Playback codec decoding error

[Anonymous User]

Hi, trying to watch live TV on Lenovo tablet but after about 5 minutes it will stop and error for playback codec decoder will appear, have deleted and reinstalled app but still get same message.

Can anyone help??

Thx

[Anonymous User]

I've got a new pass for the new football season and still no joy on the OnePlus 8, which is now on Android 11 (beta). Exact same error as before.

Frustrating that nobody official has responded to this thread and suggested if there's a known issue or that it is being looked into. 

[Anonymous User]

Yep. Very poor on the part of OnePlus to ignore this issue.

[Anonymous User]

They're looking at it, but the silence from Now TV is deafening.

[Anonymous User]

I recently changed mobile from Samsung to a OnePlus 8 and then experienced this issue on using the NOW TV android app.  After a number of failed attempts to sort the issue out with the NOW TV tech support guys I thought i'd go back to my Sky Go app.  Similar problem, except its called Error Code 14.  Must be a problem with the app.  Uninstalled, reinstalled, cleared cache, banged my head on a wall.  No luck.

Was inspired this morning and thought download a media player and associated decoders linked with it, tried MX Player and it did the trick with both apps.  Try it out and hopefully will work for someone else.

[Anonymous User]

Tried that MX player - didn't seem to fix it for me. Did you need to configure any settings in either the Now (or Sky) app or the MX Player?

[Anonymous User]

BTW - on OnePlus8T and NowTv App I find certain channels work fine for live stream (Sky News, Gold, Comedy Central, Sky Documentaries) but others (Sports, Sky 1, Sky Atlantic, Sky Movies) display the error after a second or two of playing.

I'm at a loss as to what could cause this.

[Anonymous User]

Hi,

I didn't do much else except download MX Player and Media Codecs.

Media Codecs analyses the relevant codecs on your handset. I've run it
again since installing MX Player and I seem to have more of them, so assume
this fixed the problem.

What I would suggest is open MX Player first and run the demo Dolby Atmos
movie for a few seconds, then open Sky Go/Now TV apps and try a live Sky
Channel stream.

I've also noticed that this problem occurs on certain channels and seems
perfectly able to show adverts before the live stream. Call me cynical...

Best of luck.

[Anonymous User]

I installed MX, played a video, then tried Now app and it worked
beautifully. Thanks for sharing this. It's saved me from selling this
phone!

Have to say though it'll be my last OnePlus. Between this and the constant
issues on Chrome it's just too buggy.

Thanks again. You are a legend!

[Anonymous User]

Ok so in MX player I had to tick the boxes for hw and sw decoding in the decoding settings section and bingo it seems it works in the now TV app! 

Pav sir, you legend!

[ukbobboy]

@Anonymous User  @Anonymous User  @Anonymous User 

Hey Guys

You know, your adventures with downloading an MX Codec Pack to solve a video playing problem reminds me of way back in the day, i.e. in the early days of MS Windows, when trawling through the Internet for codec packages was the only way you could get a video to play. 

However, I thought that in the latter part of 2020, and the brilliant VLC media player, all this "trawling for codec" nonsense was all done and dusted but here we are again, ancient history being repeated.

Saying all that, I'm glad you guys have solved your video playing problem but having to go "old school" on a problem seems to me that some of these modern day software programmers have missed a trick somewhere along the line.

UK Bob