MK808B_digitopMod_v3.5.5 XBMC Edition (24 Dec 2013)

[rdsok]

Companies and dev's that think just because these are TV Stick firmware's they shouldn't include Contacts because they are not phones are not thinking it through completely...

Granted the Contact's info does contain phone numbers but it also contains contact address, email, birthday and other fields. In addition, with the proper add-on hardware... the TV Sticks can still be used as an ip phone... so even the argument about them not being a phone is still not completely thinking through the full capacity of what these devices could potentially be used for.

Even if all you could do was update that contact info... that is useful since the same info would also be updated to our cell phones.

[Bueno]

And when I try to play a file via XBMC, over wifi, seems like the throughput is somewhat limited and lots of buffering. But I think this is a known bug for 808B.

Same here. I will try November rom again and see if streaming the same video works better.

[Bueno]

Same here. I will try November rom again and see if streaming the same video works better.

A follow up post - today I flashed MK808B_digitopMod_v3.5.4_WALKMAN_app_Nov2013 and tried streaming (over wifi) the same videos as I did on this XBMC Edition. First I tested a 720p film on VK, which wasn't working right on xbmc edition (seemed like bad buffering problem). It played for a second, buffered for a few seconds, then seemed to play flawlessly after that. Then to test XBMC, I installed the Flumpster XBMC, but I never edited build.prop so maybe I did something wrong there. On xbmc edition ROM, this one particular film was getting to the same spot every time (high action scene about 20 seconds in), then glitching out permanently until I stopped the video. On 3.5.4, it played fine, but it does look like it's skipping a lot of frames (flickery and gets kinda irritating to watch, but probably tolerable, I'll have to watch a full film to see ---- BUT FIRST I'll probably try the build prop editing thing).

I then tested Archos player for the first time, and it worked real good.

BTW, is the DTS codec for MX Player compatible on MK808B? http://forum.xda-developers.com/show....php?t=2156254

When installing it, I extracted the zip and in mx player settings i clicked the file that was extracted... no clue if i did it correctly or not. For now I'll probably stick to Archos, it seems to be the best external video player for MK808.

[ididmytime]

A follow up post - today I flashed MK808B_digitopMod_v3.5.4_WALKMAN_app_Nov2013 and tried streaming (over wifi) the same videos as I did on this XBMC Edition. First I tested a 720p film on VK, which wasn't working right on xbmc edition (seemed like bad buffering problem). It played for a second, buffered for a few seconds, then seemed to play flawlessly after that. Then to test XBMC, I installed the Flumpster XBMC, but I never edited build.prop so maybe I did something wrong there. On xbmc edition ROM, this one particular film was getting to the same spot every time (high action scene about 20 seconds in), then glitching out permanently until I stopped the video. On 3.5.4, it played fine, but it does look like it's skipping a lot of frames (flickery and gets kinda irritating to watch, but probably tolerable, I'll have to watch a full film to see ---- BUT FIRST I'll probably try the build prop editing thing).

I then tested Archos player for the first time, and it worked real good.

BTW, is the DTS codec for MX Player compatible on MK808B? http://forum.xda-developers.com/show....php?t=2156254

When installing it, I extracted the zip and in mx player settings i clicked the file that was extracted... no clue if i did it correctly or not. For now I'll probably stick to Archos, it seems to be the best external video player for MK808.

I highlighted the things I will answer or have a question about, so this reply will be a little bit threadbare.

What is VK?

Bad buffering isn't really XBMC's fault, if the movie is very high bit-rate it will be impossible to stream over wifi with the mk808.

Flumpster XBMC is not based on the Minix version, it is based off SPMC so advancesettings.xml may be needed for GPU decoding.

Glitching out at a certain point could very well be a bad/corrupt encode, one of my own encodes will do something similar from local, but will work on other players fine.

You need to find out if it is indeed dropping frames, when the video plays, go into info and find out what the CPU/Cache is doing and look at the frames dropping, never guess that it's doing something.

If you wanna test this out, load up XBMC and wait for around 5mins, your CPU will be high during this time as it scans plugins and does background work. My CPU barely hits 40% when playing 1080p at 1080p.

[Bueno]

What is VK?

VK is a Russian social network, but it's nicer than Facebook because they have a section where music and videos can be streamed. The VK app for Android uses a built-in video player, I've looked around in settings and can't find a way to use an external player (unless I use a web browser to visit vk.com rather than use the App). Surprisingly, the player seems to work good. The only time I had trouble with it is when I used the ROM from this thread.

Glitching out at a certain point could very well be a bad/corrupt encode, one of my own encodes will do something similar from local, but will work on other players fine.

TBH when I had that problem I was using Navi-X add-on. When I tested the movie on the older Digitop Walkman November ROM, I used iStream add-on instead, so the file could have been a cause.

Flumpster XBMC is not based on the Minix version, it is based off SPMC so advancesettings.xml may be needed for GPU decoding.

Dang. Yeah, I'll need to do that.

[mo123]

Flumpster XBMC is not based on the Minix version, it is based off SPMC so advancesettings.xml may be needed for GPU decoding.

Flumpster XBMC is actually the MiniX XBMC modified to work on Finless Roms with GT-I9300 model in build.prop. No need for advancedsettings, as H264/vc1 video is decoded with stf-h264, a new codec for Rockchip devices not present in the nightly XBMC versions that make use of the VPU and GPU to decode video. Press 'O' to see if stf-h264 codec is active and there are no dropped frames, otherwise the CPU is used and you need to edit build.prop to change manufacturer to Samsung and device to GT-I9300.

