@balbes150 LE images with Kodi-19 for S9xxx

  • I haven't used 3.14 kernel images since August this year. I don't know what S905W box you have but a 1GB/8GB TX3 mini I have runs fine.

    I wish I could say the same!..
    ..my problem with tx3mini 2/16 is that on all 4.xx-Versions I got no sound because my monitor has no speakers, so sound just delivered over hdmi is absolutely useless for me. I mostly use on these s905w boxes(got 3 of em) av-port with a 3.5mm to cinch cable connected to old '80s analogue stereo Amps and huge PA-speakers(2x15"+ 18" subs..) , also a usb-soundcard(which works with all armbian or 3.xx-LE-Versions perfect but also needs one of the precious two usb-ports, which I block on LE-Box with mini-keyboard and HDD for Music & Videos already) isn't recognized on the newer 4.xx LE-builds I tested. It seems if there is no solution to get the av-out working, I have to stay on 3.xx Kernel on the LE box, because neither a new Amp nor a new TV/Monitor are an option..

  • shippy Normal 1080p media works fine in 4.19+ kernel images. 4k support has caveats as the HDMI driver only supports 8-bit output at the moment so 10-bit formats like HEVC don't work right and in some situations can crash the box. Until Amlogic/ARM framebuffer compression support is added 4k also requires a CMA memory pool that's too large for 1GB RAM devices. Further work on 10-bit and AFBC is planned in January. Intel has also submitted changes for HDR support to the upstream kernel recently, and while it will take a few more iterations before patches are accepted and merged, once 10-bit support has been added we can start looking at how to hook into the proposed frameworks. If you stick to 1080p media and don't need deinterlacing (as this is still done in software) it's quite usable and I haven't used 3.14 kernel images since August this year. I don't know what S905W box you have but a 1GB/8GB TX3 mini I have runs fine. S905W should be nothing special for 4.19+ kernel as long as the correct device tree for the box is used.

    That's all great news !

    1. Is it true that 4.xx still doesn't support AV audio out? How about AV video out?

    2. Any support on either kernel for the S905W p282 "newer" boards?

  • Audio is currently HDMI only and 2ch, but there's been activity on the DesignWare audio IP in the last coupe of weeks; the same IP is shared with Allwinner and Rockchip hardware. Some work is needed on the Amlogic i2s driver next, but that will probably happen in the next month as long as people don't get too carried away with video stuff which is a bit more exciting.

    I've no idea what the differences are with p282 boards. I can make enquiries.

  • Audio is currently HDMI only and 2ch, but there's been activity on the DesignWare audio IP in the last coupe of weeks; the same IP is shared with Allwinner and Rockchip hardware. Some work is needed on the Amlogic i2s driver next, but that will probably happen in the next month as long as people don't get too carried away with video stuff which is a bit more exciting.

    I've no idea what the differences are with p282 boards. I can make enquiries.

    So there might be an kernel 4.xx AV audio+ video solution like for kernel 3.14 in the next few weeks?

    I will certainly appreciate your p282 board S905W generic dtb inquiries 🐱🐈👺👻 I have searched in vain online- where several similar inquiries are unanswered !

    The problem is that when you buy TV boxes online (or even offline) there is no indication apriori of p281 vs p282. That you learn from CPU-Z or from getting Android boot screen trying to boot from SD card via the standard toothpick method !

  • I wish I could say the same!..
    ..my problem with tx3mini 2/16 is that on all 4.xx-Versions I got no sound because my monitor has no speakers, so sound just delivered over hdmi is absolutely useless for me. I mostly use on these s905w boxes(got 3 of em) av-port with a 3.5mm to cinch cable connected to old '80s analogue stereo Amps and huge PA-speakers(2x15"+ 18" subs..) , also a usb-soundcard(which works with all armbian or 3.xx-LE-Versions perfect but also needs one of the precious two usb-ports, which I block on LE-Box with mini-keyboard and HDD for Music & Videos already) isn't recognized on the newer 4.xx LE-builds I tested. It seems if there is no solution to get the av-out working, I have to stay on 3.xx Kernel on the LE box, because neither a new Amp nor a new TV/Monitor are an option..

    The core in Armbian is the same as in LE, the only difference is in the configuration. Therefore, chewitt can easily add the necessary support for USB audio devices (enough to make a diff config Armbian and LE). :)

  • My question is asking if we can directly obtain an LE .image running in eMMC with all the new configuration settings and add-ons that a user has spent time with. This is better than getting a fresh stock LE image and then restoring all your settings/add-ons to it separately- backing up the updated .img directly from eMMC is a one step process.

    You want when installed in eMMC, at the same time to move the settings that are made while the system is running from external media ?


    Is there a solution to my p282 board problem or should I just return the boxes for a refund?

