Minix Neo X7 - Finless 1.8 ROM

[sbarriba]

on question 1: the best way to play full HD on a neo x7 is the use of ES explorer.
go to the folder where the MKV are placed. Play the MKV file with MX player.
don't forget to install MX player v7 neon codec, this will make it work very good.

to answer your second question, the best version of software for running XBMC on x7 is just like I told flash lewy justXBMC ver 1.2.1 and after that flash kernel from finless rom 1.8
this is a rock solid stable way to run XBMC. With full HD Support and digital pass trough sound.

Thanks for the fast response killerdude.

Just so I'm clear my initial objective was to prove the X7 in some configuration would play that high bitrate 1080p content perfectly (otherwise I've made a bad purchase - hopefully not). Objective 2 was then to get XBMC delivering that perfect experience for the convenience of the UI (as I'm familiar with XBMC from my htpc and Rasp Pi etc).

You recommended installing lewy's XBMC (which I'll do tonight, thanks) in answer to Q2, but your answer to Q1 was using MX Player not XBMC. To clarify do you think XBMC won't be able to handle the mkvs or did I misinterpret that?

Thanks in advance.

[Killerdude]

Thanks for the fast response killerdude.

Just so I'm clear my initial objective was to prove the X7 in some configuration would play that high bitrate 1080p content perfectly (otherwise I've made a bad purchase - hopefully not). Objective 2 was then to get XBMC delivering that perfect experience for the convenience of the UI (as I'm familiar with XBMC from my htpc and Rasp Pi etc).

You recommended installing lewy's XBMC (which I'll do tonight, thanks) in answer to Q2, but your answer to Q1 was using MX Player not XBMC. To clarify do you think XBMC won't be able to handle the mkvs or did I misinterpret that?

Thanks in advance.

I interpreter your question 1 as your asking if other players on the X7 will play high bit rate. There is one player called mxplayer. XBMC will be able to play high bitrate MKV container files, but mxplayer works also.
If your used to use XBMC On rasp PI the UI on x7 is lighting fast.
By the way, there is also a new version of lewy's justXBMC rom called 1.2.2 use this rom to install, then flash the kernel of finless rom 1.8. Use the 1.8Ghz, 600Mhz GPU and 800DDR3 MEM.

[Molle]

Question 1: are others playing similar mkvs successfully?

For smooth 1080p playback you need at least a "de-underclocked" kernel. Note that I'm not saying "overclocked". It's just that the stock MINIX kernels underclock particularly the DDR so much that it affects GPU performance. Through extensive testing we have found out that the following kernel parameters are sufficient for playing back even the most difficult FullHD videos smoothly:

• The kernel absolutely needs to include the vsync video fix from Sam321
• CPU speed bottom limited to 1200MHz (a kernel with 1200/1608/1800MHz seems to be the best one)
• GPU speed bottom limited to 400MHz (a kernel with 400/600MHz is enough. 798MHz is not really needed)
• Minimum DDR speed 667 (i.e. 1334MHz) (720/1440MHz is OK too, but not really necessary)

Then you need a version of XBMC which supports 'libstagefright'-based h/w decoding. Currently the best ones are Lewy's 'justXBMC' and the SPMC for OUYA.

In addition to these XBMC versions, both MX Player and, especially, the RockChip stock video player, despite its spartanness, play 1080p MKVs beautifully.

For multi-channel audio playback with XBMC you'll also need a ROM which includes the patched libmedia library. Also the particular XBMC build you'll be using needs to support libmedia.

Just my €0,02.

[Vishwa Somayaji]

Very succinctly put! This has the essence of reading 100s of posts.

[TH0CKX]

Very very very Nice

Hello Bob,

Thank you for you Rom, your 1.8 is a pure plessure!

For the others: I am using the normal settings in the flash tool, I only change the kernel to kernel1080_cpu1704h_gpustock600_ddr720.

Here the things that works/ are stable
1 Very smooth (even homescreen)
2 I am using an USB game controller (so not Synaxis) and works good with games3 I am using an OUYA version of XMBC (xbmc-20130219-32e99c7-android-hwaccel-armeabi-v7a) and this is pure plesure. I have used JUSTXBMCv2. APK and the SPMCv1.4, but this plays the most files, stable and smooth....

Apps that I use which are very helpfull:
- full!screen - removes the launchbar and set hidden homebutton and recent apps
- Null Input Method - Shows no online keyboard

Things that are strange:
The Ethernet sometimes restarts... Do more people have this issue??? (to be fare, I had it with Finless 1.6 and JustXBMC c1.2.2

Everybody keep up the good work, only then we will get a super HTPC....

[MAB]

For smooth 1080p playback you need at least a "de-underclocked" kernel. Note that I'm not saying "overclocked". It's just that the stock MINIX kernels underclock particularly the DDR so much that it affects GPU performance. Through extensive testing we have found out that the following kernel parameters are sufficient for playing back even the most difficult FullHD videos smoothly:

• The kernel absolutely needs to include the vsync video fix from Sam321
• CPU speed bottom limited to 1200MHz (a kernel with 1200/1608/1800MHz seems to be the best one)
• GPU speed bottom limited to 400MHz (a kernel with 400/600MHz is enough. 798MHz is not really needed)
• Minimum DDR speed 667 (i.e. 1334MHz) (720/1440MHz is OK too, but not really necessary)

Then you need a version of XBMC which supports 'libstagefright'-based h/w decoding. Currently the best ones are Lewy's 'justXBMC' and the SPMC for OUYA.

