[x86-64][hadesdevls Builds] LibreELEC Hades - native Dolby Vision, HDR10+ and 3D

Quote from DolbyVisionFriend

Hades: playback stutters while the media info overlay (O key) is open. Without the overlay, playback is smooth.

DolbyVisionFriend Thanks for testing it on the Geekom. That stutter is a fault in Hades, and I am working on it for the next version. While anything of the interface is on screen, each Dolby Vision frame is composed with it before it goes out, because the TV gets the interface inside the Dolby Vision signal. The info overlay redraws itself all the time, so every frame takes that longer way, and on integrated graphics it costs about twice the GPU time of the picture alone (on Intel graphics at 60 Hz: 35 to 40 ms per frame with the interface, 16.5 ms without). The next version makes the frames with the interface cheaper, so that an overlay no longer makes the video stutter. If you have a minute, a diagnostic with the overlay open would let me measure it on your Radeon as well, but the work does not wait for it.

Quote from DolbyVisionFriend

whether CB1, with its "Dolby Vision Master Reference" option, is technically superior to the Hades dvbridge module

CB1 is the work of CroqueMr, and he is the right person to explain it. Here is what Hades does, in short. Each picture is rebuilt the way ETSI GS CCM 001 describes the composer: the base layer, the reshaping of its RPU and, in profile 7 FEL, the residual of the enhancement layer, at 12 bits. It goes to the TV in the IPT-PQ-c2 transport used for TV-led displays. FFmpeg decodes the video and reads the RPU, and libplacebo runs the reshaping on the GPU. The ways of drawing (direct, composed with the interface, a frame ahead) are checked against each other with a software renderer, and at full fidelity they give the same bytes. A step-down happens only where the GPU cannot keep up, and the log says so.

ApexAftermath Thanks, the diagnostic has what I needed (start-2 is your RC8 run; start-1 is an older one from RC5). Your GT 1030 played the profile 7 FEL film at about 12 frames per second instead of 24, and two things in the log explain it. Both are faults in Hades.

Frames. The GT 1030 takes about 31 ms of GPU time per frame, and a refresh at 23.976 Hz lasts 41.7 ms, so the frames fit. But each one went out the way that waits for its flip, which on your card took about two refreshes per frame. Presenting frames a frame ahead removes that wait (it is what made integrated AMD graphics play at full speed). On NVIDIA, Hades turns it on only after it has measured missed refreshes in two runs of 240 frames, which at half speed takes about 40 seconds, and your test stopped at 47. The next version turns it on within a few seconds when most frames miss their refresh like this. You can try it now: add this inside <advancedsettings> in /storage/.kodi/userdata/advancedsettings.xml and restart Kodi:

<video>
 <dvaheadalways>true</dvaheadalways>
</video>

It has not run on a GeForce 10 card yet. If the driver refuses it, Hades goes back to the usual way and kodi.log says so.

Enhancement layer. 133 times in those 47 seconds, the VAAPI driver could not hand Kodi a picture of the enhancement layer ("resource allocation failed"), so about a third of the frames went out without their FEL residual. With 2 GB on the card, video memory is the likely reason. The next version records the memory of the card in the diagnostic, and I am going through what Hades keeps in video memory during Dolby Vision, to bring it down on 2 GB cards.

The run has no HDR10 video, so nothing yet on the 10-bit option. As sat4all found (issue #17), on GeForce 10 cards RC8 sends 10 bits but still draws the picture at 8; the next version fixes that.

sat4all Thanks for confirming. One correction from your photos on GitHub: on the GTX 1060 the link is 10 bits, but the picture is still drawn at 8 bits, because the plane of that card cannot flip the 10-bit buffers Hades draws into. Details and the fix for the next version are in issue #17.

Quote from lfemperor

Transformers 2 Revenge of the Fallen 2009 (UHD BDMV/ISO): Unfortunately, this movie has the same issue: when playback starts, the TV initially triggers the Dolby Vision logo, but shortly after, it drops back to HDR10 playback.

lfemperor Thanks for testing RC7 so thoroughly, and good to hear the FEL test plays in all four formats, seeking included. Transformers 2 dropping to HDR10 is a fault in Hades. ht2tweak saw the same with the Transformers and Tron samples on an N150, so both reports are on Intel graphics. I'll reproduce it with those samples and fix it for the next version.

Yes please, the kodi.log of a playback that drops would help, ideally with the diagnostic on (rename DIAG-OFF.TXT to DIAG-ON.TXT on the boot partition, play the film until it drops, then zip the hades-diag folder from that partition). When Hades leaves native Dolby Vision, it writes the reason in kodi.log and on the Dolby Vision page of the player information. I'll start with the samples from ht2tweak and ask for a clip only if they don't show it. Thanks also for pointing to RC2 of CroqueMr.

