[idas]

Hi,

I went trough many answers in the discussion, but it seems there's a lack of the really basic information. I understood that such video issues are coming from the fact that we switch to newer formats etc. and we should use HW for decoding. So how come such VLC plays everything smoothly without any of such problems (all with default setting straight from installation), whereas KODI struggles?

My above statement is based only on Sony Android TV where I use KODI.
@rainman74 - I just try you workaround with ffmpeg - fingers crossed



BTW. Except of this problem I fight with other one - some video files (old *.avi) are not played at all. Meaning I press "play" KODI tries to load it (I see the spinning "circle" logo) but nothing happens...I can wait forever and move won't play :/

[fritsch]

Just use VLC or fix it. You are in no position to demand anything from freetime developers. VLC probably uses SW acceleration for such files. The reason you have this issue is a single guy that ran through this forum for months demanding HW acceleration for old and shitty files. Now deal with it.

Hint: There is a decoderfilter.xml and a single (!) change to that file makes your troublesome files work, e.g.

    <filter>
        <name>OMX.MTK.VIDEO.DECODER.H263</name>
        <allowed>true</allowed>
        <stills-allowed>false</stills-allowed>
        <dvd-allowed>true</dvd-allowed>
        <min-height>720</min-height>
    </filter>
    <filter>
        <name>OMX.MTK.VIDEO.DECODER.MPEG4</name>
        <allowed>true</allowed>
        <stills-allowed>false</stills-allowed>
        <dvd-allowed>true</dvd-allowed>
        <min-height>720</min-height>
    </filter>

Those are called differently on your system, just check for MPEG4 and H263 and be good

[idas]

Just use VLC or fix it. You are in no position to demand anything from freetime developers. VLC probably uses SW acceleration for such files. The reason you have this issue is a single guy that ran through this forum for months demanding HW acceleration for old and shitty files. Now deal with it.

Hint: There is a decoderfilter.xml and a single (!) change to that file makes your troublesome files work, e.g.

    <filter>
        <name>OMX.MTK.VIDEO.DECODER.H263</name>
        <allowed>true</allowed>
        <stills-allowed>false</stills-allowed>
        <dvd-allowed>true</dvd-allowed>
        <min-height>720</min-height>
    </filter>
    <filter>
        <name>OMX.MTK.VIDEO.DECODER.MPEG4</name>
        <allowed>true</allowed>
        <stills-allowed>false</stills-allowed>
        <dvd-allowed>true</dvd-allowed>
        <min-height>720</min-height>
    </filter>

Those are called differently on your system, just check for MPEG4 and H263 and be good 

Hello @fritsch
I guess we have some misunderstanding here and since we have new year I do not want to ruin anybody's humour
My post was just a question through which I wanted to understand why KODI as SW which is announced in many sites as the best media centre for Android TVs struggles with basic video processing. I am a new person to Android TV (although I am from IT/Telekom industry - so I consider myself as capable to handle such nasty topics ) and till now I used Samsung where all is working fine. So just from my perspective it's bit odd that customer goes and buys newest Android TV, installs best SW on it and...ends up with manual correction tasks (whereas none of the articles about recommended, best SW for Android TVs mentions about such possibilities - so tadam surprise ).

I do not demand anything for this issue. I am grateful for solution provided by @rainman74 with ffmpeg as it fixed my files and problem is gone So I am next person which can confirm this solution (and it's really no time consuming).

[fritsch]

Yeah, there are multiple reasons:

1) 90% of the Android boxes / TVs are garbage concerning their Android version. They are just meant to work with netflix / prime app and the internal mediaplayer. Everything else, they don't care at all
2) Some formats are from a time where definitions where not 100% set into stone. From this time mpeg-4, xvid, H.263, etc. are coming from
3) Most HW-Decoders of cheap boxes are only tested for: h264, hevc, hevc-10 bit - the formats someone sells. No one had the user in mind when providing the box and its firmware.

Fixing the files with ffmpeg is a good approach. If you are at it, transcode them to h264 or hevc with good quality in one go. That makes them usable with your box and you save space on top. Also a chance to add a bit of upscaling to get them into nowadays supported standard resolution windows, e.g. 1280omething.

Why I react that way:
Mpeg-4/Xvid, etc. are all SW decoded in mrmc, in spmc, etc. - but here in this forum a single user whined for weeks and demanded that everything should be played with HW acceleration, cause of his one single file he was too lazy to transcode it. Though - we cannot workaround / fix firmware implementations of boxes and therefore mpeg4, xvid, h263 now sucks for everyone in Leia. We have an easy possibility to SW decode those with decoderfilter.xml - but no one cares to read.

