Posts by jbinkley60

I've decided to give up on trying to use both the NUC HDMI and USB-C outputs simultaneously. I've ordered an HDMI splitter which will pass 4K @ 60fps over HDMI 2.0 for video and output video / audio @ 1080P @ 60 fps over HDMI 1.4 for my AV receiver to extract the audio. It is supposed to pass full uncompressed 7.1 audio. The user reviews show others using it to do exactly what I want. Once I receive it I'll post my results.

I have a NUC 8i7BEH and am using a Harmony 650. See this thread for some issues I've encountered with the built-in IR sensitivity. I too use the Harmony software for key / button mapping. I've had one button I mapped with an override using the Kodi keymap editor.

Check and see if the source content is interlaced or not. This micro-stuttering on some platforms especially with interlaced content is being discussed within the Kodi forums.

I have the latest BIOS 0056. I don't see anything in the BIOS which would align to this. I did some additional testing with my other NUC running 8.2.5 and I think what may be happening is that when my Samsung TV connects to my NUC on an HDMI connection a handshake occurs which causes LibreElec / Kodi to determine the resolution. With my 8.2.5 NUC connected straight to my TV when I switch back / forth the NUC will occasionally switch from my video setting of 3840 x 2160 @ 30 fps to 1920 x1080 @ 60 fps. If I plug the same NUC into my Yamaha receiver and then to the TV the NUC will not change resolution when I switch HDMI inputs on the receiver. So this leads me to think that if I can lock the resolution in LibreElec to what I want and not allow it to ever change (except when I change it) that this may resolve the issue. Here's a thread which sounds very similar to mine.

Here's a picture of what it looks like when the text disappears.

Thanks.for looking into this. I've done additional testing and believe I have found the cause but don't have a solution. There was another thread regarding sending video out the main NUC HDMI port and sending audio out the display port. I've determined the problem started when I moved to this configuration. So what appears to be happening is that when I switch the Samsung video to watch another source Kodi sees that output go away (even though it is still physically cabled) and then only sees the display port which I am using for audio. When the problem occurs, if I pull the display port connection to the NUC the menus come back. I've enabled the Kodi blank other displays option since I really don't want or need video going out the display port but that doesn't help. What I don't think should be happening is that one output is impacting the other. I would think video outputs should be totally independent. .

I've seen the same issue on 1080i content. Try disabling deinterlacing in Kodi and see if that resolves. I've also seen HW decoding causing it. You might look at the video codec stats when you are playing a 1080i video and see what your CPU is running. I've chased this problem for a few weeks and have resolved for now by disabling deinterlacing and upgrading to the latest v9 alpha release. This is with the generic build software running on an Intel NUC. There have been other 1080i Kodi playback issue threads.

I am having a problem with v18 code. I've seen it in earlier v18 releases but have been dealing with other playback issues which are now resolved. The problem remains in the most current release. I have an 8th generation Intel NUC (8i7BEH) connected directly to my Samsung F9000 TV running HDMI 2.0 3840x2160 @ 60 fps (although I don't believe the resolution and refresh rates don't seem to make a difference). Also connected to my TV is a Roku Ultra device on another HDMI input. The problem can easily be reproduced. When the problem occurs the text on any menu disappears and I get is the background Kodi menus without text. This includes hitting the info button, the codec information when a video is playing or even the basic video menus to navigate my library. It is also independent of the skin. I can reproduce this with either Confluence or Estuary. Here's the sequence of steps to reproduce:

1. I am viewing the NUC / Kodi on my Samsung TV, generally playing a video but it doesn't seem to matter what I am doing.

2. I switch away on the Samsung to view the Roku device. The NUC stays powered up as-is.

3. I switch back to the NUC and play a video.

4. While playing a video I hit any overlay screen output like the Info button, Menu button, I skip the video or view the codec info.

5. At this point whatever comes up in #4 comes up with the background and any associated images but the text is gone.

Rebooting the NUC fixes the issue. Sometimes I can switch away from the NUC and switch back on my Samsung TV and the text comes back but not always. I can post a screen shot of what this looks like when it happens and a log output if it would be helpful and this hasn't been seen before. it seems like something with the HDMI output / negotiations. If I never switch away from the NUC (steps 2 and 3) the problem never occurs. Has anyone else seen this loss of menu text symptom ?

