Hi, I have an android box running xbmc and an external player. I bought the box because it stated in the description of the listing that XBMC supported full 1080p hardware decoding. This did not work after installing lots of xbmc builds up until the latest nightly one (10th march)
so I switched to an external player which would be fine excpet xbmc goes blank and crashes with a black screen after I exit a video on MXPLAYER.
Looking into the hardware decoding solution It seems that it is only made for AMLOGIC 8726 CPUs.
This has confused me because that is the type of cpu my box has yet it does not work!
my cpu info sheet is below:
Quote:Processor : ARMv7 Processor rev 4 (v7l)
BogoMIPS : 1556.48
Features : swp half thumb fastmult vfp edsp neon vfpv3
CPU implementer : 0x41
CPU architecture: 7
CPU variant : 0x2
CPU part : 0xc09
CPU revision : 4
Hardware : AMLOGIC MESON3 8726M SKT SH
Revision : 0020
Serial : 000000000000000c
So I have a few questions:
1. Is there a specific APK I need to run XBMC with hardware decoding?
2. Can I install a pivos xios firmware on my box (either their android rom or xbmc linux)
3. Is there any way to stop the black screen issue with external players
4. Why is it not working in the first place?
I hope someone answers I know a lot of these questions are ignored, so thanks in advance if anyone does answer!
You should probably contact the guy who sold it to you that said XBMC had hardware decoding for it. From the
Android FAQ (wiki):
Quote:If you've bought a device that was advertised to run XBMC, such as the Pivos XIOS, G-box, MiniX Neo, etc, then you should check with their respective websites for a final v12 Frodo build. Many of these devices need specific builds for hardware decoding and won't work correctly with the generic build released on xbmc.org
I have the same box. Mine came from
http://boxtoptheater.com and I was wondering if the system I purchased is not good. I am just wondering before I go any further with this system. Do I:
Send it back for a refund and purchase one from a different vendor?
Try the latest build of the XBMC APK from here
http://androidtvbox.us/topic/built-xbmc-...or-ya-all/ ?
I was going to purchase the G-BOX Midnight but he said he did not have anymore and pointed me to the M3 System:
http://www.boxtoptheater.com/collections.../boxtop-m3
Anyway just looking for input and what people have found, I am just about to send this one back, but still hoping it is going to work out. The Android build on it is pretty good. It is ICS 4.0.4 and when I play a movie through the player on the box in Android it seems to run pretty good. I am working on it at work (shhh) and when I run the XBMC I downloaded from the Android Community it is very choppy.
Again my specs are exactly like these here that stewarti4 has. The box for the system was a Orange box and says Android internet TV Box.
Is this system ok? My money is tight but was looking for a project for myself at home. Again thanks for any input anyone can give.
If this needs to be a new topic I can make one, however I thought since his and mine were alike I could post here.
Using the standard XBMC version won't work...I've exactly the same version as you, also in an orange box. I tried many versions, only the one I found via the G Box (or Pivo? not sure yet) forum (Frodo 12.0) supported the required hardware decoding. Without the specific Amlogic support, you can forget it... Even worse, if you need the cvbs (composite output), things get even more complicated. I flashed the firmware with the G Box firmware (works, seems to be the same hw as G Box version 2.1) which is supposed to solve the cvbs detection problem, but cvbs will only work if the box has been connected to a hdmi tv-set before. When you switch it off after using cvbs output, first reconnect it again to a HDMI screen (you may switch the power off when done), then connect it to the cvbs input (I've an old TV in another room) and then you've exactly one chance to get it working. If not, repeat the HDMI sequence. I'm not sure everybody has this cvbs problem, I spend a lot of time reading various fora's, but this was the only trick that worked for me. On HDMI: no problems.
On the 576i mode, it seems that the box uses a lot of power to downscale the image. I had to set the output in 576p instead of 576i to gain 1 or 2 FPS which was needed to play it all fluently. On HDMI, less preprocessing seems to be needed, since the CPU is sometimes <20%. Also the downscaling of e.g. 5.1 DTS to 2.0 stereo seems to have performance issues.
I installed ssh on my box, using my laptop I can ssh to the box and by using 'top' you can see the cpu load (or if you've a bluetooth keyboard and a bluetooth usb mini-stick, you can use the 'O' command within XBMC). When you go to XBMC, System, System information, you can see the actual fps. While my ATV 2 shows between 35-40 fps in idle mode, the G Box has an ample fps of 29-31. Without cvbs optimization, between 25-28. If you don't need cvbs, then the problem will be less.
