[ROM] Unofficial OpenELEC for MK808B+ and MXQ

[systematic]

A question to anyone here - AUDIO/VOLUME strength -

I am finding that the higher quality the video stream, the crappier the audio CAN be. Crappier in that if say I play a HD or 1080p video, the sound quality is soooooo low. The MXQ itself is turned up (ensured this by using the YATSE smartphone remote volume controls). I then have to turn the TV volume up 75 - 90% up to get something worthy of listening to but I hate knowing my TVs speakers will be getting strained. I dont have a 5.1 setup. I am simply playing through the TV Speakers of a TV. Are there any tips whatsoever to get. I believe my audio option under settings is set to OPTIMISED. Any tips to alleviate this issue will be greatly appreciated. Thanks

[systematic]

Just read this - http://openelec.tv/news/22-releases

"Beginning with Kodi 15.0 most audio encoder, audio decoder, PVR and visualisation addons are no longer pre-bundled into OpenELEC but can be downloaded from the Kodi addon repo if required"

Which addons are needed?

[Dc0de]

Just though I would write this here incase it may help someone. Obviously if you try any of the below, you do at your own risk etc etc...

My MXQ Box = I assume is a HD18q All Black box as it Runs this threads HD18q no problem, all working Wifi, Remote, and flashed to nand.

Last night I flashed Openelec 6 to the above box from http://amlinux.ru/image/6.0.0/OpenEL...XQ-6.0.0.2.zip AT FIRST it would not flash using toothpick method (the start up MXQ logo just kept flashing on and off). I then changed the recovery.img in the above zip to the one from the HD18q OpenELEC-Amlogic.HD18Q.arm-5.95.5.2.zip release from this thread. It then flashed to nand no problem with the toothpick method...Perhaps the recovery.img is corrupt in the http://amlinux.ru/image/6.0.0/OpenEL...XQ-6.0.0.2.zip or its just doesnt like my box...

After booting with the new Openelec 6, most still works on my HD18q like Wifi, Remote.

The only problems i am having is

1) Openelec 6 does not shutdown like OpenELEC-Amlogic.HD18Q.arm-5.95.5.2.zip from this thread . Instead it reboots....Perhaps a kernal bug? Anyone know?

2)When running the latest ITV player plugin for Kodi, LIVE TV streams (itv1 live) will play for about 10 seconds and then the video will freeze, but audio will continue. It doesnt seam to do this on the catchup section. If I turn off Amlogic Hardware Acceleration video decoding, I dont get this issue. Im not sure if OpenELEC-Amlogic.HD18Q.arm-5.95.5.2.zip has this problem aswell. Perhaps one of you could test on that older version and let me know.

I take it that turning off Amlogic Hardware Acceleration video decoding will make the quad cpu do all the hard work instead of the gpu? Correct?

Excellent work RealJohnGalt. Its good to see other openelec developers sharing there work. Thank you.

I also assume I will have issues (remote/wifi) with the RealJohnGalt update that has been posted as I dont have a red top MXQ? Anyone tested this version on an All Black MXQ (HD18q)?

EDIT: Turning off Amlogic Hardware Acceleration leads to "screen tearing" on 1080p videos, especially in fast moving scenes. So i have to turn it off to watch ITV Player Live streams (to avoid video freeze and audio continuing problem), and turn it back on to say watch a movie stream at 1080p to avoid tearing.

[sonofdibnah]

A question to anyone here - AUDIO/VOLUME strength -

I am finding that the higher quality the video stream, the crappier the audio CAN be. Crappier in that if say I play a HD or 1080p video, the sound quality is soooooo low. The MXQ itself is turned up (ensured this by using the YATSE smartphone remote volume controls). I then have to turn the TV volume up 75 - 90% up to get something worthy of listening to but I hate knowing my TVs speakers will be getting strained. I dont have a 5.1 setup. I am simply playing through the TV Speakers of a TV. Are there any tips whatsoever to get. I believe my audio option under settings is set to OPTIMISED. Any tips to alleviate this issue will be greatly appreciated. Thanks

When you're playing your video, bring up the screen with play/pause etc on it. Go to the sound icon (you know, the one where you can set audio offset). The second setting down is audio amplification. up this and you'll boost overall volume.