Since it is using a standard USB-C interface vs. straight USB, it doesn't look like any special Linux drivers are needed. For USB to HDMI drivers are needed. I didn't realize this initially. Here's the link to the cable I am using.

I hooked up my NIC8i7BEH with the HDMI port connected via HDMI to my Samsung TV for video and the USB-C to HDMI cable to my Yamaha RX-A3020 for audio. It works beautifly and solves a major challenge I had been dealing with, my Yamaha receiver being older only supports HDMI 1.4, which had limited me to 4K @30fps. The setup was straightforward. I had to reboot LibreElec so that it saw my Yamaha receiver plugged into the USB-C port. Once I did I went into the audio settings and saw my Samsung on display port 0 and the Yamaha on display port 1. I changed the audio setting to display port 1 and everything worked. If you don't see your receiver on display port 1 it is either a cable or driver issue. I am using the stock LibreElec Alpha 9 current build.

Thank you again for this topic. I hadn't considered using the display port for sound and was looking at shelling out a stack of cash for a newer Yamaha receiver that supported HDMI 2.

I would think so. My older NUCs are an i5 model NUC6i5SYH and an i7 NUC5I7RYH and both have been sufficient as long as you leverage their hardware decoding.

I can't speak for the 7th generation with regards to HEVC but my 8th generation handles it just fine. The NUC8i7BEH models have been on sale if you look around and wait for sales. I picked one up for $399 on Black Friday. I've seen others at $429 but I suspect they will be on sale again before the end of the year.

Audio passthrough is fine. No issues on any source format. I am passing through HDMI. The RC2 build is more stable and the only issue I have now is the built=in infrared receiver has limited distance so I installed a Flirc. This issue seems to be more common with the 7th and 7th gen NUCs. The other issue I am seeing is what many are calling micro-stuttering playing interlaced content, especially 1080i. This is a Kodi 18 issue across many HW platforms, according to the noise on the Kodi forums. All progressive content is fine. Overall I like the new NUC.

I picked up a USB-C to HDMI adapter cable today and will do some testing. I have a couple of Intel NUCs and may want to try a similar configuration. I'll let you know what I find.

You can look at Mezzmo. It will handle serving up on demand video, live stream captures, music etc.. It supports uPNP clients ()i.e. LibreElec), web clients, Android clients and more. It might do what you want. I've been using it for years and their support is excellent.

For those interested, here's the thread with Intel. It is getting more interesting. I've got my gen 1 Flirc working pretty good now. I had some issues with button delays but changing the delay times on my Harmony remote and some additional Flirc programming has fixed everything. It is pretty responsive now.

I've got a thread going with Intel now on the IR receiver issue. I already exchanged the NUC for a replacement and the problem persists. We'll see what they come back with. It seems to be an issue on the 7th and 8th gen NUCs. I didn't want to use an external receiver but right now it is my only option. I sit further than 6 feet from the TV. I could look at other approaches like a Harmony HUB, wireless remote etc. but for now I'll stick with the external remote for the near term.

So I am in the process of upgrading from a NUC 5I7RYH and have also previously had a NUC 6i5SYH both running LibreElec as HTPCs. It sounds like my upgrade goals are similar to your to support HEVC and HDMI 2.0 for 4K @ 60fps. Right now I am limited to HDMI which limits me to 30 fps. As for noise I never hear the new unit. Nor did I hear the old units. As long as you enable the HW offload the CPU utilization stays low and thus the cooling fan isn't an issue. I use the quiet profile in the BIOS. The NUC has been great playing all formats. The only issue I am having right now is high bitrate MPEG2 @1090P where I am upscaling to 4K @30fps (due to an upstream AV receiver still only supporting HDMI 1.4). The issue is I can get an out of sync audio/video condition when using HW decoding and skipping. It lasts for about 10 seconds and then gets back in sync. If I disable HW offload for MPEG2 it is fine. All other formats play beautifully. The other NUC issue I have is the built-in infrared receiver has distance limitations. Much over 6 feet and it becomes useless. I've gone with a FLIRC USB IR right now and it is working fine.