020 non-constant
Mastering display color primaries : Display P3
Mastering display luminance : min: 0.0001 cd/m2, max: 1000 cd/m2
Maximum Content Light Level : 1000 cd/m2
Maximum Frame-Average Light Level : 288 cd/m2
Audio #1
ID : 2
Format : MLP FBA 16-ch
Format/Info : Meridian Lossless Packing FBA with 16-channel presentation
Commercial name : Dolby TrueHD with Dolby Atmos
Codec ID : A_TRUEHD
Duration : 1h 59mn
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 3 955 Kbps
Maximum bit rate : 6 264 Kbps
Channel(s) : 8 channels
Channel layout : L R C LFE Ls Rs Lb Rb
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Frame rate : 1 200.000 fps (40 SPF)
Compression mode : Lossless
Stream size : 3.29 GiB (6%)
Language : English
Default : Yes
Forced : No
Number of dynamic objects : 15
Bed channel count : 1 channel
Bed channel configuration : LFE
Audio #2
ID : 3
Format : E-AC-3
Format/Info : Enhanced AC-3
Commercial name : Dolby Digital Plus
Format profile : Blu-ray Disc
Codec ID : A_EAC3
Duration : 1h 59mn
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 1 536 Kbps
Channel(s) : 8 channels
Channel layout : L R C LFE Ls Rs Lb Rb
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Frame rate : 31.250 fps (1536 SPF)
Compression mode : Lossy
Stream size : 1.28 GiB (2%)
Language : English
Service kind : Complete Main
Default : No
Forced : No
Text #1
ID : 4
Format : PGS
Codec ID : S_HDMV/PGS
Codec ID/Info : Picture based subtitle format used on BDs/HD-DVDs
Duration : 1h 45mn
Bit rate : 28.9 Kbps
Count of elements : 2102
Stream size : 21.7 MiB (0%)
Language : English
Default : No
Forced : No
Text #2
ID : 5
Format : PGS
Codec ID : S_HDMV/PGS
Codec ID/Info : Picture based subtitle format used on BDs/HD-DVDs
Duration : 1h 49mn
Bit rate : 31.4 Kbps
Count of elements : 2352
Stream size : 24.6 MiB (0%)
Title : SDH
Language : English
Default : No
Forced : No
Text #3
ID : 6
Format : PGS
Codec ID : S_HDMV/PGS
Codec ID/Info : Picture based subtitle format used on BDs/HD-DVDs
Duration : 1h 57mn
Bit rate : 25.8 Kbps
Count of elements : 2224
Stream size : 21.7 MiB (0%)
Title : Latin American
Language : Spanish
Default : No
Forced : No

Is this general buffering, or buffering for just the later part of the video, as described in earlier parts of this thread?

If you’re seeing general buffering, and you’re using SMB, you may try switching the SMB Version setting from Auto to SMB2 (this can be found in the share settings under Advanced).

James,

I tried SMB, WebDAV and now NFS, all showing the same issue. It is only with the Cold Pursuit title though.

The issue is general buffering. It takes some time for the movie to start and a couple minutes later it stops to buffer. The issue goes on repeating. I tried to pause to see if Infuse buffers more, with no success.

Joster