[Halloway]

Multichannel FLAC in LibreELEC - Issue (reposted from WETEK website as no response there):

<snip>

I've done some more testing and I can confirm the same issues that you are seeing/hearing. In fact, mine seems to be worse in that where you get 2.0 instead of 5.1 I get silence!

The Wetek Media Player is better in that it does at least convert the MCH FLAC to PCM, unlike LibreELEC which will only convert to DD. But what I did notice is that WMP can't do true gapless MCH - I haven't tested LE for that yet.

Another possible issue is that when WMP is playing a 24/96 file, my AV amp is reporting only 48Hz

A final thing I've noticed is that if you set the 'keep audio device alive' setting to 'off', my amp indicates that the connection to the Hub is up and down all the time when not playing something. There are often clicks to accompany the signal going on or off. This can be fixed by setting the keepalive to 'always'.

More investigating tomorrow.

[wrxtasy]

Yes. I'm getting random freezing and need to pull the power too to reset (on WMP and LibreELEC). Are you using a local USB drive? Mine has locked on navigating a WD USB drive. I thought it also maybe the skin accessing the drive. Haven't tried with my NAS yet. I'll do that today.

The Hub instantly reboots on plugging in that USB Drive (Android or LibreELEC). Ok if I boot with drive already inserted. I will retry another USB drive today too.

I went looking for the Kodi log files but no idea where in Android...

NO ARM device - RPi's, AMLogic, Rockchip etc will work reliably with a directly connected USB Hard Drive, unless that HDD is connected to a powered USB Hub first or comes with its own power supply.

You are not running a PC here, where you can connect all manner of power hungry Peripherals. These are low powered ARM portable devices.

[Newbie_from_NJ]

Hi all!

Been reading this forum for many years but only now registered as I need some help.

I Have the new Wetek Hub and I knew that the Kodi krypton alpha version is not stable but thought Wetek media player of at least Libreelec would be. To my surprize that wasn´t the case. I get multiple freezes every now and then and the only solution is to pull the cord. Kodi just freezes and doesn´t react to anything. On Wetek media player and on LE I´m using Rapier skin. I´d be very surprized to hear the freezing is caused by skin. On LE I´m using Samsung Evo 16GT MSD.

Naturally I have updated (OTA) the Hub to the latest version.

My Hub is connected to AVR and from there to my TV. I´m using flirc and Logitech harmony Companion.

Any help would be more than appreciated.

The Skin you use along with other things running in the background, definitely affect your performance on this box! I learn this the hard way last night.

I have a custom build I designed myself using Xconfluence Skin that's pretty large (almost 2GB) with TrueHD intro video, over 200 background images that auto change on a timer and every time you switch menu categories, auto runs VPN, custom widgets, large TV Show and Movie Library integration, many RSS Feeds, lots of bells and whistles, etc. etc. etc.

What's my point? I normally run this build flawlessly on my i3 Chromebox that also has 16GB of RAM (I'm a heavy torrent user) BUT when I decided to install it on the Wetek Hub - it crippled it!

All your symptoms and then some... Crashes, freezes, I couldn't stream anything without choking and pauses, couldn't even play local content from my hard drive (that's powered by external powered hub) My AVR played sound on its first boot, but then that also took a dump. Then I couldn't get the sound working again. I unplugged all HDMI cables, rebooted the Hub and AVR multiples times with no avail. I honestly thought my AVR was done. Finally I unplugged the AVR's power cable from the wall - that did the trick and sound was back again. Just a horrible experience. Almost packed the Hub and returned it.

But today I had the time to analyze what my build contained and so I started removing most bells and whistles as I noticed that the Hub barely had any free memory available. The 1GB RAM on it is simply NOT enough to run all the things I threw at it. (what's sad is that my build runs perfectly fine on the Amazon Fire TV, granted that has 2GB RAM)

The #1 culprit of not being able to play content well... was having zero cache enabled on advancedsettings.xml file. Obviously this isn't a problem on the Chromebox, but on the Hub running LibreELEC from the mSDCard... huge NO NO! I have now changed this xml file to use 150MB of buffer instead as I literally only have less than 500mb of available RAM using STOCK skin. With the other skin... fogetaboutit!

