Posts by RayW

Yes well aware new is not always better but on average that is the case of course. Just a boit sad as teh Beelink MXIII II box was IMHO one of the best S905X boxes out there at these reasonably budget prices though they were somewhat dearer than the very cheap crap that is out there. Seems that these manufacturers keep changing models way too quickly. The new Beelink A1 box will be fine once we get good LE for the RK3368 boxes, but I understand that the necessary Rockchip code is not yet forthcoming to develop a good reliable LE for these Rockchip boxes. Perhaps kszaq or anyone else here in the know has an update on the RK3368 LE development as to when and if it will ever be at least as good as the S905X LE builds we now thankfully have.

kszaq just reporting that all is still working fine with LE 8.2.0.1. on my Beelink S905X box and the device tree tests show it is all now set correctly for future device tree free updates.

Also can inform you that I have just received more coffee here now, so enjoy the nice cuppa I have just sent you with many thanks.

Quote from mime

You have to have set the video stereo mode flag in the mkv header to a correct value. Mostly the 3D mkv files do not have this flag set so you have to do it manualy. Use mkvtoolnix header editor, find under the video track the stereo mode flag and set it to 1 for SBS format and 2 for the OU format. Then you can see also in MediaInfo under Video the correct MultiViev_xy settings and the format is recognized as it should be. For more stereo options see the mkvmerge documentation.

Thank you so much. That works perfectly and indeed my bad Avatar MKV file did not have this flag set at all so it could not have worked before like I imagined it did. I have to put it down to old age. Set the flag now on all my 3D video files as most did not have them nor work with the auto 3D switching of course. One was an AVI file which I simply changed the suffix from AVI to MKV and then added the header 3D flag to SBS and voila that works too. Every 3D file now auto switching in LE KODI, brilliant.

Quote from mime

You have to have set the video stereo mode flag in the mkv header to a correct value. Mostly the 3D mkv files do not have this flag set so you have to do it manualy. Use mkvtoolnix header editor, find under the video track the stereo mode flag and set it to 1 for SBS format and 2 for the OU format. Then you can see also in MediaInfo under Video the correct MultiViev_xy settings and the format is recognized as it should be. For more stereo options see the mkvmerge documentation.

Hey thanks a lot mime. I will take a look at that a littel later when I have a spare moment. Be great to fix this. Strange as I thought my Avatar SBS file worked before and now it doesn't Anyway will let you know how I get on. This info will i hope be good for others here who have a similar problem too.

Quote from bubblegum57

You can use clonezilla from a bootable usb. Clonezilla Live on USB or create several bootable distros from YUMI - Multiboot USB Creator | USB Pen Drive Linux (with this you can add a bootable Acronis}

Thanks my friend.

What though is the advantage though over what I am using with Acronis or even that free AOMIE program in Win 10 ?? Acronis also has a bootable version which is used to restore your system from a backup if it wont boot. If there is a real advantage I may try it but in my tender old age (72 and enjoying it all still) I am tryign to work to the KISS principle as much as is possible and desirable

Thanks for the excellent new build Kszaq as the new 8.2.0.1 works fine on my Beelink box. Have been getting a few crashes I never had before but those are in some popular unnamed third party addons and the same thing is happening now it seems with earlier LE8.1 builds, so is something it seems that is add-on specific rather than the latest firmware build. Only problem I have is still with many of my previously working auto 3D switching movie files, as mentioned in my earlier post a few days ago [8.2.0.1] LibreELEC 8.2 for S905/S905X.

Strange as some of my 3D movie files still auto switch to 3D as before, but some others that I am sure did work before no longer seem to invoke the normally escellent auto 3D function and need manually setting up the TV for 3D as we always used to have to do. This is true even if I roll back to an earlier LE 8.1 build that did work with the auto 3D feature included, and that I am sure worked before with some of these files that no longer auto switch to 3D. No log file unless you really need one, as I just wanted to know if there is any code that could have changed in a recent new build that even if I roll back to an earlier LE version does not get overwritten to its previous state. Can't see how that could be but I am no expert so must ask anyway.

High time you had another cup of coffee Kszaq. So as soon as I have some new stock available in a few days I will send you a nice cupper. Sadly in short supply right now. This is sadly usual these days with living permanently and happily here in Thailand, what with the weak pound and US dollar and the thieving rip off western banks too !!!

