Glad that it fixed the dark video rraod.
BTW, you should not need the reboot to libreelec Android app as the default for a normal boot will be to boot from the SD card.
I think that it's use is probably for those users that have dual boot options when both OS's are installed on the internal storage.
Ok ozarks, thanks. I will remove the Reboot to LibreELEC app in Android. I mainly use LibreELEC and rarely Android for Netflix.
I was skeptical about updating the smooth running LE 8.2.2.3 version on my S912 box straight away as per ozarks advice, as I have already populated the box with all my media in 4 different profiles. The configuration of LE 8.2.2.3, adding my favorite skin and loading the media took me considerable time and I don't want to loose all this work.
So, I took a spare 16GB SD card and used it to install LE 8.2.5.1 using the LibreELEC USB SD Creator program. But this program has options to load *.img,gz, *.img,zip and *.img files. There is no options to load *.tar file. I took the option for showing all files (*.*) and selected the downloaded LibreELEC-S912.arm-8.2.5.1-444-1000nits.tar file. Then I wrote the image of this file on the SD card. After the writing was successfully completed, I tried to view the SD card's partitions but could see only a single Linux partition. There was no FAT32 partition (LIBREELEC). I sensed something was wrong and realized that this is not the way to install 8.2.5.1.
I again formatted the 16GB SD card and installed the LE 8.2.2.3. Loaded the new SD Card on the box and started LE Kodi 17.6. Copied samba.conf and remote.conf files to storage/.config folder. Rebooted the box and on my laptop opened the storage smb share and copied the LibreELEC-S912.arm-8.2.5.1-444-1000nits.tar file in .update folder and rebooted the box. On the restart at LibeELEC screen the system found the update file and completed the update process and rebooted. I checked the version and now it is 8.2.5.1. I tried various menu options on Kodi and found the response to be smooth and fast.
I loaded a H.264 and a HEVC H.265 video file on a flash drive, and tried playing them on the new updated box. The videos was playing smoothly and now there are no dark shadows in the videos. I was happy with the performance and it is better than my old LE 8.2.2.3.
I have made up my mind to update to the new LE version and removed the 16GB SD card, inserted the original 32GB SD card with LE 8.2.2.3 and my library, again copied the LE 8.2.5.1 update tar file and updated the system. Everything went well and I could see a better performance in this new version.
I also saw the "Boot to Android" command in Shutdown commands, which I don't remember seeing on LE 8.2.2.3. I installed android's "Reboot to LibreELEC" app on the box's android OS and now I have a dual boot Android/LibreELEC system.
One query here: I saw LE 8.2.5.1 as an update and not an image file ready to install fresh like 8.2.4.1. Is it still in beta or a completed project? I find LE 8.2.5.1 much better than LE 8.2.4.1. It is a good successful update.
Thanks to all who helped me. 
Thanks to ozarks for advising me to try LE 8.2.5.1-444-1000nits build. I will give it a try and see.
Thanks also to bubblegum57 for asking me to try out Coreelec Leia build. I will keep it in reserve for future.
I would wait a little bit more, s905x2 is just pre-ordered at gearbest, shipped out end of October with Android 8.1, s922 is also around corner.
I would not like to wait and try the new Amlogic series S905x2 or S922. As the history indicates S912 boxes have suffered the lack of support for fbdev drivers from Amlogic for very long time. After reading on the forum that kszaq has finally succeeded in finding a solution and made a successful release, I took a risk and bought a S912 box though initially I wanted to play safe and go for a S905X box.
I thought of going for the latest LE release for S912 and have tried the LE 8.2.4.1 release on this box. But I was facing problems right from the beginning. The Screen was getting stuck at LibreElec start screen. Sometimes it used to load Kodi 17.6 but I was not able to go forward in the initial configuration of the box. Another aspect is the intermittent clicks from the speaker continuously.
Then I reverted back to LE 8.2.2.3 release on the box, and I was happy to find that this version is working very smoothly. It was just like the LE 8.2.5 on my old S812 box but faster and smoother.
I tried to play HEVC files and they were playing smoothly while on S812 box the movies were with jerky motion. My only observation on this new S912 box is that the videos are little dark and I have to increase the brightness of the screen. There is also no clock display on the box.
Overall all the box and the supplied remote are working perfectly and I am happy with the LE 8.2.2.3 release, as my videos are only up to 1080p. I will wait till a more stable LE version appears in the future.
I am grateful and thank the developers kszaq and wrxtasy for their relentless efforts in giving us this fine piece of software.
In my present country of residence, I have few choices of buying a good Amlogic box.
After much contemplation of available S905X and S912 boxes, I got myself a T95K Pro with S912, 2GB/16GB, Gigabit Ethernet, 2.5/5GHz WiFi with colorful tiled plastic box and a cheap remote. This came with Android 7.1.2 pre-installed.
I will try to run LibreElec on the microSD card and if everything is OK, I am planning to install it on internal eMMC. I would prefer to make it a dual boot box if possible.
Compared to this box my earlier UK made Droidbox T8-S V1 (S812) was a very well finished aluminium box and a quality product. The accompanied remote was a pleasure to use. I am having a very good time with it on LibreElec. Once the new box runs LiberElec successfully, I will be replacing the old one.