Even after removing most bells and whistles, the navigation lag is still there using Xconfluence. The minute I switch to Confluence, the Hub is fine again. Sadly, 1GB RAM is just not enough. Wetek really should have put 2GB on this unit. But at least playing content issue is resolved and so is the HD audio issue. Up next is the refresh rate... still having problems there. Sorry long rant, but I hope this helps you as well.

[wrxtasy]

Simple question, which version of LibreELEC are you using, because this is the current advancedsettings.xml I package with my releases ?
ie. the largest possible to minimise 2160p video playback buffering.

Of course Zero Cache will not work as all cache data is written to the SD card which is hopelessly slow for write operations vs a SSD or HDD equipped Chromebox.

Code:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<advancedsettings>
    <showexitbutton>false</showexitbutton>
    <cputempcommand>cputemp</cputempcommand>
    <gputempcommand>gputemp</gputempcommand>

  <samba>
    <clienttimeout>20</clienttimeout>
  </samba>

  <network>
    <buffermode>1</buffermode>
    <cachemembuffersize>157286400</cachemembuffersize>
    <readbufferfactor>20</readbufferfactor>
  </network>

  <pvr>
    <minvideocachelevel>10</minvideocachelevel>
    <minaudiocachelevel>15</minaudiocachelevel>
  </pvr>
</advancedsettings>

I do not recommend using Kodi Krypton at all on any AMLogic devices, there WILL be video sync problems there.

RSS Feeds are a known resource Hog, they should be ditched for ARM devices.
Android is also more of a resource hog than LibreELEC.
Comparing a Hub to an Intel i3 Chromebox (probably SSD equipped as well) is frankly pointless and actually pretty funny.
So a 2GB Skin into a 1GB device heh, are you mad ?

Sounds like you are trying to stuff an Elephant into a tiny Mini Minor car !
Gotta give you points for trying

I'm not seeing 23.976fps video sync problems either with WeTek Media player or LibreELEC Jarvis. No AVR in the HDMI chain tho.
Tested now with numerous 23.976fps test clips and scrolling movie credits.

[Newbie_from_NJ]

Simple question, which version of LibreELEC are you using, because this is the current advancedsettings.xml I package with my releases ?
ie. the largest possible to minimise 2160p video playback buffering.

Of course Zero Cache will not work as all cache data is written to the SD card which is hopelessly slow for write operations vs a SSD or HDD equipped Chromebox.

Code:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<advancedsettings>
    <showexitbutton>false</showexitbutton>
    <cputempcommand>cputemp</cputempcommand>
    <gputempcommand>gputemp</gputempcommand>

  <samba>
    <clienttimeout>20</clienttimeout>
  </samba>

  <network>
    <buffermode>1</buffermode>
    <cachemembuffersize>157286400</cachemembuffersize>
    <readbufferfactor>20</readbufferfactor>
  </network>

  <pvr>
    <minvideocachelevel>10</minvideocachelevel>
    <minaudiocachelevel>15</minaudiocachelevel>
  </pvr>
</advancedsettings>

I do not recommend using Kodi Krypton at all on any AMLogic devices, there WILL be video sync problems there.

RSS Feeds are a known resource Hog, they should be ditched for ARM devices.
Android is also more of a resource hog than LibreELEC.
Comparing a Hub to an Intel i3 Chromebox (probably SSD equipped as well) is frankly pointless and actually pretty funny.
So a 2GB Skin into a 1GB device heh, are you mad ?

