VUDU on Android-TV and casting problems with new app / Marshmallow

[diamond204]

Re: VUDU on Android-TV and casting problems with new app / Marshmallow

Moving my issue from another thread to here. It seems like the issue remains unresolved. As noted below, Gen 2 of Chromecast is confirmed affected by the issue. Not sure about the new 4k Chromecast. Hope this issue can be resolved as waiting for all streams to be converted to the newer adaptive format could take quite a while I imagine...

My original post:
I have been having issues with buffering with Chromecast and the Vudu app and am wondering if I am the only one?

I am experiencing buffering issues with HDX movies. I start off HDX, and then Vudu will step down to HD after about 15 minutes or so, and then another 15 minutes down to SD. I can stop the film and restart in HDX, and the process will repeat again.

Some notes : My Internet is cable internet and at least 50 mbps

Have tried with two different routers, the current is Asus RT-AC68R AC1900.

Reception of Wireless N is excellent in my living room. Using the Vudu speed test is 14.58 down, 9.49 up while streaming a Netflix HD show at the same time as running the test on my PC in the room.

Also have tried two different Chromecasts - one 1st gen and one 2nd gen, both were the same.

I have never experienced the skipping on any other service including Netflix and Hulu. They can maintain HD quality levels for all streams of any duration.

Any ideas how to fix or is there a known issue either with the Chromecast, the Vudu mobile app, or both?

[Maisy]

Re: VUDU on Android-TV and casting problems with new app / Marshmallow

I have a Forge TV. Casting to it wasn't a problem when I first got it (Dec/Jan) but at some point it became a spotty issue of buffering and not playing HDX or HD or SD without buffering. Starting the movie on tablet was an option, or pausing movie then unpausing would make HDX or HD play without buffering.

This past week though it's to the point I can't cast Vudu to Google Cast on any Android TV. I have two Sony Bravia 2015's that have the Vudu app native, but Google Cast also works, but now with this Forge TV problem, I try casting Vudu to those TV's as well, and get the same variety of results, no movie, just a loading screen with nothing going on. Sometimes "error casting content" but usually the same thing: just a 0:00 movie length, movie thumbnail on TV nothing more, Same thing on tablet but a swirling blue circle and sometimes CC lights up green, eventually, but the movie never plays.

I can start a movie on tablet, then turn on Cast, and it's just like opening Vudu, starting Cast, then choosing a movie and hitting play. But even now I can send Vudu to my old Chromecast no problem.

Tablet: Android 6 Sony Xperia Z3 Compact Tablet
Phone: Android 6 Samsung Galaxy S6+
Old Phone as Wifi device: Android 4.3 HTC Evo LTE

Those are the devices I've tried, all to Chromecast work. All to Google Cast devices are exactly the same.

Powered all devices off. That did nothing. Rebooted my router. No change. All other content casts as it should or can. Vudu just won't work with Google Cast anymore.

[nimmzwei]

Re: VUDU on Android-TV and casting problems with new app / Marshmallow

After some more tests this is what I've found. Please post, if you have other findings!

- Chromecast only bitstreams DD+ from VUDU
- Titles encoded in DD are converted to PCM (btw, VUDU, you should really check your audio descriptions. A lot of titles say DD+ and they are actually only DD! e.g. "Reign of Fire")
- The problem on the Shield seems to be related to DD+. All titles encoded in DD+ have the chipmunk audio. DD is fine.

I've switched to CinemaNow app for the moment (although not all my titles are showing) but at least their casting works. Although they only have stereo and picture quality isn't even close to VUDU.

I even sideloaded the VUDU app to the Shield. It works (make sure you use WIFI or you will get a warning, that it can't connect), BUT it streams only in SD because "an HDMI device was detected and licensing bs doesn't allow...". *shakes head*.

I really hope VUDU gets its act together and releases that app for Android TV soon. It can't be that much work, considering the app already works...

[Donborvio]

Re: VUDU on Android-TV and casting problems with new app / Marshmallow

I'd just like to add my voice to wanting a native NVIDIA Shield/Android TV app ASAP. Casting is an ok workaround but you have the same PC-side restrictions for streaming as always. Many of my titles will only play/cast in SD from a PC. CinemaNow app is slow and clunky and I have a few non-UV/DMA titles bought through Vudu I cannot watch either.

