CCwGTV 4K update to Android 14 broke TV stream playback

[gurabli]

My CCwGTV 4K received the latest update UTTC.241218.004, now I have Android 14.

This update broke playback of direct live TV stream in all the apps. It looks that all the h.264 FullHD streams are affected. The playback is like slow motion with judder and audio out of sync. All these apps worked perfectly fine before the update. Many users report the same (Reddit). 

Source is DVB-C, TS stream from my cable TV provider.

Is this a known problem from Google's side? All the devices still on Android 12 are perfect. 

[GuillaumeS]

Too bad I haven't read that thread first. I've just updated all my Google tv Chromecast to android 14 as of today.  Now all my BNB guests are glad to watch slow motion stuttered tv 😤

DVB server is HDHomerun , using DVB-T channels. H264 interlaced streams 25/50 fps.

All stream now have the half speed symptom. This clearly looks to be an issue with interlaced streams. 

Was working perfectly with android 12.

Now it's all useless ( I have 6 guest rooms + main family).

I'm a bit worried Google dev team has still not fixed this issue months after. Should I reconsider my whole setup? 

[AdamKa]

The only solution at the moment is transcoding (I think it's about deinterlacing) or changing devices. I had the same problem with many IPTV channels. Now my provider transcodes the signal and all h264 channels work without problems.

[Fredi]

channels are wrongly recognized as 60Hz instead of 50Hz. At the moment there is no device that is completely bug-free. Android 14 has some problems on every device.

[NautilusX]

I don't completely agree with you. I have a device from another brand that costs 1/3 the price of the Google Streamer and has Android 14. Everything works without any hiccups or problems.

[AdamKa]

Can you write its name?

[roki2701]

Kinhank G1 is probably great, I bought it myself, it has Android 14 and it works great and much smoother than Chromecast.

[Artan]

The problem has existed since February/March, and Google hasn’t done anything to fix the issue. I'm starting to believe that Google doesn’t care about its customers — otherwise, they would have solved the problem by now or at least allowed us to go back to Android 12."

[GuillaumeS]

Yes we need urgently a way to rollback until Google fix the problem. 

[Artan]

Alright folks, I m fed up with Google. For months, nothing has been done. If they can’t fix the problems, then Google should at least let us roll back to Android 12.
Quick question: Does the TiviMate app work well on the Xiaomi Box S 3rd generation or not?

[radix1989]

Its all pathetic engough. I had a Chromecast 4k which I did not update on purpose. Over night it seemed to update on its own.

So my Device became unusable without any interaction by me.

Google, fix this pile of **bleep**!! 

[Artan]

Exactly the same thing happened to me 2 days ago

[RalpieL]

I've had this happen 2 days ago as well. I've recently figured out that I can change my streaming profile on TVHeadend to reduce the stream to potato quality to at least get sound to match up with the video. It's not ideal with picture quality that's rubbish and a lot of artifacts, but at least the sound is aligned without delays on some of the HD channels.  

Play around with settings and change the channel on Kodi to ensure changes are made after saving the configuration each time.

Hope this helps people until Google gets around to help us!

Chromecast with TV HD > running Kodi 21.2 > streaming tvheadend from another server

UTTC.241218.008.H1.1342712

Cast firmware:3.72.446070

********************** Stream Settings on TVHeadend
Profile name:                               webtv-h264-aac-matroska
Comment:                                    WEBTV profile H264/AAC/Matroska
Default priority:                           Important

Force priority:                               0
Timeout (sec) (0=infinite):        0
Restart on error:
Continue if descrambling fails:
Descrambling timeout (ms):    2000
Switch to another service:
Preferred service video type:   SD: standard definition

Container:                                       MPEG-TS/av-lib

Resolution (height):                    540
Channels:                                       Mono

Language:                                      Use original

Source video codec:                   Any

Video codec:                                  libx264: libx264 H.264 / AVC / MPEG-4 AVC / MPEG-4 part 10

Video codec preset:                     faster: h264 / h265 / qsv(h264)

Video bitrate (kb/s) (0=auto):    1000
Audio codec:                                   aac: AAC (Advanced Audio Coding)

Audio bitrate (kb/s) (0=auto):    0
Subtitle codec:                                Do not use

[Artan]

After my second device accidentally received this update to Android 14, I contacted Google Support and this is their response.