Sounds like you are trying to stuff an Elephant into a tiny Mini Minor car !
Gotta give you points for trying

I'm not seeing 23.976fps video sync problems either with WeTek Media player or LibreELEC Jarvis. No AVR in the HDMI chain tho.
Tested now with numerous 23.976fps test clips and scrolling movie credits.

I'm using your LibreELEC version. However my build overwrote your xml file. Thanks for providing the details again. I will amend accordingly. My post's purpose was not to compare, but to show that you have to be very conscious of what you do to this box (even applying a different skin) because many things can affect its performance.

I honestly didn't think anything of simply transferring my build over to it, as I never paid attention of how big and heavy it actually was - UNTIL I ran into all these issues. Now I realize what I did and how to fix it. There are countless of Kodi builds out there that I guarantee you are going to screw up many Wetek Hubs... and probably flood the forum with questions. My intention is to make other newbies aware of that.

[Newbie_from_NJ]

Simple question, which version of LibreELEC are you using, because this is the current advancedsettings.xml I package with my releases ?
ie. the largest possible to minimise 2160p video playback buffering.

Of course Zero Cache will not work as all cache data is written to the SD card which is hopelessly slow for write operations vs a SSD or HDD equipped Chromebox.

Code:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<advancedsettings>
    <showexitbutton>false</showexitbutton>
    <cputempcommand>cputemp</cputempcommand>
    <gputempcommand>gputemp</gputempcommand>

  <samba>
    <clienttimeout>20</clienttimeout>
  </samba>

  <network>
    <buffermode>1</buffermode>
    <cachemembuffersize>157286400</cachemembuffersize>
    <readbufferfactor>20</readbufferfactor>
  </network>

  <pvr>
    <minvideocachelevel>10</minvideocachelevel>
    <minaudiocachelevel>15</minaudiocachelevel>
  </pvr>
</advancedsettings>

I decided to start from scratch once again. I downloaded your latest image, burned it and reinstalled, except I do not see an advancedsettings.xml file in .kodi/userdata/ ?

[wrxtasy]

Look at the Kodi Log it's already inbuilt into LE during the packaging process, and not found in that location.

That is the location for individual users to add you have there.

[Eve72]

You are not running a PC here, where you can connect all manner of power hungry Peripherals. These are low powered ARM portable devices.

The Skin you use along with other things running in the background, definitely affect your performance on this box!

Thx to @wrxtasy and @Newbie_from_NJ for your comments. I´ll try with another skin (lightweight) assuming that is the culprit. I learned a lot from your posts.

[Halloway]

I do not recommend using Kodi Krypton at all on any AMLogic devices, there WILL be video sync problems there.

I'm not seeing 23.976fps video sync problems either with WeTek Media player or LibreELEC Jarvis. No AVR in the HDMI chain tho.
Tested now with numerous 23.976fps test clips and scrolling movie credits.

Well here's a crazy thing: last night I loaded up the Krypton nightly into Android and....

...no 23.976 sync issues! Krypton has plenty still wrong with it but it played my test files perfectly (when it wasn't locking up!)

Next step, I'll try connecting the Hub direct to my TV.

I wonder if Wetek have any paid tester vacancies..?

[Ned Scott]

Hi all!

Been reading this forum for many years but only now registered as I need some help.

I Have the new Wetek Hub and I knew that the Kodi krypton alpha version is not stable but thought Wetek media player of at least Libreelec would be. To my surprize that wasn´t the case. I get multiple freezes every now and then and the only solution is to pull the cord. Kodi just freezes and doesn´t react to anything. On Wetek media player and on LE I´m using Rapier skin. I´d be very surprized to hear the freezing is caused by skin. On LE I´m using Samsung Evo 16GT MSD.

Naturally I have updated (OTA) the Hub to the latest version.

My Hub is connected to AVR and from there to my TV. I´m using flirc and Logitech harmony Companion.

Any help would be more than appreciated.

The Skin you use along with other things running in the background, definitely affect your performance on this box! I learn this the hard way last night.

