[MKANET]

It looks like we first need to outline the skills and background necessary for taking over the development of this project... sort of like a job listing for a non-profit organization.  Then, find the right place to advertise this opportunity.  I'm definitely willing to donate money for this.. considering I use Kody DSPlayer daily.

[madjockxbmc]

I think someone would have to be quite brave jumping into this, and people willing to spend money also have to be careful. I think that if someone out of the KODI fold has not already volunteered to start this without money, then I am also unsure what people it would attract by people waving money about.

If we ignore that, anyone who starts doing this for money will be under severe pressure and be constantly vilified for any bugs, as no one can say the usual, " we do this in our own time, no one gets paid etc". You just have to look at when KODI 18 was released, it was as if the world ended with the initial issues, and that was Free.

[only1hammy]

It looks like we first need to outline the skills and background necessary for taking over the development of this project... sort of like a job listing for a non-profit organization.  Then, find the right place to advertise this opportunity.  I'm definitely willing to donate money for this.. considering I use Kody DSPlayer daily.

  Agreed.  I can put it to some people but right now I couldn't tell them what's needed apart from "plz update Kodi DSPlayer to 18.x thanks".
 

I think someone would have to be quite brave jumping into this, and people willing to spend money also have to be careful. I think that if someone out of the KODI fold has not already volunteered to start this without money, then I am also unsure what people it would attract by people waving money about.

If we ignore that, anyone who starts doing this for money will be under severe pressure and be constantly vilified for any bugs, as no one can say the usual, " we do this in our own time, no one gets paid etc". You just have to look at when KODI 18 was released, it was as if the world ended with the initial issues, and that was Free.

That's a lot of problems and no solutions.  I am all about solutions, and a bounty is a pro-active method of getting things done.  What's the alternative?  We sit on our hands and hope for the best?

I agree we would need a clear definition of what constitutes completion of the task.  The main features of Kodi 18.x with DSPlayer/madVR functioning?  I have yet to use 18.x, so others could help out with the definition.

"Waving money about" is a pretty cynical attitude to have.  The goal here is to get this done; if you have a better idea, please tell us.

[madjockxbmc]

"Waving money about" is a pretty cynical attitude to have.  The goal here is to get this done; if you have a better idea, please tell us.

We can all have our own opinions of course, I think its "cynical" that just because people want something done, then money is the way to do it. I think if no one has shown interest so far, considering 18 has been ongoing for a long time then I think no one will be in a rush to pick this up. As you have rightly pointed out yourself, it needs someone to take ownership just to get it picked up by the right person, that in itself will be an arduous task, does someone need paid for that ?

You also say you are "about solutions" but you do not have one, so it is meaningless, I am about details in this case, if people donate, and the person cannot do it due to issues, do people get a refund, who decides how long it takes etc, who decides on a timeline ?. I think it is a precarious road to go down and will lead to disaster, hence why the usual route is someone starts something, then people with an interest donate after BETA 1 etc. It may sound negative, but as I said previously look at all the feedback from when KODI 18 came out, today's generations are so full of people with entitlement that even with a free product the way people react is scary.

[only1hammy]

"Waving money about" is a pretty cynical attitude to have.  The goal here is to get this done; if you have a better idea, please tell us.

We can all have our own opinions of course, I think its "cynical" that just because people want something done, then money is the way to do it. I think if no one has shown interest so far, considering 18 has been ongoing for a long time then I think no one will be in a rush to pick this up. As you have rightly pointed out yourself, it needs someone to take ownership just to get it picked up by the right person, that in itself will be an arduous task, does someone need paid for that ?

You also say you are "about solutions" but you do not have one, so it is meaningless, I am about details in this case, if people donate, and the person cannot do it due to issues, do people get a refund, who decides how long it takes etc, who decides on a timeline ?. I think it is a precarious road to go down and will lead to disaster, hence why the usual route is someone starts something, then people with an interest donate after BETA 1 etc. It may sound negative, but as I said previously look at all the feedback from when KODI 18 came out, today's generations are so full of people with entitlement that even with a free product the way people react is scary.  

Does someone need paying for it?  No, but it's been speculated that the original dev doesn't have an interest in maintaining the project, so the current situation is we are left 'hoping for the best'.  A bounty is a way of incentivizing development.  NOTE: I have consistantly used the word "bounty" which is not the same as "donation".  A bounty is paid upon completion of a task, in this case, like I already said, the definition of "completion" would need to be agreed upon before we accept funds or have a dev start work.  From a selfish perspective, providing a functional 18.x with madVR support is what I would describe as completion, but the bounty holder and community would need to discuss this further and come to an agreement.