[TheRealJohnGalt]

Hello. I tried the openelec 6 update tar on my MXQ red "MX" box that was running the 5.95.5.2 Openelec from SD card (from the first page in this thread). The update seemed to go OK after I rebooted with the tar file in the Update folder but it wouldn't boot into Openelec. The update had decompressed but then on the second reboot I got a message to the effect that the box was unable to mount flash. Fairly new to Openelec so was there anything I should have done differently or is the update tar only for Openelec that has been flashed to nand? I've reinstalled 5.95.5.2 for now but I'd like to update to run from SD if possible.

Thanks for any advice you can give.

According to https://github.com/kszaq/OpenELEC.tv/releases , SD installations can also use the update tar, but I haven't tested. I'll upload images for the next build as well to see if SD works in a fresh installation. If there are still issues, I may need to revert optimized ext4 mount flags.

Just though I would write this here incase it may help someone. Obviously if you try any of the below, you do at your own risk etc etc...

My MXQ Box = I assume is a HD18q All Black box as it Runs this threads HD18q no problem, all working Wifi, Remote, and flashed to nand.

Last night I flashed Openelec 6 to the above box from http://amlinux.ru/image/6.0.0/OpenEL...XQ-6.0.0.2.zip AT FIRST it would not flash using toothpick method (the start up MXQ logo just kept flashing on and off). I then changed the recovery.img in the above zip to the one from the HD18q OpenELEC-Amlogic.HD18Q.arm-5.95.5.2.zip release from this thread. It then flashed to nand no problem with the toothpick method...Perhaps the recovery.img is corrupt in the http://amlinux.ru/image/6.0.0/OpenEL...XQ-6.0.0.2.zip or its just doesnt like my box...

After booting with the new Openelec 6, most still works on my HD18q like Wifi, Remote.

The only problems i am having is

1) Openelec 6 does not shutdown like OpenELEC-Amlogic.HD18Q.arm-5.95.5.2.zip from this thread . Instead it reboots....Perhaps a kernal bug? Anyone know?

2)When running the latest ITV player plugin for Kodi, LIVE TV streams (itv1 live) will play for about 10 seconds and then the video will freeze, but audio will continue. It doesnt seam to do this on the catchup section. If I turn off Amlogic Hardware Acceleration video decoding, I dont get this issue. Im not sure if OpenELEC-Amlogic.HD18Q.arm-5.95.5.2.zip has this problem aswell. Perhaps one of you could test on that older version and let me know.

I take it that turning off Amlogic Hardware Acceleration video decoding will make the quad cpu do all the hard work instead of the gpu? Correct?

Excellent work RealJohnGalt. Its good to see other openelec developers sharing there work. Thank you.

I also assume I will have issues (remote/wifi) with the RealJohnGalt update that has been posted as I dont have a red top MXQ? Anyone tested this version on an All Black MXQ (HD18q)?

EDIT: Turning off Amlogic Hardware Acceleration leads to "screen tearing" on 1080p videos, especially in fast moving scenes. So i have to turn it off to watch ITV Player Live streams (to avoid video freeze and audio continuing problem), and turn it back on to say watch a movie stream at 1080p to avoid tearing.

I can do a HD18Q build next time for you. What is the "audio continuing" problem, and was it present in kszaq's builds?

Hi TheRealJohnGalt,

Thank you for your post. I tried the openelec 6 update tar on my MXQ all black box that was running the 5.95.5.2 Openelec from Nand (from the first page in this thread). This seemed to work ok but I wanted to upgrade. The update seemed to go OK after I rebooted with the tar file in the Update folder it updates and loads up into Openelec but now my remote does not work at all. Is there anyway to fix this or anything I can do? Thanks.

What build and remote are you using of the 5.95.5.2? Does it say HD18Q or MXQ in the name?

