[Bug] Issues when live switching between streams

[fkoemep]

Describe the problem

Whenever I'm watching some specific channels and try to switch to another specific one, the video stops and gets stuck in a frame from the previous stream. This happened in 2 Android TV devices but it works fine in Windows and a Samsung S23+ device.

All of these channels apparently are 29.97fps, they have widevine and playready drm protection and they are being decoded using only the decription kid:key pair from widevine drm. The only workaround I found was to disable mediacodec and mediacodec surface hardware acceleration but it's not a real solution. I also tried disabling the c2.amlogic.avc.decoder so that Kodi uses c2.android.avc.decoder but nothing changed.

I would gladly share the manifest url and keys but I'm afraid it's geo blocked to certain country in south america. If there's any dev from that region let me know so that we can debug this easily

compressed_100MB_MiTV-AFMU0.2026-03-18.00-05-45.mp4

Possible fix

I feel like Kodi is trying to recycle something from the previous video stream and ends up failing in some amlogic devices. Maybe the fix has something to do with this? #1001

Steps to reproduce

1. Using IPTV Simple Client start watching a channel
2. While watching the stream, switch to another channel
3. Video gets stuck, audio keeps working. If you switch back to the previous channel then the video resumes normally.

Debug log

https://paste.kodi.tv/rimefiyefo.kodi

Stream manifest file(s)

Sample 1080p manifests that have these issues: https://paste.kodi.tv/uwohupebex https://paste.kodi.tv/pulakezupa

Sample 720p manifests that have these issues: https://paste.kodi.tv/lotenemiki https://paste.kodi.tv/vehuwedofo

Another sample 720p manifest which seems to be fine: https://paste.kodi.tv/jajisutiju

Additional info

No response

Operating system(s)

Android

Operating system version(s)

Android TV 14 and Android TV 11 (TCL P8M)

InputStream Adaptive version(s)

v21.5.18

Kodi version(s)

v21.3

[walterheisenberg]

I have almost a similar issue:
After changing the channel from e.g. "Das Erste" to "ZDF" and (vice versa) the picture is distorted, Audio is working fine.
Switching to the channel before ("Das Erste") brings back the picture without any issues.
If I press "Stop" and open the channel ("ZDF"), all is fine.

Android 12.0.0 API Level 31 (AndroidTV on Philipps TV)
Kodi 22.0-Alpha3 (21.90.703) with IA 22.3.10
Testing it on my Laptop with Kubuntu (Lenovo Yoga 390) and Kodi, switching channels is fine. So I think, it is a Android Problem.

These are the used streams: (geoblocked from outside Germany afaik)
ZDF:
http://zdf-dash-15.akamaized.net/dash/live/2016508/de/manifest.mpd
https://paste.kodi.tv/axesisuxef (Manifest)

Das Erste:
http://daserste-live.ard-mcdn.de/daserste/replay/dash/de/manifest.mpd
https://paste.kodi.tv/ibevejopey (Manifest)

If you need a debug log, please let me know

[CastagnaIT]

@fkoemep opened the Issue for Kodi 21, but development of Kodi 21 has ended so no help to that version

since streams works when played individually, this sounds more like a Kodi issue than a problem with this add-on

ISA instances are always separate, what i mean is that there is no difference on how the code is executed on ISA
whether you're playing videos one at a time or while another is playing

i tried play (on Kodi 22) two live streams while another one is in playing, but on my nvidia shield playback works good...
i cant test your german streams due to geolock

[fkoemep]

@fkoemep opened the Issue for Kodi 21, but development of Kodi 21 has ended so no help to that version

since streams works when played individually, this sounds more like a Kodi issue than a problem with this add-on

ISA instances are always separate, what i mean is that there is no difference on how the code is executed on ISA whether you're playing videos one at a time or while another is playing

The latest stable version is still v21, v22 is in alpha status so far. I understand that feature development should stop completely for v21 but bugs (if existing) should be adressed in my opinion, at least until v22 is stablilized

i tried play (on Kodi 22)

I installed v22 alpha 2 but was impossible to install IPTV Simple Client and its dependencies because of this error:
the dependency on Kodi.binary.global.main version 2.0.3 could not be satisfied (this happened even when just trying to install ISA alone)

Tried clean installing multiple times, wiping userdata folder, pointing userdata folder to another path but the result is the same. Do you know any way to solve this issue so I can reproduce this in Kodi v22?

two live streams while another one is in playing, but on my nvidia shield playback works good...`

In my case there are many channels that I can switch from/to without any kind of issues but for very specific channels like the ones in the video I uploaded, the result is always the same: switching while playing ends up with a frozen image but audio keeps working.

