Subtitle creates video stutter on N2+ and 19.0 & 19.1_rc2

Single Board Computers Odroid N2/N2Plus/C4
1

on some movies I experience SRT subtitle stutters on the Odroid N2+ using both 19.0 & 19.1_rc2. seemingly after a while into the movies the video starts to stutter upon each new subtitle. this happens in all different kind of situations (4K UHD to 720p, x264 and x265), all the while the cpu is mostly idling and temparatures in the lower 30-40 (depending on the codec). turning off subs removes any stutters. logs show nothing of relevance during playback.

I’ve already tried the S912 workarounds of adding

<advancedsettings>
  <gui>
    <algorithmdirtyregions>0</algorithmdirtyregions>
    <smartredraw>true</smartredraw>
  </gui>
</advancedsettings>

this reduced the problem quite significantly, but I still have the occasional stutter.

any pointers what to look for?

2

If possible, please test this on 9.2.7. I remember fixing this, and don’t think CE19 should suffer from this issue as both use the same kernel essentially.

3

Remove this line: smartredraw>true</smartredraw and check if it’s better.

4

Had this myself, I found the easiest solution was to load the SRT file into Subtitle Edit run the “Fix common errors” tool and then save it back encoded as UTF-8 without BOM

5

I found the easiest solution was to load the SRT file into Subtitle Edit run the “Fix common errors” tool

for me the issue happens in both external and internal subs, the latter aren’t easily fixed.

Remove this line: smartredraw>true</smartredraw and check if it’s better.

will give this a try, thanks

6

will try 9.2 if the removal of smartredraw in the advancedsettings doesn’t help.

FWIW I’ve also had this issue with my old cheap S905X3 device on 19.x but assumed it was due to the box getting too hot, so upgraded to the N2+ - maybe this is a kernel regression after all…

7

It’s surely not, because MANY N2/N2+ have not “Subtitle Stuttering” problem. I had it only on my
X92_S912 box. Fixed it with algorithmdirtyregions>0</algorithmdirtyregions line in advancedsettings.xml. It still works satisfactory till today…

8

Some of the internal subs are very bad. I mainly use the OpenSubtitles plugin to pull replacements down but the a4ksubtitles addon is also quite handy for oddballs.

Surprised your having this issue, I have the N2+ and use subtitles all the time and I think I have this problem twice and both times they were down to the encoding not being set right.

9

removing smartredraw did not change anything: after roughly 2.5h stuttering started again.

it’s also not the subtitles themselves because after a reboot everything is smooth again using the same files and subs.

will try 9.2 next.

10

What’s your input source? HD on USB or NAS?

11

nas on 1gbit ethernet. as it’s also happening on low res 720p, short h.264 & hevc tv episodes I doubt bandwith is a contributing factor, especially as scenes with no subtitle changes are smooth.

it’s just 2-3 frames when a new sub is shown, and only after kodi has been used for a significant while. unfortunately this makes it quite difficult to reliably reproduce.

12

My thought was add buffermode 4 into the advanced settings and see if that makes a difference.

13

thanks, will try this out and report back

14

this didn’t help either.

I downgraded to 9.2.7 and did not notice any stutter in a 4hr session…

15

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