2015-09-02, 18:39
UPDATE: I have really spent a lot of time trying to figure out the little quirks of this box. During the process, I upgraded to Kodi 15.1. This solved a couple problems and created a new one. Here is my experience:
FIXED: With Kodi 15.1, I am now able to play all TS files that would not play before including using the external player via the wrapper. Why is still a mystery but I'll take it. In the meantime, I have half my library converted to MKV now anyway but I like the flexibility.
FIXED: I can now play both the 100Mbps and 120Mbps jellyfish demo files. The playback is not very smooth but I assume this is just the limitation of the processor and it is normal.
NEW: Now, every time I play a video using the external player through the wrapper, I get the following pop-up message: External player active - Click "OK" when playback has ended
Anyone know a fix for that new problem?
Found out that the one MKV that wouldn't play before was due to a question mark in the path. The HiMedia external player doesn't like question marks in the path or filename and will refuse the play anything that has a question mark in the path. The Kodi DVD player plays these files fine so I consider this a bug although it is pretty easy to work around.
Also, discovered a bug in the interaction between the 1080p24Hz setting and 4K. To reproduce, set the 1080p24Hz setting to on and the output resolution of the box to either 2160p 24Hz or 2160p 30Hz. Now, if you play ANY 23.976fps video (480i, 1080p, 4K), the resolution of the box will automatically drop to 720p 50Hz. This is a pretty bad bug for people who want to use this box for 4K. Until it is resolved, I have to leave the 1080p24Hz setting off which is a real shame.
Another strange issue with 4K. If the output resolution is set to either 2160p 24Hz or 2160p 30Hz and you power off the box, intermittently when you power the box up it hangs at the second HiMedia logo. It will sit there forever unless you force the unit off with the switch on the box and then bring it back up. After one of these problems, it always seems to boot up the second time. This only seems to happen in one of the 4K output modes. The Q5 may also be switching back to 720p in this scenario but I need to do more testing to confirm.
Intermittently, when playing back H.265 encoded 1080p even at low bitrates (~16Mbps), the entire box will freeze and will require a power cycle. This seems to happen once every 2-3 hours or so of watching H.265. The files were encoded using x265 via Handbrake.
I also get intermittent unexplained audio dropouts on almost all file types. This causes the audio to get out of sync. Sometimes it seems like I don't hear the dropout at all yet the audio seems to get further and further out of sync the longer the video plays. This has happened with 480i H.264 and 1080p H.265. It seems to happen less often since I upgraded to Kodi 15.1 but that may just be a coincidence. The audio sync issues are by far the most annoying problem I have with the box right now. If anyone has some ideas for fixing that, it would be greatly appreciated. Hardware acceleration is enabled in Kodi by the way.
FIXED: With Kodi 15.1, I am now able to play all TS files that would not play before including using the external player via the wrapper. Why is still a mystery but I'll take it. In the meantime, I have half my library converted to MKV now anyway but I like the flexibility.
FIXED: I can now play both the 100Mbps and 120Mbps jellyfish demo files. The playback is not very smooth but I assume this is just the limitation of the processor and it is normal.
NEW: Now, every time I play a video using the external player through the wrapper, I get the following pop-up message: External player active - Click "OK" when playback has ended
Anyone know a fix for that new problem?
Found out that the one MKV that wouldn't play before was due to a question mark in the path. The HiMedia external player doesn't like question marks in the path or filename and will refuse the play anything that has a question mark in the path. The Kodi DVD player plays these files fine so I consider this a bug although it is pretty easy to work around.
Also, discovered a bug in the interaction between the 1080p24Hz setting and 4K. To reproduce, set the 1080p24Hz setting to on and the output resolution of the box to either 2160p 24Hz or 2160p 30Hz. Now, if you play ANY 23.976fps video (480i, 1080p, 4K), the resolution of the box will automatically drop to 720p 50Hz. This is a pretty bad bug for people who want to use this box for 4K. Until it is resolved, I have to leave the 1080p24Hz setting off which is a real shame.
Another strange issue with 4K. If the output resolution is set to either 2160p 24Hz or 2160p 30Hz and you power off the box, intermittently when you power the box up it hangs at the second HiMedia logo. It will sit there forever unless you force the unit off with the switch on the box and then bring it back up. After one of these problems, it always seems to boot up the second time. This only seems to happen in one of the 4K output modes. The Q5 may also be switching back to 720p in this scenario but I need to do more testing to confirm.
Intermittently, when playing back H.265 encoded 1080p even at low bitrates (~16Mbps), the entire box will freeze and will require a power cycle. This seems to happen once every 2-3 hours or so of watching H.265. The files were encoded using x265 via Handbrake.
I also get intermittent unexplained audio dropouts on almost all file types. This causes the audio to get out of sync. Sometimes it seems like I don't hear the dropout at all yet the audio seems to get further and further out of sync the longer the video plays. This has happened with 480i H.264 and 1080p H.265. It seems to happen less often since I upgraded to Kodi 15.1 but that may just be a coincidence. The audio sync issues are by far the most annoying problem I have with the box right now. If anyone has some ideas for fixing that, it would be greatly appreciated. Hardware acceleration is enabled in Kodi by the way.