I'm not able to use the DTS pass thru on Android. no problems on ATV 2, but on the G Bos, it doesn't seem to work. As mentioned, downsampling to PCM 2.0 has performance consequences. Nevertheless, I managed to tweak my "G box clone" in such a way that it now plays without any hitch but XBMC on Android required a lot more tweaking than on my ATV 2. But for the money, it'a nice box. The only thing I regret is that I didn't buy the M2, the dual-core version has probably just enough juice to make tweaking less necessary. But as said, it's running fine now, it's stable, only the cvbs bug is very annoying but if you don't need it, it won't bother you I guess.
update: I noticed that the near 100% cpu load hasn't to do with cvbs output (maybe only a little bit) but that it might have been caused by the way the video has been encoded. Some video's result in a 20% cpu load, while others are close to 100%. I guess in some cases, sw decoding is used instead of hw decoding. In general, the G midnight clone is running perfectly well except for the cvbs detection bug. The single core arm v9 seems to be powerfull enough.
I guess the linux distro might be more useful but if I'm correct, it doesn't support cvbs output (yet?) which is crucial for me.
(2013-05-11, 21:47)franklee Wrote: [ -> ]Using the standard XBMC version won't work...I've exactly the same version as you, also in an orange box. I tried many versions, only the one I found via the G Box (or Pivo? not sure yet) forum (Frodo 12.0) supported the required hardware decoding. Without the specific Amlogic support, you can forget it... Even worse, if you need the cvbs (composite output), things get even more complicated. I flashed the firmware with the G Box firmware (works, seems to be the same hw as G Box version 2.1) which is supposed to solve the cvbs detection problem, but cvbs will only work if the box has been connected to a hdmi tv-set before. When you switch it off after using cvbs output, first reconnect it again to a HDMI screen (you may switch the power off when done), then connect it to the cvbs input (I've an old TV in another room) and then you've exactly one chance to get it working. If not, repeat the HDMI sequence. I'm not sure everybody has this cvbs problem, I spend a lot of time reading various fora's, but this was the only trick that worked for me. On HDMI: no problems.
On the 576i mode, it seems that the box uses a lot of power to downscale the image. I had to set the output in 576p instead of 576i to gain 1 or 2 FPS which was needed to play it all fluently. On HDMI, less preprocessing seems to be needed, since the CPU is sometimes <20%. Also the downscaling of e.g. 5.1 DTS to 2.0 stereo seems to have performance issues.
I installed ssh on my box, using my laptop I can ssh to the box and by using 'top' you can see the cpu load (or if you've a bluetooth keyboard and a bluetooth usb mini-stick, you can use the 'O' command within XBMC). When you go to XBMC, System, System information, you can see the actual fps. While my ATV 2 shows between 35-40 fps in idle mode, the G Box has an ample fps of 29-31. Without cvbs optimization, between 25-28. If you don't need cvbs, then the problem will be less.
I'm not able to use the DTS pass thru on Android. no problems on ATV 2, but on the G Bos, it doesn't seem to work. As mentioned, downsampling to PCM 2.0 has performance consequences. Nevertheless, I managed to tweak my "G box clone" in such a way that it now plays without any hitch but XBMC on Android required a lot more tweaking than on my ATV 2. But for the money, it'a nice box. The only thing I regret is that I didn't buy the M2, the dual-core version has probably just enough juice to make tweaking less necessary. But as said, it's running fine now, it's stable, only the cvbs bug is very annoying but if you don't need it, it won't bother you I guess.
Hi, I received my orange box clone the same as yours yesterday with the intention of putting the j1nx linux build on after bad experiences with other hardware running the android version. I though I would try the android version pre-installed first though. I have to say, I am very surprised that it runs pretty damned good under android. I'm assuming I am using the gbox version of the apk with Amlogic support. How can I find out, can you point me to where you downloaded your android apk you are using?
Also, did you upgrade the firmware from the gbox site. The wireless is absolutely terrible and I wondered if it improves it.
Lastly, is yours a model with or without the pin reset button? A lot of the upgrade instructions I've seen refer to the pin reset, but I can't see one.
cheers
you can download Amlogic hw supported versions at androidtvbox.us. In the meantime, I solved by cvbs non-detection problem, see my posting on it in case you need cvbs,
And yes, I upgraded my brand less box to a 'g box midnight clone' by flashing to to one of their firmware. I selected the 2.1/2.2 hw model which works perfectly now.
The only thing now to be solved is to find a newer XBMC with Amlogic support since there is no ISO playback, bot in the version I have.
I sure hope that people pushing out custom builds for XBMC on Android are also following their GPL requirements and not playing the Android fast and loose game of pushing out binaries and forgetting about their GPL license requirements.
Then it is up to us to start applying the hammer.
I agree davilla go get 'em its a shame but needed and I always noted to go after this guys and harshly. I can't believe the XAF fiasco via engadget - the editor should have known better than that. Glad it was addressed thanks to you guys.
hello can any one help me i am use karboon a30 mobile and i use unoffical rom scavenger 3.5 like samsung s4 this rom is good this rom open easlly open 1080p video when i change rom custom rom karbonn a30 this rom not support 1080p video error video format not support only black scrren and song only play...what resion how can i fix it please reply...[/align]