[ROM] Unofficial OpenELEC for MK808B+ and MXQ

[pesh]

kszaq my box stop responding few times while watching TV on pvr. Remote don't work, ssh too. HD18Q.arm-6.95.2.3 NAND install + restored backup. I'll try LE build

[kostaman]

I'm currently running 6.0.3.7 build on my black mxq and viera 2013 and CEC IS WORKING GREAT! Only after suspend I've noticed a little delay (2-3 seconds before cec works again)! I'll backup this configuration (Very smooth and stable) and i'll upgrade to LE

Please Disclose which 6.0.3.7 HD18Q or the MXQ ARM version ?

[peppearci]

MXQ ARM VERSION, kostaman

[yann69]

Hello kszaq,

At first many thanks and congratulations for this great job.

My configuration:
Android 4.4 TV Box Yuntab MXV Amlogic S805 Quad Core 1.5Ghz
Asustor AS202TE Nas where I stored movies and music
Samsung TV 32" connected with HDMI cable to the Android TV Box
Yamaha RXV540RDS audio/video receiver (AVR) connected with an optical cable to the Android TV Box.
( I do not have any HDMI input on it because this AVR is quite old)

With Android 4.4 : I have replaced the initial Kodi version (Isengard 15.2) with The last Kodi release (16.1)
Everything works fine.
Benefit : I can switch the audio output from HDMI to optical SPDIF and send DTS 5.1 sound through the optical SPDIF output to my AVR

I already knew the Openelec benefits (reliability, performance) to have used it for several months on Raspberry PI platforms.
I wished to evaluate it on this S805 box mainly to read movies based on x265 codec.
I have prepared a SDcard with the 6.95.2.2 image for the HD18Q which I boot from.
Everything is fine except a very boring issue I do not succeed to fix.
The audio signal is sent to the HDMI output instead of SPDIF and I cannot change this behaviour.
By connecting with SSH, I attempted to find a configuration file to switch from HDMI to SPDIF but i have not found anything.
Same result with a previous release like 6.0.3.6.
Here is the result of a aplay command

OpenELEC-MXV:~ # aplay -l
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: AMLM8AUDIO [AML-M8AUDIO], device 0: AML PCM dummy_codec-0 []
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: AMLM8AUDIO [AML-M8AUDIO], device 1: SPDIF PCM dit-hifi-1 []
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

From Kodi audio settings, I have only AML-M8AUDIO SPDIF as digital output.
But in spite of this selection, digital signal is sent to HDMI output instead.

So, how can I switch to SPDIF and finally listen the DTS 5.1 sound from my AVR.

Thank you very much for your feedback

[kszaq]

Now the All Black MXQ LE 7.0.0.1 HD18Q Nand. I did a hard reset and now CEC is working completely differently than the MXQ ARM LE 7.0.0.1 box
Without repeating myself this box does not get initialising errors after suspend or whatever. It wakes after dim as above.

Now i have not installed backup from above ARM box to the HD18Q BOX yet.
When i did that before BOTH BOXES ACT THE SAME as far as CEC goes.

I think im about to lose my head,

Thank you for very detailed report. One question: can you check if you can change display refresh rate for the box that has faulty CEC behaviour after waking up?

From Kodi audio settings, I have only AML-M8AUDIO SPDIF as digital output.
But in spite of this selection, digital signal is sent to HDMI output instead.

So, how can I switch to SPDIF and finally listen the DTS 5.1 sound from my AVR.

Thank you very much for your feedback

By default Amlogic kernel driver analog and S/PDIF output to HDMI. I have never tried that but can you add the following to your autostart.sh:

​echo audio_off > /sys/class/amhdmitx/amhdmitx0/config || true

and check if it works? Here's some information on autostart.sh: http://wiki.openelec.tv/index.php/Autostart.sh

[kostaman]

kszaq
Running MXQ.arm 7.0.0.1 Nand on all black MXQ, board number: 'AM_MXQ_A 20150825

The above box is the one where CEC fails to initialise after Suspend. I just turned it on and then used Suspend from red button on remote.
Turned it back on. Went to settings and YES i can change refresh rates. I played a HD movie and yes refresh rate changes as well. (24HZ)
This did not initialise the CEC after changing refresh rate in settings.
Going into CEC settings and Hitting OK in menu does not activate it either.

