Settings Playback

Every setting

How channels start, how much video TiviBro holds, which player it uses, what it does when a stream struggles, and audio and subtitles.

Setting	Choices	What it does
Buffer profile	Fast zapping · Balanced · Smooth · Rock solid · Custom	How much video is held before a channel starts and while it plays. More buffer rides out a shaky provider or Wi-Fi; less starts channels sooner. The profiles: Fast zapping starts at 0.5 s and reads 10 s ahead; Balanced 2 s and 30 s; Smooth 4 s and 45 s; Rock solid 8 s and 60 s. Bigger profiles also wait longer before treating a frozen picture as stuck, and retry more times. Previews in the guide window always start quickly; the full profile applies in fullscreen.
Profile details	(information)	What the chosen profile does: how much it buffers before starting, how far it reads ahead, and the level it refills to after running dry.
Start-up buffer (Custom only)	0.5 s to 15 s, 3 s	Seconds of video buffered before a channel starts playing.
Read-ahead (Custom only)	10 s to 120 s, 30 s	How far ahead the player downloads while playing.
Keep behind playhead (Custom only)	2 s to 30 s, 8 s	Video kept behind what you are watching. Lower saves TV memory on long sessions.
Freeze detection (Custom only)	3 s to 20 s, 6 s	How long a frozen picture is tolerated before the player recovers it.
Reconnect attempts (Custom only)	3 to 50, 8	Tries before the player gives up on a channel. The count starts again after 30 seconds of clean playback.
Player engine	Automatic · Built-in demuxer · TV player	Under Player. Automatic uses TiviBro's built-in player (fine buffer control, steady on sloppy streams) and moves to the TV's own player when a server blocks it or the stream needs it. TV player uses the least CPU but ignores the buffer settings. Every choice decodes in the TV's hardware.
Stream format (Xtream playlists)	MPEG-TS · HLS	MPEG-TS usually switches channels faster. HLS copes better with a weak connection and some providers prefer it.
Connection	Automatic (recommended) · Direct	Automatic sends provider requests through the network helper, which webOS needs for most providers (it adds the headers the TV insists on, unzips guides, and works around sloppy servers). Direct only works with servers that allow app requests.
Network helper	(information)	Whether the helper is running. Settings > Updates, about and diagnostics shows its status and its log.
Buffer meter	When low · Always · Off	A small gauge in fullscreen showing how many seconds of video are banked, written inside its bar, then the picture and the player in use, then the speed. Each part keeps its width, so the bar stays still while the numbers change.
Buffer info on demand	5 seconds · 10 seconds · 30 seconds · Until pressed again	How long the gauge stays when you hold Info in fullscreen (the INFO button on LG's standard remote, or I on a keyboard), whatever the Buffer meter is set to. Press again to hide it. Stream info in the quick menu (OK in fullscreen) shows it too, along with the stream's details, and works on every remote. Most Magic Remotes have no Info button: TiviBro notices and the hint here changes to match, and you can give any button Show buffer info or Stream info and buffer under Settings > Remote and buttons > In the player.
Preview on the Channels screen	On · Off	Plays the channel you rest on in the Channels screen. Turn it off on very slow TVs for the snappiest list.
When a channel stops working	Switch to another version · Ask me · Keep retrying	When a channel has run out of retries and your playlist has it more than once (another quality, another group, or a copy you hid), TiviBro switches to the next version, steadiest first: Full HD, HD, unmarked, 4K, then SD. Ask me asks before switching. See Other versions of a channel.
Turn on last channel at launch	On · Off	Starts the channel you watched last when TiviBro opens.
HDR and Dolby Vision	Automatic · TV player for all HDR · Built-in player	Automatic plays Dolby Vision through the TV player (which switches the screen into Dolby Vision itself) and keeps HDR10 and HLG on the built-in player for steadier buffering. Pick TV player for all HDR if HDR pictures look grey or washed out.
Aspect	Original · Fill · Zoom · 4:3 · 16:9 · 21:9 · 4:3 to 16:9	The shape of the picture for every channel and video. Fill stretches it to the screen, Zoom fills the screen and crops the edges, 16:9 fixes a picture squashed into 4:3, 21:9 fills the screen with a letterboxed 2.35:1 film, 4:3 to 16:9 stretches a 4:3 picture wide. A channel, movie or episode can have its own from the quick menu (Aspect).
Skip step	10 s · 15 s · 30 s · 1 min · 2 min	Under Catch-up, movies and shows. How far ◀ ▶ jump while watching catch-up or a movie. Pressing again quickly jumps further each time.
Rewind / fast forward step	30 s · 1 min · 2 min · 5 min · 10 min	How far ⏪ ⏩ jump while watching catch-up or a movie.
◀ on a live channel with catch-up	Rewind · Last channel	On a catch-up channel, ◀ rewinds into the current programme. Without catch-up, ◀ always goes to the last channel.
Info panel when switching channels	On · Off	Under Switching channels. Off shows just the channel number and name when you change channel.
Show stream details in the info panel	On · Off	Adds the resolution, codecs and which player is in use.
Keep the picture while reconnecting	On · Off	When a channel drops for a moment, the last picture stays on screen with a small notice in the corner instead of a black screen and "Tuning". Some streams the TV player draws itself can't be held; those go black as before. A channel that drops three times in three minutes on MPEG-TS also tries the provider's HLS version of it straight away, and keeps using it while TiviBro is open.
Black screen while switching	On · Off	Hides the last picture until the next channel starts, instead of leaving it frozen.
Audio language	The stream's own choice · English · Spanish · French · German · and more	Under Audio and subtitles. When a channel or movie has more than one audio track, tries this language, then the fallback language if you set one, else keeps the stream's own track. This also applies to My media. Language tags must be present in the file or stream. Audio description tracks are skipped unless nothing else is in that language. A track you pick from the quick menu wins until you change channel.
Fallback audio language	Off · English · and more	Try this language when the preferred audio language is missing. Off keeps the stream's own track. For Dutch then English, set Audio language to Dutch and the fallback to English.
Prefer surround sound	On · Off	Picks the 5.1 or Dolby track in that language when there is one. Your TV or soundbar needs to support it.
Convert audio the TV can't play	Automatic · Off	DTS on LG TVs from 2020 to 2022, Dolby TrueHD on every LG TV, and FLAC surround don't play. Automatic plays another audio track the TV can play if the movie has one, or has the network helper turn the sound into Dolby Digital while you watch. Off plays those movies as they are, often without sound. See Sound the TV can't play.
Audio converter	(information)	Whether the audio converter is ready ("Built in, ready" when it came with TiviBro), its size and where it is kept, or how far its download has got.
Get the converter now / Remove the converter		Only in a TiviBro built without the converter. Downloads the audio converter (about 2 MB) from TiviBro's releases on GitHub, checks its fingerprint and keeps it on the TV's storage, so the first movie that needs it doesn't wait. Once it is there, Remove the converter deletes it again; TiviBro then asks before getting it next time.
Subtitles automatically	Off · Any language · English only · Spanish only · …	Turns subtitles on when a stream has them; with a language, only subtitles in that language. You can still switch them from the quick menu.
Closed captions	On · Off	Captions on live TV in fullscreen, when the channel sends them (most US channels do). The same switch as Captions in the quick menu. Not with the TV player.
Caption size	Small · Medium · Large
Subtitle languages	English and others, several at once	Under Subtitles from OpenSubtitles. The languages Find subtitles looks for, your first one listed first.
Add your OpenSubtitles API key		Your free key from opensubtitles.com (Profile > API consumers). Kept on this TV, out of backups. Once saved the row reads OpenSubtitles API key saved; an empty key removes it.
Sign in (optional)		Shows once a key is saved. Your OpenSubtitles account: 20 downloads a day instead of 5. Kept on this TV only. In the phone app the username and then the password are asked on the phone.
Play next episode automatically	On · Off	When an episode ends, the next one starts.

