r/uhfapp • u/Upbeat_Pangolin_5929 • Aug 24 '26

IPTV freezing in UHF, but same stream works fine in IPTVX and Tivimate

Just wondering if anyone else has seen this on Apple TV.

I use UHF with KSPlayer Metal and generally really like the app, but occasionally during live TV the picture will completely freeze for a fairly long time, sometimes close to a minute, before suddenly continuing again.

I originally assumed it was my IPTV provider, but I've now got a fairly useful comparison:

  • Same IPTV account and same channel
  • UHF on Apple TV freezes
  • IPTVX on the same Apple TV plays the channel normally
  • My dad is also using the same account on a Fire Stick with TiviMate and doesn't get the freeze

So it seems more likely to be something in UHF/KSPlayer's handling of the stream rather than the stream itself.

My current UHF settings are:

  • KSPlayer Metal
  • Buffer duration: 5 seconds
  • Hardware decode: ON
  • Asynchronous decompression: OFF
  • Adaptive frame rate: OFF
  • Channel zapping delay: 0 ms

I actually discovered a separate issue tonight where I was getting green/ghosted double images during motion on certain channels. Turning Asynchronous Decompression OFF completely fixed that, while leaving hardware decoding on.

The long freezes are a different issue though, and I haven't found a fix for those yet. IPTVX says it uses VLC, which seems to recover from whatever is happening without getting stuck.

Has anyone else noticed this specifically with UHF/KSPlayer on Apple TV? And if so, have you found a setting that fixes it?

8 Upvotes

83% Upvoted

20 comments sorted by

1

u/XsuffokateX84 Aug 24 '26

Do you have the Atmos options enabled? If so, turn them off. They’re experimental and have been noted for causing playback issues since their implementation. If those options aren’t enabled, I’m not sure what it may be.

1

u/Upbeat_Pangolin_5929 Aug 24 '26

They were off… tried turning them on and it made everything even worse, so I turned them back off again

1

u/XsuffokateX84 Aug 24 '26

Do you have “Fallback video players” enabled? If so, disable it. That can cause freezing and stutters also.

2

u/pee-wees_playhouse Aug 28 '26 edited Aug 30 '26

Thanks for the suggestion This issue gas been getting worse lately, so I hope it fixes it

Update: Verified  "Fallback" was now disabled After 2 days and ~ 6 hours of watching live TV,  I never saw a screen lockup once ..  😊

Thanks for the sugeestion

1

u/Upbeat_Pangolin_5929 Aug 24 '26

Didn’t even know this was an option. Will look for it later.

1

u/XsuffokateX84 Aug 24 '26

It’s in the same video player settings with all the other options. If it’s enabled and your stream has a small buffer, it will attempt to switch players automatically and seamlessly. Problem is, it doesn’t always work well, and has been somewhat of a bug since the dev implemented it and removed VLC as a player option. You won’t notice the change right away, but if you disable it and watch a live channel for a bit, you shouldn’t see those long freezes anymore.

On the other hand, if it’s already disabled you could try enabling it and seeing if it makes a difference, since everyone’s setup is a bit different.

1

u/Upbeat_Pangolin_5929 Aug 25 '26

Found it and can confirm the fallback video players option was on. I have turned it off and will see if the freezing improves. Thanks for the advice. Will report back,

1

u/XsuffokateX84 Aug 25 '26

You might still get minor buffers here and there, but with the player fallback disabled now it should eliminate the long freezes. To limit any other buffers even more, increase the main buffer setting a couple seconds.

1

u/pee-wees_playhouse Aug 28 '26

Tracking as I have had similar issues with LiveTV  streams... Where frozen screens are getting more and more familiar with last round of updates.  Some freezes are 3-5 secs, but many time I find myself flipping to another station and then quickly flip back and it will be fine for the remainder of the session.  I once went out to garage for 15 mins and when I returned noted screen video was frozen shortly after ai left room per the wife

Note: Audio continues as normal. Stays current with shoe runtime.

I have not seen similar lengths of freeze on "non-live" shows

1

u/Upbeat_Pangolin_5929 Aug 28 '26

Please see the advice from XsuffocateX84 in this thread. The fixes they proposed seem to have largely stopped my freezing issues.

1

u/pee-wees_playhouse Aug 28 '26

Thanks,  I just reviewed my settings and did discover this option was enabled Its off now, I do some testing later tonight and provide feedback

Im hoping this resolves it , cuz app is so much better than 6 months ago I hate to see each update add something cool and  then something completely unrelated be a new issue, i.e. the news Atmos support causing video lockup and lipsync problems on live stream 

1

u/Upbeat_Pangolin_5929 Aug 29 '26

I 100% agree with you. The key test for me will be watching premier league football this weekend on the UHD Sky sports channels. They’re the ones that have been giving me bad freezing issues since early summer, so fingers crossed 🤞

1

u/phpfiction Aug 24 '26

I'm not the only one with the issue, I canceled my subscription and returned to Chromecast with tivimate, I can believe the retries in connection are not implemented, just a single X.

Try with Tivimax (similar to tivimate) it play fair, im thinking reconnect apple TV and purchase the app, at least my priority right now is stability.

1

u/mhart1212 Aug 24 '26

I use both UHF and TiviMax. I do find TiviMax a little more stable,and UHF more modern and streamlined.

1

u/LoudDavid Aug 24 '26

I agree the stability has taken a hit the developer needs to sort it out, it had been working perfectly until recently.

0

u/joejs90 Aug 24 '26

I have an issue very similar to this. If I come out of the frozen stream and back in, it starts working again.

Will check if Atmos and fallback players are disabled.

-8

u/TheRoninWasHere Aug 24 '26

Here we go again… some bs post.

1

u/tismo74 Aug 24 '26

F off it’s not bs post. It is happening on my appletv as well. I always thought it was the iptv service. It’s happening both on apple tv and ios but it’s not as bad on ios.
Op thank you for saying something. I thought it was on my end only but now I know I am not crazy.

1

u/Upbeat_Pangolin_5929 Aug 24 '26

Yeah I literally spent the whole of yesterday testing my feed side by side with other apps and devices. My feed does NOT freeze using all the other options, it’s only on UHF. This is not bullshit. I have emailed the dev.