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Android MINIX NEO U9-H (64-bit Octa Core Amlogic S912-H/ 4K UHD HEVC, HDR, Dolby Audio)
#91
(2017-03-30, 17:37)wesk05 Wrote:
(2017-03-30, 13:21)fentanyl Wrote: Hi wesk05! I just want to clarify so if u want to enable refresh rate switching, just enable Adjust Display Refresh Rate in Kodi and switch off "HDMI self-adaption” in Playback setting or vice versa?
That sholud do?
I actually don't have a clear idea of how "HDMI self-adaption" works in the U9-H. Based on my testing, it doesn't look like level 2 works with MediaCodec (Surface). It seems to work only with amcodec which Kodi 17.x doesn't use. I have also not seen any app switch refresh rate even when level 2 self-adaption is enabled.

@wrxtasy says that level 1 self-adaption works better with Kodi 17.

On Minix U1, it was better to have only one type of refresh rate switching enabled: either in Kodi itself or via HDMI self-adaption level 2 system wide.

(2017-03-30, 18:44)wrxtasy Wrote: Yes I use Level 1 - self adaptation - and then also setup Kodi as well to do refresh switching - Start/Stop.

Same setup I've used on WeTek devices as well for quite a while now with Kodi and all video playback has been smooth.

I don't even play around with the Hardware acceleration options. Leave them as default.

In the end its whatever works - and gives your eyeballs and brain less grief Wink


Where are these "self adaption" settings?

thx

bob
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#92
Android Settings > Playback Settings



(2017-04-10, 13:32)Monk4300 Wrote: Hi Guys

First post on this site as my google search for reviews on the U9 lead me here

I currently have an Nvidia shield which I watch a lot of Movie content through and IPTV 3rd party streaming through Kodi 17 Krypton, the movies including 1080 play excellently, great colours/details. However live IPTV I have struggled with from the off, especially 1080 sources, when the camera view is static the picture is excellent, as soon as the camera angle changes it pixelates briefly before focusing, and on panning shots it pixelates also i.e following a golf ball through the sky the blue background is very blocky, the ball lands and it all goes blocky then it focuses.

I am running my Shield through a Sony Bravia 4K TV, I have tried via wifi/ethernet, Kodi/SPMC, I have fiddled with every setting on the shield/TV/Kodi and nothing fixes this issue for me.

However a friend has the U9 and he does not have this issue, which i believe having read through your posts in here is a de-interlacing issue?

So essentially my question is would a U9 fix this issue for me, or is there a list of settings on my shield/TV that I can change to fix it as everyone here seems to have about 10000% more idea on this stuff than me!

Many thanks in advance for any help Smile

@wesk05 / @wrxstasy
IPTV I have found does not stream Interlaced content like you get with OTA TV. So issues have nothing to do with deinterlacing.

The only way to be sure is actually have two devices working back to back using the exact same Internet connection, in the same geographical location.

IPTV has too many variables to even begin to answer. You have to deal with internet connectivity, speed of streaming servers, user location - the list goes on...

If you are getting proper video playback on the Shield when watching (H264) movies then this Pixellation likely points to either:

- Low Bitrate Source Video
- DASH varying the video bitrate due to poor internet connectivity, slow source video servers, the tides, the phase of the moon, etc, etc...

New Hardware is not going to fix those two issues.

Suggestion - attach a Keyboard to the Shield and press the "O" key to pullup the Codec info window - then you know if video is being Hardware decoded or ffmpeg (ff-am...) Software decoded.

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#93
presumeably that is the option where all the white writing appears at the top of screen with alot of letters/numbers that I dont understand haha, presuming then if it states somewere ffmpeg its hardware decoded and ffam its software decoded?

Thanks for the response Smile
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#94
(2017-04-11, 03:51)wrxtasy Wrote: Android Settings > Playback Settings



(2017-04-10, 13:32)Monk4300 Wrote: Hi Guys

First post on this site as my google search for reviews on the U9 lead me here

I currently have an Nvidia shield which I watch a lot of Movie content through and IPTV 3rd party streaming through Kodi 17 Krypton, the movies including 1080 play excellently, great colours/details. However live IPTV I have struggled with from the off, especially 1080 sources, when the camera view is static the picture is excellent, as soon as the camera angle changes it pixelates briefly before focusing, and on panning shots it pixelates also i.e following a golf ball through the sky the blue background is very blocky, the ball lands and it all goes blocky then it focuses.

