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+--- Thread: Android "Google Chromecast with Google TV" dongle with a new "Google TV" ecosystem and UI (/showthread.php?tid=357396)
"Google Chromecast with Google TV" dongle with a new "Google TV" ecosystem and UI - foxbat121 - 2020-10-10
Kodi is not very compatible with this box because of some missing ApI it depends on. That's why it can't retrieve all the resolutions and refresh rate the box supports. Regardless, I have tested with a 4K test clip to make sure it does output full 4k video resolution. The problem that it slows down to a crawl when connected to any 2K tv is a weird issue/bug
RE: "Google Chromecast with Google TV" dongle with a new "Google TV" ecosystem and UI - fritsch - 2020-10-10
What is this "some API"? Can you name which API we don't properly implement, please?
Highly curious and eager to fix it. Got a link?
PS: Firetv Cube is AMLogic as well - and - most stuff works :-)
RE: "Google Chromecast with Google TV" dongle with a new "Google TV" ecosystem and UI - Kodroid - 2020-10-10
(2020-10-10, 01:22)foxbat121 Wrote: Kodi is not very compatible with this box because of some missing ApI it depends on. That's why it can't retrieve all the resolutions and refresh rate the box supports. Regardless, I have tested with a 4K test clip to make sure it does output full 4k video resolution. The problem that it slows down to a crawl when connected to any 2K tv is a weird issue/bugI doubt that. It's probably just a bug that hasn't been reported yet so it can be fixed by the Google devs behind this very new dongle. I imagine that after another software update or two, and people complaining about it, that we shall see the major issues get ironed out. There's more to be fixed on this dongle than just this anyway, like the lack of refresh rate switching, which is possible on this hardware.
RE: "Google Chromecast with Google TV" dongle with a new "Google TV" ecosystem and UI - foxbat121 - 2020-10-10
Seems to be the problem for all AmLogic SoC based Android TV devices. I saw posts here as early as 2018 for the similar problem reported. I have a Verizon Stream TV uses similar SoC and has the same problem. I don't imagine this will ever be address since this is not a new bug.
RE: "Google Chromecast with Google TV" dongle with a new "Google TV" ecosystem and UI - fritsch - 2020-10-10
I want to exactly know the offical android API we don't implement, thank you. If you talk about "find a way to hack around my non standard firmware", then please don't spread such nonsense as you have written above.
Again: If you show me the official Android API that makes it work, I will implement and fix it immediately.
RE: "Google Chromecast with Google TV" dongle with a new "Google TV" ecosystem and UI - noggin - 2020-10-10
(2020-10-10, 10:20)fritsch Wrote: What is this "some API"? Can you name which API we don't properly implement, please?
I think the OP is stating the reverse, that the Chromecast with Google TV is not implementing the API that Kodi needs, not that Kodi is at fault. (i.e. Google aren't properly supporting the frame rate change API that Kodi correctly uses, and other Android/Android TV hardware like the Shield TV correctly respect)
RE: "Google Chromecast with Google TV" dongle with a new "Google TV" ecosystem and UI - foxbat121 - 2020-10-10
(2020-10-10, 18:24)fritsch Wrote: I want to exactly know the offical android API we don't implement, thank you. If you talk about "find a way to hack around my non standard firmware", then please don't spread such nonsense as you have written above.
Again: If you show me the official Android API that makes it work, I will implement and fix it immediately.
Sorry, what? Kodi right now works poorly on CCWGTV (as it can't see any other screen resolutions and refresh rates the device supports than the default 1080p60), also poorly on other Amlogic based boxes like Verizon Stream TV box and others. Probably the only box it works with is nVidia Shield. That's all I'm saying.
RE: "Google Chromecast with Google TV" dongle with a new "Google TV" ecosystem and UI - wrxtasy - 2020-10-11
(2020-10-10, 21:26)foxbat121 Wrote:(2020-10-10, 18:24)fritsch Wrote: I want to exactly know the offical android API we don't implement, thank you. If you talk about "find a way to hack around my non standard firmware", then please don't spread such nonsense as you have written above.
