Posts by johngalt

Quote from Forage

Is there any other advantage to this build, in addition to the 10bit/HDR work that has been done, for the 1080p users?

Three notable advantages:

• On default 8 bit output, 10-8 dithering is enabled (fixes the nougat "color banding" that was reported on earlier kszaq nougat builds). Just realized S912 should have had dithering enabled on the old nougat kernel as well, sorry for mixing up a s905 and s912 issue.
  
• Some users who had output issues on nougat through AVRs may have them fixed now.
• It's been reported HDR->SDR conversion is improved.

Quote from pipo1000

Just wanted to let you know, and not very important for me but I just tested testing7 and the BBC One video still judders, it seems dec_control is 0 instead of 4;

LibreELEC:~ # cat /sys/module/amvdec_h264/parameters/dec_control
0

Thanks for your hard work, it is a real pain to find a balance between all the big and little issues with the amlogic code.

I guess I needed to full rebuild (was a dirty build)

Quote from jd17

The default behavior of the box should be to switch to 4:2:0 at >= 50Hz, not 4:2:2...?
Afaik, 4:2:2 at >= 50Hz would be more than the HDMI 2.0 bandwidth can handle...

BTW, using "testing7" for a fresh install does not work johngalt, only update is possible.
I used "testing1" instead and updated to 7 right after that...

You're right, I misspoke. And I'll clean build and test a clean install to see what's going on.

Edit: Thank you kszaq, I just saw your message . That makes sense.

Quote from afl1

Internal dvb tuner isn't supported in testing6. johngalt fix your sources, you have to update linux patches for nougat. Look in my branch

LibreELEC.tv/projects/S905/patches/linux at 8.0.2-testing6 · afl1/LibreELEC.tv · GitHub

Also update dtb for KI Pro, there is fix for IR.

KI_Pro-nougat.dtb

Thank you, I updated links to that dtb, and added that patch. I missed that commit prior, otherwise patches/sources were good.

Edit: "testing7" uploaded with that patch and the bbc dvb-t fix added back.

Quote from 2re

Forcing 422 on <50hz there is almost no BLUE color On my tv i can select R, G or B channel, and the red and green looks ok, but the blue is almost black.

I can confirm and it may be due to the most recent change. I'll check, however there's no need to force 4:2:2 which goes against the default behavior of the box (switching to 4:2:2 at >=50hz).

Quote from lufa2710

On 50 hz ok and 4.4.4 ok i set this in autostart.sh without autostart.sh ewrythinght ok

Okay. With the command in OP, it will still set 422 on >=50hz, so it's recommended to just use that command then.

Quote from pipo1000

This works, now the BBC One video is playing correctly without stutters. By the way with the stutters it looks like the playing is dropping 2 to 3 frames each second. What does this setting do and does it have any side-effects?

It may have side effects. It's a default setting in kszaq's builds that I removed after a user reported it caused playback issues for them (but may have been related to other changes). I'll add it back and see how it goes.

Quote from plikmuny

Hi John, does your build support internal Tuners like KII Pro or KI Pro ?

can we just update your latest test build on afl1 build ?

If they're supported in kszaq's builds, then they're supported here. You can update as with any other build (place in .update or write to sd).

Quote from lufa2710

Manually setting 4.2.2 on both 8 and 10 bit 1080p green screen all the time

But if you play <50hz media without setting attr you don't get it? What happens if you set 444,10bit as in the OP?

Quote from lufa2710

422 green screen in test 6 test1 ok

Assuming 4:2:2 10bit? Are you manually setting 422, or is this just on <50hz playback? What happens if you set 444 like in OP? Or do you mean it's occurring on 422 media?

Quote from pipo1000

I just tested testing6 on my 42GT60 plasma with Nexbox A95X (905X). I have gathered some testing video files over the time from this forum and some do not work;

Good and works:

Tested some movies / series in mkv4 h264

Sony Camp 4K Demo.mp4

Bad:

Escape to the Country-BBC ONE HD2017-04-0415-00-1.ts - shudders (shudder also with testing4)

Sony_BRAVIA_OLED_HDR.mp4 - image is inverse (works with testing4)

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It looks like the 20170515 updates fixed the inverse image, I'll look into it. For the BBC One file with shudders, could you try the following before playback? echo 4 > /sys/module/amvdec_h264/parameters/dec_control

Quote from sunnyfunny

Get my Bqeel M9Cmax today. All fine with HEVC 10 Bit Playback and HDR, but one problem i have.