[nimmzwei]

Re: VUDU on Android-TV and casting problems with new app / Marshmallow

Jake, I also have an LG-TV with a Chromecast (first gen). Haven't used that one for a while, but I'll give it a try.

The reciever is a Yamaha RV-something (not at home atm) from 2012 and the projector is an Epson TW3600 from the same year.

I used to access VUDU on my Panasonic BD-65 player and never had any issues. But after comparing the picture of VUDU on the Chromecast to that on the Panasonic, I had to change (Even though the Pana showed HDX he was putting out 720p-only in streaming mode).
The BD player could "force" bitstream mode so no problem there. Unfortunatly there is no similar option on the Chromecast or the Shield.

Concerning the "old vs. new movies" issue: The only thing I can verify is that recent releases all show the same A/V issues on the Shield (chipmunk audio, stuttering, freezing) no matter the audio mode (bitstream or PCM).
Thus this seems to be an issue of the Shield or the Google Cast implementation on the Shield.

2 movies you might test from the top of my head:

"Goosebumps" on Shield: Chipmunk audio
"Rambo: First Blood" on Shield: OK

BUT: Even with the movies that don't have the "Chipmunk audio" on the Shield, video and audio tend to go out of sync (usually after pausing / unpausing) or when resuming a movie. Again, this only happens on the Shield. Can't say yet, if that behavior is linked to the bitstream / pcm issue.

I'm having high hopes for the native VUDU app on the Shield. Considering VUDU wants to sell its 4K content, support for the Shield should be a top priority (as its the only 4k ATV player out there atm).

I'll give may old CC and TV a runthrough during the next few days and let you know what I find.

Thanks for looking into this!

[Jake]

Re: VUDU on Android-TV and casting problems with new app / Marshmallow

The VUDU app on the Chromecast / Shield force-closes. It happens anywhere between 2 and 20min and it happens always when pausing and then resuming a stream (it plays for 2 min or so after resuming, then crashes).

Our QA is trying to reproduce this, but haven't been able to yet. Are there specific movies this happened on that they could try? (or is it all movies for you?). Also, what model of A/V receiver & projector are you using? (it's possible that there is some issue with HDMI/HDCP/audio negotiation by Chromecast that's triggering a Chromecast bug).

Do you have a TV you can plug the Chromecast into directly (to simplify the connections), and if so do you mind trying to reproduce with that on your end?

[nimmzwei]

Re: VUDU on Android-TV and casting problems with new app / Marshmallow

What does the crash look like? Does it just stop playing, or does the entire Chromecast restart? And does it happen on any particular content more than others?

The VUDU app on the Chromecast / Shield force-closes. It happens anywhere between 2 and 20min and it happens always when pausing and then resuming a stream (it plays for 2 min or so after resuming, then crashes).

[Jake]

Re: VUDU on Android-TV and casting problems with new app / Marshmallow

Thus both devices dropped back to PCM and disabled bitstreaming. When this happenend, I would experience frequent crashes of the VUDU app on the Chromecast (always after pausing and resuming).

What does the crash look like? Does it just stop playing, or does the entire Chromecast restart? And does it happen on any particular content more than others?

[nimmzwei]

Re: VUDU on Android-TV and casting problems with new app / Marshmallow

After some more investigation:

The HDMI handshake protocol is a b****. I've recently replaced an aging Harmony 900 with a new WLAN model and thus the start-up sequence of my home cinema changed slightly.
This led to the Chromecast / Shield negotiating with the projector instead of the av-reciever about what audio decoding is supported.
Thus both devices dropped back to PCM and disabled bitstreaming. When this happenend, I would experience frequent crashes of the VUDU app on the Chromecast (always after pausing and resuming). This doesn't happen when the Chromecast is bitstreaming the audio.

@VUDU support: You might want to check your Chromecast setup in both scenarios (bitstream and PCM decode) and see if the app is stable and how the adaptive streaming is handled.

