Youtube video results in freeze and restart

[Rivercreature]

Recently purchased an ASUS MeMO Pad Full HD 10" 16GB Tablet BLUE
Model ID: ME302C
Came running 4.3 build V5.0.21

New to Tablets and Android. Came upon Forum while surfing on the steep part of the learning curve.

All was going well until watching Youtube via Chrome over a WLAN at home. Memo started to play then green SOD, stuttered, locked and restarted itself. Very disappointed. Did factory reset tried again no change. Am now trying to figure out what, why, fix? Is it software or hardware.

A lot of reading last night!

V5.0.21 came in OTA. Did reset after V5.0.21 came in, no change. Son recommended running Youtube in lower resolution, some improvement? then froze again.

Also had problems with mp4s off SD. Managed to work around with MX Player and decoding with software not hardware. I wondered if there was a "software decode" option (as found in MX Player) for the browser?

Have the feeling that it is a hardware problem related to 4.3 and the Intel Atom CPU?

Thinking I'll try again on a friends WLAN.

Hoping to find some answers on the forum before I pursue the Warranty etc.

Any advice, thoughts appreciated.
Regards

 

[Golfdriver97]

Welcome to the forums.
I will admit, I am not sure. Have you tried watching videos through the YouTube app? Does that make a difference?

 

[Rivercreature]

Welcome to the forums.
I will admit, I am not sure. Have you tried watching videos through the YouTube app? Does that make a difference?

Golfdriver97 thank you very much for the friendly quick reply.

I have seen some improvement in my situation by using the Google YouTube App to watch YouTube. Alas it is still a very choppy picture and unwatchable but no lockups. Audio and video are synched but the video is struggling to render?

The YouTube App updated to v 5.7.41. No change.
The Memo reports that the WLAN is at 72Mbps. The stream is from a Belkin router running b/g. The feed to the house is ADSL over copper.

Other internet browsing seems fine, just streaming video. I was wondering if the incoming bit rate was a factor? But from what I have read it 72Mbps should carry 720p comfortably. There is no difference between 144p and 1080p video content streamed from YouTube both are equally affected.

Interestingly video playback from either a micro SD or internal storage using MX Player only runs normally when it is using software to decode. When MX Player is switched to Hardware to decode the same problems occur. I read that this is probably normal?

Other than streaming video playback everything else works very well. I think my difficulties lie with Hardware decoding of video. I have been looking but wondered if there were Internet video streaming apps that have a software/hardware switch?

Other devices in the house are not having difficulties streaming the same content.

I’ve read a thread in Transformerforums.com, “Problem with video streaming apps” thread, sounds the same. There didn’t seem to be an answer? I was interested in a comment about a router. When setting up I couldn’t connect when the router was on channel 12 but did when on channel 11.

Any ideas/thoughts welcome.
Regards

 

[Golfdriver97]

Golfdriver97 thank you very much for the friendly quick reply.

I have seen some improvement in my situation by using the Google YouTube App to watch YouTube. Alas it is still a very choppy picture and unwatchable but no lockups. Audio and video are synched but the video is struggling to render?

The YouTube App updated to v 5.7.41. No change.
The Memo reports that the WLAN is at 72Mbps. The stream is from a Belkin router running b/g. The feed to the house is ADSL over copper.

Other internet browsing seems fine, just streaming video. I was wondering if the incoming bit rate was a factor? But from what I have read it 72Mbps should carry 720p comfortably. There is no difference between 144p and 1080p video content streamed from YouTube both are equally affected.

Interestingly video playback from either a micro SD or internal storage using MX Player only runs normally when it is using software to decode. When MX Player is switched to Hardware to decode the same problems occur. I read that this is probably normal?

Other than streaming video playback everything else works very well. I think my difficulties lie with Hardware decoding of video. I have been looking but wondered if there were Internet video streaming apps that have a software/hardware switch?

Other devices in the house are not having difficulties streaming the same content.

I’ve read a thread in Transformerforums.com, “Problem with video streaming apps” thread, sounds the same. There didn’t seem to be an answer? I was interested in a comment about a router. When setting up I couldn’t connect when the router was on channel 12 but did when on channel 11.

Any ideas/thoughts welcome.
Regards

Have you tried clearing cache for YouTube? Settings>Apps>swipe over to all apps>scroll down to YouTube>Click on it>Click clear cache.
Hopefully that will help.

 

[Rivercreature]

Thanks again Golfdriver97 for your feedback

Yes, I have tried clearing the cache for YouTube but saw no change. Still choppy unwatchable video.
I also un-installed the YouTube update back to the pre-installed version. No change. Did a reset, no change. Updated YouTube no change.
At this stage I am confident that my WLAN isn’t a factor. A download speed test returned 13.22 Mbps and a WIFI analysis showed mine and one other network on channels 10 and 1.

I am now of the opinion that the MeMo hardware lacks the ability to decode the stream. This is why I have to use software decoding with MX.

I have read from my similar thread on TransformerForums “that Android itself had to be significantly amended to even run on the Atom, then it took quite a while for apps to be made compatible”

What isn’t clear is whether there is a fault with the GPU i.e. the Memo is broken or it isn’t fit for purpose? I would have thought that a new device would optimise a GPU for primary usage such as streaming video off the Internet?

I’m sure the MeMo would have behaved on release about August 2013? I read that it released with 4.2 JB. Mine came with 4.3 and updated to V5.0.21. I find it difficult to reconcile that a device that comes with YouTube pre-installed would be unable to process such content from that app?

If I take the position that the machine is not faulting then the remaining difference would be the difference between Android 4.2 vs. 4.3? Is a downgrade worth/easy to do?

So in summary I think a fault with the decoder in the GPU. So it is back to the supplier.

I thought I would email Asus directly to ask for their help and maybe also Google re their YouTube player having a hardware switch? Not sure about the second one.

I would appreciate your thoughts
Regards

 

[Golfdriver97]

Thanks again Golfdriver97 for your feedback

Yes, I have tried clearing the cache for YouTube but saw no change. Still choppy unwatchable video.
I also un-installed the YouTube update back to the pre-installed version. No change. Did a reset, no change. Updated YouTube no change.
At this stage I am confident that my WLAN isn’t a factor. A download speed test returned 13.22 Mbps and a WIFI analysis showed mine and one other network on channels 10 and 1.

I am now of the opinion that the MeMo hardware lacks the ability to decode the stream. This is why I have to use software decoding with MX.

I have read from my similar thread on TransformerForums “that Android itself had to be significantly amended to even run on the Atom, then it took quite a while for apps to be made compatible”

What isn’t clear is whether there is a fault with the GPU i.e. the Memo is broken or it isn’t fit for purpose? I would have thought that a new device would optimise a GPU for primary usage such as streaming video off the Internet?

I’m sure the MeMo would have behaved on release about August 2013? I read that it released with 4.2 JB. Mine came with 4.3 and updated to V5.0.21. I find it difficult to reconcile that a device that comes with YouTube pre-installed would be unable to process such content from that app?

If I take the position that the machine is not faulting then the remaining difference would be the difference between Android 4.2 vs. 4.3? Is a downgrade worth/easy to do?

So in summary I think a fault with the decoder in the GPU. So it is back to the supplier.

I thought I would email Asus directly to ask for their help and maybe also Google re their YouTube player having a hardware switch? Not sure about the second one.

I would appreciate your thoughts
Regards

Sorry for the delay in getting back to you; I was out of town. It may be the CPU design was never truly fixed in Android for that device. Unfortunately, I do not know enough about chip design that I can't say for sure.