Reboot and then wait until DIM then ok with box remote wakes CEC and TV remote works the box.
Wait until dim then box remote OK is the only way to wake/activate CEC even after reboot.
If suspend is used and the error failed to initialise appears nothing but a reboot will wake it not even after Dim method.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The below box is the one that does not throw errors until i restore a back up done from above box.
I have not restored it after hard re set. In case you want any more testing.
kszaq
UPDATE: I have just noticed something regarding below box.
I just started it up and my TV remote commands are not recognised. I went into CEC settings and scrolled to menu without
changing settings and hit OK. This woke CEC and my TV remote commands started to work. I used the remote through the GUI and suddenly
it lost contact (my TV shows new information notifications top corner when it loses contact or makes contact) TV remote commands no longer worked.
Now this is the weird thing. I again went to CEC settings and again hit OK in the menu but this time it will not wake CEC. Tried 3 times.
I waited for DIM and hit OK with box remote (TV notification new information 1080p 60hz) and CEC woke up. TV remote now worked again.
I waited for DIM and tried the TV remote NOT RECEIVING COMMANDS. Used the Box remote hit OK (TV notification new information 1080p 60hz)
TV remote now works commands.

All Black MXQ Running Board uknown Updated from openelec to LibreELEC-S805.HD18Q.arm-7.0.0.1

[mwp1]

mwp1 peppearci mike77 Can you please test CEC on your TVs with any of the latest builds? It can be 6.0.3.7, 6.95.2.3 or LE 7.0.0.1, CEC driver is the same on all of them. Please check it only before suspend, I already know from kostaman that there are some issues after waking the box up and I have a possible solution in mind, but I'd first like to know if it's all OK before suspend. Thank you.

Hello kszaq ,
I performed some basic tests of CEC using version HD18Q 6.95.2.3 (MXV S805 box), TV model LG 42LE5500 (6 years old).
It seems to be working fine. No command buffering, and TV always recognize the box after power on and also after reboot.
Turn Off from menu is performing the same as suspend, and both after wake up shows notification of not possible to start CEC adapter.
The only strange thing that happened was after I change a configurarition on CEC menu, and after that the TV stop recognizing the box, until I reboot the box.
This weekend I will try LibreELEC. Could you tell what are the main differences from LibreELEC regarding OpenELEC 6.95.2.3?
Thanks a lot!

[kostaman]

Hello kszaq ,
I performed some basic tests of CEC using version HD18Q 6.95.2.3 (MXV S805 box), TV model LG 42LE5500 (6 years old).
It seems to be working fine. No command buffering, and TV always recognize the box after power on and also after reboot.
Turn Off from menu is performing the same as suspend, and both after wake up shows notification of not possible to start CEC adapter.
The only strange thing that happened was after I change a configurarition on CEC menu, and after that the TV stop recognizing the box, until I reboot the box.
This weekend I will try LibreELEC. Could you tell what are the main differences from LibreELEC regarding OpenELEC 6.95.2.3?
Thanks a lot!

I updated to LibreELEC (see post #2961) from All Black MXQ:Running OE-Amlogic.MXQ.arm-6.95.2.2 On Nand. Board Number: AM_MXQ_A 20150825.
On the 6.95.2.2 i had proper power off and could avoid SUSPEND by CEC settings. Red button on remote would power off box so i would not get the CEC Error.
SUSPEND is the culprit in OpenELEC and LibreELEC . In LibreElec there is no Real power off. Only Suspend. Even using the power menu and choosing Power Off.
IT SUSPENDS. Reboot works but CEC is asleep until DIM screen come on and Hit OK with box remote WILL WAKE CEC.

[kszaq]

Hello kszaq ,
I performed some basic tests of CEC using version HD18Q 6.95.2.3 (MXV S805 box), TV model LG 42LE5500 (6 years old).
It seems to be working fine. No command buffering, and TV always recognize the box after power on and also after reboot.
Turn Off from menu is performing the same as suspend, and both after wake up shows notification of not possible to start CEC adapter.
The only strange thing that happened was after I change a configurarition on CEC menu, and after that the TV stop recognizing the box, until I reboot the box.
This weekend I will try LibreELEC. Could you tell what are the main differences from LibreELEC regarding OpenELEC 6.95.2.3?
Thanks a lot!

Thank you for your report. I'm happy that it works now, at least before suspending the box. As for the differences between OE and LE there are not that many at the moment from user point of view. In the future you'll get faster releases (bigger team working on LE), more addons and maybe new features. From developer point of view it is bigger and very friendly community.