    Have you tried all the dtb for the "gxl" series (s905x s905d s905w etc) ?

  • You want when installed in eMMC, at the same time to move the settings that are made while the system is running from external media ?


    Have you tried all the dtb for the "gxl" series (s905x s905d s905w etc) ?

    balbes150

    1. Re: eMMC backup to .img.

    What I would like is to just backup all the LE JeOS + settings/configuration I have done after installing the original S905-arm.img from your repo.

    This way I don't have to first backup the settings/config via LE backup menu, then install LE.img fresh on an SD card, and finally restore my LE backup from eMMC onto the SD card. Too many steps.

    Later, to keep this image size to a minimum, I can do this single backup of LE JeOS + settings from eMMC on a 2GB USB stick or use gparted to shrink this image on a bigger USB/SD card.

    Right now there is no direct way to backup an eMMC installed LE with settings except maybe with Linux dd disk copy (if LE supports it.) But people do backup their Android OS with all settings/configuration included via TWRP.

    2. I have already returned the third p282 S905W box ! So when I get a new box, I will try all dtb listed in your repo next time.😂

  • What about these sound problems?
    Am I the only person with these issues?

    Quote

    I have a little problem with my sound via a toslink connection to my AVR. Does your image support downmixing from DTS-MA to normal DTS and from Dolby Digtal Plus to normal DolbyDigital?

    As far as I understand, this should be possible. My AVR is only connected via toslink to my Minix U9-H, so right now, I can't watch movies with DD+ or DTS-MA audio... :(

  • From which specific version of the image are you trying to use dtb ?

    balbes150 from 8.2.3 LibreELEC release. But I think dtb is not the problem. I think the problem is that the newer "boot configuration" files don't work on my box. If I try to boot any LibreELEC release lower than 9, it boots. But 9 release and ARMbian that uses the same "boot system", don't boot.

  • Hi! I'm a new user on Kodi. I have a MXQ Pro 4K Android TV Box with amlogic S905 procesor, wifi, ethernet (100mb) and 1gb of ram. I'm installed KODI 17.6 with LibreELEC (Community) 8.2.3.1 (S905.arm).

    The original Android (5.1) version works bad, really bad. I'm looking for view Netflix and my download movies (torrent) located in my server wish smb share.

    After read some topic I think that my version of LibreELEC (8.2) can't use Netflix I need to do an upgrade. What file I need to download and where I need to put it?

    Thanks!

  • What file I need to download and where I need to put it?

    Thanks!

    Hi, because some settings from older builds give problem on LE9-builds and a fresh install is recommended, I guess the best way to test if all(including netflix, smb etc.) works for you is burning the img.gz of the builds(maybe try arm build first) from first post in this thread onto an micro sd card and try which of the p200 dtb files fits best to your box and its specs altering the uEnv.ini file.
    When LE is booted and you did your basic settings (network, timezone etc.) you need to activate the Netflix addon via the kodinerds addon in addon section.

    AFTER you got everything working properly you could easily install it via Libreelec section in settings(the install options are found there in service section) to internal, or like many users run it right from card and use whatever you got installed (e.g. android 5.1 and older LE) on the box if card isn't inserted.

  • The new version 20181224_LIMA. This image is universal for s905 and S905X models. To select the desired dtb you need to edit the file " uEnv.ini". Please note that for the correct operation of LE when installing in eMMC, it is necessary to update the universal multi-download using the files included in the new image. Another change. Menu items are now "Install to eMMC" and "Backup eMMC" "Restore eMMC" to full backup in a separate partition (Libreelec settings \ eMMC). Running this image has been tested on several s905x and S905 (p201) models. Those who will test this image on s905 (not X) models are requested to write the results, indicating the exact model and version of the DTB file used.

  • from 8.2.3 LibreELEC release. But I think dtb is not the problem. I think the problem is that the newer "boot configuration" files don't work on my box. If I try to boot any LibreELEC release lower than 9, it boots. But 9 release and ARMbian that uses the same "boot system", don't boot.

    If you are running an older version of the 3.14 kernel and the newer version is not running, it means that either you are not following the instructions to run the newer versions correctly, or the newer versions of the DTB are not suitable for your model.


    After read some topic I think that my version of LibreELEC (8.2) can't use Netflix I need to do an upgrade. What file I need to download and where I need to put it?

    Where run LE (SD, USB, eMMC) ?


    (maybe try arm build first)

    For Netflix - only arm (not aarch64).

  • There is no support for the proprietary DVB drivers used in older 3.14 kernels. They mostly use Amlogic kernel frameworks that don't exist in the mainline kernel, so the drivers need to be adapted.

    When available drivers DVB for mainline kernel Especially WP2