Quote from bubblegum57

I use clonezilla

Thanks for the feedback bubblegum57 and to the other 3 responders too. Many thanks to you all. I cannot see how I can clone a dual partition SD card with Win32DiskImager, and in answer to one question, yes indeed I am tryign to clone using Windows 10 as do not have a Linux machine and personally would neither have the time nor general need for that either.

I also did a bit more searching and found a utility for free called AOMEI Backupper, which does do the job okay though it will not allow me to clone the whole SD card as a one off process, even though it should as I am tryign to clone to an absolutely identical SD card. It simply reports that the partition is not big enough though it certainly shows the large partition is 14.33 GB so must only be a few bytes smaller than required for some odd reason. BUT I could clone each partition separately, first the bootable LE partition of course, and with a switch in the backupper program to enable it to fit the patitions to the destination disc. It takes some time to copy the big partition, but it does work well albeit slowly and the cloned SD card works identically to the original in my Beelink MXIII II 2G/16G box.

Then I found that I could also do this with my already installed pucker Acronis True Image main backup program that I purchased some time ago and keep updated as my auto backup system. The cloning facilities are under the Tools option and seem to work easier than the AOMEI Backupper as this does allow the bootable SD card to be cloned as a one off process once you set the parameters to ensure it fits the partition size, which I find strange that this is needed with identical source and destination media. But it is still slow to clone the bigger partition and does take about 35 minutes. This Acronis made cloned SD card also tested out fine, so certainly both these programs are duplicating okay. So if you already have the Acronis program then you have all you need.

Once again many thanks for all the feedback and hope this may help others here who similarly want to clone their bootable SD card easily, albeit a little slowly. So I can recommend the free AOMEI Backupper for this task, or if you already have and use Acronis True Image then that has a clone tool included which is the way to go it seems. Hope this is not too far off topic here as it does relate directly to the LibreELEC bootable SD card.

Guys does anyone here know if it is possible. and if so how, to make a full bit copy with both partitions of my LibreELEC bootable 16G SD card so I can have an easy duplicated copy, with all the settings and suite of addons too, for use with my other compatible boxes usign same device tree, and for freinds similar boxes too ?? It is quite time consumming making a fresh disc using something like Win32DiskImager or Rufus and then restoring from a separate drive a complete back up of settigns and addons. Be nice to just be able to clone a complete duplicated copy with the data partition as well as the boot partition. Searching on the internet for an answer but not found one yet so maybe I have missed the answer or I need to deepen my search or just maybe someone on here may know.

I have some 3D issues with the latest 8.1.10 build which I first noticed with I think 8.1.9. It works fine with some of my 3D movie files I play from my NAS Drive or USB drive, but many like Avatar, which was working fine before with the auto 3D new function, no longer works. I have to manually set up the TV for SBS 3D as in the old days. Strange thing is if I go back to an earlier LE version where I remember Avatar and some other 3D movies did auto switch to 3D, it now does not work. So has something been changed in the newer versions of 8.1.x that does not get changed back when I roll back to an earlier LE version that did used to work okay?

I wondered if something had got corrupted on my Avatar big movie file, but it is the same with several others too (though not all as some still work fine). So that seems unlikley to be the case. Also with 3D streaming 3D movie content from a newish nameless add-on, the auto 3D still does not work on all that I have tried to run so far. So I have to manually set up my TV to 3D like the bad old days.

Has anyone else noticed this and can Kszaq shed any light on what may be happening here. I appreciate some 3D movie files do not have the correct 3D coding embedded, if indeed any such coding is there at all, but I am sure my Avatar file was working before with the 3D switching in automatically, and I am fairly sure that was the case with many other of my 3D movie files which also no longer trip the auto 3D function in KODI.

The S905X boxes seem to be now being replaced with this new RK3328 based boxes, like the Beelink MXIII II is now out of production and replaced with the new Beelink A1 with the RK3328 chip and a super high spec for a still lowish price. So any indication when we may see the excellent LE builds we get for the S905X boxes available for these new RK 3328 devices.

