In kodi 20 Video has audio stutters and takes a long time to start, downgrade to 19.5 solves the issue

[RobVerduijn]

Bug report

Describe the bug

Here is a clear and concise description of what the problem is:

Hello,

I noticed I have this issue when watching netflix, disney+, hbomax and it also appears when play mkv files from my local nas.
Because I mainly watch netflix this is where I noticed it first but after a while I also noticed it with the other streaming services.

I'm running kodi using the flatpak version on fedora38 kinoite.
When kodi was upgraded to 20 bij flatpak the netflix videos started to give issues

• long time to start
• audio stutter
  downgrading to the last kodi 19.5 flatpak version solved the problem
  For those who wonder which version:

flatpak update --commit=e15d861c08f40a370b16efe0a999b59f85727032077f6c4bdc7102336387154d tv.kodi.Kodi

there are also a lot of the following errors in the logs:
error : CDVDAudio::AddPacketsRenderer - timeout adding data to renderer
and even more warnings:
warning : ActiveAE - large audio sync error: -25496.991293

The workaround is to downgrading the kodi version back to 19.5
Everything works smoothly again after that.

I've attached the error log.
kodi.log

Expected Behavior

Here is a clear and concise description of what was expected to happen:

Actual Behavior

Possible Fix

To Reproduce

Steps to reproduce the behavior:

Debuglog

The debuglog can be found here:
kodi.log

Screenshots

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na

Additional context or screenshots (if appropriate)

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Your Environment

Used Operating system:

• Android

• iOS

• tvOS

• Linux

• macOS

• Windows

• Windows UWP

• Operating system version/name:
  Fedora 38 kinoite

• Kodi version:
  20.1

note: Once the issue is made we require you to update it with new information or Kodi versions should that be required.
Team Kodi will consider your problem report however, we will not make any promises the problem will be solved.

[RobVerduijn]

Hello,

I've noticed that when the video displays the stutter behavior the following workaround helps:
stop the video
disconnect the usb-audo/dac
start the video
wait for the video to start
reconnect the usb-audio/dac

and the video plays without stuttering
(and also the subsequent video plays without stuttering)

seems there is something related to the usb-audio/dac

Sadly I can no longer downgrade to kodi 19.5 as that flatpak package is no longer available.
So this is now my new workaround

[Vas751]

I have also that problem when using Kodi 20 with audio stutters, but also that the video freezes. I can't fast forward or rewind without the video freezing for several seconds or completely. No matter if I watch a video from a local source or shows with Zattoo PVR. With Kodi 19.5 I don't have all these problems, with exactly the same settings in Kodi. The same problem with 2 different Android TV boxes on 2 different TV's, and only with Kodi 20.

[RobVerduijn]

Hello,

I've been testing and trying alot.
Currently it doesn't matter what kind of audio device I use (I replaced the usb-dac)

When I start kodi with the audio device disabled (so kodi can't find it) the videos start smoothly.
(I have a tail on the kodi log watching for errors)

Then I enable the audio device (usb-dac or my bluetooth speaker) and in a few moments kodi detects the audio device and turns on audio.
And the video plays smoothly.

kodi 19.5 did not have any issues for me, this started with the release of kodi20 and all subsequent releases.