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thwaller · (This post was last modified: 2016-11-20, 06:33 by thwaller.)

After trying an upgrade from 16.1 to 17 most recent beta as of today, video no longer plays well at all. Sound is choppy and video is worse than choppy, barely anything at all. I have tried this on local and streaming sources with no change in results. I have also tried a few different source formats, SD480, HD720, HD1080, mp4, mkv, etc, making sure it was not a specific decoder, file format or resolution causing the issue. Prior to the upgrade, all of the files tested played perfect, no issues at all. I have since downgraded to 16.1 and all is back to working normally, perfectly just as it was.

Given that 16.1 provides no issues at all and 17 is basically non-functional, I am hoping it is just a setting that may need to be adjusted. I also want to note that I first tried v17 around alpha 1 or 2. At that time, I had major problems as well and reverted back to 16. Since that time, my OS has been reinstalled for the upgrade in Ubuntu. Yes, reinstalled, not upgraded. I note this because the issues are still there and would appear it is not OS installation issues. the laptop however is the same, so hardware is not ruled out. I do not have any hardware issues though, with or without Kodi in use.

I can also note that the interface works faster on 17 than on 16. Everything is nice until video playback is attempted.

Ubuntu 16.10 64-bit
GPU: Mesa DRI Intel 945GM
OpenGL: 1.4 Mesa 12.0.3
RAM: 3250MB
CPU: Core2 T7200 @ 2.00GHz
Free disk space ~56GB

Milhouse · (This post was last modified: 2016-11-20, 06:56 by Milhouse.)

Upload a link to your Debug log (wiki) (make sure your debug log includes you playing a video).

thwaller · 2016-11-20, 07:04

I was never able to get there, everything was messed up and had to kill process to exit Kodi. After start of video play, that was all that could be done. Do you have a way I can install v17 without interfering with v16?

**Dangelus** · 2016-11-20, 09:50

Read the the instructions in the link on how to initiate the http://kodi.wiki/view/Debug%20log manually. We can't provide definitive answers without it.

**fritsch** · (This post was last modified: 2016-11-20, 09:59 by fritsch.)

Quote:GPU: Mesa DRI Intel 945GM

The only thing you can do is running kodi in SW mode. Sorry, we don't support 10 years+ old GPUs anymore. Furthermore your CPU is too slow for decoding and your 945 GM has no support for hw decoding. Additionally kodi is an OPENGL application.

So, try if CPU only helps:

Code:
LIBGL_ALWAYS_INDIRECT=1 kodi

XOR the other way round:

Code:
MESA_GL_VERSION_OVERRIDE=3.0 kodi

thwaller · 2016-11-20, 16:51

(2016-11-20, 09:55)fritsch Wrote: The only thing you can do is running kodi in SW mode. Sorry, we don't support 10 years+ old GPUs anymore. Furthermore your CPU is too slow for decoding and your 945 GM has no support for hw decoding. Additionally kodi is an OPENGL application.

Could I ask for a bit of clarification?
1) "We don;t support 10 years+ GPUs anymore." -> This refers to Kodi 17 not being able to work with them? VLC and Kodi 16.1 run without problem and have since 16 beta on this laptop.
2) "your CPU is too slow for decoding" -> You are meaning too slow for Kodi 17? VLC and Kodi 16.1 again play all of this content perfectly fine, no issues.

I ask because I am unsure if you are stating that the hardware configuration is not suitable for Kodi 17, or not suitable for video playback at all. I completely understand if Kodi 17 is opting to no longer support older hardware configurations. I can then either try as you suggested with Kodi 17, stick with Kodi 16 as it works just fine, or switch to another product. This hardware with Kodi 16 and/or VLC plays everything without any issues at all, from DivX, AVC, H.265, H.264, etc all in SD and HD720 and HD1080. This is why I am believing that you are meaning that Kodi 17 has just dropped support for such a configuration.

Is my assumption on your reply correct? Again, I know this laptop is older hardware. My only point is that it seems that it is just fine as long as Kodi is not upgraded and/or alternate products are utilized instead.

thwaller · 2016-11-20, 17:06

(2016-11-20, 09:55)fritsch Wrote: So, try if CPU only helps:

Code:
LIBGL_ALWAYS_INDIRECT=1 kodi

XOR the other way round:

Code:
MESA_GL_VERSION_OVERRIDE=3.0 kodi

I have tried both of these methods on the v16.1 that I had reverted back to. Option 1 results in a Kodi window with a black screen within. Nothing happens and process was killed manually. Option 2 resulted in what appears to be as normal operation. However, in the video information I can see a change showing 3.0.

To further clarify your post, you are suggesting I try the upgrade again trying both of those options?

**fritsch** · 2016-11-20, 17:42

No. I say. Kodi v17 is not meant to run on this gpu in a smooth way. Vlc is a Desktop player. Kodi is more like Quake 3 :-).

thwaller · 2016-11-20, 17:45

Ahh, ok. I understand completely. I will either stay with v16.x or use an alternative for this hardware configuration. Thank you for clarifying.

thwaller · 2016-12-18, 09:07

@fritsch- Could I clarify something on your explanation? Does this mean that Kodi 17 will consume more resources than Kodi 16 to do the same task(s)? I have another box I have Kodi installed on and I have put on v17. But, if v16 uses less resources, I would prefer to keep resources free and use v16 instead.

I am asking as I am a little confused as to why v16 will work on the original device but v17 will not. I am assuming it is because v17 needs/uses more resources to do the same as v16, because v16 works fine and the source media is the same. I wonder if the difference is just support and compatibility with the video hardware and/or drivers, or if it is actually needing and consuming more CPU and RAM.

Hope my query makes sense.

**wsnipex** · (This post was last modified: 2016-12-18, 10:18 by wsnipex.)

No, it just means that v17 needs hardware/driver support that enables better performance then v16 that your old GPU doesn't provide.
v16 still has some workarounds for hardware without said features.

thwaller · 2016-12-18, 10:20

Ok, I understand better now. I will continue to use v17 then on the other hardware. I was just concerned that possibly v16 would provide better overall performance over v17, but if v17 provides better performance using the more modern GPU, then v17 on the other hardware is the right choice.

Thanks for explaining.

vtimmons · 2017-02-11, 20:05

I just upgraded to 17 on an older setup also. It is completely unusable now. 16.1 worked great, upgrade and 10 minutes later system trashed. I can't even get 16 back. If you have any tip on how to go back that would be great. This is a linux mint 17.1 machine

thwaller · 2017-02-11, 23:35

What do you mean "I can't even get 16 back"? What did you do or try and how did it not work?

When I had the issue, I just manually downloaded the deb and installed 16.1 with it. My user data was all good as I did nothing under v17. After I then deleted the newly created database files that v17 upgraded and I was back to v16.1. There was no *need* to remove the upgraded database files, I just like things clean. The rest of my user data was all just fine and in place. I am sure you would uninstall via the deb, via apt or just manually deleting the Kodi files (except the user data in your profile home folder).

iznobe · (This post was last modified: 2017-02-12, 17:57 by iznobe.)

hello and sorry for talking about anything , but you said : " I have since downgraded to 16.1 and all is back to working normally, perfectly just as it was. "

Could you tell us how to downgrade to kodi 16.1 jarvis svp ?

deb package ?? where is it possible to download it please ?