Let's see I will add something into Leia probably, that will only use hw decoder for these if height > 720 - obviously changeable again.

[CiNcH]

Mpeg-4/Xvid, etc. are all SW decoded in mrmc, in spmc, etc. - but here in this forum a single user whined for weeks and demanded that everything should be played with HW acceleration, cause of his one single file he was too lazy to transcode it

I commented on that several times already. You seem to be  ignoring or denying certain facts. You still blame users while in fact, Kodi Leia has severely been broken for SW decoding/rendering on ARM Android. And it still isn't performing well.

[fritsch]

You generalize from shitty Sony devices to every Android device out there. And infact: Why don't you just fix it? So much knowledge, so much complaining - I did not see a single PullRequest from you?

[CiNcH]

Arguing with you is just pointless. That wasn't a Sony issue. Go ahead talking shit like you always do. And BTW, that's probably why people do not want to get involved...

(BTW. I didn't complain about anything. I don't even have any MPEG-4...)

[fritsch]

Arguing with you is just pointless. That wasn't a Sony issue. Go ahead talking shit like you always do. And BTW, that's probably why people do not want to get involved...

(BTW. I didn't complain about anything. I don't even have any MPEG-4...)

Might also be cause of nagging, generalizing users posting without the goal to solve a situation but just ramble to ramble.

I named the background, I named solutions. You pick out a single sentence just to search a new conflict. What's your goal of your initial post? I don't see any sense at all nor a positive contribution.

So again: what did you want to say on topic? How did you want to bring this thread forward?

[rainman74]

Let's see I will add something into Leia probably, that will only use hw decoder for these if height > 720 - obviously changeable again.

Software decoding does not run smoothly on all Sony Android TVs since the newer Kodi builds! But the solution with hardware decoding as default and the control option via decoderfilter.xml is still the best solution in my opinion at the moment.

The only thing left is the selection in the Kodi GUI that allows you to specify whether MPEG2, MPEG4 and H263 should be played with software or hardware decoding, as it was once possible in older Kodi builds.

Why not just reintroduce this? That would have saved you all those hundreds of problem reports and trouble. Boy, the feature is already in the code! It's all because of your stubbornness.

Note:
MrMC and SPMC will play these old files smoothly even with hardware decoding because it uses an older FFMEG decoder and doesn't have all the GLES degradation improvements from your newer Kodi builds.

[fritsch]

Let's see I will add something into Leia probably, that will only use hw decoder for these if height > 720 - obviously changeable again.

Software decoding does not run smoothly on all Sony Android TVs since the newer Kodi builds! But the solution with hardware decoding as default and the control option via decoderfilter.xml is still the best solution in my opinion at the moment.

The only thing left is the selection in the Kodi GUI that allows you to specify whether MPEG2, MPEG4 and H263 should be played with software or hardware decoding, as it was once possible in older Kodi builds.

Why not just reintroduce this? That would have saved you all those hundreds of problem reports and trouble. Boy, the feature is already in the code! It's all because of your stubbornness.

Note:
MrMC and SPMC will play these old files smoothly even with hardware decoding because it uses an older FFMEG decoder and doesn't have all the GLES degradation improvements from your newer Kodi builds. 

Thanks for pointing out the mrmc, spmc solution. We stopped caring. Kodi's Android is not maintained anymore, therefore -> good luck.

[rainman74]

Thanks for pointing out the mrmc, spmc solution. We stopped caring. Kodi's Android is not maintained anymore, therefore -> good luck. 

You should ask yourself why nobody is willing to participate in Android Kodi anymore. It's a shame, and it's not because of the so-called shitty Android environments out there.

Well, fortunately Kodi 17.6 and 18.5 still runs with VLC via playercorefactory ;-)

Code:

<playercorefactory>
    <players>
        <player name="VLC" type="ExternalPlayer" audio="true" video="true">
            <filename>org.videolan.vlc</filename>
            <hidexbmc>true</hidexbmc>
            <hideconsole>true</hideconsole>
            <playcountminimumtime>120</playcountminimumtime>
        </player>
    </players>
    <rules name="system rules">
        <rule video="true" videocodec="xvid|divx|div3|div4|div5|dx50" player="VLC"/>
    </rules>
</playercorefactory>


[verbal_666]

I have same problem with my AndoidBOX and xvid codec encoded files witk Kodi 18 last build. They seem to run with 20fps rate, something an eye catches. Rencoding in AVC, make file run fine.