Content playback issues
Black gap appearing between content
Issue Identification:
A screen is displaying black between pieces of content, or app is going black/crashing during playback
Potential Cause:
- Gapless playback is not supported on the device
- Video or image content is too large and not supported on the device.
- Corrupted video file
Overview:
Gapless playback is what happens when multiple videos files in a playlist seamlessly play with no interruptions or gaps. If a device doesn’t support gapless playback, when the first video file ends there will be a black “gap” before the next file plays.
This will occur when a device only supports the rendering of a single video file at a time. When a playlist has multiple video files in it, even though the device is playing a single video, just before the end of that video it needs to pre-load the next video which is happening in the background at the same time.
Steps to troubleshoot
- Firstly always check the device firmware. Majority of the time gapless playback issues are fixed with a firmware update. Refer to this page for additional information: Checking device firmwarehere
- If you have multiple of the same screen, publish the same content to see if it is consistent. Is the issue happening on all screens or just one.
- If it is working on multiple screens, this usually means the content is ok and it may be firmware or other issue.
- Ensure the resolution of any content in the playlist is correct for the device
- Some devices only support gapless playback at 1920 x 1080, so 4K content may not work
- Some devices also do not like mixed resolutions. Make sure all resolutions are consistent.
- Identify exactly which images/videos the issue is occurring on. Get a video of the screen and do this internally, or get them to confirm which images/videos it is happening on.
- Replicate it on our own devices (ideally using the same device)
- Check PowerBI fingerprints to see how many other devices are running Fusion (this will help us know if other people are having success)
- Check whether there firmware information available to confirm
- If the firmware is the latest, try putting an image between each video
- Video
- Image
- Video
- Image
- If the content is in portrait, try landscape content with multiple videos to see if the black appears
- Video (Landscape)
- Video (Landscape)
- Video (Landscape)
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