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FAQ (Audio, Video, Subtitle, Other)

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Stefano Gottardo edited this page Nov 20, 2023 · 65 revisions

Video:

Audio:

Other:

Video

My android device supports 4K but does not playback at 4K

Before asking for help, please perform the following checks:

  • You must have a 4k Netflix account plan.
  • Verify that your device support Widevine Security Level L1 (use an app like: DRM Info).
  • Verify that your device is connected to a display and/or amplifier with HDCP 2.2 or higher.
  • Verify that on the Netflix website, in the Playback Settings for the profiles to be used, they have the Data usage per screen, set to Auto or High.
  • Verify that Kodi can reach until to 4K resolution, Go to Kodi settings -> System -> Display check that there is the 4K resolution. If there is no 4K resolution available you have some kind of problem with your device or display.

If you are using KODI v19 try follow also these steps:

  • Set Kodi display resolution to 4K. If instead you want keep a lower Kodi GUI resolution, then open InputStream Adaptive settings and set Ignore Display Resolution to ON.
  • Verify that in the Netflix addon Expert settings, Enable HEVC profiles is set to ON.
  • Verify that in the InputStream Adaptive add-on settings, Override HDCP status is set to ON, and, Stream selection to "Automatically select streams".

If you are using KODI v20 try follow also these steps:

  • Verify that in the InputStream Adaptive add-on settings, Stream selection type is set to "Adaptive", or else you can try set "Ask quality" to be able to see if 4K video resolution exists in the list of available video resolutions when playback starts.

If again you don't get 4k resolution, open ESN / Widevine settings on add-on Expert settings, then press Reset and OK button. Avoid using the ESN of the original device provided by the original app with the add-on, as Netflix may limit your device to 540p for an undefined period of time.

Video playback problems like frame drops, slowdown, stuttering

It usually occurs on devices where hardware video decoding is not available and the CPU cannot process the video stream properly due to high load.

So to try to get a more smooth playback the only solution is to limit the bandwidth and/or resolution of the video stream.

You can try to solve this problem by trying one of these solutions:

  • Force limit the video resolution to 720p in the add-on
    From add-on Expert settings, change Limit video stream resolution to value to 720p.
  • Limit the max bandwidth on InputStream Adaptive
    From add-on settings go to Expert page open InputStream Adaptive settings, then set Max Bandwidth between 2.500.000 and 4.000.000
  • On Raspberry system try increase the RAM dedicated to the GPU
    Search in the RPI forums to know how to do and what is the best value it depens from RPI models.

On Kodi v20 or above, there are other similar solutions:

  • Limit the max resolution on InputStream Adaptive
    From add-on Expert settings, select InputStream Adaptive settings, then set Maximum resolution to 720p
  • Always manually choose the video resolution on playback starts
    From add-on Expert settings, change the Override stream selection type to Ask video quality

How to enable HDR and Dolby Vision

If 4K prerequisites are met (see Readme), you must enabled HDR and/or DolbyVision profiles in addon settings.

  • In the addon settings go to Expert page and set: Enable HEVC profiles to ON Enable HDR profiles to ON and/or Enable DolbyVision profiles to ON

Remember also to enable HDR feature also in the Kodi display settings.

Depending on your setup, there may be some tinkering required to get HDR to work. This depends on your TV, if you are using an AV-Receiver, which device Kodi is running on, etc. Please make sure to search the issues and available forum threads for a solution before opening an issue!

When you playback a video on Android there is no video

First make sure that android video hardware acceleration is enabled.
Go to Kodi settings, go to Player settings, then enable:
Allow hardware acceleration - MediaCodec (Surface) and Allow hardware acceleration - MediaCodec

If it still does not work, it may be that one of the enabled video profiles are not compatible with your device. Then go to Add-on Expert settings, and try to disable VP9 and/or HEVC profile.

Missing video resolutions

Netflix does not provide the same resolutions (even of the same TV shows or movies) on all models of devices. Most of the time it is closely related to the type of CPU architecture used.

See Reference table of high resolutions in the Readme to have more info.

Video Stream only at 540P (SD) on ARM device (linux/Kodi OS)

On ARM devices such as RaspberryPI that runs Kodi OS like CoreELEC, LibreELEC, etc... Netflix does not provide HD content for every video.

First thing to do is verify that on the Netflix website, in the Playback Settings for the profiles to be used, they have the Data usage per screen, set to Auto or High.

Do you think that the missing HD resolutions are an add-on problem? Before opening an issue thread, please check that your information are accurate.

