Live streaming stops and APK may crash

bamby8bamby8 Junior Member
edited February 2018 in Napper
Has anyone else encountered the following symptoms with certain live TV channels when using IPTV v11.1 ?

Streaming may suddenly stop with '0 KB/s' spinning wheel any time from say 30 mins and within 2 hours staying on same TV channel. Live streaming fails to resume if you change channel. VoD also will not stream. Quitting the app and logging back in resolves the problem.

On other occasions, when streaming suddenly stops, the APK crashes and return to android launcher menu, or app may become unresponsive displaying only a black screen. You may also witness the message 'The app has stopped' or words to that effect.

I've managed to reproduce the issue with certain HK channels, and it appears to be linked to a particular server IP address used by these channels. Other HK, US and sports channels don't appear to be affected as they do not use this server IP.

Using Nexbox A95X (S905x SoC Android 6.01). I have also witnessed the '0 KB/s' symptoms with Small7 (allwinner SoC Android 4.4.2) for several weeks before getting the nexbox.

Update Feb 2018: 2GB+8GB Nexbox A95X B7N finally arrived and coincided with release of Napper 12.x APK. The issue of HK channels suddenly stopping and 0 KB/s spinning wheel still occurs occasionally. Not yet witnessed the app crashing and returning to main menu yet - this may have been addressed by increased RAM or newer APK.

I have noticed that when 0KB/s issue occurs, channel 28 (RTHK) still continues to stream without problems.


Post edited by bamby8 on

Comments

  • bamby8bamby8 Junior Member
    edited August 2018
    bumped, to see if anyone else has noticed this issue seems to have returned. It had been fine for past 2 weeks until last few days.


    Update (Apr 2018): I upgraded from 1GB to 2GB S905X A95x (android 6) in February. Certain popular HK channels were still suffering from suddenly stopping and required the app to closed and restarted to be able to view the TV channel.

    However, the issue hasn't returned since IPTV v12.x were released and I suspect changes to their servers as far as I can tell.

    The app no longer crashes - this may be due to upgrading from 1GB to 2GB box.


    Update (Jul 2018): Continued observed issues with versions of IPTV upto v13.1, are:

    - Certain popular HK channels (eg. ch.1 & ch.2) can be very slow to start some times. Once it starts streaming it is generally fine. It may suffer from occasional buffering, but it is not very often. This slow start isn't observed with other non-HK channels.

    - When starting the app or changing channel, some times the channel fails to stream. Stuck on 0 K/s. Only way I've found to resolve the issue, is to either quit the app and restart it, or change to a different working channel, and hopefully when I switch back, the desired channel starts streaming.


    Update (Aug 2018): Purchased a new W95 2GB/16GB Android 7.1 box from Gearbest to test Napper to see if the viewing experience is any different with the change of android version.

    The W95 is fitted with a budget Amlogic S905W where as the older Nexbox A95x has a higher spec S905X.

    At this moment in time, the picture on S905W can suffer from jaggies on channel 1. eg. if a camera is panning from left to right while filming black chinese text printed on white paper, vertical lines in the text become jagged. There is no such problem with my existing A95x S905X box.

    Channel 2 is down at the moment, and I've not observed jaggies on other working HK channels so far. in brief viewing I can only conclude ch.1 is encoded differently.

    IPTV v13.1 is the current version.

    These jaggies are not visible when using other apps such as KODI. Nexbox A95x S905X doesn't suffer from these symptoms when using Napper.

    My W95 and packaging looks identical to the one shown in this video
    https://youtu.be/_eqA269DWaw

    Post edited by bamby8 on
  • SNHKSNHK Junior Member
    edited January 2018
    bumped, to see if anyone else has noticed this issue seems to have returned. It had been fine for past 2 weeks until last few days.
    Clear data and cache, a friend had the issue, fixed by doing that. Also, make sure you have your subscription number, in the unlikely event that it may ask you to enter it again.
  • I face the issue now and then, which I just restart the android box or the app, in most cases it resolves.
  • I have no prblem using 13.1 with tvpad 4 ..... however recently they force to update... and after that it ramdomly crash... anyone hav the same problem

    how can i avoid the update?
  • bamby8bamby8 Junior Member
    I don't think you can avoid the update. I suggest you raise a ticket at napper to make them aware of the issue. They do not read this forum.

    Are you witnessing the problem with certain TV channels?

    (I recently discovered that ch.1 and ch.2 are encoded differently to all other TV channels, when testing an android 7 s905w box. See other thread)

    I did witness 13.3 crash and return to android 6 launcher menu last week while watching ch.2. Napper had been on for 2+ hours I think.

    I don't recall seeing 13.1 crashing in recent months with HK channels. Also I have not witnessed the problem where HK channels would suddenly stop streaming in recent months so I assume they fixed their server problem.