In addition to these XBMC versions, both MX Player and, especially, the RockChip stock video player, despite its spartanness, play 1080p MKVs beautifully.

For multi-channel audio playback with XBMC you'll also need a ROM which includes the patched libmedia library. Also the particular XBMC build you'll be using needs to support libmedia.

Just my €0,02.

Hi all,

This is my first post

I completly agree with Molle, im using this GREAT rom with 1704-600-667 kernel and it really works great.

Some feedback:
- 1080p h/x264 DTS MKVs runs great at 1920x1080@24Hz (maybe 30Hz too) on MX player and Lewis's justXBMCv2.
- Home screen is a little laggy (but i dont care)
- A2 airmouse is still very buggy, its a good airmouse but doenst work good with my X7
- This rom doesnt feel as fast as 1.6, but for 1080p playback from external HDD, SMB or online streaming with XBMC plugins (xbmchub) is the BEST ROM. (justxbmcv2.apk)
- Artifacts from 1.7 disappears!!!!

I cant complaint about anything because i only use my X7 for XBMC playback and now i can play my 1080p movies on it

I saw a 2D/3D options on default player, but it doesnt work ¿?

May thanks to Bob and Lewy and all who contributed to make ours X7 works better.

Regards

Mauricio

[lachyzee]

For smooth 1080p playback you need at least a "de-underclocked" kernel. Note that I'm not saying "overclocked". It's just that the stock MINIX kernels underclock particularly the DDR so much that it affects GPU performance. Through extensive testing we have found out that the following kernel parameters are sufficient for playing back even the most difficult FullHD videos smoothly:

• The kernel absolutely needs to include the vsync video fix from Sam321
• CPU speed bottom limited to 1200MHz (a kernel with 1200/1608/1800MHz seems to be the best one)
• GPU speed bottom limited to 400MHz (a kernel with 400/600MHz is enough. 798MHz is not really needed)
• Minimum DDR speed 667 (i.e. 1334MHz) (720/1440MHz is OK too, but not really necessary)

Then you need a version of XBMC which supports 'libstagefright'-based h/w decoding. Currently the best ones are Lewy's 'justXBMC' and the SPMC for OUYA.

In addition to these XBMC versions, both MX Player and, especially, the RockChip stock video player, despite its spartanness, play 1080p MKVs beautifully.

For multi-channel audio playback with XBMC you'll also need a ROM which includes the patched libmedia library. Also the particular XBMC build you'll be using needs to support libmedia.

Just my €0,02.

Thanks for this post. Answered a lot of my questions. Something like this should be stickied...

[Maerlin]

Hi Bob, what should we do to use the new XBMC Minix Edition with your awesome ROM? It installs fine but closes on startup saying that "Only Minix devices are compatible".. :/

Ref: http://www.minix.com.hk/Support.htm

[MAB]

Hi Bob, what should we do to use the new XBMC Minix Edition with your awesome ROM? It installs fine but closes on startup saying that "Only Minix devices are compatible".. :/

Ref: http://www.minix.com.hk/Support.htm

Did you test this XBMC Minix Edition with MINIX's firm?

[Maerlin]

Did you test this XBMC Minix Edition with MINIX's firm?

Yup, with the official firmware it works

[Finless]

In my ROM I give you the original build.prop. Just rename build.prop to build.old and rename build.orig to build.prop. Reboot and Viola! Back to the Minix build.prop!

Why does Minix do this crap trying to make open source stuff closed?
Don't they know we Dev's will fix that crap and take it out!

Bob

[MAB]

Yup, with the official firmware it works

Good news, so you have 1080p whith official firm/xbmc working??

[benster1]

Re: NEW - Minix Neo X7 - Finless 1.8 ROM

In my ROM I give you the original build.prop. Just rename build.prop to build.old and rename build.orig to build.prop. Reboot and Viola! Back to the Minix build.prop!

Why does Minix do this crap trying to make open source stuff closed?
Don't they know we Dev's will fix that crap and take it out!

Bob

Well thats great...
Think minix wants there own version of xbmc. Other brands should also do that..

Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk

[Maerlin]

In my ROM I give you the original build.prop. Just rename build.prop to build.old and rename build.orig to build.prop. Reboot and Viola! Back to the Minix build.prop!

Why does Minix do this crap trying to make open source stuff closed?
Don't they know we Dev's will fix that crap and take it out!

Bob

Well I tried but i didn't want to loose all your tweaks, so i copied something here, something there.. And now the rom won't boot lol. It just sits in the bootanimation for a while and then the screen goes black. Going to reflash now!

[adx7]

For smooth 1080p playback you need at least a "de-underclocked" kernel. Note that I'm not saying "overclocked".
.....

• The kernel absolutely needs to include the vsync video fix from Sam321
• CPU speed bottom limited to 1200MHz (a kernel with 1200/1608/1800MHz seems to be the best one)
• GPU speed bottom limited to 400MHz (a kernel with 400/600MHz is enough. 798MHz is not really needed)
• Minimum DDR speed 667 (i.e. 1334MHz) (720/1440MHz is OK too, but not really necessary)

....

Great job, Molle! I think this is really what many people are looking for!
Do the kernels that come with Finless 1.8 have the vsync video fix?
I am also trying to get 1080p smooth playback.
But I am also facing some problems regarding the HDMI connection. In 1080p@50/60 the HDMI jumps out of sync.. very strangely. Everything is ok for 5 to 10 minutes, and suddenly the black screen (HDMI resyncs, I think) for 10 secs, and the image is back. I happens more frequently with 1.7 than 1.8. Switching the output of the X7 to 720p@60 everything seems ok.