Thanks to wrxtasy and Iridium for a quick reply. . And thanks to ozarks too.
My simple setup is 2xWD MyBooks connected to the Kodi box with USB cables and HDMI to TV. I won't be using the LAN ports. I am on WiFi for updates and getting Movie, TV episodes metadata, fan art etc. from TMDB and TVDB. I am not into 4K media yet. 
I am planning to go with a modest S905X box for the time being. That should take me through Krypton and Leia.
ozarks gives me some ideas and I may try a S912 also later on. 
Hi Guys, I appreciate your great work which made me a die hard fan of LibreElec Kodi for a media player.
I have a two year old kodi box with S812 processor. Now my video collection includes HEVC (H.265) files (1080P max.) and they are not playing well on this box. It is either the sound is out of sync or buffering or jerky picture.
I have tried LibreElec 8.2.5 on a Raspberry Pi 3 B+ and HEVC files are not playing at all.
I have decided to move on to a new Kodi box. I have been studying about S905X and S912 boxes and also had thought of going for an Intel NUC box. S905X seems to be an obvious choice for playing HEVC files. S912 though superior in specs, had problems with earlier Kodi builds. I am not sure whether these problems have been solved by kszaq, wrxtasy or others.
I am not bothered about any particular brand. My desired specs would be minimum 2GB/16GB, hdmi 2.0, 3xUSB ports. I need a suitable future proof box, I can use for at least a couple of years or more.
I will appreciate any help in this regard.
I am using the LibreELEC Community version 8.2.0 Kodi 17.5 on Droidbox T8-S V1 with Amlogic S812 released by Droidbox.
I found this version to be very solid in performance like LibreELEC 8.0.1 Kodi 17.1 which I used extensively. I am very happy with LibreELEC Kodi. Please keep up the good work.
One problem I noticed in LibreELEC Kodi is that when I use the Shutdown command in Kodi, the LibreELEC program is shutting down and along with it the TV signal is off. But the power light status on the box still indicates ON and not turning to OFF. I had to turn it off using the remote every time. Is it normal operation?
Another thing, I am using the LibreElec Kodi for running my media on connected two HDDs. Is it OK if I keep the box ON always and not turn OFF. I know the HDDs have a power saving feature and does not spin the discs when there is no request for read/write. Still I wants to know.
smb.conf location should be in /etc/samba/ folder.
Via smb, go to the configfiles folder and find samba.conf.sample
Rename it to samba.conf and edit to create a share for /storage/.kodi
Reboot
Thanks for the tip. I have modified the samba.conf file to have one share which is /storage and deleted all the other shares. With this one share I can access all the other removed share folders and remaining folders.
I have the Aeon MQ 7 skin installed on the Kodi 17.1. I want to modify/add some backgrounds to the master and other profiles. I need a share for the kodi folder to access the skin from a windows 10 laptop.
I have enabled the Samba and was able to access some default shares along with the external drives. But these shares does not contain kodi folder.
I am a windows person and have negligible knowledge of linux. I need some pointers in creating the shares with full read/write/delete permissions for kodi folder and also for other folders on the android partition.
Any help in this regard is appreciated. Thanks.
At this stage it's too early to say what the future holds for 32-bit Amlogic devices. Kodi needs to clean-up Linux support similar to how the Krypton move to "mediacodec" simplified Android support. In the long term Kodi wants a V4L2 based Linux video architecture, and that almost certainly requires Linux platforms like Amlogic (and Raspberry Pi) to be running a current/mainline Linux kernel with V4L2 video drivers. Older 32-bit S802/805/S812 devices are stuck on an ancient 3.10 kernel that falls wildly short of that requirement. If code clean-up progresses quickly it is quite possible that a 64-bit Amlogic device will be required for Kodi v18 support on Linux.
Thanks.
I have a Droidbox T8-S v1 box powered by a S812 32 bit ARM processor, 2GB RAM and 32 GB storage space and Android 5.11. This 812 box will have no chance of updating to Marshmallow 6.0. Kodi 18 Leia's minimum requirement shall be 6.0 so it will not work on S812 box.
Is there a chance of future version of LibreELEC with Kodi Leia works on S812 processor? If so many people like me who are stuck with S812 processors will have an upgrade path.
I have a Droidbox T8-S v1 box which came with LibreELEC 7.0.3 Kodi 16.1. This was one of the reason for buying this particular box (Dual booting Android and LibreELEC). But right from the beginning LibreELEC 7.0.3 did not work for me. I could not download even one single add-on from Kodi repository.
I had to compromise and use the android based DBMC and Kodi 16.1. How much I wished I could have a working version of LibreELEC Kodi.
Recently Droidbox have released a beta version of LibreELEC 8.0.1 with Kodi 17.1. Initially I was apprehensive in installing this version. I was waiting for the final public release.
Due to some reasons I started having problems with DBMC and Kodi 17.1. I thought why not I try the beta version of LibreELEC 8.0.1. So I took the plunge and installed the update.
I was surprised to see that the beta version of LibreELEC 8.0.1 performed excellently. I felt it was very responsive and faster than the android version of Kodi 17.1. I am really happy to have this update.
I congratulate the LibreELEC team for their efforts in bringing such a good version. I hope you people keep up the good work in future.
Thanks and Good Luck.