I updated to LibreELEC (see post #2961) from All Black MXQ:Running OE-Amlogic.MXQ.arm-6.95.2.2 On Nand. Board Number: AM_MXQ_A 20150825.
On the 6.95.2.2 i had proper power off and could avoid SUSPEND by CEC settings. Red button on remote would power off box so i would not get the CEC Error.
SUSPEND is the culprit in OpenELEC and LibreELEC . In LibreElec there is no Real power off. Only Suspend. Even using the power menu and choosing Power Off.
IT SUSPENDS. Reboot works but CEC is asleep until DIM screen come on and Hit OK with box remote WILL WAKE CEC.

Thanks for reporting. Actually in both 6.95.2.3 and LE 7.0.0.1 I removed "power off" because it was very unreliable for some boxes. I'm looking into it and if I come up with a patch to make it work properly, the option will be back in next OE/LE build. I will also include a change to the new CEC driver that might solve CEC issues after suspend.

[kostaman]

Thank you for your report. I'm happy that it works now, at least before suspending the box. As for the differences between OE and LE there are not that many at the moment from user point of view. In the future you'll get faster releases (bigger team working on LE), more addons and maybe new features. From developer point of view it is bigger and very friendly community.


Thanks for reporting. Actually in both 6.95.2.3 and LE 7.0.0.1 I removed "power off" because it was very unreliable for some boxes. I'm looking into it and if I come up with a patch to make it work properly, the option will be back in next OE/LE build. I will also include a change to the new CEC driver that might solve CEC issues after suspend.

Thanks kszaq I know that the power off in 6.95.2.2 was strange in that when i hit red remote button to turn off and then same to turn on i only saw kodi splash followed by my skin.
No Splash of MXQ / OPENELEC / KODI / SKIN as is when i rebooted. But it definitely was a power off . I had no problems with it . I really like a power off on my boxes for a few reasons.
SUSPEND is something i dont need as OpenELEC / LibreELEC boots so fast. Unlike Android which can take up to 50 seconds.
I will stay with the LibreELEC builds on both boxes and continue testing the builds. Cheers.

[sammaz]

kszaq

I have figured out the CEC issue !

To recreate :

1. While a video stream is playing in kodi issue the below commands in terminal :

pgrep kodi.bin | xargs kill -SIGSTOP

(Then wait for about 10 seconds and execute the below command)

pgrep kodi.bin | xargs kill -SIGCONT

You will see the error message that the connection to the Pulse8 USB has been lost.

2. Now navigate to your settings\input\CEC (using your phone or keyboard ect) and click on the first radio button to "disable"...wait for 5 seconds. Then re-enable the radio button...wait 5 seconds. Now save and back out. CEC is restored!!!!

3. I have captured the CEC command that is being sent when CEC is resotred :

dmesg |grep cec

[ 334.446269@0] [amlogic_cec] amlogic_cec_irq_handler(): cec msg status: rx: 0x2; tx: 0x0
[ 334.447956@0] hdmitx: cec: CEC[4]: rx msg len: 2 dat: 04 8c
[ 334.587782@0] [amlogic_cec] amlogic_cec_irq_handler(): cec msg status: rx: 0x0; tx: 0x2

Whatever is happening in those 3 lines is able to restore the lost CEC connection. Now we just need the command to directly issue these commands rather than us actually navigating to the control panel each time to re-activate CEC.

Kszaq...Can you translate what is captured there into an echo "rx 04 8c" | cec-client -s type command?

[kszaq]

sammaz ^^

The part of dmesg you pasted is "device vendor" message received from TV, actually nothing to do with restoring CEC funcionality. No CEC after SIGSTOP-SIGCONT is a general issue, not specific to Amlogic CEC driver. You can read that someone has the same problem with P8 CEC adapter: http://openelec.tv/forum/128-addons/...semek?start=15

To resolve this, we would need to have a SIGCONT signal handler in Kodi that would reinitialize CEC driver.

[Dc0de]

Anyone know if this works on MK808B Plus with RT8723 Wifi. I believe it may be a clone. Do the MK808 builds replace the bootloader (i.e brickrisk)? I know Kszaqs mxq build don't anymore.

[kszaq]

Anyone know if this works on MK808B Plus with RT8723 Wifi. I believe it may be a clone. Do the MK808 builds replace the bootloader (i.e brickrisk)? I know Kszaqs mxq build don't anymore.

It is reported to work on MK808B+ with RT8723BS WiFi, although Bluetooth won't work. None of my builds replace bootloader anymore, only kernel and system which should be 100% safe.

[Dc0de]

Perfect kszaq. Really appreciate your work!