  • I mainly watches TVB JADE, yes when i turn it on running more than 2 hours ... i will crash

    i turn it on 24 hours a day to record jade channel using another tv box ..... now i cannot do it !!!

    i did raise a ticket at napper .... but stephaine said they cannot make 100% device compatible...

    thats why i ask if there is a away to make the app not to update
  • bamby8bamby8 Junior Member
    edited September 2018
    There is a possibility the old 13.1 app may not be able to view the channels if they have made changes to their servers.

    Try viewing a sports channel (eg. 269/270) for 2+ hours and see if it crashes the app.

    If 13.3 is incompatible with TVpad4 hardware for certain channels, then only other suggestion is move app to another android 5 (or may be 6) box which has s805 or s905x Amlogic SoC to see if it makes any difference.

    I will view different channels for more than 2 hours and see which ones may be crashing the app on my s905x android 6 box over next few days.




  • pls let me know after the test ... i might change another box.. i mainly use to see tvb jade.
  • bamby8bamby8 Junior Member
    According to this link
    https://forum.xda-developers.com/android/general/guide-tvpad-4-master-guide-t3602766

    The TVpad4 uses Amlogic S805 SoC.
  • bamby8bamby8 Junior Member
    edited September 2018
    Turned on box this morning tuned to ch.2.
    Came back just under 3 hours later. ch.2 was still playing when the evenings News bulletin was coming to an end.
    I had to stop the app temporarily to make a cabling change. Restarted app before evening's peak time TV schedule starts.

    I couldn't identify which server the app is connecting today. Looks like p2p is being used and napper is connected to 100+ other napper users from various locations to stream ch.2 to my box.
    Post edited by bamby8 on
  • which box should i get .... any good idea?? i live in toronto
  • bamby8bamby8 Junior Member
    edited September 2018
    I just checked my box and the napper app appears had stopped while tuned into ch.2 and returned to android launcher menu. I don't know exactly when it happened and whether any error message was displayed, because I turned off the TV, but it was fine when I briefly checked at 2.5 hours near the end of the first of two dramas being broadcast this evening. It is now 3h 10m when I turned on TV to check napper status and I see the android launcher menu. There is no Napper running.

    I just started the app and it started streaming ch.2 immediately.

    This could be the same issue I witnessed last year only with HK channels, but not as aggressive where it could stop after just 20-60 minutes. (I never saw this problem with non-HK channels)

    So changing your TVpad4 will not fix the problem imho.

    Either the app is crashing with an error message which we haven't seen, or perhaps there is some sort of timeout applied to certain 'popular' channels to quit the app, so as to stop users leaving app running 'unattended' on popular channels.... who knows.....


    I suggest anyone who is witnessing same issue perhaps report it to napper.
    Post edited by bamby8 on
  • thats sad for me ... i record ch 2 to another android device ... so i have to leave napper ch 2 running ..... now i cannot do it anymore !!!!!! i hope for new update of the app may solve this issue
  • bamby8bamby8 Junior Member
    edited November 2018
    TBH, we find our old ubox is more reliable than napper. But napper comes in useful on rare occasion certain ubox channels occasionally don't work, and vice versa.

    I just checked ch.245. It does not use p2p. Looks like napper using same server farm I noted last year when I saw problems with HK channels. It looks like in recent months, the app now uses p2p mode much more when there is very high demand for viewing certain channels. It could be the p2p activity which is causing the app to become unstable and exit. I don't know.

    Update: Saturday 15 Sep. Tuned into ch.2 at 5.30pm HK local time, and discovered app had returned to android launcher some time between 2 and 3 hours later. Restarted same test from just after 8.30pm HK local time. Ch.2 was still playing at 11.30pm HK local time, then suddenly at almost spot on 3 hours, I witnessed the app quit and returned to launcher menu without warning. No error message.

    Update: Sun 16 Sep. Tuned into ch.2 at 6.30pm HK local time. App quit at around 9.30pm and returned to android launcher menu 3 hours later.

    Update: Mon 17 Sep. Tuned into ch.2 around 6.54pm HK local time. App quit at 9.52pm HK local time.

    Looks like the v13.3 app has some sort of built-in 3 hour timer. Unclear if this is 3 hours since start of the app or since last change of channel at the moment - I suspect the latter.

    Update: Tue 18 Sep: Tuned into a movie channel. It streamed for over 3 hours - no evidence of any timeout. At 2.30pm HK local time, tuned into ch.2. Streamed fine to 5.05pm at which point I deliberately changed to a different channel, and then changed back to ch.2. It streamed until the app suddenly quit at 8.06pm. There's definitely a 3 hour count down timer applied to ch.2.

    Napper acknowledges there is a timer....:

    "Thank you for your feedback. However, it isn't we don't believe changing a channel is a hard task to accomplish to set your app active again. It merely take seconds.

    We don't see the purpose of changing the timer."


    Update (22 Nov 2018): The timeout still appears to exist on ch.2. On a different note, I have observed changing channels to be a lot more reliable in recent weeks. No longer do I have to repeatedly change channels or quit and restart the app to try and force a channel to stream.
    Post edited by bamby8 on
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