I have a custom build I designed myself using Xconfluence Skin that's pretty large (almost 2GB) with TrueHD intro video, over 200 background images that auto change on a timer and every time you switch menu categories, auto runs VPN, custom widgets, large TV Show and Movie Library integration, many RSS Feeds, lots of bells and whistles, etc. etc. etc.

What's my point? I normally run this build flawlessly on my i3 Chromebox that also has 16GB of RAM (I'm a heavy torrent user) BUT when I decided to install it on the Wetek Hub - it crippled it!

All your symptoms and then some... Crashes, freezes, I couldn't stream anything without choking and pauses, couldn't even play local content from my hard drive (that's powered by external powered hub) My AVR played sound on its first boot, but then that also took a dump. Then I couldn't get the sound working again. I unplugged all HDMI cables, rebooted the Hub and AVR multiples times with no avail. I honestly thought my AVR was done. Finally I unplugged the AVR's power cable from the wall - that did the trick and sound was back again. Just a horrible experience. Almost packed the Hub and returned it.

But today I had the time to analyze what my build contained and so I started removing most bells and whistles as I noticed that the Hub barely had any free memory available. The 1GB RAM on it is simply NOT enough to run all the things I threw at it. (what's sad is that my build runs perfectly fine on the Amazon Fire TV, granted that has 2GB RAM)

The #1 culprit of not being able to play content well... was having zero cache enabled on advancedsettings.xml file. Obviously this isn't a problem on the Chromebox, but on the Hub running LibreELEC from the mSDCard... huge NO NO! I have now changed this xml file to use 150MB of buffer instead as I literally only have less than 500mb of available RAM using STOCK skin. With the other skin... fogetaboutit!

Even after removing most bells and whistles, the navigation lag is still there using Xconfluence. The minute I switch to Confluence, the Hub is fine again. Sadly, 1GB RAM is just not enough. Wetek really should have put 2GB on this unit. But at least playing content issue is resolved and so is the HD audio issue. Up next is the refresh rate... still having problems there. Sorry long rant, but I hope this helps you as well.

Can you go into some detail about what you mean by bells and whistles? I'd like to try replicating this.

[Tó Madeira]

Yes. I'm getting random freezing and need to pull the power too to reset (on WMP and LibreELEC). Are you using a local USB drive? Mine has locked on navigating a WD USB drive. I thought it also maybe the skin accessing the drive. Haven't tried with my NAS yet. I'll do that today.

The Hub instantly reboots on plugging in that USB Drive (Android or LibreELEC). Ok if I boot with drive already inserted. I will retry another USB drive today too.

I went looking for the Kodi log files but no idea where in Android...

NO ARM device - RPi's, AMLogic, Rockchip etc will work reliably with a directly connected USB Hard Drive, unless that HDD is connected to a powered USB Hub first or comes with its own power supply.

You are not running a PC here, where you can connect all manner of power hungry Peripherals. These are low powered ARM portable devices.

This is important!!!.

You mest remember that the Hub only has 5V power supply, plugging in a HDD with no extra power will cripple the device.

[lekand]

Hi,

I'm sorry a few of you are having issues with the Hub. I'm pretty sure most of them will be ironed out in time. I myself had a problem with colors flipping on me, all screen becoming greenish (both under Android and the LibreELEC 7.0.2 version kindly provided by wrxtasy). I wrote to WeTek support and they have been really amazing. I asked for a replacement, because I was convinced there was a hardware issue. They asked for a video of the problem. After 24hours they get back to me, saying that they have traced down the problem as a bug when coupling the hub to some Philips TVs, and that a replacement would have the same issue. In the same message they provided a custom Hub firmware with a new option under Android to force RGB colorspace. I installed it, switched on RGB as instructed, and the problem is gone. I'm even getting a more stable Kodi 17 experience now (might be subjective, though I've not had a single crash). They tell me also that they've contacted the LibreELEC team (wrxtasy?) to include this new option there.