Again: If you show me the official Android API that makes it work, I will implement and fix it immediately.
Sorry, what? Kodi right now works poorly on CCWGTV (as it can't see any other screen resolutions and refresh rates the device supports than the default 1080p60), also poorly on other Amlogic based boxes like Verizon Stream TV box and others. Probably the only box it works with is nVidia Shield. That's all I'm saying.
That is because both devices do not implement any form of auto refresh switching so Kodi is limited to whatever you set the output Resolution and Hz in Android device settings.
The cheap Google TV dongle and those other dongles are purely USA refresh rate focused, online streaming platforms, they are in no way a cheap Nvidia Shield or CoreELEC Kodi replacement for demanding Kodi users.
RE: "Google Chromecast with Google TV" dongle with a new "Google TV" ecosystem and UI - MrCrispy - 2020-10-11
From what I've read the Shield is a bit of an outlier and the reason its so popular is its pretty much the only streaming device thats a) fast and b) supports lossless audio. This leads to it being a one box solution for everyone. But in fact its not the best when it comes to color space, refresh rate, picture quality etc compared to much cheaper hardware.
The speed is due to Tegra K1, Nvidia intended it as a gaming device and sell people more gpu's on pc, that never really worked out.
b) is because Nvidia tweaked firmware to enable hd audio passthru and enable it in Android. But almost no other Android box does this even if the hw is perfectly capable. Hence CoreElec etc is recommended for those.
RE: "Google Chromecast with Google TV" dongle with a new "Google TV" ecosystem and UI - Wagg - 2020-10-11
(2020-10-11, 03:03)MrCrispy Wrote: From what I've read the Shield is a bit of an outlier and the reason its so popular is its pretty much the only streaming device thats a) fast and b) supports lossless audio. This leads to it being a one box solution for everyone. But in fact its not the best when it comes to color space, refresh rate, picture quality etc compared to much cheaper hardware.I've had 2 Shields for years and I've never been able to get reliable Kodi playback out of them. There is usually some sort of micro-stuttering issue- I think it has something to do with their ethernet implementations. I have 2 cheap Coreelec boxes (S912 and S922) which (for the most part) work perfectly.
The speed is due to Tegra K1, Nvidia intended it as a gaming device and sell people more gpu's on pc, that never really worked out.
b) is because Nvidia tweaked firmware to enable hd audio passthru and enable it in Android. But almost no other Android box does this even if the hw is perfectly capable. Hence CoreElec etc is recommended for those.
RE: "Google Chromecast with Google TV" dongle with a new "Google TV" ecosystem and UI - fritsch - 2020-10-11
(2020-10-10, 19:24)noggin Wrote:(2020-10-10, 10:20)fritsch Wrote: What is this "some API"? Can you name which API we don't properly implement, please?
I think the OP is stating the reverse, that the Chromecast with Google TV is not implementing the API that Kodi needs, not that Kodi is at fault. (i.e. Google aren't properly supporting the frame rate change API that Kodi correctly uses, and other Android/Android TV hardware like the Shield TV correctly respect)
I don't think so. It's sadly the usual "I bought a cheap box, that does not implemend Android standards properly and as my vendor does not care after I paid the money - I now blame kodi for not reverse engineering my broken firmware" dude. Where he is right: Kodi runs poorly there - because they vendor only wanted the money ... he did not care about the user at all.
CoreElec and others properly implement what the "chip vendor" provides, which - on linux - is able to show the full capability of these chips, while on Android - not. That amlogic byself has a nicely working android BSP, can be seen by everyone with the amazon cube. Every other vendor with the same chipset not working, just did not care - the BSP exists ...
