@balbes150 LE images with Kodi-19 for S9xxx

    Can someone comment on the latest Kodi 18.2 release, in particular the stuff about GLES/AML updates "after years of no love" and the Android Codec Factory settings from xml files?

    Kodi "Leia" 18.2 Release | Kodi | Open Source Home Theater Software

    1. What impact is on LE kernel 3.14 and 4.x/5.y releases, if any?

    2. Do the Codec Factory settings lessen the TV box firmware issues, and somehow make Android on TV boxes better in performance?

    shippy

    1. Codec factory is only for Android where you can configure which HW decoders to blacklist in case you have issues with them: no impact on LE at all.
    2. GLES updates should improve both 3.14 and mainline users. Improvements that have effect in LibreELEC/CoreELEC:
      • improved bitmap subtitles rendering (e.g. extracted from Blu-Ray or DVD)
      • less GPU load when rendering software-decoded HD videos from inputstream (e.g. Netflix HD - still up to 720p works smoothly, no 1080p...)
    3. AML updates have effect only on builds using 3.14 kernel - these are a few fixes from LibreELEC/CoreELEC builds, mostly from afl1.

    kszaq

    Thanks.

    1. Yes I do understand Codec Factory is for Android OS only 😃 So basically it just takes out the bad decoders if you can identify them !

    2. For 720p streaming, Kodi 18.2 means you have less CPU load given software decoding.

    3. Is there a list of AML 3.14 updates for Kodi 18.2? Are they mainly just bug fixes or some streaming improvements too?

    One thing I don't understand: Is 720p or below decoding always in CPU ( soft decode) for AML S905/912?

    Why waste the GPU as idle?

    Why not use hardware decoding for 720p/below too given extra CPU load, or can you set it optionally either way?

    Quote from shippy

    Is there a list of AML 3.14 updates for Kodi 18.2? Are they mainly just bug fixes or some streaming improvements too?

    Crash fixes: Amlogic fixes from community builds by kszaq · Pull Request #15859 · xbmc/xbmc · GitHub Note that if you are using CoreELEC (or LE 8.2), the fixes were already included in previous Kodi versions. These commits were PRd to upstream a few fixes.

    Quote from shippy

    One thing I don't understand: Is 720p or below decoding always in CPU ( soft decode) for AML S905/912?

    No. HW decoding is enabled for all videos unless you change it in Kodi settings.

    Quote from shippy

    Why waste the GPU as idle?

    GPU is not used for "hardware decoding"! This is done by VPU.

    Quote from chewitt

    Some comments:

    WiFi on S905X2: may not be supported for a while yet, or at all. S905X2 has a design flaw in how the SDIO module is internally connected and while an egregious hack/workaround exists in Amlogic's 4.9 kernel it's looking unlikely that a cleaner solution acceptable to upstream kernel maintainers can be found. We might attempt a mainline kernel version of the egregious hack through a local patch, or since the majority of users stream media over Ethernet anyway, we might just leave it unsupported and avoid the support/maintenance work. The issue is allegedly resolved with the S905X3 chip which is already being sampled to manufacturers.

    Device trees: The mainline kernel avoids the silliness of 1G/2G/3G variants needed on the legacy kernel which makes life easier, but we will still need to figure out (and then upstream) the device trees for popular devices. I'm keen that device trees are sent upstream so that devices can be uniquely identified by "compatible" strings in the device-tree, as this allows simple things like the remote control keymap (also sent upstream) to be described in the device-tree for a better out of box user experience. Submitting changes to the kernel is not the most straightforward process but if non-coding folk like myself can figure it out (my personal collection of one-line kernel changes is slowly increasing) the bar is not set impossibly high.

    arm vs. aarch64: performance is marginally higher on aarch64 but arm allows us to support widevine drm (which is not available in 64-bit format) so arm is our preferred option and official nightlies and the Kodi binary add-ons to match them, once they start, will be arm only. Maintaining a single image for all Amlogic hardware (two images until panfrost evolves bifrost support) is a bigger win than the minor performance gain. On G12 hardware the future gain from running the CPUs at full speed (at the moment they are under-clocked) will dwarf the architecture difference.

    Please re-consider the WiFi stance. I'm in a condo and use WiFi exclusively from my current s905 Kodi box. I've had a x96 Max (4GB) for a while and I'm excited to see LibreELEC leading the charge once again for these boxes. I can't wait to watch 4k HDR over my point to point wireless :-).

    Quote from chewitt

    KyleS at this point there is no technical solution for S905X2 wifi on the mainline kernel. If that changes, then we can negotiate the project decision on how ugly the patch is and what to support.

    Anything I can influence? Which subsystem isn't playing ball?

    Quote from balbes150

    Update 20190423. For S905X2, a new DTB for X96 max has been added to support the 100Mb wired network option (model 2\16 version). Fixed BT and sound for Vega S95 (S905).

    Fresh install on X96Max 2G/16G

    Changed the dtb to "-rmii" version.

    On boot there is no sign that the wired connection is working .... no lights on switch.

    In settings, the connection is shown as 'On', but there is no connection present.

    I switched this Off and then On again, and the connection immediately came alive and got an IP address via DHCP, with corresponding light on the switch of course.

    So it seems there is a minor bug in the setting of the NIC to active during boot.

    I was unable to access the LE repository but could access others.

    Is there something I should do, or is this not yet available?

    Thank you for your work on this.

    EDIT:

    I forgot to mention the audio choice is greyed out but yoou are probably aware of that as I saw mention of audio above.

    Edited once, last by JohnBoyz (April 24, 2019 at 12:27 PM).