I am running my Shield through a Sony Bravia 4K TV, I have tried via wifi/ethernet, Kodi/SPMC, I have fiddled with every setting on the shield/TV/Kodi and nothing fixes this issue for me.

However a friend has the U9 and he does not have this issue, which i believe having read through your posts in here is a de-interlacing issue?

So essentially my question is would a U9 fix this issue for me, or is there a list of settings on my shield/TV that I can change to fix it as everyone here seems to have about 10000% more idea on this stuff than me!

Many thanks in advance for any help Smile

@wesk05 / @wrxstasy
IPTV I have found does not stream Interlaced content like you get with OTA TV. So issues have nothing to do with deinterlacing.

That very much depends on what flavour of IPTV you are using. Some IPTV providers definitely provide 576i and 1080i interlaced streams here in the UK, though whether they are that easy to integrate into Kodi is a different matter (most are encrypted)

In my experience there are two distinct approaches taken to provding "IPTV"

1. Unicast streaming - using MPEG DASH, HLS, HDS, Flash or similar technologies. These are aimed at PCs, Tablets and mobile phones - and are almost universally progressive. These work a bit like Netflix, or iPlayer/Hulu - you get a connection per viewer from the content delivery network, which is then negotiated uniquely for each viewing device (and requires dedicated bandwith for each viewer) This delivers content fully over 'the internet'.

2. Multicast streaming - using something like DVB-over-IP. This is aimed at TV set top boxes, and is used to deliver TV of identical quality and viewing experience to OTA, Cable or satellite. Effectively all viewers get an identical stream provided from a central node quite 'close' to them (in the UK each telephone exchange I think) This will deliver 576i, 1080i and 2160p usually - and is often excellent quality. You could argue that whilst this is using IP protocols, it isn't using 'the internet' in quite the same way, as the multicast streams are 'private' to your ISP/TV provider.

1. is often described as 'OTT' and 2. is often described as IPTV - though both deliver TV content over IP.

Of course - there are some dodgy sources of 1. too - which will take over-the-air, cable and satellite broadcasts, transcode them to a lower bitrate format (probably taking 50i or 60i and turning it into 25p or 24/30p) and make them available for viewing. The providers of these (often illegal) services probably don't care how they de-interlace... They are also the reason Kodi has such a bad reputation...
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#95
[quote='wrxtasy' pid='2567638' dateline='1491875499']
Android Settings > Playback Settings



[quote='Monk4300' pid='2567171' dateline='1491823965']



My android ver 6 only has hdmi adaption on or off? What does it actually do?

thx

bob
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#96
Quite a good review of the new Minix U9-H. Thanks for all the input. I was reading on the MINIX forum about some of the earlier ones and they seen to have a problem with multiple USB hard drives in that the drive label keeps changing when the system is shut down. The Kodi volumes change and the library is not valid anymore. Does anyone know if this issue has been fixed in the U9-H? Looks like a good replacement for my old Popcornhour C-200 but I use USB hard drives bays with four drives in each and if the drive letters change Kodi will not work. On the Minix forums they were saying it is an Android problem.
Thanks for any help or info.
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#97
EDIT:
It appears multiple connected Hard Drives are working out of the box on the MINIX U9-H - see HERE

From general reading it appears that to connect Multiple drives to Android boxes you have to:

- Root the device
- Use [root] StickMount App from Chainfire.

More info here:
http://www.wetekforums.com/v/index.php?p...-detection
https://forum.xda-developers.com/shield-...s-t3560007
https://forums.geforce.com/default/topic...b-issues-/

Windows/Linux/LibreELEC Kodi boxes have no such problems.

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#98
Recently bought Minix Neo U9-H box.Installed Kodi 17.1.sadly AAC 5.1 files are not able to read by minix box via kodi.It is either stopped or coming in PCM.Kodi eble to give dolby or DTS via external USB but Kodi add ons 5.1 are not working.I have checked every setting of Audio.But no use.Please help me on this.
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#99
Kodi cannot do AAC Audio passthrough. All such AAC Audio when encountered by Kodi will be decoded to either Multichannel PCM or 2.0 PCM Audio and output.

