Far from perfect infact with numerous issues....
And its only going to get worse for LE S912's as we move forward to Kodi v18 Leia adding new features like Kodi DRM video streaming - see my recent S912 DRM testing post.
The only guys I can possibly see getting linux GPU video drivers for AML S912's are WeTek - as they can licence such drivers and tie those drivers to their own specific hardware platform(s).
Well these AMLogic S912 boxes continue to disappoint....
I compiled a Kodi AGILE Alpha1 LibreELEC 9.x release for the MINIX U9 S912 to try out Paid for Netflix DRM video streaming.
AML S9xx devices can only do Max 720p Netflix streaming due to all copy protected content having to be Software decoded by ffmpeg (H264) and AML ffmpeg Software decoding not being optimised properly just yet.
Results as expected with the patched together Android libhybris video drivers were not that good when Software decoding, stuttering video playback and annoying jerkiness was the result.
This compares to the ODROID-C2 using the same Kodi AGILE LE release producing smooth 720p Netflix video playback when software decoding.
I can post up the LE 9.x .img with instructions if anyone is interested.
[hr]
A strange flickering when scrolling in kodi's menus.
That is due to kszaq being forced to used patched together Android GPU drivers for this LibreELEC / Linux based release.
The GPU and these video drivers draws what is seen onscreen in Kodi's menu's.
What you are seeing is Graphic User Interface tearing, due to poor video drivers. If we had proper Linux, optimised GPU drivers for the mali GPU used in the S912 you would not see such issues AND AMLogic S912's would make pretty nice LibreELEC platforms.
It's looking really doubtful ARM will release these Linux - Mali S912 GPU video drivers anytime soon.
Kwiboo is the dev. who puts out the OpenPHT releases:
GitHub - RasPlex/OpenPHT-Embedded: OpenPHT-Embedded is OpenPHT running on LibreELEC
This the Git workflow I generally use if I want a "Clean" Git commit history:
Stop using `git pull`: A better workflow - adamcod.es
This is now off topic and belongs in a development thread.
Be aware Video Caching has changed in Kodi - whilst Jarvis may have a bit more network buffering headroom - Krypton may not be as tolerant:
To eliminate Networking throughput issues - problematic video files should be played from a directly attached USB Stick or HDD.
Nah, you are not doing anything wrong.
Can you try adding this boot.scr file to the SD card pls.
Yandex.Disk
I've taken a bit of old @surkovalex and mixed in a bit of current kszaq and come up with this LE 8.0.2 Kodi 17.2RC1 image for the MINIX X8H+
LibreELEC-Minix_X8Hp.arm-8.0.2.img.gz
Hopefully WiFi should work properly. The IR remote should work out of the box.
Dual boot may work.
Image Flash Instructions:
Power Up Instructions - first Boot:
You may only have to hold down the reset/power button till the green Robot appears.
I have no X8H+ to test with however.
W.
From previous AMLogic testing there are problems with 1080i deinterlacing and Live TV if you are running at a 4K Resolution.
I suspect because all OTA 4K TV is not even interlaced - its all 2160p - ie progressive.
Running 4K GUI is fine - just don't use it for any Interlaced TV.
4K HDR movies work perfectly on my S905X box. I use an ethernet disk connected in NFS over wifi, and it's all working fine.I have still to manually set on my DX750 the color space to BT2020, but apart from that all fine.
I had a PM from wesk05 who has specialised video test equiptment - and he sent this regarding AML HDR using LE on S905x's:
I have since then checked it and I can say the it does passthrough HDR10 metadata except for the MaxCLL and MaxFALL values. For a comparison, Samsung Ultra HD Blu-ray player when introduced didn't send these parameters.
These LE builds do not support Deep Color (10-bit color depth) or can set the output color space to BT.2020. Without those two, the passthrough of HDR10 metadata is really meaningless.