Thank you for your message to Google Nest Customer Service.
After consulting with the technical department, I regret to inform you that your situation is currently a bug in our system, but we are working diligently on it. I will inform you as soon as the bug is resolved.

I'm seriously wondering if Google doesn't want to fix this bug, or if Google thinks we're that stupid. If nothing happens in the next few weeks, I'll look for another stick. There are plenty on the market, some of which cost less than Chromecast Google TV.

[slacker]

3 months and no fix. interesting.

[LBM]

@GoogleNestTeam When is the fix expected? I got the update 2 days ago and now my device is not usable at all. If the problem is so hard to fix that you cant do it since half year at least make it possible to downgrade the device to previous version when it was working fine.

[RalpieL]

If at all possible for anyone to choose the quality of the steam, try for standard definition as a work around. Remapping standard definition channels on my tv headend server helped until a fix can be found. Down grading steam was ok as mentioned in my post above but this works better.

Yes Google have stuffed up, but better to try find a solution instead of whinging and whining until they do. I feel for the people having delt with this longer than most and it's pretty poor service from Google for such a popular product.

[radix1989]

I tried to copy your mentioned settings to my TVHeadend. Since I might have another Version of it, it looked kind of different:

Do I additionally need to setup something in Kodi as well? I'm aksing because these changed seemed to change nothing in my stream quality, although I used the 540 height pixels.

[AdamKa]

Have you tried checking the "Deinterlace" option or using transcoding, e.g. h264->h265?

[Artan]

So, I just ordered your other streaming box and I'm fed up with Google. I'll never buy anything directly from Google again. Two or three providers with Android TV work better. They have Android on them and don't need an unnecessary software update..

[Osoriop]

I am having the same issue, surely a company as big as Google can figure this out??

[cheesysock]

It's been months. They apparently don't have a clue or just don't care.

[Artan]

So, I have now bought a streaming box from China, which has three times as much storage space and all my apps work perfectly and I have been using it for 2 days

[jprp5]

aAter performing the OTA update to Android TV 14, as suggested by the system, I am experiencing several issues on my Strong Leap S3+ device. Most of the reported problems correspond to the following symptoms:

• Unexpected and random device restarts;

• Streaming video playback is slow and stutters, especially with H.264 Full HD content;

• Problems in the settings interface, including inaccessible menus and unexpected closing of the Settings app;

• The accessibility mode is malfunctioning, making it difficult for users who rely on these features.

[Artan]

Apparently Google doesn't want to solve the problem or Google doesn't care about the customers as long as Netflix and YouTube work for Google and don't have the same problems they won't fix anything they could let the customers go back to Android 12 until the problem is solved

Google is stubborn there too, it's best if everyone switches to kunloret Apple (I'm not a fan of Apple TV at all) and Google loses a lot of users, only then will they perhaps do something

The people who have Android 12 can only hope that there will be no update to Android 14 on their devices for a long time, otherwise they can throw the stick/box in the trash

[AdamKa]

Minor bugs will likely disappear after a factory reset (this does not apply to h264 playback). Accessibility works differently in Android 14; apps from outside the Store must be installed via ADB or SAI.

[Artan]

Lol, now Google is claiming via email that it’s the device’s fault and not a Google issue. They say they don’t know anything about it, and that if YouTube or YouTube livestreams are working, then the problem isn’t with Google or their device.
It’s a joke to blame the customer for the issue when it’s clearly a Google bug.

[radix1989]

Interesting as the support replied to me that this h264 issues is a known issue and their tech team is analyzing/working on an update that shall restore this feature. 

[Artan]

In my case, the support team had no idea about this issue at all. They said, "Try using YouTube — if YouTube works, then it’s not the device."

I then said that livestreams are having issues, and if YouTube livestreams aren’t having any problems, then it’s clearly not the device.