[mythtv-users] Smart TV Advice

[John Pilkington]

On 08/07/2020 08:50, Paul Gardiner wrote:
> On 07/07/2020 19:47, John Pilkington wrote:
>> I see that this exchange was off-list.  Reposting.
>>
>> My comments below relate to the firestick with mythtv.  As I said 
>> earlier, it also offers lots of apps to connect to other services. 
>> Enjoy/Beware.
>>
>> On 07/07/2020 17:02, Paul Gardiner wrote:
>>> Off topic I realise, but seemed a good chance to ask: do you know 
>>> what is the situation with frame-rate matching on the latest FireTV 
>>> Stick 4K? I have an old Fire TV box and I'm wondering whether that 
>>> aspect has improved. I have to perform strange contortions with the 
>>> remote to get 24fps from a hidden menu.
>>>
>>> Paul.
>>> .
>> When I switch ny tv to the FireTVstick 4k's hdmi input, it says it's 
>> 1080p 60 Hz.  I'm using 'leanfront'.  I have the device 
>> Settings/Display and Sound/Display/Match Original Frame Rate ON with 
>> Video Resolution at Auto.  Playback of pure 1080p content looks good 
>> to me, but most DVB-T2 content can switch between p and i 'at random' 
>> and may freeze.  mpeg2 often pauses at around 1 s intervals, which 
>> might be a frame rate problem.  The menu info says that 'supported 
>> apps' will use the native content frame rate.
>>
>> At present I can't use the stick's standard mythfrontend because 
>> Peter's current build is for 31-fixes and Master has had schema 
>> updates; 

A version for the new schema is now available.

previously playback didn't fail but tended to judder during
>> panning shots.  I don't know if that's a frame-rate thing.  It's much 
>> the same with linux nVidia nvdec playback.   DLNA is smoother, and 
>> leanfront with appropriate content.
>>
>> Definite maybe.
> 
> That's encouraging. How about Amazon Video, Netflix and iPlayer? Do they 
> seem to control the frame-rate correctly now? And is there a quick way 
> now to select a specific frame-rate?
> 
> P.

My impression is that the 'official' apps usually play well, but I 
haven't done exhaustive tests.  I don't know if I'm insensitive to 
frame-rate mismatches, and I don't know of any way to change frame rates 
as you suggest.

I've just returned to a recording of one of last year's BBC Proms that 
always defeated leanfront.  It has multichannel sound, and I assumed 
that was why it failed and others didn't.   But then I found Peter's 
suggestion to 'mkvmerge' it, and playback of that in leanfront is fine; 
playback of its 'live' segments via DLNA, from either the myth server or 
my NAS 'Twonky' server has green flashing overlays.    mediainfo says 
it's 29.514 FPS, which seems unlikely. ffmpeg says 25.

My feeling is that, given 'smart tv' capabilities, what is technically 
possible may not decide what actually gets watched in a family 
environment.  YMMV.

John