Kodi playback stuttering when playing large files

[kjs]

I have Jellyfin server (latest version) on a Raspberry Pi server using Docker container.

As a client, i have Kodi with the Jellyfin addon on a Xiami Mi TV Stick 4K.

I'm trying to play this file in Kodi, but it is stuttering every few seconds.

... [Remux-2160p][HDR10][DTS-X 7.1][HEVC]-<Censored by TDP>.mkv

The file is 50.8 GiB.

I tried testing the internet speed and it shows ~100Mbps for both upload and download.

Tried testing my hdd with hdparam

Timing cached reads:  1944 MB in  2.00 seconds = 973.49 MB/sec
Timing buffered disk reads: 352 MB in  3.01 seconds = 117.06 MB/sec

When I play the file in the Jellyfin android tv app, it plays without an issue.

I tried playing with the Caching settings in Kodi but with no success.

Any idea?

[kjs]

By the way, I just noticed that when the video stops it shows "Cache 0%" above the player controls.

[kjs]

I have a TP-Link router, and when I list the devices in it, it shows ~60.0Mb/s for Real-time Rate (upload for the server, download for the stick, the values are same).

Should that be enough?

[Host-in-the-Shell]

Is the file being transcoded? Raspberry pis and other SBCs are notorious for not providing a good experience with hardware acceleration and are discouraged in the official documentation for hosting Jellyfin if transcoding is needed. That said, even if direct playing, that large of a file may have issues in your connection if the bit rate is too high and also depending on the stability of the network as well, which is why it is often recommended to re-encode remuxes to reduce size and bitrate to facilitate traffic while preserving as much quality as possible. Maybe if you could provide some logs we can see more pertinent information.

[TheDreadPirate]

It depends on why it is stuttering. Whether it is network throughput or the device's ability to decode the video. Since it plays fine on Android, it probably isn't a network issue. I'm assuming it isn't transcoding since you have an RPi for your server.

I don't use Kodi much so I'm not sure if there are some playback settings you can tweak.

[Host-in-the-Shell]

I had a similar issue using Kodi with a capable server trying to stream a remux of Alien of around the same size, and for me the issue was that I was connected to an older Wifi protocol instead of 5G; directly connecting to LAN also fixed the issue. That said, I get speeds of around 200-300 MB/sec on my local network through 5G, and 125-150 on LAN.

[kjs]

I forgot to mention that it is using Direct play so no transcoding.

I'm wondering how the Jellyfin app has no issues but Kodi is buffering all the time.

---

Just checked and the TV stick is connected on the 5G wifi network and the server is on LAN.

[Host-in-the-Shell]

Unfortunately, like DP, I also don't use Kodi much and abandoned it in favor of other apps that were easier to use, so no idea if tweaking some kind of setting can help. Why it only happens there could be some issue somewhere with the network implementation for Kodi, the jellyfin app, or something like that, but that's just me speculating.

I'd also consider the client; not really familiar with that particular stick, although (I think) I found the specs and they seem fine.

[mcarlton00]

I would guess it's one of two things.

1. Your device can't actually play hdr10 hevc files. Kodi tries to play everything, but if for some reason it can't it'll have odd playback issues similar to what you're describing, in which case you may have to transcode to get it to play. Or you need to tweak your hardware acceleration settings within Kodi.
2. You're surpassing Kodi's default network profile and need to do some tweaking to optimize it for larger files. See here for the possible options https://kodi.wiki/view/Advancedsettings.xml

[kjs]

i bought an adapter and connected the stick through ethernet, but it didn't help much
i also tried playing with the caching settings again but with not much success.