Why is Hyperion not working?

I don't have a Hyperion setup, so I need more info and a log. HOW TO:Provide Logfile - LibreELEC

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

Quote from RedCat

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!

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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?

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

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.

nolyx do you get the 4k output issue in the GUI as well or only playback?

Quote from saltanar

I need 420 output as I have on Egreat A5, there is a way to enable it?

Not currently, but you can switch back to the cable that worked for you.

Edit: Testing4 uploaded. This is the same as the "expmerge" build, except it has upstream changes from kszaq merged in.

Quote from nolyx

Hello johngalt,

thanks for your new experimental. I tested it and there is no more 4k output for me. It Shows the same colored stripes now as on all the other builds i tried.

Going back to experimental two. Hope you find the reason for that. Thank you for your work.

That's good to know, thank you. I should have another one sometime mid-week.

Just uploaded a new experimental build.

This is a mix of the experimental branch and standard branch used in the "testing" builds. This is targeted at fixing 4k output for users such as nolyx , but needs more testing. Due to personal time constraints currently, I only checked that it booted and played a single video. **Get ready to roll back to 8.0.2-testing3**

Quote from sbegel

Hello guys,

does this command "echo 400 > /sys/module/am_vecm/parameters/panel_max_lumin" still work?

Only for dolby vision conversion, not for standard HDR->SDR.

Quote from pipo1000

I am testing your builds on my Pana 42GT60 however the panel is not showing which mode (422,444,420, 8bit, 10bit) is being used and I do now own AVR which does. The only thing the Pana tells you is 1080 24Hz. Is there a cat /proc/something or debug setting to check which output mode the Amlogic chip / Kodi / LE is using? As both default Kodi debug OSD infos are not showing much in depth info too. Thanks!

Yes, you may check dmesg for "cd =" in at least the second occurance. if it says "cd = 4" then it's 8bit, if it says "cd = 5" then it's 10bit.

Quote from wrxtasy

I'm posting this here instead of starting a new thread simply for those that want to test John's Nougat-WIP Kernel on AML S912's

Its a very early LibreELEC 9.x Kodi Leia Alpha that is subject to much experimentation and change, hence no point publishing source at this very early stage.

Kodi video playback does work pretty well having said that, I'm using a S912 - MINIX U9.

Index of /LE-9.x-S912-Nougat-WIP/

Thank you! I got my s912 to test builds on as well, but haven't got a chance to do anything yet (and probably won't until mid-week).

jd17, There isn't an easy way to go about it. I'm also not sure if that's the issue, and due to limited knowledge I'd be taking shots in the dark that could negatively affect output for everyone else.

Quote from jd17

Wow, I just tested 50Hz and 60Hz at 422,8bit and 444,8bit - no flicker whatsoever!
(I just disabled refresh rate switching and enabled sync playback to display instead to test on the same 23.976fps movie...)

I know this is a lot to ask since I seem to be the only one affected by this - but is there something you could do about this sync issue?
That would be so amazing!
Of course I understand if that does not interest you though....


Edit:
If I play a 10bit video in the same environment (8bit output, 60Hz) the flicker is there. So I guess the 10bit to 8bit dithering has an impact as well?

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From what you've said, I don't think it is a pixel clock/sync issue. That's also something I really don't want to mess around with (sorry, huge can of worms and potential for other issues).

Quote from VoYaGeRTM

Code

Cloe:~ # cat /sys/class/amhdmitx/amhdmitx0/dc_cap
420,8bit
444,10bit
444,8bit
422,10bit
422,8bit
rgb,10bit
rgb,8bit

If I have Kodi in 4k gui settings I get black screen with any movie I play when I set:

Code

echo '444,10bit' > /sys/class/amhdmitx/amhdmitx0/attr

On the other hand when I set Kodi in normal 1080p gui everything plays fine.