I personally would not be buying any AML S912 (KIII Pro) for LibreELEC duties when there are already proven, more stable options available with S905's and S905X's. Ones that do not have GUI graphics tearing.
Anyone that tries to convince you that LE on a AML S912 is "perfect" does not know what they are talking about.
Like chewitt said I would not count on proper Linux GPU drivers being released for the S912 anytime soon.
Stable - LibreELEC inbuilt tuners option are the Wetek Play2 and the KI Plus / KII Pro:
thread-2722.html
LE AML S905's will be quicker than RPi's, particularly when run from eMMC Flash memory.
Honestly you will not notice much difference speed wise between LE running on a AML S905 with Gigabit Ethernet and a S912 with Gigabit Ethernet.
Update in #1. Faster channel switching.
And a nice coupla patches they are as well that fixes that annoying channel switch wait time - thx. afl1
WeTek Hub running Marshmallow Firmware - Kodi Krypton - 2nd File sample = green line bottom of video
Xiaomi Mi Box running Nougat test Firmware - Kodi Krypton - 2nd File Sample = video picture clear
ODROID C2 running my custom version of LE 8.0.1 with some backported Nougat Kernel code = green line bottom of video
Conclusion, something is up with encoding of this video - it's the first HEVC encoded video I've ever seen displaying this problem, and I've watched and tested a LOT.
Thank you for the well considered answer.
What I am hearing is that this last build is as good or better than the 905X except for some gui tearing. The one concern is that Amlogic has not yet released the libraries. Is there a known reason for this? Is it a question of time?
All in all, if it's working well I'll get a 912.
Nope, better than S905 is wrong.
Few knowledgable User reports, with minimal testing does not make LE on an S912 better than LE on S905(x) boxes.
You have your wishfull thinking hat on there. S905(x) LE boxes have had thousands of more hours testing LE on them than the S912.
So far I have had:
- 3 lockups, with Kodi rebooting all on its own in less than 24hrs. I was just skipping thru H264 video.
- What appears to be a dark Graphic User Interface, and dark video playback.
- Noticeable Graphic User Interface tearing
And I have not even played HDR video yet....there will be more issues for sure.
No idea if actual Open Source Linux GPU drivers will become available for the S912.
Stick with the S905(x) LE platforms if a purchasing new.
LE S912 experimental only.
I don't care the GUI tearing until the movies play well...
The S912 has a big advantage against the S905X: the gigabit lan. (I know the S905 also has gigabit ethernet but it cannot play 4k VP9)
And this latest version is much better than I expected.
It is still running although I tried everything to make it stop.
Well what S912 users may have not yet discovered, is 8bit 1080p HEVC video is output with the wrong colorspace.
Picture output is too dark vs AML S905 devices.
In fact with 1080p output and the whole GUI is too dark at times. I can see it easily with a back to back test on a S905 LibreELEC box.
This problem is also seen in Android on S912 boxes, and now I see it here as well with LibreELEC Krypton, testing on the MINIX U9 S912.
There are likely more bugs to come...
So from a developer perspective I will say again, S912's are not recommended LE devices at the moment.
Experimental only.
The S905(x) LE boxes will offer better long term stability as a LibreELEC media player.
As kszaq has said these release are experimental, there is Graphic user interface tearing displayed due to no proper Linux MALI-T820- GPU drivers available from AMLogic.
Plus the S912 - for video playback is no different to the S905(x) - both do up to 4K HEVC HDR - to varying degree of success.
Speed wise - there really is not much difference across all the S9xx AML LibreELEC releases. All of them are definitely not slow.
Suggestion is to try instructions found in this post:
ODROID Forum • View topic - LibreELEC 7.1.3 - Kodi Jarvis - February update
Further custom work is very likely need in the now used - AMLogic common C2 / Hub / Play2 Kernel for GPIO support.
HardKernel have done a lot of custom GPIO patching for their Linux specific Kernel.
Modded Edited anyway...don't worry about it