RE: "Google Chromecast with Google TV" dongle with a new "Google TV" ecosystem and UI - looun - 2020-10-11
from teardown there are two strange connectors https://twitter.com/Zenofex/status/1313637526582767617
RE: "Google Chromecast with Google TV" dongle with a new "Google TV" ecosystem and UI - noggin - 2020-10-11
(2020-10-11, 03:03)MrCrispy Wrote: From what I've read the Shield is a bit of an outlier and the reason its so popular is its pretty much the only streaming device thats a) fast and b) supports lossless audio. This leads to it being a one box solution for everyone. But in fact its not the best when it comes to color space, refresh rate, picture quality etc compared to much cheaper hardware.
The colour space issue is an ongoing one I believe - but should be fixable (it's firmware not hardware AIUI).
Refresh rate support is good within Kodi - but in common with pretty much every other Android device (including Fire TVs) the refresh rate switching for DRM apps like Netflix, Amazon Prime etc. requires the apps to be written with support for it, and most aren't (unlike Kodi which is)
The same is also true of the Apple TV 4K - but more app authors seem to have got on board with using the Apple refresh rate switching solution than have done the same on Android for some reason.
There is currently no fully 'automatic' refresh-rate switching DRM-playing solution AIUI - Apple's tvOS, Amazon's Fire OS, Google's Android and Android TV OSs all require apps to include support (Netflix don't have this support on their Android/Android TV and Fire OS apps, but do on their Apple tvOS app for instance). The nVidia Shield TV is one of the few players with a firmware 'work around' that will try to analyse the frame rate of the video when it is playing if manually triggered.
The Google Chromecast with Google TV appears to ignore the refresh rate API that the Shield TV supports - so is stuck at a single, fixed system-wide refresh rate.
Roku (not relevant for Kodi) DID have fully automatic refresh rate switching on some players with DRM solution - but they (or Netflix) disabled this with Netflix because the autoplay trailers kept triggering display re-syncs if it was enabled. Really annoying as the Roku was a 'do everything' solution for a while for DRM sources (and could be used alongside a great Kodi solution that didn't have DRM support)
Quote:The speed is due to Tegra K1, Nvidia intended it as a gaming device and sell people more gpu's on pc, that never really worked out.
b) is because Nvidia tweaked firmware to enable hd audio passthru and enable it in Android. But almost no other Android box does this even if the hw is perfectly capable. Hence CoreElec etc is recommended for those.
Just a note - the nVidia Shield TV doesn't use the old Tegra K1 (I think that was used by the much older Shield portable games console). The first gen nVidia Shield TVs (and the 1.5 gen refreshed models) use the Tegra X1, the 2019 update switched to the X1+. That's a MUCH faster chip than the K1 I believe - with a much better performing GPU.
RE: "Google Chromecast with Google TV" dongle with a new "Google TV" ecosystem and UI - wizziwig - 2020-10-11
(2020-10-09, 22:39)flips22 Wrote: I'm struggling with 4k video on my setup. Almost all of the files I've tried aren't working at all, displaying a frame a second or so. I tested some 4k demo files and I'm getting the same results. I thought I would share and see if it is just me, or if it's just a hardware limitation. Initially I thought it was network bandwidth, but switching to ethernet didn't improve anything.
I tested 3 4k demos, the AVC file (Dubai) played the best, but I still got a buffering circle every 20-30 seconds or so. The other two HEVC files barely played at all. With my other files I played around with audio streams thinking it might be an audio issue, but I didn't have any luck there either.
I should also mention that my TV is 1080p, not sure if that is having an effect or not.
Looks like both of your 4K samples are in HDR. Can you try an SDR 4K file?
RE: "Google Chromecast with Google TV" dongle with a new "Google TV" ecosystem and UI - fritsch - 2020-10-11
Looking once more on the datasheet. It seems it is not AV1 capable from hw pov. That means, even if the SW matures a lot - you probably have to replace it next year christmas. Really not sure what they thought ... perhaps they frequenctly fix their android implementation which I highly expect from google, then we have some fun with it.
So - on my list:
- Implement YUV 10 bit scanout
- Implement HBR bitstream audio support (8 channel IEC)
- Expose the proper refreshrates via the API YOU (google) invented
- Implement what the chip supports (Dolby-Vision, HQ scaling, etc.)