HomeHEVC is a video codec (also called H.265) that has become more popular in the last few years. Its main benefit is the ability to provide HD video at a fraction of the size. For those with internet usage limits, looking into Kodi HEVC files may help you save your bandwidth and still enjoy streaming on Kodi. Although Kodi v14 introduced software decoding support for HEVC, later Kodi version also introduced limited hardware decoding support for some devices, such as a few Android-based video decoders, for Linux and for Windows, as most HTPCs do not have hardware decoding support for HEVC, so users will need a fairly powerful desktop class CPU in order to playback HEVC videos.
HEVC Playback Issues With Kodi
Kodi stutters unbearably when playing any HEVC content. All drivers on my system are up to date, and Kodi is set to run with the Nvidia GPU (optimus system). I can also confirm that hardware-acelerated decode is both enabled (in Kodi) and is working with HEVC (using DXVA Checker's trace mode). Is there any other way to see what the problem might be? The stutter is so bad, Kodi hangs up momentarily and then resumes playback choppily up to a point, then resumes again.
When you are using PC to play HEVC video on Kodi, you are likely to get choppy H.265 video playback. One of the reason is that your hardware can't decode HEVC while another reason maybe that the rendering vcref buffers that come out of VTB. Anyway, the reasons for Kodi H.265/HEVC playback issues will be various.When you can't play H.265/HEVC files on Kodi, you can try the mothods below.
A. Upgrade older Kodi version to the latest Kodi 17
Kodi uses ffmpeg as its video decoder, so I'd guess that whatever version of Kodi you are running is using an older version of ffmpeg. Try using the latest Kodi 17 which may have improved performance. You might also give OpenELEC a try if you don’t need Windows, since it’s far more optimal than Windows for running Kodi (esp the Intel/VAAPI/EGL builds).
B. Set the video cache
If you have some issues popped up – got a bunch of HEVC/H.265 files and the audio was severely behind and your PC has no hardware support either. You can drop a RAM in it and set the video cache to something like 4 or 5 GB. Afterward, the video playback / audio sync was a non issue again. Audio sync seemed to be more prevalent in movies than TV shows encoded.
C: Install Hevc Video Club Kodi Addon Repo
Hevc Video Club is a brand new addon from Dandymedia the dev thats behind many great addons. This addon brings a large aelection of HEVC movies to your Kodi setup.
Kodi 17 Install Guide
Home Screen > Add-ons > Settings button (Cog icon) > Enable Unknown Sources.
Home Screen > File Manager (folder icon) > Add Source
Enter http://dandymedia.club/repo in the top box > Enter Dandy in the bottom box > OK
Home Screen > Add-ons > Add-on Browser (box icon)
Install from zip file > Repository.Dandymedia.zip
Wait for Add-on enabled notification
Install from repository > Dandymedia Repo > Video add-ons > HEVC video club > Install
Wait for Add-on enabled notification
The Hevc Video Club Addon is now installed and ready to use.
The Add-on can now be located from Home Screen >Video Add-ons > Hevc Video Club
Play H.265/HEVC on Kodi flawlessly
If all the solutions listed above still not work, this next way must be effective. Anyway, H.264 video playback will be much smoother than H.265 video playback. So from time to time, it is needed to convert H.265 to H.264 for Kodi playback.
Actually, it is not so hard as you image. What you need is just a common video converter like Pavtube Video Converter, which is a great H.265 tool to help you out. It features a simple yet sleek interface and performs files conversion with fast speed enables you to complete the H.265 to Kodi supported H.264 codec task with least quality loss in just a few clicks at your fingertips. It even can convert 2D video to SBS 3D for Kodi 3D playback.
Apart from that, its built-in editor allows users to do some basic editing work before conversion, like trimming, cropping, adding effect/watermark etc. What's more, it also offers the optimal profiles for iPhone, iPad, Apple TV 4K, TV and more. For Mac users, please get Pavtube Video Converter for Mac to have a try. Download it from below and read further to know how to successfully convert your H.265 video files into Kodi supported H.264 within clicks.
Step 1. Launch H.265 to H.264 converter on Windows. click “File” to import your H.265 video files.
Step 2. Click "Format" to choose Kodi 17 supported format video such as H.264 HD MP4. You are allowed to adjust video and audio parameters if you are not satisfied with the default settings. Presets like size, bitrate, frame rate, audio channels, etc. can be customized in your own way.
Step 3: Now hit on the “Convert” button on software main interface to start the HEVC/H.265 to Kodi conversion. Once the process ends, locate the H.264 files in output folder. Then add the video files to Kodi library for smooth playback.
Thank for your time, hope this post is useful for you.
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