What I find frustrating is that each great new box that arrives soon goes out of production and replaced with something newer, just too many changes too quickly for boxes that are runnign superbly as they are. Ah well I suppose that is called progress. So what I would love to have is a new Beelink A1 box with a good stable LibreELEC 8 firmware available for it as we get with the S905X boxes today. So I am asking whether any of you guys here may know the answer to when this may possibly be available if at all. Is it months or just weeks away?

I hear that the Beelink factory in China have now stopped production of the excellent Mini MXIII II S905X model. I am told the replacement is the new Beelink A1 with an RK3328 processor. So my question is will LibreELEC be likely to support these new RK3328 based boxes in the near future or even at all ?? The spec of the RK3328 compared to the S905X is very similar with the S905 slightly winning on benchmark score from a report I read. However the RK3328 supports USB3 and Android 7 (not that I ever use Android bloatware). Just wish they would not keep changing boxes as it is not very long ago that the Beelink MXIII II came out !!!!

Anyway must report that 8.1.10 is superb on my Beelink MXIII II S905X box and I am very happy without any thoughts or needs of upgrading to any new RK3328 boxes or other box unless proved to be a genuinely worthwhile change for the better.

Many thanks to Kszaq for everything he does here and I hope he is having a great vacation, indeed a well deserved one.

EDIT. Ah just realised from some researching that the RK3328 is a Rockchip device not Amlogic. So maybe should not have posted this here but hey I like it here I understand from past comments that Rockchip cpus are inferior to Amlogic so why would Beelink change from Amlogic ?? Beats me.

Quote from blakey

Confirmed, can't play flawlessly my 24Hz movie because there are microstutters, that movie with 012k and Minix XBMC was perfect at the correct frame rate.

1080/60Hz sample file with same issue, running on 29,97 and another sample (Peter Gabriel concert) 1080p/25 fps m2ts file running on 59.94, I don"t understand these issues. All with LE 8.1.9.

I have no such probllems as I have my KODI set to Change Display rate to source. With LE 8.1.9 it has all the old main integer rounded display rates like 24, 50 and 60 fps and the fractional rates too like 23.96 as you have seen. By setting your KODI to force your TV to auto adjust it's display rate to that of the streaming source at start/stop, you should then avoid all such micro stutters you get with using the nearest integer rounded display rate as we used to have to with older LE/KODI versions.

So the latest LE builds are in fact then superior and a welcomed enhancement, as they properly exactly match your streaming source providing your TV is not very old and supports the fractional rates, if not they will not be made available in KODI anyway unless your TV confirms via HDMI that all of those frame rates are compatible with it. I then configure my TV (a 5 year old Samsung series 7) for the picture size option to be set as "Best Fit" or whatever it is called with differetn makes/models. Note that with Samsung it does not save changed settings in Dynamic or Movie modes, so you should use say Standard mode and adjust your contrast, brightness etc to your liking for that "perfect" picture. This way every device I have will then properly fit the screen without the video corruptions incurred by cropping or expanding within KODI or other devices. If you had already applied video calibration cropping in KODI settings, then simply restore them back to default 0,0 settings for all resolutions. All shoudl then be trouble free and you need have no more worries about screen resolution rates or display calibrations.

I have to say my screen now looks superb even on my 5 year old FHD TV. The only way I could really get a worthwhile improvement to my picture quality would be, whenever I can afford it, to upgrade to an OLED TV, with UHD and HDR too. OLED is a massively far superior upgrade to any LED technology screen, though of course relatively expensive still but right at the top of my wish list right now if only I had the spare money available.

Just a quick note to confirm 8.1.8 installed internally works perfectly with my Beelink MXIII II S905x box, As always great job kszaq

One very old bug that has always been there for me with all boxes running all versions of LibreELEC I have used, is that when setting up a WiFi connection after entering your WIFI security passphrase I always get an error message saying "Network Error, Did not receive a reply" However it then always quickly goes on to connect normally and faultlessly. This seems to me to be probably a timing bug. So I was wondering if it can and will eventually be fixed ?? Just for clarity I only ever have one network type enabled either Ethernet or Wireless, never both.

Quote from Daz

RayW it is there one page back.

Hmm looked back and do not seem to have any such announcement form Kszaq ?? Thanks for the link Habibie but clearly not yet linked to on page 1 yet. I usually wait until it is officially announced my Kszaq and on the page one links as there may still be some odd corrections in the meantime.