Except 4k movies.

I have to set it to rgb 8bit for 4k to even display on my Philips 43PUS6101/12.

Would this be a cable problem? (no avr, directly connected to the TV)

Another problem is that some HEVC have problems with noagat stuff somehow.

With the full MM build of kszaq (8.02a and b) they play fine.

Like Attack on Titan stuff from pseudo.

Edit: Hmz 444,8bit seems to work for a 4k 10bit movie. But none of the 10bit will work.

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So far two others reported a similar issue and solved it by using a shorter "premium" cable. This doesn't fall inline with symptoms of the 4k nougat output bug (like @RedCat's with a denon AVR).

Thank you for reminding me about the pseudo encode issue. This was reported awhile back in kszaq's thread, and I don't think anyone ever got to it (or no samples were posted)? I put it on my list.

BTW, because most displays upscale better than these boxes, it's recommended to keep the GUI at 1080 since it will switch resolutions up to 4k on 4k media.

Quote from nolyx

Hi johngalt,

thanks for your great work.

After testing all your builds and kszaq builds, the only time i have 4k working is with your experimental builds. All other Show only flickering Color on the screen.

I have a beelink 905x and a hisense 4k tv. I report this, because i was so happy when you first uploaded your experimental builds. Now with the testing builds and kszaq builds there is no 4 k for me.

Thank you, this is actually very good news. You don't get 4k output on the "marshmallow" builds either such as kszaq's current 8.0.2 builds?

The reason why I stopped publishing the "experimental" builds is because some h264 playback was very broken on them, and >=50hz 4k output was stuck at 8bit. I'll be uploading another experimental build tomorrow with some reverts that workaround the issue, and will be interested to hear if that also has 4k output for you.

You might also want to try a shorter "premium" hdmi cable if you have one laying around (a few users have reported this fixed their 4k output issues).

Quote from koboltzz

No, I did not touch the hardware acceleration settings since my first libreelec install which was 8.0.1j.

Now, on your testing1 I took a look at the settings (didn't change them) and it is set to SD always accelerated.

But, after changing it no never and playing the same h264 SD movie, async video and audio for ~8 secs remains.

Thank you, it's not what I thought. Also, I've made no changes that could have fixed this since testing1.

Just uploaded "testing3." This is the same as testing2, except as far as dynamic_buf_num changes go, only vh265 was dropped down to "stock" to fix the picture corruption. There's still a small stutter after skipping ahead for ~10 seconds.

Quote from jd17

What do you mean by sync issue?

A pixel freq or vertical/horizontal freq issue.

Quote from jd17

Thanks johngalt!

I have a question on a side note, maybe you can help me out...
As you maybe remember, I complained a few times about weird lower grayscale flicker.
It turns out that my AVR adds that to the signal.
I am bypassing the AVR's video processor and it still messes up the signal - even if I "dumb down" the S905X output signal as much as possible (422, 8bit / rgb,8bit), I tried everything.

The flicker is not there with the RPi2, however - the image quality of that is also inferior in the lower grayscale range.
My assumption is that the S905X generally uses some kind of dithering that the AVR does not like...
I don't know. It happens with MM kernel as well, so it's independent of build.

Anyhow, long story short, as a last grasp - do you know if it is possible to "boost" the HDMI output signal on AMLogic devices?
I am asking because the RPis have that function:

Code

config_hdmi_boost=0-11

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I'm not sure of a similar function that's currently implemented (and I'm also not sure if it would help). The 10-8 dithering is disabled on 10bit output, but it could be a sync issue of some kind (though if you also get it on 50/60hz, then possibly not).

Quote from jd17

Skipping in HEVC videos now messes up the playback. Everything jumps around.
I assume the quoted part is responsible for that?

Damn! Will fix. Thank you for reporting. I also believe that "macro blocking" issue you reported might be related to a color range bug if we fall back on hdmi mode from an edid parsing failure.

Quote from koboltzz

I just want to politely ask if you also fixed my reported h264 SD hardwareacceleration bug?

Of course I will test it the weekend

I may have misunderstood when you reported it: did you explicitly enable hardware acceleration for SD videos?