How to do a check, an example with RPI:

  1. Run RPI operative system
  2. Open Netflix website with RPI Chromium browser
  3. Play a video title that for you have HD resolutions at fullscreen
  4. Now press keys CTRL + ALT + SHIFT + D, will be shown the info about current video resolution
  5. If the info shown 1080P resolution and same title in the addon is at 540P, in this case it is an add-on problem to be reported

Video Stream only at 540P (SD) on Android device

First thing to do is verify that on the Netflix website, in the Playback Settings for the profiles to be used, they have the Data usage per screen, set to Auto or High. If this is not the case, the lack of HD resolutions most of the cases is due to a uncertified device or due to a needed operative system update.

Before asking for help make these steps.

First step, check if device is still HD certified:

  1. Install official Netflix app from PlayStore, If the app is not available on PlayStore, you will not be able to have HD resolutions.
  2. Open the Settings of official Netflix app, and go to Playback specification page
    If say maximum resolution SD, the device is not certified.
    If say maximum resolution HD, then could be an ESN problem.

Second step, check the ESN:

Open add-on Expert setting ESN / Widevine settings, do a Reset ESN, then try playback.
If still not works, try compare the ESN code shown in the settings of official Netflix app with the add-on ESN (on Expert settings ESN / Widevine settings). If you notice that the characters in the code begin differently, try manually copy the official ESN in the add-on by clicking on Change ESN button (you can ignore all characters of the final part).

Third step, how to ask for help:

If you have not solved the problem or you still want to report the problem, you must attach the following info otherwise we cannot analyze and solve the problem.

In your Issue thread you have to attach:

  • A screenshot of ESN of the official Netflix app (by censuring last chars)
  • The device system info, how to do:
  1. Open ESN / Widevine settings from add-on Expert settings
  2. Press the button Save system info to save the system info in to a file
  3. Attach the file in your Issue thread

Videos at 23/25fps are not played at double display frequency (hz)

For Windows system only:
The double frequencies are not switched automatically. This can happen when your display not support 23/25hz, and display should switch to e.g. to 50hz, but from Kodi v19 this not happen by default anymore.

To enable this Kodi feature:
Open Kodi System settings, switch the settings page to Expert (below). On Dislay page, select Whitelist, select all the higher resolutions with differents hz (usually all 1080p or 4k), then enable Allow double refresh rates.

Video codecs

The availability of video codecs depends on the system used and device capability. For example HEVC is available only on Android but not all devices support it, that could cause black screen or so.

Enabling too many codecs can cause a forced fallback to H264 codec, this behaviour does not depend on the add-on but is caused by the website. Some codecs even if enabled are not guaranteed to be available on the played video.

It is currently not possible to establish a guide on which codec combination to enable, because depends on the behaviour of the website that currently is not so clear.

The H264 codec is enabled by default, so in general we can suggest to enable only one high effency codec, so VP9 or HEVC or AV1. Enable more codecs may works or not or cause the fallback mentioned above.

Audio

How to automatically use the audio language of the Netflix profile used

In Kodi Settings -> Player -> Language set: Preferred audio language to Media default.

In this way the audio language that will be automatically selected will match the language of the currently active Netflix profile.

How to enable Dolby Atmos

The ATMOS feature is enabled by default, when the option Enable Dolby Digital Plus on Expert settings is enabled. To use it a Premium account is required.

If the Atmos audio output does not work:

  1. Open Kodi settings System -> Audio and switch to Advanced settings
  2. Enable Allow passthrough setting
  3. On Passthrough output device if possible select RAW mode or WASAPI or if previous options are not available select HDMI
  4. Enable Dolby Digital Plus capable receiver setting

If Atmos still not working you have to check your hardware/software for a possible wrong setup

Read also The ATMOS stream info (media-flags) does not appear to more info.

How is it possible to have only 2.0 audio tracks?

To get 2.0 tracks only, go to in the Expert add-on settings, and turn off Enable Dolby Digital Plus. Instead if you prefer stereo tracks to be selected automatically without turn off Dolby Digital then, go to in the Playback add-on settings, and turn on Prefer stereo audio tracks by default.

When you resume a previous playback it do not keep the language of your choice

If you prefer you can try to disable Remember audio / subtitle preferences in the addon Playback settings, in this way leaves the choice of language to Kodi, so you will need to manually select the exact audio language.

The ATMOS stream info (media-flags) does not appear

First of all make sure that:

  • You have a Premium Netflix subcription
  • Check that a video have the ATMOS track from another device
  • In add-on Expert settings, Enable Dolby Digital Plus is turned ON
  • In add-on Expert settings, try Clear in-memory and on-disk cache, and reload the list of videos

Kodi does not support the ATMOS name as a track description, therefore is replaced by [DOLBY-HD], so:

  • On Kodi v18 ATMOS tracks can be distinguished only from the skin media-flag [DOLBY-HD].
  • On Koki v19 or above ATMOS tracks can be distinguished also from the label ATMOS in the audio language list.

