Kodi Community Forum
Release Kodi Android build with support for Dolby Vision MKV - Printable Version

+- Kodi Community Forum (https://forum.kodi.tv)
+-- Forum: Support (https://forum.kodi.tv/forumdisplay.php?fid=33)
+--- Forum: General Support (https://forum.kodi.tv/forumdisplay.php?fid=111)
+---- Forum: Android (https://forum.kodi.tv/forumdisplay.php?fid=164)
+---- Thread: Release Kodi Android build with support for Dolby Vision MKV (/showthread.php?tid=360018)



Kodi Android build with support for Dolby Vision MKV - hoppel118 - 2021-10-20

Ok, there ist a new master build from @Maven and a first positive feedback that it works from a Shield Pro 2019 owner in the kodinerds forum.

@Maven found an issue and now uses @quietvoid ‘s code.

Please, test it. I‘m on vacation. Wink

Regards Hoppel


RE: Kodi Android build with support for Dolby Vision MKV - Hitcher - 2021-10-21

Using kodinerds-20211017-5c3944d245-Matrix-arm64-v8a.apk on my Shield and DV still works.


RE: Kodi Android build with support for Dolby Vision MKV - quietvoid - 2021-10-21

From what I can tell the only difference is that my branch is missing the input buffer timeout tweak for the Shield.
As well as using dvhe instead of dvh1 for MKV, but I can't remember if there were significant differences on playback.

I'll probably have to go read the old thread again.
From the description of this PR https://github.com/xbmc/xbmc/pull/17876, dvh1 might be preferred.


RE: Kodi Android build with support for Dolby Vision MKV - MrMagic - 2021-10-21

@Maven said on the Kodinerds forum he made a mistake with the ffmpeg version in his repo.

It's fixed now and DV works again in kodinerds-20211020-36cbce5a4c-master-ATV-arm64-v8a.apk.


Kodi Android build with support for Dolby Vision MKV - hoppel118 - 2021-10-21

(2021-10-21, 02:35)quietvoid Wrote: From what I can tell the only difference is that my branch is missing the input buffer timeout tweak for the Shield.

Oh, yes… That was a thing when fandangos changed the code for the shield. But what was the reason for the input buffer?

If I remember right, there were some error/warning messages in the logfile indicating a too small input buffer. But I don’t remember the real issue, while watching a movie.

(2021-10-21, 02:35)quietvoid Wrote: As well as using dvhe instead of dvh1 for MKV, but I can't remember if there were significant differences on playback.

Yes that was also a thing in early days. I remember a document, which described that the different dv profiles need different codecs (if this is the right word).

Here is the document:

https://www.diversifiedvideosolutions.com/Dolby_Vision/Dolby_Vision_profiles_and_levels-Dolby_Laboratories.pdf

Different chapters of that document show the following:

• profile 4/5/7 use codec dvhe
• profile 8 uses codec hev1
• profile 9 uses codec avc3

But I think this was never coded that way @fandangos. Correct me if I am wrong, please. Wink

(2021-10-21, 02:35)quietvoid Wrote: I'll probably have to go read the old thread again.
From the description of this PR https://github.com/xbmc/xbmc/pull/17876, dvh1 might be preferred.

I also remember that there was a dev @sk83 who gave us a leia build with an advancedsettings.xml, where you could configure which codec should be used by the different profiles.

It would be nice to see this option back sometimes.

Regards Hoppel


RE: Kodi Android build with support for Dolby Vision MKV - wizziwig - 2021-10-21

DV now works on Fire TV Stick 4K (2018) using Maven's kodinerds-20211020-36cbce5a4c-master-ATV-armeabi-v7a.apk


RE: Kodi Android build with support for Dolby Vision MKV - fandangos - 2021-10-21

(2021-10-21, 02:35)quietvoid Wrote: From what I can tell the only difference is that my branch is missing the input buffer timeout tweak for the Shield.
As well as using dvhe instead of dvh1 for MKV, but I can't remember if there were significant differences on playback.

