Video freezes on the first frame when played on Apple TV (tvOS)

[katwdev91]

(Sorry for reposting the thread. Github suspended my account by mistake, and the previous thread is gone)

Test Environment
Axmol Engine v2.1.5
tvOS 17.3
tvOS Simulator 18.1
Xcode 16.1

Symptom
When playing MP4 files, the video player renders the very first frame and then freezes. The status remains stuck in the "Playing" state. Multitasking out of the app and coming back resumes the video.
I have tested the cpp-tests project and cannot consistently reproduce the issue with the built-in videos. The repro rate is around 30%. I noticed the issue is more likely to occur after reinstalling the app. However, the specific MP4 file I am using (MPEG-4 AAC, HEVC) has almost 100% reproduction rate. (Please see attached demo project).

Finding
It seems something went wrong in AvfMediaEngine::transferVideoFrame(). hasNewPixelBufferForItemTime always returns false, until I multitask out of the app and then back in.

Temporary Workaround
I commented out the line videoOutput.suppressesPlayerRendering = YES; to fix the problem for now. I believe this is not the proper solution though, as it turns back on the system’s auto-rendering.

Does anyone know a fix for this?

Edit:
Attach a minimal demo to reproduce the issue (project created with Axmol 2.3.2):
tv-test.zip
(Can easily reproduce the issue on first launch. Make sure to uninstall previous version and do fresh install. 2nd+ launches can not reproduce the issue)

[katwdev91]

Updated 01/22/2025:
Issue still present after upgrading to v2.3.2

[rh101]

I don't see any commits related to this issue being made prior to the 2.3.2 release, so of course nothing would have changed.

The best thing you can do is to create a test project that has the minimal amount of code to reproduce the issue. You did note that playing a MPEG-4 with AAC and HEVC has a 100% reproduction rate, and that you cannot share that specific file, but is there any particular reason that you cannot create a test file that uses the exact same format that can also be used to reproduce the issue?

[katwdev91]

Edited and attached a demo project created with Axmol 2.3.2