Other

Playback problems with ADS Plan

The support to ADS Plan is EXPERIMENTAL, there are several things that may not work correctly, this is also due to inherent problems with Kodi core itself. Listed here some common problems:

  • Fast forward or rewind ADS causes malfunctioning on features like language selection, skip intro, back bars minimizing etc...
  • Video resume dont works correctly in the Kodi library
  • Video resume dont works correctly when Synchronize the watched status of the videos with Netflix setting is disabled
  • Skip intro button is displayed with wrong timing or not displayed
  • ADS are displayed before the movie and never in the middle of the movie

Perhaps some of these will be solved in the future, others will not be, there is no timeline to this. Open Issue threads reporting add-on problems related to ADS plan will not be considered, are know problems.

How to try solve the problem with loading screen video buffering

Usually this problem is related to:

  • Instability of Netflix servers
  • Not enough bandwidth to support playback
  • There is a unstable connection

In addition the component used for playback the videos InputStream Adaptive add-on, currently has not implemented a stream buffering to compensate or eliminate these problems.

Therefore possible solutions affect the quality of the image:

  • Limit the video resolution
    Open Expert settings, and on Limit video stream resolution to set 720P or lower
  • Lower the bitrate (can affect also the video resolution)
    Open InputStream Adaptive settings and set Max. Bandwidth to like 1000000/800000 or lower (could affect also the other add-ons)
  • Use a better Wi-Fi channel or change it to a wired connection (sometimes a simple reboot of the Router might solve the problem)
  • Try use a H.265 codec this codec use a lower bandwidth but is not available on all videos.
    Open Expert settings and enable VP9 (and/or HEVC profile if Android device)
    WARNING! if the codec is not supported this could cause side effects like stuck Kodi or black screen etc.
  • Only as last resort: Open Expert settings and try change Open Connect CDN server, if no improvement restore the Server 1.

How to set the automatic selection of a profile

Open the list of profiles, then open the context menu on a chosen profile:

  • Set for auto-selection
    If set, the chosen profile will be selected automatically at every add-on start.
  • Set for library playback
    If set, the chosen profile will used to play the videos from Kodi library.
    Note: if no profile has been set every time a video is played you will be asked to select a profile.

To remove the setting perform the action again.

Subtitles - blank boxes are shown with asian subtitles (Hebrew, Arabic, Thai...)

The blank boxes are commonly known as tofu, is displayed when a certain character is missing in the font used.
This is a limitation of the fonts used Kodi, the only way to try and trick this problem is to set the Arial font to the Skin in use, and in the Kodi subtitles settings. It may not work with all kinds of Asian languages, the best thing is to get/ask information through the forum of Kodi.

Subtitles - I always see subtitles in every video

Just change how Kodi handles subtitles by choosing forced only. In Kodi Settings -> Player -> Language set: Preferred subtitle language to Forced only

Sometimes blank boxes are shown instead of characters of descriptions and titles

The blank boxes are commonly known as tofu, is displayed when a certain character is missing in the font used.
This is a limitation of the fonts used in Kodi, the only way to try and trick this problem is to set the Arial font to the Skin in use.

Skin - wrong video media-flags info (resolution, format audio-video)

Due to the great fragmentation of operating systems and the different support of audio/video format types and resolutions of each type of device, we can not get all the right skin media-flags info in to the videos.

The information are therefore general and may not conform to what you might get in reality when you play the video.

Media-flag info descriptions like HDR, DOLBY VISION and DOLBY ATMOS are not supported in Kodi. For DOLBY ATMOS case, will be replaced by DOLBY-HD description.

Skin Widgets - problems and limits

Let's start by saying that this add-on is not fully compatible with Skins Widgets due to unmanageability and poor integration provided by Widgets themselves, therefore widgets are not officially supported.

Therefore requests for help for problems caused by widgets will not be accepted.

Some know Widgets limitations and problems:

  • When you add a Widget, it will have access to the data of the last selected netflix profile, which is the profile you selected to open the add-on last time.
  • The videos played from a Widget, will be played by using the last selected netflix profile, which is the profile you selected to open the add-on last time.
  • Widgets created by some type of list may cause unexpected errors when you select another Netflix profile different from which the Widget was created, by displaying error messages or other.
  • Use many Widgets could stuck the Netflix service with unexpected errors, break the database and cause many other unexpected behaviours.

Kodi - Favourites

The Kodi Favourites menu play the videos with the last selected netflix profile, which is the profile you selected to open the add-on last time.