I'll probably have to go read the old thread again.
From the description of this PR https://github.com/xbmc/xbmc/pull/17876, dvh1 might be preferred.

There's no difference both profiles will end up doing the same, you can see this in the code or just grep within ffmpeg or kodi code dvh1 or dvhe and see that there's no difference.
It's just how it's distinguished from plain hevc.

It would be nice to find a universal solution for Android. Hope your firestick code can be used. There's the google chromecast tv that don't have support and it's much cheaper compared to the Shield.

Specially now that the frame skipping has been kind of fixed.

But all this might be easier in a few months if the rumors of Android 11 for the Shield end up being true.
I remember that there were some Shield beta testers from some kind of insiders program here in the forum, maybe they can let us know if that's true or not.


RE: Kodi Android build with support for Dolby Vision MKV - quietvoid - 2021-10-22

(2021-10-21, 22:55)fandangos Wrote: There's no difference both profiles will end up doing the same, you can see this in the code or just grep within ffmpeg or kodi code dvh1 or dvhe and see that there's no difference.
It's just how it's distinguished from plain hevc.

It would be nice to find a universal solution for Android. Hope your firestick code can be used. There's the google chromecast tv that don't have support and it's much cheaper compared to the Shield.

I've mentioned it earlier but the new Fire TV Stick 4K Max doesn't even require the dvhe decoder to be used, so it also doesn't need the ffmpeg patches either.
It also plays from FEL files fine, while the 2018 did not.
Maybe the Chromecast with Google TV is similar, but it can decode FEL properly.

Most of the problems are coming from the Shield.
I don't know if other devices exhibit other issues.

At some point there's only so much Kodi can fix, the rest is device dependent.


RE: Kodi Android build with support for Dolby Vision MKV - dysprosium - 2021-10-22

(2021-10-19, 17:34)mattmarsden Wrote: Tested on Mavens Matrix build on my Minix U22 flashed with Ugoos AM6+ firmware and no atmos dropouts at all with Free Guy and Pirates of the Caribbean. Also DV FEL works well. Excellent job.

Hi Matt,

Can you elaborate on what you mean by "DV FEL works well"? I'm testing on an Ugoos AM6+ (firmware 0.4.2), and using both the Matrix 19.0 32-bit apk built by fandangos in the original post of this thread, as well as the newest Matrix 19.2 kodinerds Maven 32-bit build (with the TrueHD fix, which is working well), I see the same behaviour which is that:
  • MEL mkvs work completely fine (trigger DV, can skip/seek without issues).
  • FEL mkvs are very hit and miss. I've found that restarting the box before attempting to play a FEL file gives the highest chance of success, but even then it's only about 1 in 3-5 times that the file will play smoothly with the EL being processed properly. Even in this case, if I skip/seek at all, it will start to exhibit frequent display resyncs/black screen/stuttering. However, sometimes it can settle down into "MEL mode" (i.e. stop attempting to process the EL), and then it will act just like a MEL mkv (which is completely smoothly, and skipping/seeking are fine). So, unless it's a movie where the difference between the EL being processed or discarded is very evident to the naked eye (I use Saving Private Ryan to test this, since if the EL is not processed but only the RPU is applied to the BL, you can tell at around the 2 min 20 s mark because the sky will be flashing crazily), it can appear like a FEL mkv is playing smoothly even though the EL is actually not being processed.
On your Minix U22-XJ flashed with AM6+ firmware, is this what you're seeing? Or when you say "DV FEL works well", does that mean that you're actually getting the EL to be processed reliably, and with seeking/skipping working?


RE: Kodi Android build with support for Dolby Vision MKV - wizziwig - 2021-10-22

(2021-10-22, 00:58)quietvoid Wrote: I've mentioned it earlier but the new Fire TV Stick 4K Max doesn't even require the dvhe decoder to be used, so it also doesn't need the ffmpeg patches either.
It also plays from FEL files fine, while the 2018 did not.
Maybe the Chromecast with Google TV is similar, but it can decode FEL properly.

