Smoothness issue with 24 fps / 25 fps playback on Formuler Z12 Ultra

Hello Formuler Team,

First of all, thank you for the quality of your products and your ongoing firmware support. I have been a long-time Formuler user and recently upgraded to the Z12 Ultra, which performs very well for most uses. However, I have encountered a recurring issue concerning the playback smoothness of content broadcast or recorded at 24 fps, 23.976 fps, and 25 fps.

When watching live TV streams or VOD content encoded at 25 fps on MyTVOnline3, or when playing the same content using VLC, TiviMate, or other Android video applications, motion is not perfectly smooth. Micro-stutters or judder are noticeable, particularly during camera pans or tracking shots. The same behavior is observed with movies or series at 24 fps.

To investigate, I conducted several tests:

I changed the HDMI output to 4K 25 Hz, 50 Hz, and 60 Hz, but this did not improve smoothness.

I enabled and disabled Auto Frame Rate in MyTVOnline3 with no effect.

I tested playback with and without hardware decoding in VLC, with the same result.

I recorded a program from a channel broadcasting (football game) in pure 25 fps via MyTVOnline3. When I play this recording from the “Recordings” section of MyTVOnline3, the same micro-stutters appear as in VLC and other players. However, when I play the exact same recording using the Media Browser player on the Z12 Ultra, playback is perfectly smooth, with no judder whatsoever.

I also tested these same files on an older Formuler device. On that model, VLC and other Android apps play 24 fps and 25 fps content perfectly smooth, confirming that this behavior is specific to the Z12 Ultra and its current firmware, and is not related to the file or the third-party players.

This clearly indicates that the issue is not hardware-related. The CPU, GPU, HDMI output, and video decoder are functioning properly, as evidenced by flawless playback via the Media Browser. It appears that the Android / ExoPlayer video pipeline on the Z12 Ultra does not correctly handle frame-rate synchronization for 23.976 / 24 / 25 fps content, remaining at 50 Hz or 60 Hz output and causing judder. The Media Browser, however, performs precise frame-rate matching and adjusts the HDMI output accordingly, ensuring perfectly smooth playback.

I understand that frame-rate management can be complex, and I want to emphasize that the Z12 Ultra performs perfectly on all other content, including 50 and 60 fps streams. I hope this frame-rate synchronization issue can be reviewed and corrected in a future firmware update, so that all applications benefit from smooth playback on 24 / 25 fps content, which is particularly important for films and European broadcasts.

Thank you very much for your time and for your continued work on these excellent products. I am happy to provide sample files or screen recordings if needed to help your team reproduce the issue.

Kind regards

Hello Formuler Team,

I would also like to report another issue I noticed this evening. Several times during live sports broadcasts, the video suddenly switches to 25 fps even though the channel’s stream is clearly 50 fps. What’s interesting is that the HDMI output remains configured at 50 Hz in the settings — the system still shows 50 Hz — so it seems that the conversion to 25 fps happens internally, without being reflected in the interface.

When this occurs, motion becomes noticeably less smooth, and I need to change to another channel and back again for playback to return to normal.

Please kindly take note of this behavior in addition to my message from yesterday regarding frame rate handling (24 / 23.976 / 25 fps). Both issues appear to be related to how the system’s internal video player (not the Media Browser) manages synchronization and automatic frame rate switching.

I’m confident that a future firmware update could address these irregularities and ensure perfectly smooth playback across all types of content.

Thank you once again for your great work, responsiveness, and for the continued quality of your products and software support.

A huge thank you!

Quote from Bazooka

I had they same issue. Also when this happened for me the screen would go black for two seconds and when picture resumed Dolby Vision logo would pop up on screen and then the picture started with almost micro freezing. For me, I made sure that both tv and Formuler box were set to Dolby Vision in settings and this resolved the issue.

Thank you for your message! In my case, I don’t think the issue is related to HDR or Dolby Vision. The behavior I described occurs with both SDR and HDR content, regardless of whether Dolby Vision is enabled or not.

The problem I’m seeing is specifically about frame-rate synchronization on the Z12 Ultra. When playing 23.976 fps, 24 fps, or 25 fps content (for example, European TV broadcasts or movies), playback is not perfectly smooth — there are small judders or micro-stutters, especially during camera pans.

Interestingly, when I play the exact same recordings using the Media Browser app on the Z12 Ultra, motion is completely smooth, which shows that the hardware, HDMI output, and decoder are all working correctly. The issue only happens in MyTVOnline3 and other Android players (like VLC or TiviMate), which seem not to perform proper frame-rate matching.

So it looks like a firmware or video pipeline issue rather than an HDR configuration problem. Hopefully, Formuler’s team can look into this in a future update to ensure smooth playback for 24 / 25 fps content as well.

But thanks again for sharing your experience — it’s always good to compare different cases!