Hi:
Since there’s has been changes regarding the use of native HLS player vs hls.js in the case of WebOS (the client I use the most), I wanted to know what’s the current official recommendation when it comes to the prefer fMP4-HLS and use shorter segments settings.
I understand that there’s a bug with the WebOS client that generates playback issues when enabling fMP4-HLS, but leaving it disabled means fallback from DV to HDR and apparently it also can produce some playback issues. I understand also that the use shorter segments can mitigate the issues if you need fMP4-HLS enabled, but only to certain extent (I’ve read that stuttering still occurs, and loading times are increased).
I know that it probably comes to a per device trial and error configuration, but what would be the current official recommendation, specially since the last JF update the use of hls.js was reverted in favor of the native player?
I’ve read contradicting info. The most common suggestion I’ve read in the case of WebOS is to leave fMP4-HLS disabled and accept the Dolby Vision trade off, or accept some stuttering and some mitigated playback issues if you need DV and leave the setting enabled with the use shorter segments also enabled.
Questions:
1) Most threads I’ve read suggest to leave fMP4-HLS enabled for most clients to have better HEVC and AV1 support. Besides most likely losing DV, what else could you sacrifice while disabling that setting?
2) There’s supposed to be a bug when using fMP4-HLS with LG native player and since a long time I’ve read that you should always leave it disabled when it comes to WebOS, but recently I’ve seen posts where they say that the current recommendation is to leave both that setting and use shorter segments enabled, to avoid stuttering. What’s the experience with that setup? Is the stuttering really mitigated with shorter segments, and does disabling fMP4-HLS improves playback that much? In other words, when it comes to stability and lack of stuttering/black screens/infinite loading times, when not using DV, disabling fMP4-HLS really improves playback that much? Seems like a setting that you almost always want to leave enabled, but not if it comes with too much stuttering.
3) I’m not the one to question the team decisions, but what would be the reason to discard the idea of having a toggleable setting to decide native player or hls.js only in WebOS? I mean, I understand that the main goal is that playback always works out of the box without much user intervention, but imo there are cases when flexibility is needed (like the use shorter segments settings. I don’t see why that setting is acceptable and the other isn’t). I ask this because I own a C1, and playback was a lot better with hls.js in my case. With native player I have frequent stuttering, infinite loading times, and movies freezing randomly. I modified the code to undo the hls.js reversion (enabled it for browser.web0s and let the server transcode the ac3 audios to aac) using the last master, and playback is back to normal again.
What I mean is that, apparently, WebOS is a mess and every model seems to be a living creature of its own, so I doubt, as much as the main goal is to leave the least amount of technical settings available for the average user, that (unless LG patches things up) you will have all the WebOS users without experiencing issues if you don’t leave some necessary “hacks” available (for example, if there wasn’t a shorter segments setting specific to WebOS, probably fMP4-HLS (and DV) wouldn’t be usable). When the hls.js commit was merged, many started to suffer from playback issues specially when it comes to DV, but when it was reverted, it kind of broke the playback of most movies for other users. Until Lg patches its player, I don’t see a better solution than to leave the decision of using hls.js to the user. Until then I’ll just have to modify the source to use hls.js, I don’t mind that, but surely most of the users don’t know how to build from source. Just a thought.
4) If leaving fMP4-HLS disabled improves playback and only sacrifices DV, does it make sense to leave it disabled while enabling use shorter segments? Is that setting still useful when not using fMP4-HLS?
5) Should I leave fMP4-HLS enabled for every other client besides WebOS? Is that recommended for the iOS official app and JMP?
I’ve read a lot regarding this topic, but like I said, I’ve found contradicting information, so I prefer to ask here. Thanks in advance!
Since there’s has been changes regarding the use of native HLS player vs hls.js in the case of WebOS (the client I use the most), I wanted to know what’s the current official recommendation when it comes to the prefer fMP4-HLS and use shorter segments settings.
I understand that there’s a bug with the WebOS client that generates playback issues when enabling fMP4-HLS, but leaving it disabled means fallback from DV to HDR and apparently it also can produce some playback issues. I understand also that the use shorter segments can mitigate the issues if you need fMP4-HLS enabled, but only to certain extent (I’ve read that stuttering still occurs, and loading times are increased).
I know that it probably comes to a per device trial and error configuration, but what would be the current official recommendation, specially since the last JF update the use of hls.js was reverted in favor of the native player?
I’ve read contradicting info. The most common suggestion I’ve read in the case of WebOS is to leave fMP4-HLS disabled and accept the Dolby Vision trade off, or accept some stuttering and some mitigated playback issues if you need DV and leave the setting enabled with the use shorter segments also enabled.
Questions:
1) Most threads I’ve read suggest to leave fMP4-HLS enabled for most clients to have better HEVC and AV1 support. Besides most likely losing DV, what else could you sacrifice while disabling that setting?
2) There’s supposed to be a bug when using fMP4-HLS with LG native player and since a long time I’ve read that you should always leave it disabled when it comes to WebOS, but recently I’ve seen posts where they say that the current recommendation is to leave both that setting and use shorter segments enabled, to avoid stuttering. What’s the experience with that setup? Is the stuttering really mitigated with shorter segments, and does disabling fMP4-HLS improves playback that much? In other words, when it comes to stability and lack of stuttering/black screens/infinite loading times, when not using DV, disabling fMP4-HLS really improves playback that much? Seems like a setting that you almost always want to leave enabled, but not if it comes with too much stuttering.
3) I’m not the one to question the team decisions, but what would be the reason to discard the idea of having a toggleable setting to decide native player or hls.js only in WebOS? I mean, I understand that the main goal is that playback always works out of the box without much user intervention, but imo there are cases when flexibility is needed (like the use shorter segments settings. I don’t see why that setting is acceptable and the other isn’t). I ask this because I own a C1, and playback was a lot better with hls.js in my case. With native player I have frequent stuttering, infinite loading times, and movies freezing randomly. I modified the code to undo the hls.js reversion (enabled it for browser.web0s and let the server transcode the ac3 audios to aac) using the last master, and playback is back to normal again.
What I mean is that, apparently, WebOS is a mess and every model seems to be a living creature of its own, so I doubt, as much as the main goal is to leave the least amount of technical settings available for the average user, that (unless LG patches things up) you will have all the WebOS users without experiencing issues if you don’t leave some necessary “hacks” available (for example, if there wasn’t a shorter segments setting specific to WebOS, probably fMP4-HLS (and DV) wouldn’t be usable). When the hls.js commit was merged, many started to suffer from playback issues specially when it comes to DV, but when it was reverted, it kind of broke the playback of most movies for other users. Until Lg patches its player, I don’t see a better solution than to leave the decision of using hls.js to the user. Until then I’ll just have to modify the source to use hls.js, I don’t mind that, but surely most of the users don’t know how to build from source. Just a thought.
4) If leaving fMP4-HLS disabled improves playback and only sacrifices DV, does it make sense to leave it disabled while enabling use shorter segments? Is that setting still useful when not using fMP4-HLS?
5) Should I leave fMP4-HLS enabled for every other client besides WebOS? Is that recommended for the iOS official app and JMP?
I’ve read a lot regarding this topic, but like I said, I’ve found contradicting information, so I prefer to ask here. Thanks in advance!