How's that for technical support? I, for one, have never seen anything like it. Kudos to WeTek!

[wrxtasy]

Other way around, we already had a solution from LE C2 development
There is no easy boot.ini switch for LE on the Hub yet however. Likely a custom LE release will come when i can sit down and patch.
There is a pretty healthy AML development community sharing ideas at the moment.

The problem is not with the Hub but actually some models of older Philips and Sony TV's that have a bug in their HDMI implementation that sometimes triggers the selection of the wrong colorspace resulting in a magenta/green display.
The MINIX U1 also has the same problem, so does the ODROID C2 with these TV's - both already had fixes.

You basically have to force an RGB colorspace output to these problem TV's with a user selectable switch.

That issue has to do with the color space the HDMI driver uses for displaying video content. I've seen this before with my Open Hour Chameleon Android based media player and there it was only resolved after the developers gave us the option to select the color space to use. By default they were using YUV444 which isn't the preferred color space of my TV (which seems to use RGB). So when the color space information in the HDMI data stream is missed somehow during display (temporary hickup or timing mismatch) the TV picks the color space it prefers (in my case RGB) and displays the YUV444 stream as a RGB stream. Since the Y component (Luminance or brightness information) is mapped to Red and U and V (which normally encode the color components) are mapped to Green and Blue the picture starts looking like its rendered in Green and Purple shades.
The only solution for this issue (as de OHC devs discovered) is to give us the options to set the color space used by the HDMI driver. There are no other solutions for this problem for TV's/Displays that use RGB color space by default.
This issue was also a major problem for UPC's Horizon media boxes and TV's from all major manufacturers (Sony, Philips, Samsung etc) were hit by this until they did the same as the OHC devs.

[Eve72]

Hi,

I'm sorry a few of you are having issues with the Hub. I'm pretty sure most of them will be ironed out in time. I myself had a problem with colors flipping on me, all screen becoming greenish (both under Android and the LibreELEC 7.0.2 version kindly provided by wrxtasy). I wrote to WeTek support and they have been really amazing. I asked for a replacement, because I was convinced there was a hardware issue. They asked for a video of the problem. After 24hours they get back to me, saying that they have traced down the problem as a bug when coupling the hub to some Philips TVs, and that a replacement would have the same issue. In the same message they provided a custom Hub firmware with a new option under Android to force RGB colorspace. I installed it, switched on RGB as instructed, and the problem is gone. I'm even getting a more stable Kodi 17 experience now (might be subjective, though I've not had a single crash). They tell me also that they've contacted the LibreELEC team (wrxtasy?) to include this new option there.

How's that for technical support? I, for one, have never seen anything like it. Kudos to WeTek!

I´ve also had problems colors flipping, though in my case the screen isn´t greenish but pinkish. The problem has fortunately only occured a few times. At first I assumed it was caused by bad wire connection but it turned out false. Luckily rebooting the TV gave the needed fix.

I´m very interested in the solution you @lekand received from Wetek. Should I also contact Wetek to be provided with the custom Hub firmware that you mentioned?

My Hub is connected first to my AVR and second my Philips 55PUS7600 TV.

[lekand]

Other way around, we already had a solution from LE C2 development
There is no easy boot.ini switch for LE on the Hub yet however. Likely a custom LE release will come when i can sit down and patch.
There is a pretty healthy AML development community sharing ideas at the moment.

The problem is not with the Hub but actually some models of older Philips and Sony TV's that have a bug in their HDMI implementation that sometimes triggers the selection of the wrong colorspace resulting in a magenta/green display.
The MINIX U1 also has the same problem, so does the ODROID C2 with these TV's - both already had fixes.

You basically have to force an RGB colorspace output to these problem TV's with a user selectable switch.

How amazing! Ok, now the turnaround time doesn't seem so supernatural This developer environment you guys have created is what makes all the difference with these machines. Many many thanks! Any clue when the LibreELEC version with a fix will be available?