[EXPERIMENTAL] Unofficial CM12 for WeTek Play with Kodi & TVH Live TV

[ChristianTroy]

I will give it a spin but I'm really in love with the live TV mod as it really gives a stb like experience

[adoga]

I managed to flash your firmware CM11 with your Kodi version 14.2 beta 1. First of all thanks for the software, I commend your efforts.

There are some problems though. Let me just list then bellow.

1 - TVH error: error is displayed every few seconds an is as follows: "Command failed: Unable to stat path".
I have done everything possible to gerid of this error without success. I even deinstalled superSU and reinstalled it from Google Play. The message just won't go away!!

2 - When starting Kodi, dark-gray(or maybe black depending on tv) screen is displayed twice before displaying Kodi Splash screen - very disturbing

3 - When kodi is started, it doesn't get focused for the remote control, I had to alway use my airmouse to cklick on it first. I don't know why, but maybe problem 1 is also the cause.

4 - The TVheadend takes too much time to load compared to the OpenElec version.

5 - This is not too important though but I would like to mention it. Response is far slower than the Stock version.

The first three are more important, I would be glad to if you could help.

[ChristianTroy]

This is for #1

Before leaving the configuration go to "Recordings" and set a "Recording System Path" pointing it to your external storage (on my roms it will be "/storage/sdcard1" for the MicroSD, "/storage/usbdisk0" for the lower rear usb port, "/storage/usbdisk1" for the upper rear usb port and "/storage/usbdisk2" for the side usb port).
Not doing that will drive Kodi's Tvheadend client plugin crazy trying to determine the available space for recordings.


This is for #2 (maybe you already did it though)

I suggest you to install SuperSU from Play Store, let it update the "su" binary choosing the normal way and converting it into a system app + installing the backup script to let it survive rom updates. This because CM11's SuperUser doesn't work nicely with the way Kodi request root rights.


Btw, at start time it has to load all its libraries (set window properties, etc.) and stuff like that. I've always seen xbmc/kodi doing that on Android on every device I tried, in some it's faster the transition because the soc is faster (btw I don't see it flashing, I just have black screen for 1/1.5 seconds, after that Kodi splash is shown, there's a partial grey window for a fraction of an instant, but that's the Android's "holo" grey window)


For #3 I have it focused but you can achieve focus, in case, using ok button of the remote.

#4 what do you mean? Load time of Kodi with the channel and epg import window? That's normal because android kodi runs slower because of Android and Java that make it heavier than the native Linux one.
On more powerful socs you don't notice that but you will with less powerful ones.
Consider that on Android it has to share resources with a lot of other stuff, while oe is a minimal system. And isn't poisoned by java
Anyway if you need only media capabilities oe is the very best choice. But if you need further stuff, apps, Netflix for example or full acestream support using p2p plug in you have to use android.

#5 unless you haven't installed lollipop that is really too much for the soc, kitkat runs a lot faster than stock. Let it settle because there might be the play store updating gapps and other apps for the first fee hours of use

[ChristianTroy]

New version of Kodi in the second post, now if you press "Home" to go back to home screen while Live TV or a video is playing it will be stopped (Kodi defaults to pausing it, but that doesn't work for live tv unless timeshift is on I guess).

If you're running CM11 you can flash this zip on top of yesterday's build that will send the device to the home screen when the display is turned off, so you will be able to just turn off the device during Kodi playback without it crashing (coupled with today's Kodi apk of course)

[adoga]

Hi Troy,

First of all thanks for your reply and suggestions. I'm quite relieved if I may confess.

The "TVH" error was caused by the absence of the recording path in the configuration. Thanks for that it helped.

The focus problem was caused by the tvh error message, I haven’t noticed it since I resolved the issue.

The RCU problem still happens randomly but not quite frequent like in the case of the Stock firmware. The auto RCU problem just crashed the unit. Even after multiple restarts system did not have contact with DVB Inputs so I decided to test on OE to see if the tuners were affected. Also on the OE no tuners were detected. I was getting scary, so I decided to take a deep breath; I then unplugged all cables including the LNB connection and then grabbed a cup of coffee. After about say 10 minutes I plugged everything back on and “wow” it started working again and I was once again relieved.
It’s important that this is fixed, I have also contacted WeTek who suggested I do an update and recalibration of the RCU. I told them I’d done all that before contacting them.
I installed supersU on the Play Store and its working well. Kodi on the other hand still shows the dar/gray screen twice. I have never seen before, It does not happen on the stock firmware because I also used the kodi 14 beta 2 on it before changing to your CM11. I’m not going back to stock anyway, don’t have the guts to do it all over again.
It’s always nice to have alternatives OE/Android, If I had wanted to use OE primarily I would have gotten myself a different system entirely. The combination of Android, Kodi,DVB-S2, Browser makes it extraordinary and I have been waiting for this since I started using android tv boxes – I mean years ago when 1080p was like slide show on any of them. So I am on the Android side and it is even more comfortable to know OE is flawless for a fallback system.
Here are things you I noticed with CM11 latest version:

• Video playback over smb was flawless – 1080p@6HZ, 1080p@24HZ, 720p. They were just great, I haven’t been happier. I use 1080p@24HZ though because it was smoother when watching HD channels like BBC One HD.
• TV crashed more frequently, especially when changing form SD to HD or from a scrambled channel to a HD channel. It happened more often with BBC One HD.
• Many Keys on the remote are not mapped (maybe I can do that manually somehow – I will find that out but if you have a hint feel free to suggest)

All in all, I am very pleased with this ROM so I’ll stick to it and hope it will be stable soon.
Once again thanks for your support.

[ChristianTroy]

The RCU problem is really weird, I never experienced it and I have a Play in the kitchen that runs 7/8 hours a day, if your TV supports CEC you can use the TV remote in the meantime to mitigate the problem.

The black screen bug (the one you see going from mpeg2 to mpeg4 when you only hear voice and no video) has been improved using one of davilla's patches that OE is using as well. Though on OE that completely fixed the problem, on Android it doesn't.
I really have no idea on why it happens, tried almost all the possible thing but no luck.

To map keys in Kodi you can use the addon "Keymap editor", let me quote myself from wetekforums to show you how's my keyboard.xml set up

It's nothing special, I've just modified "FullscreenLiveTV" and "PVROSDChannels" sections (maybe something more), anyway here it is

The main changes are:

While in fullscreen in Live TV:

- EPG button and Contextual menu button (both are mapped with the same ID) bring up channel's EPG
- Back and Backspace (the last button of the remote) stop the playback (useful because I can stop playback and just shut it off without having to quit Kodi)
- Left arrow goes to the channel list (the one with the small preview)
- Right arrow brings up the internal channel list (the one visible from the fullscreen view)

Inside this channel list
- EPG and Contextual menu button bring on EPG event info running on the selected channel
- Left and Right arrow scroll pages up/down

For the grey thing, it's exactly the Holo grey from Android, maybe if you install a black theme for CM you could have the black transition?

Try to use this advancedsettings.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<advancedsettings>
  <network>
    <buffermode>1</buffermode>
    <cachemembuffersize>31457280</cachemembuffersize>
    <readbufferfactor>10</readbufferfactor>
  </network>
  <gui>
    <algorithmdirtyregions>0</algorithmdirtyregions>
  </gui>
</advancedsettings>

I still have black screen bug, but it seems behaving better, maybe it's placebo I don't know

[adoga]

Thanks for your reply, I’ll try the Keymap editor.

About the gray screen, I think I can live with that for now.

For the black screen issue, I will be patient on that too, for now I just stop the channel and then wait 1-3 minutes and then try again.

I forgot to mention one issue though. When connected with a Bluetooth head phone (which I mainly use late at night) the sound, video, tv become choppy. On the stock firmware it was usable but fairly out of sync which was acceptable.

You mentioned a kodi in your second post, which second post?

[ChristianTroy]

The second post of the thread, the one straight below the rom download links.

For the black screen it's enough going up/down to a channel, it will fix itself automatically (if you use the modified Kodi build).

Regarding BT headphone, are you using wifi? It might be a channel interference since both use the same range.

[adoga]

No. I'm using wired connection because of 1080p on my smb server.

[adoga]

but my iPad and mobile phones do use wifi.

[ChristianTroy]

I will give it a look, I had read of other amlogic devices having problems with ad2p so maybe the thing is broken

[adoga]

Happy to hear you are looking into that.

For your info. I flashed an upddate they said could resolve the RCU problem on openelec but it didn't help. However, they also fixed the CEC in that update and now I'm using my tv and harmony one+ remote to control in on OpenElec without auto-autorepeat problem.

If CEC works fine on Android, this will make my day because my tv remote has a mouse buillt in - practically, I wouldn't be needing the RCU.

[ChristianTroy]

CEC is working here as well in latest builds (that's what I use here in my bedroom, CEC + Google TV Remote that you can enable from "other network options" and connect to it using this apk) you just have to enable it from display settings

[ChristianTroy]

* ROM (CM12) 2015-03-12
* ROM (Android TV) 2015-03-12
* ROM (CM11) 2015-03-12

* When the screen is being turned off the OS will send a go to home command, in this way if you're using Kodi from the 2nd post you will be able to turn off the device while the live tv is playing and the OS will gracefully stop playback
* Fixed an issue in the 60hz -> 24 hz switch that was causing a black screen (thanks codesnake for the fix)

[adoga]

Thansk for the hints. I'll give it a try and feed you back with whatever my result is.

It just gets better every day!