Quote from DolbyVisionFriend

I’ve noticed one little bug: when I play a video from my S24 (HDR10+)—processed as Dolby Vision—and then stop the clip, the screen remains black. The PC hasn’t crashed, though; I can tell because I can hear the audio feedback as I navigate through the menu.
Is this a known issue, or should I provide a log?

DolbyVisionFriend Yes, please capture this with diagnostics on. The menu sounds show that Kodi is still responding, but I need the state after stopping to see whether the Dolby Vision signal was removed and the normal output restored.

Rename DIAG-OFF.TXT to DIAG-ON.TXT on the boot partition, play the S24 clip as Dolby Vision, then stop it and leave the black screen for at least 30 seconds before restarting. Attach the hades-diag folder from that run. It records the output state 5 and 30 seconds after Dolby Vision ends, which is the part I need here.

If possible, please include a short original S24 clip that reproduces it, without re-encoding. Please also say whether the TV still reports Dolby Vision while the menu is black. I cannot yet say whether this shares anything with the overlay stutter. Good to hear chapter skips work on FEL MKV here.

Quote from ApexAftermath

Diagnostics attached.

ApexAftermath One remaining test for the HDR depth option: the attached RC8 run is native Dolby Vision on the GT 1030, so it does not establish the HDR10 rendering depth on either card.

When you next test HDR10, enable System > Display > "HDR at more than 8 bits where the card sends RGB at 8 (NVIDIA)" at Expert level and capture a diagnostic for each card separately. Please identify which is the GTX 1060 and which is the GT 1030.

I need both the rendering-buffer depth and the HDMI output depth. RC8 can report a 10-bit link while still drawing at 8 bits if the display plane rejects the vertical reflection required by its own HDR buffers, as the GTX 1060 report in issue #17 showed.

Quote from SunnySnacksALot

Hi, many thanks for the good read and your efforts the last few weeks, really awesome what you have built in such a short time frame.
Both your builds do not seem to work with my newly aquired AMD RX550 LP. Dolby Vision does fallback to HDR on CroqueMRs Build, and on HADES build the tv shows the Dolby Vision logo and i can hear Audio,
Attached is a log from CroqueMR build, i tested two scenarios: plugged directly into the TVs HDMI4 Port and also with my Denon AVC-x3800H in between. Hope i can contribute to this project by testing and shareing my logs.
Please let me know if i did something wrong or if you want me to test anything.

SunnySnacksALot Thank you for testing both builds on the RX550. I already reviewed the Hades diagnostic you opened as https://github.com/hadesdevls/LibreELEC-Hades/issues/20, and I left the next comparison there.

The attachment here is from CroqueMr RC3, not from Hades. I read it as a comparison. On this card his kernel reports the AMD family as unsupported for native Dolby Vision (family_supported=0), so native output is not started (native_dv=false, native_eligible=false). Playback then sets HDR at 3840x2160. That matches the fallback you described. Both sessions in the file see the G3 (LG TV SSCR2) on HDMI; I do not see a Denon EDID in this log.

Hades takes the other path on the same card: it does start native Dolby Vision, which is why the TV shows the Dolby Vision logo and why you still hear audio. The picture staying black is the fault I am investigating. The Godzilla capture in that diagnostic is MEL, so the black screen is not limited to FEL reconstruction.

The comparison I still need is the same Godzilla file, over the same direct HDMI connection, with "Dolby Vision as HDR10" selected, plus whether opening the playback controls during native Dolby Vision leaves those black as well. Please keep diagnostics on and attach the folder on the GitHub issue.

Quote from SunnySnacksALot

hadesdevls Thank you for reading the CroqueMR log too, stumbled upon that while reading the logs myself - very curious what he thinks about the attached log, but i also want him to take breaks to not overwork himself - both you guys please take breaks if you feel like you need to (and even if you do not feel like you need to but your loved ones tell you to).
I did the tests you wanted me to (and some mistakes along the way) and sent you the logs on github.
For now i will keep the Denon AVC-x3800H out of the equation - as i feel it would overcomplicate things unneccessarily.
If you guys are able to make it work on a direct connection, then i will happily test it with my Denon in between.
Very excited about both your approaches, i like my homatics Box with coreELEC, but even just scrolling the menu you can tell its performance is not up to my (way too high) standard.

SunnySnacksALot Thank you for the extra tests and for sending the logs to the GitHub issue. I will go through them there. Thank you as well for the kind note about taking breaks.

Leaving the Denon out for now is the right call. Once native output works over the direct HDMI connection, your offer to test it with the receiver in between will be very useful.

Haha, I understand about the Homatics. I also have one with my own custom build based on the nightlies, which I have not uploaded, but I do appreciate the performance difference a PC can give.