Kernel version: Amlogic binary blob for S905/W/X video acceleration

shippy · June 6, 2022 at 9:29 PM

I recall that the last LE version supporting Amlogic binary blob for video acceleration for older SoCs ( S905/W/X) was based on kernel 3.14.29 and Kodi 18.9 ( Nov '19?) was the last LE version supporting.

Newer LE versions based on later kernels seem to not work nicely with S905/W/X streaming ( 720/1080p.)

Questions:

1. Is my impression above correct?

2. Are Amlogic binary blobs for video acceleration for older SoCs now available in any newer LE versions?

Does this have to do with kernel updates?

3. How are newer kernels / LE versions supporting video acceleration in better SoCs?

Through CPU (software) acceleration, given more powerful CPUs?

4. Can anyone comment on the video acceleration situations for Rockchip and Allwinner SoCs?

Cheers 😽,

shippy.

**chewitt** · June 7, 2022 at 5:57 AM

1. No. S905X is quite well supported. The issue with most W/Y boxes is they are super low-spec with 1GB RAM which means forget 4K.

2. Yes, because the blobs are firmware and old vendor kernels and moder kernels use the same firmwares. Drivers are something different.

3. The current upstream drivers were written for GXL/GXM; they don't work as well on newer G12/SM1 hardware as this neeeds updates to some of the codec drivers (which nobody made) and older S905 devices don't support HDR and VP9. Newer boxes have more CPU grunt so most of the time you can disable hardware decoding and software decode (1080p is great, forget 4K).

4. Allwinner and Rockchip are both well quite supported with older chipsets and there is considerable active development on support for newer chips. LE contributors are heavily involved in the kernel V4L2 stateless decoding efforts.

shippy · June 7, 2022 at 10:12 PM

Quote from chewitt

1. No. S905X is quite well supported. The issue with most W/Y boxes is they are super low-spec with 1GB RAM which means forget 4K.
2. Yes, because the blobs are firmware and old vendor kernels and moder kernels use the same firmwares. Drivers are something different.
3. The current upstream drivers were written for GXL/GXM; they don't work as well on newer G12/SM1 hardware as this neeeds updates to some of the codec drivers (which nobody made) and older S905 devices don't support HDR and VP9. Newer boxes have more CPU grunt so most of the time you can disable hardware decoding and software decode (1080p is great, forget 4K).
4. Allwinner and Rockchip are both well quite supported with older chipsets and there is considerable active development on support for newer chips. LE contributors are heavily involved in the kernel V4L2 stateless decoding efforts.

Ok thanks 😌

1. So I should assume S905W ought to work with 720/1080p with newer LE versions too?

2. Not worried about VP9 or HDR.

Here I am assuming that YouTube streaming with S905W should still be OK, since Youtube should switch to other than VP9?