[Bueno]

Press 'O' to see if stf-h264 codec is active and there are no dropped frames, otherwise the CPU is used and you need to edit build.prop to change manufacturer to Samsung and device to GT-I9300.

Just edited build.prop on it, it actually did look a bit better, though I was testing w/ two diff rips (Same movie and resolution but last time was Russian this time English).

There are lots of variables with how I've been testing, so it's really hard to say anything for sure. I have been thinking about xbmc edition rom and wondering if maybe PSU needs to be better. I just connect the device to the TV's USB port --- people always warn against it, but for my current set up (3.5.4 rom + mx player pro with arm7 neon codec or xbmc flumpster...), it seems to pull through.

I had one more problem today, though. Archos Video Player showed a black screen, constantly popping up the controls. Audio was fine though. Searched and saw someone else post about it on another forum and their solution was to hide the menu bar or use full!screen app, but this still didn't work for me. I'm 99% sure I remember reading on freaktab about this problem as well so I'll be searching.

One last thing, the fact that Disable HW Overlays always resets to unchecked when you restart. I dunno if these are fixed in xbmc edition but 3.5.4 it happens. Another thing I guess I'll need to read into.

[Limitless83]

Hi all,

Just installed this rom on my MK808B
and i must say, it's one of the smoothest i've had
XBMC works almost flawless ( i use it mainly for streaming movies/tv shows in 720p)
no stuttering, but sometimes it hangs when the buffer isn't loading fast enough - but pausing and waiting for 5secs seems to solve it.
Thanks for the continuous support for this (rather old and outdated stick)

My Minix X7 is on it's way and i can't wait to play around with it...

L.

[mo123]

One last thing, the fact that Disable HW Overlays always resets to unchecked when you restart. I dunno if these are fixed in xbmc edition but 3.5.4 it happens. Another thing I guess I'll need to read into.

They say adding this to build.prop enables 'disable h/w overlays' permanently
debug.composition.type=gpu
debug.egl.hw=1
debug.mdpcomp.maxlayer=0
debug.sf.hw=1
dev.pm.gpu_samplingrate=1
don't know if it works

[ididmytime]

Flumpster XBMC is actually the MiniX XBMC modified to work on Finless Roms with GT-I9300 model in build.prop. No need for advancedsettings, as H264/vc1 video is decoded with stf-h264, a new codec for Rockchip devices not present in the nightly XBMC versions that make use of the VPU and GPU to decode video. Press 'O' to see if stf-h264 codec is active and there are no dropped frames, otherwise the CPU is used and you need to edit build.prop to change manufacturer to Samsung and device to GT-I9300.

This is what the dev posted

It is not based on the Minix releases at all. This Beta 1 is my own Beta 1 and nothing to do with Minix.

It is based off SPMC which is very similar to the Minix releases.

Have you tested it? I have no idea if the advancesettings are hard coded into the apk or not, no spoofing will be needed.

The difference between the Ouya/Minix/SPMC are virtually identical anyway, just need different ways to enable the use of the GPU. Very high bitrate will still play slow on all of them.

[Bueno]

They say adding this to build.prop enables 'disable h/w overlays' permanently

Thanks, the instructions I was looking at was for Galaxy S3 and the values were different. I may edit mine soon and see. I also found this answer which sounds like it would work, though editing build.prop is not hard and might be worth it over this solution:

I'm not an expert by any means...but the best way I've found to make 'disable HW overlays' persistent (on my Rikomagic MK802IIIs) is to use Tasker and Secure Settings. Create a task and name it whatever you like. Then create an action / plugin / Secure Settings / Hardware Overlays (under Root Actions). Set the desired state to Off and save. Then make a Profile to trigger that task. I tried doing the system / boot event, but that failed horribly. So instead I currently use Wifi connected state. When my device boots, as soon as the wifi sees my network SSID, Tasker checks the Disable HW Overlays option in Developer Options. Works slick for my purposes.

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I have no idea if the advancesettings are hard coded into the apk or not, no spoofing will be needed.

Yesterday I tried to add advancedsettings to flumpster xbmc and the path where the file is supposed to go didn't exist. The .xbmc folder was missing.

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I couldn't really find an answer about archos but I have an idea...

Archos Video Player is great, except there is an issue where the overlay keeps reappearing constantly while the video is playing, even though I am not moving the mouse or pressing any buttons.

It could be a bug involving having a mouse connected. I'll load a video and disconnect the mouse and see what happens.

[rdsok]

Yesterday I tried to add advancedsettings to flumpster xbmc and the path where the file is supposed to go didn't exist. The .xbmc folder was missing.

That is a hidden folder... so you must make certain the file browser you are using is set to show hidden files/folders

[Bueno]

That is a hidden folder... so you must make certain the file browser you are using is set to show hidden files/folders

I considered that as a possibility, but didn't see any option about show/hide hidden folders in the file manager that I was using. I can double check with another app.

[rdsok]

I considered that as a possibility, but didn't see any option about show/hide hidden folders in the file manager that I was using. I can double check with another app.

I use ES File Manager... https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...gs.android.pop

Go into settings to make the changes needed

[Bueno]

ES File Manager

Yep you were right, that's the one I was using --- the show hidden files/folders option was right at the top of the Display settings. I was looking in the wrong section.

I tested XBMC with and without the advancedsettings and both times it used stf-h264 and performance was good, so I don't think it's required.

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I tried unplugging my mouse while a video was playing in Archos --- doing this closed the video, at least with the App I was using. Then MX Player has a known issue where the progress bar / play controls won't stay on the screen very long. There was discussion about it here in one of the finless threads... Must see if anyone had a solution.