I don't have enough trust here to be the bounty holder, so I can't answer the "refunds" question.  I would expect anyone who had donated to an unclaimed bounty be fully refunded, and that anyone donating to such a cause realizes these things can take time.  A good point would be that maybe no developer would be willing to put the work in on a promise of receiving the bounty, but from a personal perspective I would be putting this to people I already have a relationship with.  There would need to be a level of trust on both sides, I guess.  Agree about entitlement, hence this "non-solution" as you call it

[madjockxbmc]

I think another major part is KODI 18 or now 18.1 is still quite new, and as can be seen with people having issues, whoever takes up the challenge would have to deal with that as well.

I am no expert on Revs of KODI but if this version is based on 17.6, was that after a certain period and classed as "stable" for the most part.

EDIT : Just looked back to Post 1 and this has been a 2yr project updated to various releases, so adds another factor of updates as well.

[Warner306]

Can we afford madshi?

 No, I think JRiver offered him a job and he didn't want it.

[Warner306]

I really don't know what skills are required. It would help to have a ballpark estimate as to how many hours of work would be involved.

​​​​​​There could also be some apathy towards this plea here because v17.6 is getting old. I don't know how many read the back pages of this thread and we don't have access to aracnoz's first post. I doubt the payment for an otherwise free product would get that large. Not many donated to the link put up by aracnoz when he was still the active developer.

​​​​​​If you were to look for temporary or one time development, I think it would make the most sense to start with the names of past developers listed in the first post. They could be hard to track down, if at all, and would probably say no, but they are already knowledgeable developers with experience.

[ashlar]

I really don't know what skills are required. It would help to have a ballpark estimate as to how many hours of work would be involved.

​​​​​​There could also be some apathy towards this plea here because v17.6 is getting old. I don't know how many read the back pages of this thread and we don't have access to aracnoz's first post. I doubt the payment for an otherwise free product would get that large. Not many donated to the link put up by aracnoz when he was still the active developer.

​​​​​​If you were to look for temporary or one time development, I think it would make the most sense to start with the names of past developers listed in the first post. They could be hard to track down, if at all, and would probably say no, but they are already knowledgeable developers with experience.

I might be mistaken but the only one with enough experience might have been @tiben20, who hasn't posted in the forums since 2013 (unless search function is wrong) but visited as close as February this year. I'm not sure if other developer listed ever brought a major version to completion.
@aracnoz developed 15, 16 and 17.

No, I was wrong. @0wing took care of Eden and maybe Dharma.

[madjockxbmc]

Would there be any chance the main KODI team could be convinced to get involved ?

[Warner306]

I doubt it, as DSPlayer was already soundly rejected by afedchin and other primary Team Kodi members in the past, in this thread. But I remember one of the names listed in the first post is a current Team Kodi member. I don't remember his name (not tiben20).

[ashlar]

Would there be any chance the main KODI team could be convinced to get involved ?

Forget about it. There's an incurable philosophical difference on this. DSPlayer mainly exists, by now, to allow people to use madVR. madVR is closed source and exclusive to Windows. As such, Kodi developers don't see the point in developing a version of Kodi that mainly exists to enable it.

Unfortunately aracnoz ended up being scared away from development when he realized he would have to keep on doing everything by himself.

Having said that, I've never managed to understand whether a binary plugin with madVR as renderer would be possible currently. At the end of the day, much as I love LAVFilters, their functionality is pretty much identical to what already Kodi does. But the video renderer in Kodi is far less sophisticated in its scaling algorithms than what madVR offers. And I don't see much development in that direction, making me think that for all intents and purposes it's deemed to be "good enough". The fact that more sophisticated algorithms mean more powerful GPUs and that for many Kodi has to run on sub $100 Android boxes doesn't help, I guess.

[ashlar]

I doubt it, as DSPlayer was already soundly rejected by afedchin and other primary Team Kodi members in the past, in this thread. But I remember one of the names listed in the first post is a current Team Kodi member. I don't remember his name (not tiben20).

@blinkseb is listed as a Team-XBMC developer. I don't know if he's still active, how much and on what he's currently working.

[ashlar]

One question for Warner306: I still have not understood whether Kodi 18 correctly plays back HDR10 in Windows. Have you?

I searched a little bit... am I correct in understanding that even when connected to an HDR screen Kodi Windows simply tonemaps HDR10 content to SDR?

[madjockxbmc]

I searched a little bit... am I correct in understanding that even when connected to an HDR screen Kodi Windows simply tonemaps HDR10 content to SDR?

 That is correct, and not the best either to be honest.