It is "random" in the sense of the affected channels (even though they're really similar regarding codecs, resolutions, bitrate, etc) but the described behaviour happens every time

[walterheisenberg]

@CastagnaIT
Thx for your response. There is a problem with switching on specific channels. We don't know if it is kodi's or IA's fault ;)

fkoemps channels are 29,97fps, mine are 25fps, so fps is not the isssue. (shouldn't be)
Kodi 21 and 22 are affected, independent from IA version
The bug appears on Kodi on AndroidTV
my problems are all on dash-streams with IA (and iptv-simple)

I'll try disabling some decoder-options in Kodi, maybe this helps. Also I'm trying to play the streams with ffmpeg on ISA (afaik I can do this ;) ).
I'll report here after that.

What should we do?

• open a bugreport on kodi?
• do further tests. Please tell us which settings
• ...

Thx in advance

[CastagnaIT]

I understand that feature development should stop completely for v21 but bugs (if existing) should be adressed in my opinion

if there is something on ISA to fix could be possible, if dont require heavy code changes on old branch,
but if there is a kodi core problem, there will be no further kodi build releases for v21...

I installed v22 alpha 2 but was impossible to install IPTV Simple Client and its dependencies because of this error:

more likely you made an kodi upgrade, and you still have old addon versions that are not compatible, so you need to update each add-on for kodi 22

I'll try disabling some decoder-options in Kodi, maybe this helps.

if you can confirm this that disable mediacodec or/and mediacodec surface works, then its kodi core problem

another test you can do is try exclude PVR, create two STRM files for the two streams (to play them directly on ISA),
and play them in sequence, if playback works, then PVR is the cause

[fkoemep]

more likely you made an kodi upgrade, and you still have old addon versions that are not compatible, so you need to update each add-on for kodi 22

I did at first, but after that I wiped the cache/data, deleted the userdata folder, pointed it to another path and reinstalled but same result. Maybe it's because it's not v22 alpha 3? I tried downloading it but the prerelease here is only alpha 2 https://kodi.tv/download/android/
@walterheisenberg confirmed v22 is affected anyways so not sure if worth to keep trying to install it

if you can confirm this that disable mediacodec or/and mediacodec surface works, then its kodi core problem

In my case, that's what "fixed" the issue: disabling both

another test you can do is try exclude PVR, create two STRM files for the two streams (to play them directly on ISA),
and play them in sequence, if playback works, then PVR is the cause

Will try and report back

[fkoemep]

Will try and report back

Same result, disabled IPTV Simple Client and tried using .strm files. Just to clarify, these 2 streams that are affected by this are only affected when the current stream resolution is 1080p and the new stream is also 1080p (had to force minimum initial bitrate setting in ISA).

If I don't force the minimum bitrate and switch these very same streams 720p -> 720p then everything works. But some affected channels are also having this issue when 720p -> 720p.

Log: https://paste.kodi.tv/omagicenup.kodi

MiTV-AFMU0.2026-03-26.09-53-13.mp4

[walterheisenberg]

Tests:
use Codecfilters on/off: doesn't change anything
HW-Acceleration - MediaCodec (Surface) off: Kodi just crashes to AndroidTV. Is this another Bug? Maybe a Message: This file couldn't be played. --> and not crash Kodi
HW-Acceleration - MediaCodec off: doesn't change anything
note: in this tests only one HW-Accel. was "off".
Both of the above set to "off": switching channels worked as it should. After changing I have a clear video. confirmed by fkoemep

So it has something to do with HW-Accel. on Kodi on AndroidTV.
Haven't tried the strm files, because I don't think it is neccesary anymore (fkoemep did tests)

How do we proceed? Bug report on the kodi bugtracker?
Thx in advance

[CastagnaIT]

so this confirm something wrong on kodi core side
please open an issue on xbmc repo https://github.com/xbmc/xbmc/issues

by explaining the problem about MediaCodec on/off
and if you can attach also the 2 strm to allow reproduce the issue