[TESTING][S905(X)] 10bit/HDR/Dithering Test Builds & Discussion

    Quote from RedCat

    I tired expmerge build. it is same as test4 build. Gui is work, but in playback black screen and lost signal. I go back test3, it work perfect.

    Thank you. I'll revert the 20170515 merges and build within the day. The only difference between test3 and test5 will be upstream (kszaq) changes.

    Just reporting that unfortunately I do see the 2160p/10bit vertical lines at normal viewing distance (3m to 65") after all - especially on bright content.
    I don't want to annoy you, it's just an observation.

    I assume you have not had any epiphanies on how to get rid of them? ;)

    Quote from matt77303

    Any other benefit of upgrading to a s905X ther than HDR support?

    S905X over S905: HDR, VP9 decoding and hardware AES acceleration (faster OpenVPN).

    S905 over S905X: Gigabit Ethernet (in some boxes), better H.264 4K support., faster GPU (792Mhz vs 745Mhz in S905X)

    Quote from kszaq

    S905X over S905: HDR, VP9 decoding and hardware AES acceleration (faster OpenVPN).

    S905 over S905X: Gigabit Ethernet (in some boxes), better H.264 4K support., faster GPU (792Mhz vs 745Mhz in S905X)

    Thanks.

    so unless I really need HDR I'm better off sticking with my S905 ( running great with your builds )

    Matt

    Uploaded "testing5" with the partial 20170515 updates reverted (to fix 4k nougat output bug reintroduction).

    Quote from Rootz

    Hello,

    This testing builds i´ll be the future for 912 devices?

    I'll have a tested S912 build up by this weekend.

    Quote from jd17

    Just reporting that unfortunately I do see the 2160p/10bit vertical lines at normal viewing distance (3m to 65") after all - especially on bright content.
    I don't want to annoy you, it's just an observation.

    I assume you have not had any epiphanies on how to get rid of them? ;)

    I've started noticing them as well, particularly on bright skies. A movie I watched yesterday (la la land) had a few spots where they were noticeable from my couch. I'd like to get rid of them, but don't know where to start. Most of what we've fixed was fixed at some point in another amlogic release. Unfortunately, I also get them in marshmallow android + spmc.

    A small status update:

    IMO the state of the pull requests is good and on par with marshmallow. At this point, the only users who are still having output issues either also had them on the marshmallow kernel, or only have them on 10bit output (and have confirmed a cable replacement solved it).

    Recently, I haven't had much time for solid testing and reading through the kernel source. Long-term I'd still like to fix the h264 issues on the nougat-exp branch (full nougat amports + 20170515 merges), but unfortunately in terms of output bugs we have a dilemna that also needs to be solved for that branch:

    • nougat-exp fixed nolyx 4k output bug which he also had on marshmallow (was never a release that had working 4k output prior for them).
    • 20170515 merges brought back the traditional "4k nougat output bug" for RedCat that we fixed in c4e93dc

    johngalt I tired "testing5" build, and all are ok. GUI, sd, 720p, 1080p, and 4k films work perfect.

    But "testing4" is not the same bug as before.
    Old nougat kernel: no signal gui and movies

    Testing4 build: GUI is ok, no signal only under movies (sd, hd, 4k)

    But testing 5 is work great!

    This is good or bad news for us?

    Thank you for your hard work! :)

    I just tested the "Samsung HDR Wonderland" demo in the "testing5" build.
    Unfortunately, macroblocking and weird flicker are still there - easily visible in most skies, very obvious in the one above the stadium, approx. 1:20min in.

    Output mode is set to 444, 10bit. Box directly connected to TV.

    Quote from jd17

    I just tested the "Samsung HDR Wonderland" demo in the "testing5" build.
    Unfortunately, macroblocking and weird flicker are still there - easily visible in most skies, very obvious in the one above the stadium, approx. 1:20min in.

    Output mode is set to 444, 10bit. Box directly connected to TV.

    Are we talking small dots and lines like dust on a old movie? If so, thees are also visible when i play the video on my Windows Surface Pro 4. Other than that the picture is perfect.

    Can someone explain, where / how I can see those vertical lines you are talking about? Haven't noticed them so far.

    Also the Wonderland Demo has been removed from demo-uhd3d.com apparently. Does anyone have a mirror?

    Testing6 uploaded, only change from testing5 is a minor video_dev change to bring it inline with other nougat modules.

    Thank you for the correction; I misread when you first mentioned this. I may have found the change that caused this behavior, but am not planning on releasing tests with it until we get nougat-exp working correctly (h264 issues).

    Quote from jd17

    I just tested the "Samsung HDR Wonderland" demo in the "testing5" build.
    Unfortunately, macroblocking and weird flicker are still there - easily visible in most skies, very obvious in the one above the stadium, approx. 1:20min in.

    Output mode is set to 444, 10bit. Box directly connected to TV.

    On the latest "testing6" build I can't see these in that demo video and watched it a few times. There are still the vertical lines occasionally visible, but I'm really not sure about those.
    Would you mind giving it a try?

    Quote from 2re

    Are we talking small dots and lines like dust on a old movie?

    No. I don't know how to better describe it than "macroblocking and flicker".

    Quote from kubrickdave

    Can someone explain, where / how I can see those vertical lines you are talking about? Haven't noticed them so far.

    Get a little closer to your TV and look for fine vertical lines in bright, ideally light grey or white areas.

    Quote

    Also the Wonderland Demo has been removed from demo-uhd3d.com apparently. Does anyone have a mirror?

    I uploaded my copy for you, here is the link:
    Uploadfiles.io - 9.-samsung_hdr_wonderland_2160p_hevc_10bit_23.976hz_bt.2020_hdr10.ts

    Quote from johngalt

    On the latest "testing6" build I can't see these in that demo video and watched it a few times. There are still the vertical lines occasionally visible, but I'm really not sure about those.

    Would you mind giving it a try?

    I tried testing6, the artifacts are still there.
    I also tried a few different scenarios to exclude noise, still no success...
    Played the demo from USB, used another HDMI input on the TV (both deep color enabled), tried the second (good) new cable...

    That all does not change it unfortunately.
    I think another scene of the demo is even better suited to look for the artifacts...

    Starting around 1:42min, there is a river and a mountain range.
    If I look at the blue sky between the moving clouds, I can see the artifacts very easily.

    I also compared to the TV's internal player again to make sure, but none of the macroblocking or flicker is visible there.

    Do you see no difference (apart from the vertical lines) to your TV's internal player at all?

    Even if you move close to the TV?