Since the last update a week or so ago on the Sony Android TVOS (and Play Store upgrade from Kodi Matrix 19.0 to 19.1) my TV can no longer continuously play most 4K content in Kodi. I get better luck with VLC but even it had freeze-up's which is one reason I am starting to think its not Kodi (I had originally assumed they did something from Matrix 19.0 to 19.1 that updated about the same time).
It has worked flawlessly since I got it 5 months ago never freezing once and nothing else has changed in my network or with my server (even put some 4k content on another of my servers and same result). I pumped up the readfactor and cachesize in Kodi and it just delays the inevitable freeze up's, just takes longer to freeze up and longer to recover from the freeze as it refills the cache.
Its not a bottleneck in my network or server (checked) and am aware that the Sony 950H TVs only have a 100mbps hardwired (and I am setup hardwired). I was willing to just go Kodi's fault but when I had the same problem (but not near as bad) when I tried the same content on VLC I'm starting to think its Android 9.0.
Is anyone aware of any overhead / resource increases or known problems slowing TVOS apps down, particularly Kodi?
The vast majority of Android TVs out there are all running AndroidTV9; there is no reason to think this might be the cause. Same goes for Kodi or anything else.
Follow these steps if you want to test make a thorough test of your network that will not be dependent on your internet connection:
From your ATV device
Download and install the iPerf apk
Run the app (Settings -> Apps -> Magic iPerf)
Set the server to iPerf3 mode with the default settings "-s -i 1"
Start the server
From your PC
Connect a PC via ethernet to the same router/switch your ATV device is connected to (if you are connecting over wi-fi, this should be the wi-fi router)
Download iPerf on your PC
In a windows command terminal ("cmd") run iPerf with the following
iperf3 -c <DEVICE IP ADDRESS> -i 1 -t 600
Your device will report network speeds it is receiving from your PC.