[Draghmar]

Hi
I'm still looking for my perfect media player and while looking I found that there are many topics and posts here and there about issues with 24p playback. From what I understand Android is main culprit here. But is it only one?
So...is there device that doesn't have problems with playback like that? I see that each device declare support for 24p. Kodi too supports it. And yet there are lots of people complaining about stuttering...
Are each Android device affected with 24p issue and only some hacks from software developers makes it working somehow? For example we have LibreELEC which is based on Linux instead of Android. And there NUC devices that can be Windows or Linux based. Will they suffer from 24p issues too?

[noggin]

The Raspberry Pi and recent Intel boxes are both great at handling both 24.000 and 23.976Hz content (you find both - so ideally need support for both). AMLogic boxes also support both frame rates - though you do have to be careful which software/firmware you run as not ALL implementations support both.

[Draghmar]

And yet the boxes that I found had problems with 24p. For example HiMedia Q10 pro. That's why I'm asking. It's a little bit confusing for me when I read that there some superb boxes and when I start to dig I find some problems. Another example - nVidia Shield TV - one of the most recommended media box there is. And looking thourgh their forum I found that they had to make some hacks in order to make Android play this content properly. But one mistake in some update and there are problems.

With this topic I was hoping to find out how big this issue is or how often it occurs.

[hdmkv]

Q10 Pro does suffer from occasional frame skips and microstutters at the moment. But, as @noggin noted, both Pi2/3 and Intel NUC are perfect. Also, WeTek Core and Minix U1 do both 24.000 and 23.976 well.

[noggin]

And yet the boxes that I found had problems with 24p. For example HiMedia Q10 pro. That's why I'm asking. It's a little bit confusing for me when I read that there some superb boxes and when I start to dig I find some problems. Another example - nVidia Shield TV - one of the most recommended media box there is. And looking thourgh their forum I found that they had to make some hacks in order to make Android play this content properly. But one mistake in some update and there are problems.

With this topic I was hoping to find out how big this issue is or how often it occurs.

Yep - and if you read my answer you'll see I don't mention those boxes.

I should add that I'd recommend OpenElec/LibreElec (and possibly Windows) over Android for reliable 23.976/24.000 duties - hence my pointing out that the Raspberry Pi range and recent Intel boxes are reliable, and AMLogic can be (but you need to take care over firmware)

All Raspberry Pis and Haswell and newer Intels (Baytrail and newer for Atoms) are OK.

[Draghmar]

Ok, but isn't AMLogic responsible for s905 chipset which we can find in both Q10 pro and ODROID C2? That would mean I should avoid Android boxes because there's always chance to get something wrong in this matter. Am I right?

[noggin]

Ok, but isn't AMLogic responsible for s905 chipset which we can find in both Q10 pro and ODROID C2? That would mean I should avoid Android boxes because there's always chance to get something wrong in this matter. Am I right?

You don't have to run Android on the C2. The better bet is to run Open/LibreElec, which has people working on it who ensure that 23.976/24.000 is OK - though there have been blips. It's not all about the SoC - it's also about the support. Two platforms with the same SoC can have totally different levels of support.

I wouldn't describe the C2 as an 'Android' box. I don't run Android on mine...

[Draghmar]

Sorry, I put that wrong - I meant that I need to avoid Android as a OS for media player and try to use something else. Like C2 with LibreELEC for example.
If that's true then you restore my faith in finding something to replace my Dune Prime 3.0.
Thanks for explanation.

[nickr]

My personal view is, yes avoid android as it isn't ideal for a media centre. Also there is currently no kodi android maintainer.

[hdmkv]

I'd suggest Chromebox w/LibreELEC. Pure Kodi box w/perfect 24p and HD audio bitstreaming. If lossless PCM (vs. bitstreaming) is acceptable, save a little money and get a RPi3, also to use w/LibreELEC. You really just lose ATMOS/X w/latter.

[noggin]

Seconded. I have both a Chromebox and a Pi3. Both are excellent. Chromebox a little bit snappier in UI terms, and as hdmkv says - you get HD Audio bitstreamed rather than decoded to PCM (as with the Pi 3). The Chromebox is a very good choice. (Only downside to Linux + Intel is the lack of interlaced VC-1 support - a longstanding driver - not hardware - issue)

I also have a C2. It's very good - but still has some rough edges and missing core functionality, and fewer (though very committed) developers - who are possibly a step further away from the 'bare metal' than the Pi (and possibly Intel) debs. On the other hand it does UHD/4K at >30Hz and has H265 hardware decode.

[wrxtasy]

Back to the 24p flawless playback question....

There is a 24p bug in all pre Haswell Intel microarchitecture.

Agreed with most of the above, the choice is pretty clear these days you either stick with the WeTek Core, Chromebox, RPi3 for 24p and 1080p resolutions.
Grab a nVIDIA Shield or AMLogic S905 box like a C2 or upcoming WeTek Hub/Play2, with well sorted Firmware for Hardware decoding of 8/10bit HEVC and UHD/4K Resolutions. You need HEVC decoding done in Hardware for medium/high bitrate 8/10bit 2160p decoding.

Yes I happen to develop LibreELEC for the C2, the only real essential core functionality (as a pure media player) I can see missing is VC-1 decoding, and 7.1 DTS-HD MA/HRA Passthrough. I don't care about 3D. See HERE

And the reason the C2 devs are a step away for whatever "bare metal" means, is that a lot of essential functionality like deinterlacing and HEVC decoding is actually done in the Hardware as opposed to (well done) Hybrid Software hacks like you see on the RPi.

Stay away from, for flawless 24p playback:
- Google Nexus Player
- Fire TV's
- HiMedia Q10 Pro
- Pre Haswell Intel Machines
- Apple Hardware (OSX limitation) unless its running Windows using Bootcamp on Haswell+ Intel architecture.
- All unsupported cheap Android boxes being pumped out of Asia.

[Koying]

I must say that 24p should be pretty much flawless on Nexus Player and AFTV as well, since the addition of "sync to'display" to Android in kodi 17/spmc/mrmc... unless someone tested otherwise

No passthrough with "sync to display", though, only multi-channel PCM

PS OTOH, there is much indications that arm/embedded will have a hard time in future Kodi (besides rpi), so might not be a future-proof solution.

[wrxtasy]

Some good news for the Nexus and AFTV owners running SPMC/MrMC then.
Yes I see the Sly old Fox and Android Assasin have been busy
Any improvements to deinterlacing, as these two platforms should have the CPU ponies to do YADIFx2 aka Software Deinterlace ?

Good thing Codesnake is working on a new am/WeTek decoder for the WeTek series of AML S812/S905+ devices at least for Krypton running on OpenELEC

[Koying]

Any improvements to deinterlacing, as these two platforms should have the CPU ponies to do YADIFx2 aka Software Deinterlace ?

I haven't tested it on arm, yet. Up to your tests, I just assumed YADIF was so optimised for x86 that it wasn't even worth trying on arm.
Nexus is x86, though, so yadif should be available (but not tested by me).