Instead of using the forceRGB switch, could you try the following and see if you still have the reported issues?
On boot before any other playback:
echo 'rgb,8bit' > /sys/class/amhdmitx/amhdmitx0/attr
Changed my autostart to this, only 720p50 dvb-s2 stayed problematic. All other files that I tested worked fine.
johngalt I noticed that the h.264 playback issues that I experienced may well have been caused by the forceRGB switch that I am using. I do not own a 4k or HDR capable display and only tested the playback on SDR FullHD. The only remaining reproducible playback issues are the 720p50 dvb-s2 streams, which was already present in kszaqs dev build.
x264 and x265 are names of encoder libraries, the corresponding standards are called h.264 and h.265.
To get player debug, use a usb keyboard and press shift-o (or was is ctrl-o). My usb MCE remote works fine, btw.
While hevc worked fine with the latest test version, my 720p h.264 23.976fps encodes were quite jerky and not watchable.
fabri22 you can use autostart.sh to wait for a certain time and then reset your wifi connection.
Did a test run on the S905X box. Files from SMB share played fine (h264, h264 hi10p and hevc) with no problems with skipping forward or backward. TV using tvheadend on a separate box was mixed: SD DVB-S broadcasts where fine, as where 1080i and 4k DVB-S2 streams. German 720p DVB-S2 was very jerky and unwatchable. Twitch 60fps streams played fine through the addon, but youtube addon + inputstream.adaptive (configured for max resolution of 1080p, all other settings unchanged) first freezes and then crashes+restarts kodi. But I noticed this also happens on my S905 box which uses the older franken-nougat kernel. I need to test a marshmallow kernel to see if this is kernel related.
I liked the snappyness of the box, it was able to play one of my 720p hi10p files smoothly, which is something the S905X usually struggles more.
Edit: No hissing here...
Also, S905 has more CPU power than S905X, so it can software decode 720p h.264 10-bit files.
Since nobody else thinks it helps to support a claim with quantifiable evidence, I took some pictures.
Please include a signature with you device(s). You are using a S905X, am I right?
I do not have the time currently to setup two different versions on the same device as all my sd cards are in use. I will try this weekend.
ll of pseudo's Gintama releases in x265 (720p). Mine's an S905X box.
Ok, Gintama fails quite hard. My Nvidia 960 can play it in hardware mode, on the S905 one gets a slideshow with sound. Here is a link to test:
Download File: [AnimeRG] Gintama - NCED_20 [720p] [x265] [pseudo].mkv - filecloud.io
To the people complaining about hevc without providing sample files: I just checked the latest "[pseudo]" encode (Black Lagoon, by the way), which played fine on both S905 and S905X. What files exactly do you have any trouble with?
This is not to say that all is fine with hevc, I found a sample that plays fine on S905 but not on S905X and discussed it here: thread-7559.html (it also has some nice framedrops when displaying the chinese subtitles).
I would like to chime in that with my tvheadend setup, there are no problems switching between different channels (SD, HD, FHD, 4k) and switching times are excellent.
(I should add: with the regular "k" version)
I would argue against such attempts to list "supported" or "working" devices. As you may have noticed, the cheaply produced tv boxes combine mainboard w/ SoC, memory and flash chips as well as peripherals on a "as available" basis. I have personally witnessed that even boxes from the same maker, sold by the same reseller, from the same delivery can and will have different components inside them. Not to mention that there are always makers who will make a "clone" product of any semi-successful box by someone else, sometimes even with a different SoC (quite a lot of RK3229 boxes on Ebay Germany have "S905" in their name or description in the attempt to mislead unaware buyers - RK3229 is only mentioned in the very small print at the end).
So any information about these oem boxes will always be out of date and misleading.
That would not be possible, as "Kodi v17 now requires that Android devices run Android 5.0 or later". (See: Kodi v17 (Krypton) FAQ - Official Kodi Wiki)
In the past, we have seen multiple cases of boxes with less ram than advertised. The installed android would lie about the installed memory, and the error was seen only with libreelec.
If you can extract the device tree file and post it here, maybe someone can check what your box is supposed to have. Sadly, I lack the knowledge to do so.
The good news: libreelec runs perfectly fine with 1GB of ram.
Both do not have an amlogic SoC, so you are out of luck in this part of the forum. (The Z9 apparently uses a MSTAR MSO9180D1R)
Sorry, I did not communicate clearly: I currently do not use the S905X actively. I got it very cheap, and after I noticed that it struggles with some content that needs software decoding, I put it on a shelf. I saw the differences with my two S905 boxes. As the projector is used with a 120" screen, it is easier to notice small details there :). But both the old LCD TV and the projector showed the difference. I remember it well, because the first try of kszaq did not have the forceRGB functionality (that my Philips TV needs) and I really wanted to keep the better image quality.
Regarding the patterns:
I do not remember how many or which inner boxes I can see now with the current kernel - I was just suprised to see them clearly for the first time.
I noticed the change in my projector/avr setup most (see sig). Projector is set to "true cinema" (for the fractional rates), standard rgb range, film preset with slight tweaks.
1. Visible in all content, like some very light grey vail is removed. Better contrast and more details, especially in dark areas (my example was Indiana Jones 3, the black suit of Mr. Donovan early in the movie), more natural colors. My wife used to complain that the movies were "too dull" and asked me to jack up the settings (which I did not do, as other sources were fine with the settings). I also have a S805 box, and always thought that the picture quality there was somehow different. Now there is no significant difference anymore, at least to my eyes.
2. S905, I currently use my S905X only for testing (see sig)
3. Whatever is default, most likely YCbCr
4. No, and never did
5. Both
6. Yes
7. 1080p60
I actually used the pattern v2 some days ago, and saw for the first time the "slightly darker" boxes in the clipping test area. It had bothered my before, as I could not see them properly in all the older versions of kodi on amlogic, even if I aggressively changed the settings of the projector. I did not compare the other areas explicitly.
You might still be right that I am victim of some placebo effect or an unrelated change. I might try to take pictures of my screen, but I have no high quality camera. If I find some time during the week, I setup a non-nougat-kernel version and compare the patterns in more detail. (I use this process:
Choosing a Color Space, 2nd Edition | Spears & Munsil)