I don't think MINIX have implemented Multichannel PCM Audio in Android Firmware. 2.0 PCM only.

Your other option is to Transcode 5.1 AAC Audio to 5.1 AC3 by:

Number of Channels: 2.0
Passthrough: On
AC3: Yes
AC3 Transcoding: Yes

If you are using a specific USB DAC, then ask MINIX in their U9 forum for detailed support.

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I've been playing around with Netflix on the U9 lately - and have found, even with massaged normal HD Netflix App floating about the resolution would not stream above 720x480p Same all all other Non Approved Netflix devices.

The Xiaomi Mi Box and WeTek Hub happily Netflix streamed at 1920x1080p - I used the Example Short 23.976fps Netflix test clip.



So I played around further with an Experimental - Kodi v18 Leia AGILE Alpha 1 - LibreELEC 9.x image...that does DRM Video streaming..

Results:

- 1280x720p Netflix streaming, displayed with annoying jerky video playback due to hacked together - slow Android GPU drivers being used in LibreELEC / Linux on all AML S912's. There are no optimized Linux S912 GPU video drivers available for LibreELEC.

The same AGILE LE 9.x setup on an S905 ODROID-C2 produces smooth 23.976fps 720p Netflix video playback with AC3 or EAC3 passthrough Audio Smile

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(2017-05-11, 07:39)wrxtasy Wrote: I've been playing around with Netflix on the U9 lately - and have found, even with massaged normal HD Netflix App floating about the resolution would not stream above 720x480p Same all all other Non Approved Netflix devices.
Interesting... I can get 3000kbps 1280x720. The "massaged" app now comes pre-installed on the U9-H.
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The touchscreen Netflix App just does not ramp up the Resolution and Bitrates as quick as the equivalent Android TV Netflix App.
Maybe that's my problem - anyway good to know 3000kbps works.

The advantage with the AGILE - LE Kodi Netflix method is you get properly Kodi dynamically synced Netflix video streaming = nice smooth playback, and 5.1 DD/AC3 audio on a DD/AC3 only TV Smile

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(2017-05-11, 05:58)wrxtasy Wrote: Kodi cannot do AAC Audio passthrough. All such AAC Audio when encountered by Kodi will be decoded to either Multichannel PCM or 2.0 PCM Audio and output.

I don't think MINIX have implemented Multichannel PCM Audio in Android Firmware. 2.0 PCM only.

Your other option is to Transcode 5.1 AAC Audio to 5.1 AC3 by:

Number of Channels: 2.0
Passthrough: On
AC3: Yes
AC3 Transcoding: Yes

If you are using a specific USB DAC, then ask MINIX in their U9 forum for detailed support.

My previous Box Neo X8-H plus sucessfully decoded AAC 5.1.Now problem with U9-H only.2nd thing Kodi 17.1 is very unstable.when i am changing 2.0 to 7.1 channel in audio settings Kodi has stopped every time.after that I downgraded 17 now.it is working fine now.
By the way how to trans code AAC to AC3 Please let me know.
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I purchased and returned the U9-H. I reckon it needs a lot of refining. Too old to troubleshoot problems and wait for updates.
Bit the bullet and purchased the Shield. Its like night and day and has great support.
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I've have given MINIX a few whacks over the time in the Hardware forum and you think I would be the last one to support them....but...

The U9 has been out now for not even 3 months and its about to get its 5th Firmware update - if that is not prompt support and trying to address users problems I don't know what is. They even run a decent Beta test program for pre-release Firmware.

Every device has its problems, yes including the nVIDIA Shield - such as it's recently discovered 10/12-bit output problems by @wesk05.

The tablet Android OS devices like the U9 and Android TV devices like the Shield are really for different types of users anyway. Some want the full Monty Playstore - others just want the easier to use Android TV video streaming apps, and grudgingly put up with limited Apps selection.

What disappoints me the most is actually the lack of proper Linux/LibreELEC AMLogic S912 GPU video drivers - because S912's would make ripper LibreELEC Kodi devices. This is not MINIX's fault but a disagreement between AMLogic and ARM over video driver licensing.

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