Playback issues on webOS 4 with Widevine DRM-protected content

Web App Development
1

Hello,

We are experiencing significant playback issues on LG TVs from 2018-2019 running webOS 4 when streaming Widevine DRM-protected content via MSE/EME. This problem has been consistently reported by our users and reproduced during internal testing. Here’s a detailed summary of the issue:

Affected devices

  • LG TVs (2018-2019 models) running webOS 4.

Issue summary

  • Symptoms:
    • Content frequently stalls during playback, even when the buffer contains 10+ seconds of data.
    • Playback issues occur regardless of the resolution, the stream type (VOD and live), the content provider or the player we use.
  • Behavior:
    • With Widevine DRM, the content stalls frequently.
    • With PlayReady DRM:
      • VOD works perfectly.
      • Live streams fail to start, as the key status never becomes usable.
    • Without DRM
      • Everything works perfectly.

What we’ve tried

  1. Tested with multiple players (Shaka Player, dash.js, video.js), stream qualities (down to 360p) and content provider.
  2. Disabled features such as stall detectors and gap jumping as recommended by the Shaka team.
  3. Restricted streams to lower resolutions (e.g., 720p 30fps).
  4. Tested with non-DRM content (e.g., Sintel), which worked flawlessly, even in 4K.
  5. Tested on newer LG webOS 22+ devices, where the issue does not occur.

Key findings

  • The problem is specific to Widevine DRM on webOS 4.
  • PlayReady DRM works for VOD but fails for live streaming.
  • Non-DRM content streams perfectly on all tested devices.
  • Interaction with the UI exacerbates the issue, because of the limited processing power on these older devices.

Logs and details

  • The issue occurs across multiple firmware versions and LG TV models that runs webOS 4.
  • Logs indicate that Widevine DRM causes the video element to fire frequent waiting events during playback, even if there’s still content in the buffer.

Related issues

Request for Assistance

We suspect this is an issue with how Widevine DRM is handled by the webOS 4 CDM, and not an issue with the player itself. Before informing our customers that this is unresolvable on our side, we would like to know:

  1. Has LG identified or acknowledged this issue with Widevine DRM on webOS 4?
  2. Are there any firmware updates planned to address this problem?
  3. Are there any recommended workarounds to optimize playback on these devices?

Your guidance and expertise would be greatly appreciated to help us resolve this for our customers.

Thank you,
Mathieu Massicotte

2

webOS TV 4.0 supports Widevine Modular v3.2.1. (See Streaming Protocol and DRM.) Please check the Widevine Modular version first. Thank you.

3

I’ve reached our video hosting team to get the information, I’ll get back to you on this shortly.