XBMC - Hardware Accelerated Decoding - What works and what doesn't.

[ikkess]

Hi all,

Since recieving my MK809II i am trying my best to get a working 1080p XBMC installation.
My stick is the same as this one but without the manufacturer logo; http://dx.com/p/cozyswan-mk809-ii-an...h-black-185736.
I also bought a usb ethernet dongle, http://dx.com/p/usb-2-0-10-100mbps-r...r-dongle-34691, as i wanted the most stable wired connection for streaming from my NAS, a QNAP TS-219P II.

I have read this post and almost the whole section on XBMC. But i still run into problems and the biggest one is a buffering problem.

Things i have already done in random order;
1. Using the 2dark4u kernel_1080_CPU1608_GPU466_RAM1120 and also the lower one from here; http://www.freaktab.com/showthread.p...OM-version-1-7
2. Heatsinks and active cooling in a attractive housing see this post for a picture http://www.freaktab.com/showthread.p...ort-on-MK809II
3. Use the advancedsettings.xml but with extra lines found around the internet;
<network>
<cachemembuffersize>34603008</cachemembuffersize>
<curlclienttimeout>45</curlclienttimeout>
<skiploopfilter>48</skiploopfilter>
</network>
The cache setting should now be 50mb if i remember correctly and that would help me with my buffering problem
4. Tried to use NFS but could not get it to work, i can see the ip adress from within XBMC and browse to my multimedia folder. But there is nothing in it. I found a script on the Qnap forums that reset all my rights on the folders but no luck. So for the moment i have stopped looking into it.
5. I now use cifsmanager to make cifs mappings. I want to try FTP, as suggested, but haven't done it yet.
6. Tested with the XBMC HW Accell build van 2/2/2013, 19/2/2013 en 4/06/2013.
7. Installing the Imito Finless Rom 1.7a, the UG802 Finless Rom 1.7 and 1.8

As i said i have buffering problems with 720 and 1080p files. It doesn't matter what the encoding is or if they are small or large.
Also using Archos Player or MX gives the buffering problem.
All files play smoothly using my pc and VLC Player. So my network is capable enough to play the files without buffering issues. But i am aware that the stick has much less capabilities on the hardware side then my pc.

Personally i am still in doubt of the USB Ethernet dongle. I know it downloads fast but i do not know of a program that can accurately measure the speeds.

So has anyone an idea what i have forgotten or what i should investigate better? Or a suggestion what to look for?

[lewy20041]

Your problem is probably USB to Ethernet.
Conect IT to PC and check if movies are working right.

[ikkess]

Your problem is probably USB to Ethernet.
Conect IT to PC and check if movies are working right.

Hi, thnx for the suggestion.

I have plugged it in my pc and it was not recognized so looking at the Device ID i noticed that it has the infamous RD9700 chipset. Having read enough about that chip i didn't bother to test it further on my pc.
Plugging it back in my stick i tested the USB Ethernet dongle by running 2 programs; cnlab speedtest en the well known speedtest app. Both show a max download speed of 6.5 MBit/s
It clearly shows that i also have bought a capped USB Ethernet dongle
I must say that i had the idea that these apps would only work with mobile connections so therefore i didn't test that first.

Fortunately i have made a breakthrough; i swapped the 5v/3a powered hub for a 5v/2a powered hub. Reason was instability with a usb normal mouse and my flymouse. Doing that the whole system runs rocksolid.
So i tested the 19-2 XBMC build and i am now able to watch all 720p x264 series and movies i have with around 23fps and cpu 1 and 2 never getting above 85% load.
And as expected due to the capped dongle 1080p x264 starts buffering and will play for 4 seconds with 12 to 15 fps, then it starts buffering again.
As my dongle is connected to a hub it makes sense that if it is damaged that would hurt the stability of the whole system. So therefore i wasn't able to watch anything.

So that leaves me with few options;
1. Buy a new USB Ethernet dongle with guaranteed higher speeds.
2. Be happy with what i have now
3. Wait when Bob and the other dev's include GPU overclock in their rom's, for example the Imito 2.0 which works without a problem on my device.

[lewy20041]

For 1080p good usb to ethernet dongle
is must have.
Search **** for "Unitek 10/100" its berry good dongle.
No more bufering problems.

[ikkess]

For 1080p good usb to ethernet dongle
is must have.
Search **** for "Unitek 10/100" its berry good dongle.
No more bufering problems.