You mean both the new 2021 Fire TV 4K Max and last year's Chromecast with Google TV can properly play FEL such as used on UHD discs?  Are there any test patterns to confirm it's actually processing the FEL data and not just displaying the base HDR layer?


RE: Kodi Android build with support for Dolby Vision MKV - dysprosium - 2021-10-22

(2021-10-22, 06:20)wizziwig Wrote:
(2021-10-22, 00:58)quietvoid Wrote: I've mentioned it earlier but the new Fire TV Stick 4K Max doesn't even require the dvhe decoder to be used, so it also doesn't need the ffmpeg patches either.
It also plays from FEL files fine, while the 2018 did not.
Maybe the Chromecast with Google TV is similar, but it can decode FEL properly.

You mean both the new 2021 Fire TV 4K Max and last year's Chromecast with Google TV can properly play FEL such as used on UHD discs?  Are there any test patterns to confirm it's actually processing the FEL data and not just displaying the base HDR layer?
The 2021 Fire TV Stick 4K Max only displays BL+RPU for FEL files. All quietvoid meant is it actually plays FEL files, whereas the 2018 would only have a black screen for FEL files.
The 2020 Chromecast with Google TV does display BL+EL+RPU (doesn't bitstream lossless audio though).

FEL test files here.


RE: Kodi Android build with support for Dolby Vision MKV - kinggo - 2021-10-22

(2021-10-22, 00:58)quietvoid Wrote: Most of the problems are coming from the Shield.
I don't know if other devices exhibit other issues.

At some point there's only so much Kodi can fix, the rest is device dependent.

yes, on SONY there is also frame skipping and audio dropouts. Have no time to test any of this recent builds to see if anything improved but considering all the issues that Android platforms had/have and that ppl were telling how shield is the best one........then you can guess how it is on the rest of them.


RE: Kodi Android build with support for Dolby Vision MKV - quietvoid - 2021-10-22

(2021-10-22, 07:11)kinggo Wrote: yes, on SONY there is also frame skipping and audio dropouts. Have no time to test any of this recent builds to see if anything improved but considering all the issues that Android platforms had/have and that ppl were telling how shield is the best one........then you can guess how it is on the rest of them.
Are these issues strictly in Dolby Vision playback?
The audio dropouts (for Atmos at least) are supposed to be getting fixed soon.


RE: Kodi Android build with support for Dolby Vision MKV - MOHAX777 - 2021-10-22

(2021-10-22, 06:01)dysprosium Wrote: I see the same behaviour which is that:
  • MEL mkvs work completely fine (trigger DV, can skip/seek without issues).

  • FEL mkvs are very hit and miss. ....
also the same on my am6+ (0.42). I can tell that DV does not work on Ugoos (firmaware). Because it depends on the position of the stars in the sky. And it will never be fixed - they have no such capabilities. Until Amlogic herself takes it up - i.e. never too


RE: Kodi Android build with support for Dolby Vision MKV - kinggo - 2021-10-22

(2021-10-22, 14:32)quietvoid Wrote:
(2021-10-22, 07:11)kinggo Wrote: yes, on SONY there is also frame skipping and audio dropouts. Have no time to test any of this recent builds to see if anything improved but considering all the issues that Android platforms had/have and that ppl were telling how shield is the best one........then you can guess how it is on the rest of them.
Are these issues strictly in Dolby Vision playback?
The audio dropouts (for Atmos at least) are supposed to be getting fixed soon.
sadly, no. DTS is actually worst then atmos for me.
after switching from W75C series with android 6 I think to XG95 with android 9 KODI, the very same version, suddenly became a lot worse. Android 9 did bring DTS support but on paper only. And since I don't have any other box to compare I was always more sure that it has more to do with Android and MTK than with KODI. Anyway, will see once all this ends up in master. No time for anything atm.