Exports to Kodi library - The video exported do not have video/audio stream info (media-flags)

This is a limitation, it is not possible to add information regarding the details of the audio/video tracks (media-flags), because the information are not available in the metadata requested to Netflix service.

You can still add the length of the videos, by enable the option Enable NFO files export in the Libray settings of the add-on.

Exports to Kodi library - Some exported TV Shows/Movies are missing in kodi library

It may happen that the screaper set in the exported files folder (in Kodi's library) does not recognize the exported TV Shows/Movies, so it excludes them from the list.

So to view titles not recognized by the Kodi screaper, you must enable export of NFO files:

  • Open the add-on settings
  • Go to Library section
  • Turn on Enable NFO files export
  • Then, turn on also Include all information in NFO files

Now export again the missing titles.

Exports to Kodi library - Some Tv Shows are not updated automatically

If some Tv Show are not updated automatically, you should have this situation: More profiles with different languages.

This could lead to fails to get the tv show data, because some titles are not available on other profiles languages. This is not solvable due to the working design of netflix itself. How to solve it?

  • If happen with auto sync with My list: Means that last time you have browsed the add-on with a profile different than set for the auto sync. Then open again the add-on with the same profile set for the auto sync, and do not change profile until the next scheduled update.

  • If happen with auto update: Means that you have exported a tv show from a profile where in another profile language is not available. Then browse the add-on with the right profile, select the tv show, open the context menu and select Export new episodes.

Some lists have missing titles, seasons or episodes

It may happen that between the official app/website and the add-on there are missing titles, seasons or episodes, (we are talking about missing titles inside add-on lists, NOT in Kodi library).

It is essential to make these preliminary checks:

  • Check if you are using the same profile on all devices/apps/website
  • Check that the missing titles actually exist on the website (from a computer)
  • Check if you are using a VPN or Proxy:
    Then disable or/and uninstall the VPN/Proxy, after open the add-on Expert settings, and select Clear in-memory and on-disk cache

If after these checks, there are still missing titles, seasons or episodes then try to open a Bug request Issue.

Skin viewtypes (Views) settings

The views are type of view to show list contents, for example to Estuary skin there are InfoWall/Poster/WideList/Wall etc. Each of this views has its own ID (related with skin used).

An example to Estuary skin: InfoWall is ID 54, Wall is ID 500

These settings allow you to override the default views used by skin for a type of content. When enabling a custom view on a list type, you must enter the ID (number) of the view to be used.

The ID's must be provided by the skins readme, have no relation with the add-on.

How to check if an android device passes Netflix certification

Verification steps:

  1. The official Netflix app must be available on PlayStore, if it is not listed your device is not Netflix certified
  2. You can try install SafetyNet Test app, to check if PASS all google tests
  3. You can try check in the PlayStore settings if Play Protect certification is marked as certified

How i can use JSON-RPC calls?

This add-on has not been designed to be used with JSON-RPC calls, so help requests for malfunctions caused by these calls or wrong data in the responses will not be accepted.

How i can use JSON-RPC call to make a search?

There is a specific support to allow searches through skins and/or JSON-RPC calls, this because use the default add-on path of add-on search menu could be complex to use.

The endpoint to use is: plugin://plugin.video.netflix/directory/search/search/?query=something

Please note that searches made from this endpoint will not be stored in the add-on database.

How to try run the addon with Python 3.5 or 3.6

This addon requires Python 3.7 libraries, so force using this addon with older Python libraries may cause unexpected errors, for which no support will be provided. If you are experienced enough and have a Linux operating system, there is an alternative that allows you to run the addon on Python 3.5 and 3.6. This is the guide:

Open the terminal and install these packages:

apt install python3-pip
pip3 install contextvars
pip3 install async_generator

Now you can try run the addon, please note that it may still not work and does not guarantee correct functioning of the addon.

Audio/Subtitles language codes have a wrong/incomplete descriptions

On Kodi v18/v19: This is a know issue of Kodi v18/v19 because do not support language code with subtags, then unrecognized language codes are displayed on Kodi GUI menus with a wrong description. For example es-ES is displayed like Spanish-Spanish instead of Spanish-Spain. To limits this problem the addon implement a workaround to show better language descriptions, but may not include your language code. If so open a new Issue and report it. There are no other solutions for these Kodi versions.

On Kodi v20 or above: From this Kodi version has been improved the support for language code with subtags, then unrecognized language codes are displayed in Kodi GUI menus as is without descriptions. For example es-ES is displayed like Spanish-es instead of Spanish-Spain. If you want better language descriptions, there are two solutions:

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