Database Users

To those who has (or had) random video playback error on any video streaming app

First of all, a video streaming app is an app that requires constant Internet connection to play a video. Some examples are YouTube, Facebook or Vessel.
This post was meant for people who has a problem where our device just randomly gives an error when trying to watch a video. It affects all apps at one time. Only way to fix it is to reboot the device. Until today. It seems like the Sony Marshmallow Beta (not the concept) released for our device has fixed this. But I am not a 100% sure. I haven't been getting any of those error ever since I've used the Beta software since it was released.
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Personally, I've only experienced this issue when I'm on any rom with an unlocked bootloader. If I used any rom with a locked bootloader, I don't have this issue. I'm currently using the MM beta and I have rooted it with a locked bootloader and have not experienced any issues with video playback. I used to have this issue on Cyanogenmod, the MM concept, etc. with the bootloader unlocked. I've been trying to figure out what causes it but I haven't had any luck

ash123456678 said:
Personally, I've only experienced this issue when I'm on any rom with an unlocked bootloader. If I used any rom with a locked bootloader, I don't have this issue. I'm currently using the MM beta and I have rooted it with a locked bootloader and have not experienced any issues with video playback. I used to have this issue on Cyanogenmod, the MM concept, etc. with the bootloader unlocked. I've been trying to figure out what causes it but I haven't had any luck
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Click to collapse
Have you tried the Beta with your bootloader unlocked? Because mine is and I don't seem to have that problem anymore.

I haven't used the phone with locked bootloader so I can only tell my experience with unlocked bootloader.
On both Lollipop (23.4.A.1.264) and MM Concept (3536) [both with the DRM bypass mod), I've experienced multiple occurrences where HW decoded video playback (Facebook, YouTube, Album, etc.) fails. Not just playback however, video recording is also broken once that happens. Currently the only way to restore the functionality is to do a reboot. This is particularly annoying when you are binge watching a playlist on YouTube.
tl;dr
- I'm on unlocked bootloader.
- Video playback breaks randomly.
- Video recording is affected too.
- Only way to "fix" is to reboot.

I started having this issue when I installed the Concept ROM along with the unlocked bootloader. Since then, even if I lock it again it still happens.
I was able to solve it when I installed the Beta ROM, but I didn't like it so I came back to Concept and I still have this issue. It's annoying, but the only way to fix it is by rebooting the device.

I installed the beta rom and it seems that they fixed the issue.

I'm experiencing this on my Z3C as well (MM Concept 3555, UL and rooted with DRM fix). It's a nuisance having to restart my phone everyday so if MM Beta does fix this issue, I'd consider using it, but losing adoptable storage will suck. Hopefully someone comes up with a mod for MM Beta/Official that will allow us to utilize our SD cards as internal like Concept does.
Sent from my D5803 using Tapatalk

VUDU streaming/download issue - rooted

Hello all. So I cannot stream or download movies on my Verizon S5 - I'm on 5.0 (baseband: BOG5) and I am rooted. I've never had issues with this app up until a few months ago. I've tried researching it over this time, but nothing has worked. Now after being unable to download movies for a trip this past week - I'm starting to get annoyed....so I need your help.
Things of note:
-I've tried wiping/uninstalling the app
-I've tried wiping my phone
-The app loads just fine - I click on a movie to either play or download and it fails
Are there any known issues about this Android version and Vudu? I've researched, but I have yet to find a solution or just even an answer.
If any other information is needed, I'm happy to provide it.
Thanks!

beckamgop said:
Hello all. So I cannot stream or download movies on my Verizon S5 - I'm on 5.0 (baseband: BOG5) and I am rooted. I've never had issues with this app up until a few months ago. I've tried researching it over this time, but nothing has worked. Now after being unable to download movies for a trip this past week - I'm starting to get annoyed....so I need your help.
Things of note:
-I've tried wiping/uninstalling the app
-I've tried wiping my phone
-The app loads just fine - I click on a movie to either play or download and it fails
Are there any known issues about this Android version and Vudu? I've researched, but I have yet to find a solution or just even an answer.
If any other information is needed, I'm happy to provide it.
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This VUDU thread explains it all. It may not address your issue directly, but it gets you closer to understanding what's happening.
https://forum.vudu.com/showthread.php?948535-No-HDX-support
The key response being this one from the VUDU engineering dept:
"First of all, sorry to hear that you cannot play it in HD/HDX. This is something beyond our power, let me try to explain why.
The DRM technology that we use is called Widevine (it was the name of the company that Google acquired). Widevine certifies each device into three levels, level 1 is the most secure and level 3 is the least secure. Briefly speaking, level 1 devices are capable of decoding the content at hardware level and level 2 and 3 devices can only decode it at software level.
Our contract with the studios mandates that we restrict the playback of HD/HDX playback to devices with hardware decryption(or widevine level 1), this is the reason why you can only play in SD.
How to know widevine level of your device?
- If you open our app, go the about screen. The last digit after the last underscore of the version is the widevine level of your device.
At last but not at least, once you root you device (or somehow change the signature of the bootloader), widevine will automatically downgrade your level from 1 to 3."