Quote from Pelican

It'll come at this evening.

Never mind the changelog as when I went to download it I do not even see 8.1.7 yet. It still is showing the latest is 8.1.6 on page 1 of this thread (is page one what I often see referred to as OP, as I have always assumed that stands for Opening Page or somehting similar ??)

Next time I will wait to see Kszaq's official announcement here.

Quote from negt

I use gxbb_p200_2G_1Gbit_RealtekWiFi.dtb in mine.

Yep thanks for your feedback negt. I tried that one and still no WiFi is seen. Only can see WiFi if using the S905X 2G builds and the cpu reported the same Rev 20 as I get reported with a definite Mk II box ???

Also tried connecting the box directly up to my main 8 port gigabit switch and it still shows on th eswitch indicators as only a 100Mbps standard port even with it booting up into default Android. So despite it saying on the bottom of the box it is a MINI MXIII, without any mention of a mark II and it also being a couple of mm deeper plus with the older remote too, it is clearly an S905X Mk II box with a standard 100 Mbps Ethernet port. How strange ?? Has anyone else here seen anything like this with one of these otherwise superb Beelink boxes ??

Once I get a proper Mk II remote this box will be fine as a S905X Mk II box. Just very weird like they have put a Mk II board put into a Mk 1 box and together with a Mk 1 remote.

I have just got a new Beelink box in through the post and it was supposed to be a MINI MXIII II 2/16 GB but I noticed it felt slightly deepeer than the normal for these boxes and the remote was one I had not seen before and does not work with my bespoke superb remote.conf file. A littel research and reading the model number on the box bottom shows it is in fact a MINI MXIII and not the Mark 2 so that means it is likely to be an S905 box. Android firmware reports it as an MX III II box but that is probably coded into the default Android and is, as happens with Android, lying to me. I am okay if this is an S905 box as it should have a Gigabit 1000Mbps Ethernet port, so I will thus keep it as that could be a useful feature.

However I cannot get it to show as anything other than a standard 100 Mbps Ethernet port. Furthermore if I do not use the S905X device tree gxl_p212_2g.dtb then the WiFi is not available with any of the S905 device trees. I have tried all the S905 device trees for 2G RAM and with the 1G and 100Mb Ethernet, and none of them gives me any avaiolable WiFi and nothing shows up as being a Gigabit port, even though the router is gigabit and so are the Ethernet switches that are used which show the Ethernet port as a standard 100 Mbps. Is there something special I have to do to enable the gigabit port on these boxes, and does anyone know exactly which is the correct device tree to use for this Beelink MINI MXIII S905 box ?? The box does not seem to be a clone, and have checked back with the Chinese supplier and factory themselves on this but it does appear to have a standard 100 Mbps Ethernet port and only using the 2G S905X device tree gives me any WiFi availability ??

Any help appreicated. Else the box goes back for replacement as who wants an inferior S905 box without the Gigabit port advantage ?

Quote from biesa

Hi,

I am using a NEXBOX S905X with a working 8.0.* installed on the NAND inside.

Is it possible to update to 8.1.6 without loosing any setting/libary and so on?

Thanks for any help in advance

Why not do what most folk do and simply do a full backup before you try any updates. Surely then will be no problem. I regularly run new backups on my box, at least a couple a month and certainly before applying any major updates. IMHO it is silly not to keep up to date and recent backups as it is so easy to do simply using the inbuilt LE Backup/Restore feature. I place my backups on a permanently installed dedicated SD Card used also for the very rare times I want to download content. Personally never get any problems with my box in updating to the latest builds and now run 8.1.6 with no problems at all, fantastic firmware always from kszaq.

I run my boxes with LE installed to internal memory so do not leave a bootable SD card plugged into the box, as I can see no point in ever wanting to use Android. It is so way inferior for running KODI and I simply do not want all the other pointless and kludgy Android bloatware. Tried it and hate it to be honest. Only Android app I would ever use is Netflix which I no longer subscribe to anyway, and I also understadn it will be supported in KODI 18 soon. Other than lacking enough content (and particualrly latest series and movies, Netflix seems a good value non rip off package