Everyone else: Check, if your Chromecast let's you change the volume while watching VUDU. If it does, you are getting PCM audio and not the DD+ bitstream. If your equip is DD+ capable, check the sequence in which you turn on your devices! For me, it only works, if the projector (which is NOT DD+ capable) is turned on 10secs or so before the av-reciever (which IS DD+ capable). There is NO option on the Chromecast or on the Shield Android TV to force bistream audio!
Most av-recievers have a HDMI audio passthrough mode, meaning the reciever will leave the audio decoding to whatever device is next in line. If you keep getting PCM when your should get bitstream audio, check this setting!

The problem with the pitched audio on the Shield remains though. This seems to be a device specific problem.

If someone else could verify, that they get crashes with VUDU on their Chromecast if the Chromecast is not bitstreaming, that would be terrific.

[ColiBreh1]

Re: VUDU on Android-TV and casting problems with new app / Marshmallow

NVidia Shield isn't officially supported, but will be; expect official support sometime in 2016.

Will the Nvidia Shield/Android TV app support downloads?

[pakkman]

Re: VUDU on Android-TV and casting problems with new app / Marshmallow

Android TV support would be great. Would it have UHD and 3D support?

[nimmzwei]

Re: VUDU on Android-TV and casting problems with new app / Marshmallow

Some more observations (that point to A/V-issues).

- Google Play Movies on my Shield TV had the issue of f**** up audio after pausing / unpausing. This could only be fixed by rebooting. This issue is gone after setting the A/V delay in the HDMI-settings of the Shield to 0ms (was 50ms).

- Netflix on the Shield TV NEVER showed the above behavior. The reason: It doesn't decode the audio from the stream but passes it directly on to the amp (bitstream audio). This also means you can't adjust the audio via the Shield TV but only via the amp.

- The VUDU app on Chromecast / decodes the audio (you can adjust the volume on the Shield / Chromecast) and that seems to cause the problems with syncing audio and video. The audio bitstream usually contains sync information. I would assume that in conjunction with the advanced adaptive streaming the loss of that sync information causes the issues we are seeing atm.

If someone has a BD-Player it would be interesting to test this theory. BD-players can usually change between decoding audio to PCM or just passing on the bitstream audio. It may be worth a try.

[nimmzwei]

Re: VUDU on Android-TV and casting problems with new app / Marshmallow

Hi Jake,

thanks for acknowledging that there is a problem with Chromecasting. I really hope VUDU gets this sorted out. I have to admit I've already started to buy from the Google Play Store instead of VUDU - the bugs with the Chromecast are just too numerous atm to have a fun movie experience.

When you say, that NVIDIA Shield Android-TV will be supported, you mean a VUDU-app for Android-TV, right? Would be awesome. The little thing can output 4k so should make a nice addition to the VUDU-UHD crowd...

[Jake]

Re: VUDU on Android-TV and casting problems with new app / Marshmallow

Thanks Jake.

Agreed about the original Chromecast's wifi & CPU. However, I'm using the newest Chromecast on a 5 Ghz 802.11ac network. Considering the issue doesn't happen when streaming in HDX to my phones and tablets on that same network, I'm rather doubting it's network related. Plus, the Chromecast wasn't having issues playing HDX titles prior to the release of the redesigned Android app.

Additionally, I believe nimmzwei is having the same problems on an Nvidia Shield TV, so it's not specific to the Chromecast hardware.

But, you could very well be right that it's something about the non-adaptive HDX streams that isn't playing nicely when Cast. Fingers crossed that they'll work better once converted.

As you say, in the meantime manually changing stream quality is a viable work-around.

NVidia Shield isn't officially supported, but will be; expect official support sometime in 2016.

Also, there may be other issues with the new Chromecast streaming; in general our stats have shown much less buffering, but I suppose there are always exceptions/bugs. Of course we will be looking into those to improve it ASAP.

[Jake]

Re: VUDU on Android-TV and casting problems with new app / Marshmallow

I've been waiting for Vudu to use adaptive streaming. It should make buffering less of an issue. About when did you start encoding streams with adaptive bitrates?

VUDU has used adaptive streaming since the beginning... the difference more recently (in the last year or so) is adaptive streaming with resolution switching (seamless 480p/720p/1080p+) That was a bit slow to launch since some older devices don't support switching resolution on the fly, and we wanted to ensure our solution worked well with every device that supports VUDU (that goes back a while!)