Right will have a look for that one.
Thnx for the suggestion which triggerd my now partially working setup.

[Abducted]

I do suggest you give an FTP server a try. My WIFI router at home isn't great and sometimes i have trouble streaming movies from my local server even on the laptop. However from my remote server through FTP i almost never have any problems (with the same movies) while i even connect to that one via the internet.

It seems XBMC (even PC version) only uses a very small buffer when it plays files from a SMB/Local network source. But when it plays files from an FTP server (even if it's local) it'll use about 25MB of buffer. You can check this by pressing "O" during playback. You'll notice when playing a file from SMB source it says "cache: 0 B" but when playing back from FTP it'll say something like "cache: 25.02 MB" (if the connection is fast enough to fill up the buffer)

[ikkess]

I do suggest you give an FTP server a try. My WIFI router at home isn't great and sometimes i have trouble streaming movies from my local server even on the laptop. However from my remote server through FTP i almost never have any problems (with the same movies) while i even connect to that one via the internet.

It seems XBMC (even PC version) only uses a very small buffer when it plays files from a SMB/Local network source. But when it plays files from an FTP server (even if it's local) it'll use about 25MB of buffer. You can check this by pressing "O" during playback. You'll notice when playing a file from SMB source it says "cache: 0 B" but when playing back from FTP it'll say something like "cache: 25.02 MB" (if the connection is fast enough to fill up the buffer)

Hi i have tested your suggestion but no result. Same buffering problem with the 1080p files but 720 are smooth.
I have looked for a usb to ethernet and it looks like the MyCom has a good one with the ASIX AX88772A chipset which should work with most Roms on the higher speeds.
So i will continue playing around when i have the new dongle.

Now i hope that someone has an idea how i can repair my broken USB port as i posted in http://www.freaktab.com/showthread.p...ort-on-MK809II

[ikkess]

removed because double post

[lewy20041]

Nice info from koying, xbmc dev.

There won't be anymore experimental libstagefright builds, though. It will be merged after the next alpha release, so all android nightlies from August on will have it built in.

and

Dears,

After months, the libstagefright code has finally been merged into the main tree.
As such, from tomorrow on, all android nightly builds will be libstagefright-enabled.

I've closed the other thread, so this one will be the sole place to come for libstagefright related issues

Thanks for the support so far.

[Wayhome]

I've closed the other thread, so this one will be the sole place to come for libstagefright related issues.

Could you provide the link to that place, please?

[Molle]

Could you provide the link to that place, please?

http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=168268

[tashkas]

archos players works fine with 720P

[Ry024]

I noticed the 1st post hasn't been updated in about 9 months, is there any new updates for h/w acceleration with xbmc? I have the netxeon mk808 clone.

[joaomfds]

I noticed the 1st post hasn't been updated in about 9 months, is there any new updates for h/w acceleration with xbmc? I have the netxeon mk808 clone.

Hi. Bumping the thread since many changes have ocurred with XBMC Gotham Nightlies...
With the latest nightlies acceleration is turned on with libstagefright and mediacodec. This defaults to mediacodec on rk3066 chips. Mediacodec seems more efficient playing HD videos up to 1920x800. At 1920x1080 it stutters a lot - unwatchable. Libstagefright seems less efficient with higher CPU load and stutters as well at 1920x1080. Hopefully they will continue improving this... 1920x1080 on rockchip player and mx player works fine with no apparent lost frames, and it even has HDMI passthrough for DTS 5.1 sound on 4.2.2 latest roms (November 2013). No HDMI passthrough on XBMC, even with libmedia.so patches and libmedia editions of XBMC... I will create a new thread or update an existing one regarding 5.1 playback since this seems to be important for many people.

[dracosc22679]

One think i noticed is that with both my boxes (Tronsmart A928 and CS968/CR11S both RK3188T), using ANY 1080p rom, i cannot run smooth 1080p movies by using ANY XBMC version (BeyondXBMC, MINIX XBMC Beta2, Ouya XBMC, Stock Frodo, Monthly Gotham, Nightly Gotham).
When i installed KitKat 1080p rom on both my boxes (CS968 still no wifi under KK rom), and i tried Nightly Gotham versions, when i use libstagefright HW, i have same problems, but if i use MediaCodec HW, everything is SUPER!
So the MediaCodec HW under KitKat really works! Is there a way to add MediaCodec HW on BeyondXBMC or any other custom XBMC, or make MediaCodec HW run on JellyBean roms?

P.S: Sorry for my English