S905 builds - general discussion

    Quote from kszaq


    redger Amlogic H/W decoder has issues with decoding SD MPEG2 videos. There *might* be an improvement in Krypton, we'll see.

    Regarding custom EDID - currently there's no way to achieve that but you may want to take a look into something doing similar thing: disp_cap_hack

    Thanks kszaq,
    The fix for the interlaced material was easy .... just deinterlace in software for low resolutions (<720) and hardware for high res.
    The screen interactions seem to be working properly now and I may have mis-diagnosed the problem. It looks more like a hot-plug issues ie. all works well if the screen is attached at boot time, not so good if I unplug / change screens.

    Thanks again :)

    Regarding the issue with missing colour deapth on old TVs like my LG 42PC52 Plasma TV, is there a chance to add some resolutions I might pick in KODI? I found out that I need either 1280x768 or 1360x768 for my TV to show realy dark black colours but these Libreelec builds only let me select standard 1080p and 720p resolutions.

    Quote from honolulu1


    I think that issue isn't resolved and probably never will be if nobody cares about users of elderly TVs.

    So with mine and your TV it might even have nothing to do with this box or this OS but only with KODIs way of developement.

    Didn't mention it before, but my TV is a samsung last generation full HD, so I don't think it categorize as "elderly". Will keep doing tests for sure.

    Regards

    I do care about picture quality and IIRC I've read somewhere that Amlogic devices in general output video signal with limited colour range. That might be changeable but I don't know how (yet).

    Edited once, last by kszaq (December 2, 2016 at 8:49 PM).

    Took a little while but i have it running on a Nexbox A95X and it runs super sweet. Thanks so much for this build its amazing. I currently have two rasberry pi 3's that i use in two other rooms but they are a bit pricey after you get a case power cord remote and all the goodies that this box already came with plus this box is way faster then the pi's. I even got an extra one for the girlfriends house so i don't have to watch netflix when over there!

    @kszaq
    I understand that these boxes detect the capabilities of the TV during boot, apparently prior to setting resolution.
    As a result, since my TV takes around 10 seconds to initialise itself whilst the box boot process begins instantly, there is a blank screen until the LE splash screen is shown.
    I am using Harmony remotes and presently work around this by delaying the MiniMX powerOn by 10 seconds (which, naturally, delays the whole start process by 10 seconds).

    Is there any way to supply the box with preset configuration and skip the auto detection?

    Edited once, last by Poida (December 3, 2016 at 8:25 AM).

    Quote from Fredouye


    Easiest way is to install this add-on : Add-on:Keymap Editor - Official Kodi Wiki

    I've noticed some keys are not working :
    - media, music, app, fast forward and fast rewind
    - 2, 7, 9 and 0 seem to be duplicates.
    [hr]



    [hr]

    Thanks Fredouye

    For the Mini M8S II (S905x) remote

    I've updated the /flash/remote.conf as follows, to enable problematic keys (they all produce useable codes now)


    to be used in conjunction with this file at /storage/.kodi/userdata/keymaps/gen.xml

    Someone may find this useful.

    It seems to be working ok for me.

    I haven't really tested the "repeat" functions. They appear to have been deliberately disabled in the original version (and included some odd entries)

    Obviously you can remap as you wish :) ... be aware that the kernel seems not to recognise some "standard" linux scan codes (Linux column), (perhaps they needed to be specified in hex)

    Edited once, last by redger (December 4, 2016 at 12:16 PM).

    I've just discovered that 720P/50 (Australian tv, from a mythtv back end) also stutters. Could this be a 50/60 hz translation issue ie. source is 50hz ... being played at 60hz. It seems to stutter a bit over once per second ? The problem is constant and consistent across multiple files. MPEG2 576i/50 has a similar issue
    The problem disappears when MPEG2 hardware acceleration is set OFF (ie software decoding, which the CPU is capable of, to 720p at least)

    Strangely, hardware accelerated MPEG2 1080i/50 seems to play without this issue (limited testing, can't record any more of this). Problem is that the CPU seems not quite strong enough to play this content :(

    I previously encountered issues with h264-1080i/50 source (also Australian tv recorded via mythtv). In this case the problem surfaces, persists for a while and then usually resolves itself (for a while)... unlike the mpeg2 source.

    Any thoughts ? Information I can provide ?

    Hi,

    I have no trouble playing European DVB-S2 signals (720p50/h264, 1080i50/h264, 576i50/mpeg2, 4k/hevc10) with hardware acceleration. Both live TV and recordings work. Backend is tvheadend (cubieboard w/ armbian and tvheadend compiled from git some weeks ago). I use refresh rate switching on start/stop with a 0.1s delay.

    thx mmpp. Unfortunately doesn't work for me (I checked my refresh rate switching settings and set same as yours).

    Could be a firmware issue ? Mine is a Mini M8s II (s905x) with Aug 2016 firmware (I think)

    Hi redger,

    you can check the output of

    Code
    cat /sys/class/amhdmitx/amhdmitx0/disp_cap

    to see if your tv set has a 50Hz mode and advertises it on the hdmi connection. Then check the kodi log of a 50Hz playback to see if there is an indication of the change and also try the tv's info to see if 50Hz actually made it to the tv.

    Also you can try to disable deinterlace to see if the judder is created by the hw deinterlacer. You can do it in the video options during playback.

    hi mmpp,
    output of cat /sys/class/amhdmitx/amhdmitx0/disp_cap

    I tried to find a way to change deinterlace options, but cannot find an option anywhere ... including in the Video option from the menu at playback time. Should I expect to see a deinterlace option ? I would happily turn deinterlacing off if I could .... but it appears to be a permanent feature of the hardware (?). Have I done something silly ?
    The deinterlace options only seem to appear when software decode is used ... but not with hardware decoding (required for high def files)

    PS I'm using the 7.0.2.009 build ... does the newer build offer deinterlacing options.
    fwiw I have enabled audio passthrough (ac3 and dts supported .... tho tv files only contain ac3 at most). Note

    PS I did find that (a) subtitles were enabled (b) pause while retrieving subtitles were both set. I have yet to discover how to permanently set subtitles to disabled ... not sure yet if this has made any difference ... UPDATE no difference - problem remains

    Edited once, last by redger (December 6, 2016 at 12:04 PM).

    thx for the advice. I had previously set the bypass_all = 1 in autostart.sh ... a few days back ... but strangely the TV still reports a 1080P signal (ie. already deinterlaced, so the setting has no apparent effect)

    The question for me is why yours works ok but mine doesn't :)