Subtitles in MKV and MP4 movies and episodes. Open Subtitles from the player menu to choose a language or Off. The menu is available as soon as playback starts and shows Finding subtitles… while tracks are discovered. The automatic subtitle language setting above also applies. Supported embedded SRT, ASS/SSA and WebVTT tracks appear with their language names, and your selection survives seeking and reconnects. Only the selected subtitle track is shown, even if another track becomes active while subtitles load. ASS/SSA and WebVTT show as plain text. My media uses the file's known type even when its signed playback link has no extension. Files without supported tracks show an unavailable message; bitmap subtitles are not supported. Some MKV files do not index their subtitle tracks and cannot expose them here. Find subtitles offers another way to add them.

MP4 subtitles work for the usual text kind (called tx3g or mov_text), shown as plain text without their colours or positions. Not included: MP4 files made for streaming in pieces (fragmented MP4), image subtitles, and closed captions inside MP4. TiviBro makes extra requests on the same link as the movie: a few when the movie starts, to find the subtitles, and then, while a subtitle is on, small reads of the lines a little ahead of where you are as the movie plays (how often depends on the file). Some providers refuse those reads: one that allows only one connection at a time, or one whose links stop taking new requests after a while. The movie keeps playing either way. TiviBro waits a little, asks the movie's link for a new connection and carries on; if the provider keeps refusing, it stops asking for this movie and Subtitles shows Subtitles unavailable.

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