TheRealJohnGalt, Newer kernel you dont want to implement?
Wetek already 3.10.90 maked..
Thanks again

I'll be working on the kernel shortly and probably rebasing on codesnake's for easier maintenance.

[systematic]

When you're playing your video, bring up the screen with play/pause etc on it. Go to the sound icon (you know, the one where you can set audio offset). The second setting down is audio amplification. up this and you'll boost overall volume.

Cheers for this one. I will try this.

[systematic]

Just though I would write this here incase it may help someone. Obviously if you try any of the below, you do at your own risk etc etc...

My MXQ Box = I assume is a HD18q All Black box as it Runs this threads HD18q no problem, all working Wifi, Remote, and flashed to nand.

Last night I flashed Openelec 6 to the above box from http://amlinux.ru/image/6.0.0/OpenEL...XQ-6.0.0.2.zip AT FIRST it would not flash using toothpick method (the start up MXQ logo just kept flashing on and off). I then changed the recovery.img in the above zip to the one from the HD18q OpenELEC-Amlogic.HD18Q.arm-5.95.5.2.zip release from this thread. It then flashed to nand no problem with the toothpick method...Perhaps the recovery.img is corrupt in the http://amlinux.ru/image/6.0.0/OpenEL...XQ-6.0.0.2.zip or its just doesnt like my box...

After booting with the new Openelec 6, most still works on my HD18q like Wifi, Remote.

The only problems i am having is

1) Openelec 6 does not shutdown like OpenELEC-Amlogic.HD18Q.arm-5.95.5.2.zip from this thread . Instead it reboots....Perhaps a kernal bug? Anyone know?

2)When running the latest ITV player plugin for Kodi, LIVE TV streams (itv1 live) will play for about 10 seconds and then the video will freeze, but audio will continue. It doesnt seam to do this on the catchup section. If I turn off Amlogic Hardware Acceleration video decoding, I dont get this issue. Im not sure if OpenELEC-Amlogic.HD18Q.arm-5.95.5.2.zip has this problem aswell. Perhaps one of you could test on that older version and let me know.

I take it that turning off Amlogic Hardware Acceleration video decoding will make the quad cpu do all the hard work instead of the gpu? Correct?

Excellent work RealJohnGalt. Its good to see other openelec developers sharing there work. Thank you.

I also assume I will have issues (remote/wifi) with the RealJohnGalt update that has been posted as I dont have a red top MXQ? Anyone tested this version on an All Black MXQ (HD18q)?

EDIT: Turning off Amlogic Hardware Acceleration leads to "screen tearing" on 1080p videos, especially in fast moving scenes. So i have to turn it off to watch ITV Player Live streams (to avoid video freeze and audio continuing problem), and turn it back on to say watch a movie stream at 1080p to avoid tearing.

Everything you said is BANG on because I went through EXACTLY the same shizzle as you will see from my previous posts from earlier this morning.

1. The Zip from RU site was not flashing with toothpick at all. However, I flashed using RealJohns .tar file by uploading it the "update" folder and rebooting. All went swimmingly.
2. About 30 mins ago, I was playing a 1080p movie and noticed the tearing was occurring as per your post. I then decided to turn hardware acceleration ON and the tearing on 1080ps went away and the movie played very smooth. The interesting thing is with firmware 5.0.8.20, this same problem existing when hardware acceleration was ON and the only way to get it to play smoothly was turning it OFF. I havent tested the live streams with HW acceleration ON but I suspect I will have the same issues but I can say for sure that keeping it OFF in 5.0.8.20 resulted in smooth 1080p playback. Seems like the switch has flipped.
3. YATSE remote on my works flawlessly as does the out of box remote
4. Shutting down via YATSE, powers the box down and it doesnt reboot.

For the record I am using the red stripe MXQ

[pigbait]

so whats interesting, is the amount of people that seem to be losing remotes with the MXQ. I was thinking what if we started a database with remote.config files? what do you guys think?

