Channels & viewing

[makitso]

I think I have discovered what the root cause of the problem is.

Last night I was simultaneously watching a playoff game on my Roku/HDhomerun and on my tablet using VLC/HDhomerun. Whenever I saw some picture pixelation on VLC display, the Roku displayed the “malformed data error.”  

Weak or inconsistent TV signals can contribute to pixelation on a digital TV picture. In my case, I am using an indoor amplified HD TV antenna. So, I moved the antenna to a window location and recheck the VLC display only to see the same pixelation. Next, I went to the HDHomerun and did a channel rescan. Now, the signal much stronger with very little pixelation on the VLC. Went back to the Roku and now I am no longer seeing the “malformed data error.” 

The above experience suggests that the “malformed data error” is a Roku problem not a HDHomerun problem.  

[atc98092]

How can it be a Roku problem when a rescan resolved the issue? Perhaps the Roku HDHR app is not providing an accurate or meaningful message, but that’s something Silicon Dust has to address, not Roku. 

[makitso]

Well now, this is just my opinion:  

I don't think the packet evelope Roku receives from HDHomerun is malformed, I think the content of the packet is malformed.

When the OTA signal is messed up, I don't think HDHomerun can do anything about it.  It's just going to take the unencrypted content, wrap it in a Roku packet and send it on.  I think it's up to Roku to determine the threshold of valid packet content.  IMO, they need to lower their threshold before taking the "malformed data" path.  I would rather see some pixelation and wait for it to clear.  2cents.

[atc98092]

That’s not how it works. The tuner is simply sending the MPEG2 video and AC3 audio to the Roku in a TS stream. The app on the Roku is what is reading the stream and sending it to the display. The error message is from the app, not the Roku itself. 

[makitso]

Thanks for the clarification, so much for 2 cents.

[Bonfire]

Direct from silicon dust support:

“The Roku video player is extra sensitive to any errors in the video stream. There's not anything that we can do about that other than to improve reception in your set up, to minimize errors. The Roku video player is a black box, all apps do is ask it to play something back. That's fine if you are someone like Netflix or Hulu, and you can control every part of the video going to the Roku, but the HDHomeRun has no control over that. It relays the raw data as it comes in from the broadcaster. The Roku video player panics and stops playback when it detects most errors. 

On just about any other platform we are able to write our own video player code, but on Roku we are at the mercy of their video player.”

[atc98092]

That makes sense. Roku does have some issues with their internal player, but that wasn’t something I had heard before. Somehow Plex, Emby, and other apps seem to work fine with it, but I don’t have any inside information about that. 

[makitso]

Interesting comments.  I have both the Roku Video Player and HDHomerun app on my Roku Ultra.  If I select the HD app it starts up the channel almost immediately < 3 seconds.  However, if I start the Roku Video Player it it buffers for 5-10 seconds before showing the channel. I verified the lag on My tablet with VLC.   I wonder why the difference?

[atc98092]

While the different app developers may be using the Roku video player core code, most are still building their own user interface, and that might be giving them more control over the buffer and other pieces. Just guessing, but based on my limited experience programming in a different language. 

[Rickpat]

Agreed