Help Downgrading 2015 STD model from new 5.1 back to 3.3

The new 5.1 release is fundamentally flawed and does not allow apps to set resolution or refresh rates, plus suffers from HDMI blanking/disconnects when set @ 4k resolutions. None of these problems are present in the previous 3.3 version, and I need to switch back. Unfortunately every time I have tried to go back to the previous official firmware from nvidia, I just get blank screen/no signal. So I am stuck on 5.1.
I suspect this has something to do with the partition sizes/layouts, or some other 1 way change which is preventing the older firmware from booting. Has anyone got any ideas how this downgrade can be achieved?
Thanks in advance

I don't think that is possible. Unless you want to brick your Device.
Well that's what happened when I tried it. Thankfully... (Or, not) I have the Pro version so finding a working SSHD backup image was simple enough. But, I don't think you'd be nearly so lucky with just a non-removable 16Gb eMMC Chip.

I also tried it, from Nougat 5.1 to Marshmallow 3.2 and to Marshmallow 3.3.
Unfortunately, this is not working. Fortunately, fastboot is still accessible and I can get it back to Nougat (I've done it several times, the only time I add a problem, it was because of a suddenly faulty USB OTG cable).
That's unfortunate, because now that I'm on Nougat, I can't managed to find a functionnal version of Skype with my Logitech C920 or C930e webcam (while I had it on Marshmallow, with StockRestyle by @zulu99). I tried both with the standard version and with full android (see this post for more details on Skype on the standard Nougat ROM).

Oh well. At least I know I'm not doing anything wrong when I try and downgrade. I'll just have to stick with 5.1 and hope they resolve the ability for apps to set refresh/resolution.
TBH I'm a little perplexed how it got passed testing @ nvidia. Changing refresh rates to match content source is common video playback functionality, and resolves many jerky playback issues.
Thanks for the input!

MintyTrebor said:
Oh well. At least I know I'm not doing anything wrong when I try and downgrade. I'll just have to stick with 5.1 and hope they resolve the ability for apps to set refresh/resolution.
TBH I'm a little perplexed how it got passed testing @ nvidia. Changing refresh rates to match content source is common video playback functionality, and resolves many jerky playback issues.
Thanks for the input!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ah, I thought I was the only one with jerky video playback. Let's hope Nvidia resolves it in a future update soon!

External Speaker useless after 8.1 OTA update (impossibly quiet)

Not, rooted, located in US.
Before I did the OTA update to 8.1 last night, my external speaker worked fine, both for speakerphone calls, and media playback.
During my first use of 8.1 today, the external speaker is now so quiet (on full volume) that it's useless in all but the quietest rooms.
Calls on speakerphone are barely louder than if I just shut the speaker off. Watching Youtube on full blast is barely discernible in an average noise environment, and forget listening to music outside or in the car.
Anyone else experiencing this?

Same problem here
It's a official software bug. Most of the people who updated Oreo got this issue. If you want to use your phone use any other custom ROM available here. Otherwise need to downgrade to Nougat. If you can wait for another update from Moto to rectify this bug means bare with this volume issue untill Moto releases new update to fix this.

kingmari said:
It's a official software bug. Most of the people who updated Oreo got this issue. If you want to use your phone use any other custom ROM available here. Otherwise need to downgrade to Nougat. If you can wait for another update from Moto to rectify this bug means bare with this volume issue untill Moto releases new update to fix this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the feedback. Unfortunately I doubt Moto will ever release a fix for this.
I never bothered rooting this phone, I guess I am going to find out if its even possible, now that it has Oreo on it.

slimbobaggins said:
Thanks for the feedback. Unfortunately I doubt Moto will ever release a fix for this.
I never bothered rooting this phone, I guess I am going to find out if its even possible, now that it has Oreo on it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Rooting stock Oreo is even easier compared to Nougat, because you don't need a custom kernel anymore. Still I would advise to use the new Loony Kernel or ElementalX for being able to use different RGB values if your device has screen retention problems.

Other observations from this OS "upgrade:"
My phone now struggles to stream Youtube to Chromecast... video/sound sometimes is choppy... previously no issues at all.
Sometimes the phone randomly decides Wifi wont work. Can flip the switch to the on position, but it still says "Wifi is off." Only recourse is to restart the phone.
Overall very disappointed. Can't wait until I get a chance to root and ditch this OTA update.

Widevine L1/L3 fix needed.

So I've had this problem for a couple/few years already where an update from either android or netflix caused the Widevine certification to read as L1 for Netflix specifically. It says version 15.0.. L3 as opposed to the L1 it's supposed to have, DRM INFO says i have L1 ver 14.0...
I previously worked around this issue with a modded Netflix install that half works but even then sometimes the quality will still drop even though the connection can more than handle the stream. I was hoping that after so much time has passed this issue had been resolved by either party (mainly because at one point, another update had left me without netflix on my phone for almost a year and this was before the L1/L3 fiasco) but no such luck.
In the past I've steered clear of rooting the phone, mainly because everytime i try to get into the spirit of things I either have a hard time finding the files needed or the guides I'm pointed towards seem like details to build a nuke.
I'm hoping i can fix this, and I'm willing to bite the bullet and try to root this phone if needed. Any help would be appreciated.