[jm_maclaren]

I have an all black mxq that the hd18q roms work well with. I updated using TheRealJohnGalt's rom. Remote did'nt work but placing this conf (https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ks...te/remote.conf) in /storage/.config fixed it.

[zambu]

I have an all black mxq that the hd18q roms work well with. I updated using TheRealJohnGalt's rom. Remote did'nt work but placing this conf (https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ks...te/remote.conf) in /storage/.config fixed it.

did same remote is working ok and wifi to

[Dc0de]

"When running the latest ITV player plugin for Kodi, LIVE TV streams (itv1 live) will play for about 10 seconds and then the video will freeze, but audio will continue. It doesnt seam to do this on the catchup section. If I turn off Amlogic Hardware Acceleration video decoding, I dont get this issue.....but turning off acceleration leads to screen tearing on 1080p video in fast scenes..."

Can someone please test the above on TheRealJohnGalts OE6 build, and/or on 5.95.5.2 from this thread to see if the problem exists on those builds. Im currently on http://amlinux.ru/image/6.0.0/OpenEL...XQ-6.0.0.2.zip that has the above issue. I only have one box at the moment which is all setup. Ive ordered another box for test purposes.

[TheRealJohnGalt]

I have an all black mxq that the hd18q roms work well with. I updated using TheRealJohnGalt's rom. Remote did'nt work but placing this conf (https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ks...te/remote.conf) in /storage/.config fixed it.

You HD18q guys need to use HD18q builds to get the remote and wifi working "out of box." I'm currently testing a codesnake based kernel, then a AMLogic 11042015 source merge, and will do MXQ and HD18q builds after.

[Dc0de]

TheRealJohnGalt Thank you. As soon as my test box arrives, i will test.

Would the Shutdown bug (reboots not shutdown) be related to kernel? The hd18q releases on here (last 5 beta) shuts down ok. The russian OE 6 reboots instead of shutdown. I havent tried your OE6 yet on HD18q.

[TheRealJohnGalt]

Dc0de, Without looking closely, it probably is. I'm not sure about what source the russian builds are using. If they're using a somewhat recent codesnake kernel as base, the restart/poweroff call and code is very different (changed in 20150401 AML source).

Examples:
codesnake: https://github.com/RealJohnGalt/linu...on/power.c#L76

kszaq: https://github.com/RealJohnGalt/linu...on/power.c#L72

I've been busy with IRL stuff, but I'll probably do image (with mount flags reverted) and HD18q uploads of the last OE6 build I did, if the new kernel has too many issues to promptly cover. This way HD18q and SD guys will at least be covered in the mean time.

Edit: does your power LED change color based on power state in the russian builds?

[Dmc99]

Hi Everyone,

Love the thread, have been using this on my Red MXQ for awhile now!

Unfortunately today I'm having a bit of trouble with the OTT MXQ (HD18q)

Some back story,
I ordered an all black OTT MXQ (HD18Q) from amazon and was able to install openelec fine (i went with the beta release).
Since it worked so well i decided to buy a couple more from geekbuying since they had them on sale.

http://www.geekbuying.com/item/H-MXQ-Amlogic-S805-Smart-Android-TV-Box-1GB-RAM-8G-ROM-1080P-H-265-Hardwar-Decode-WIFI-Miracast-DLNA---Black-339500.html

When i finally got them in, the first issue i noticed is that the remote didn't work at all in android recovery. I grabbed a keyboard and plugged it in but it didn't work either.
If i unplugged and plugged the power(leaving the USB keyboard and drive) it recognized my usb drive and the keyboard.
I was able to install from EXT and everything seemed fine so i hit reboot.
The problem is nothing came back on screen and my TV just said no signal and no picture ever came back.
I tried turning it off and on but no luck.

Has anyone run into this before? I know there has been some talk about issues with these MXQ.

Also does anyone happen to have the stock firmware image that i could flash with the USB burning tool?
I wanted to see if i would be able to fix the one that doesn't display anything anymore.

Thanks in advance !