[User 29008]

Hi all,

been thinking about upgrading my aging hardware for a while. Since I failed with my Nvidia 1050 card not knowing that HEVC 10bit support with Linux/Nvidia is basically not coming.

So I am thinking about getting the following:

Gigabyte Z370N WiFi - with DP 1.2 and HDMI 2.0 Ports (LSPCon MegaChips MCDP2800BC)
Intel i5 - 8600T
16 GB of some budget RAM

I wanna stay with Linux as platform so my questions are:

- Will the above hardware support 4K 60hz (pretty sure about that) and HEVC 10bit hardware decoding?
- Will this setup support HDR signals and Dolby Vision?
- Will I have full HD Audio support through the HDMI 2.0 Port (or alternatively through DP -> HDMI 2.0 converter) ? DTS HD, Dolby True HD, Dolby Atmos etc etc.
- Will all of the above be working with current Kodi 17 release in Linux or do I need to run a Kodi 18 development build?
- Additionally from a Linux perspective, what Ubuntu version is recommended, or which minimum Kernel version do I need for the above listed features?

Thanks in advance for your advice and tips.

boba

[noggin]

AIUI there is no Linux 10-bit and HDR support on x86 platforms yet is there?  Windows is the only option on nVidia and Intel GPUs at the moment?  Or have things changed very recently @fritsch ?

For LibreElec and Linux 2160p50/59.94/60p support with 10-bit decode, HDR and HD Audio you are looking at AMLogic ARM SoCs like the S912?  If you are OK with Android then the nVidia Shield TV has support too. The Apple TV 4K will support the video side, but your HD audio will be decoded to PCM Lossless if it's 48kHz (no HD Audio bit streaming), and you are in the realms of side loading Kodi or using the Krypton-based MrMC fork with some limitations.

[User 29008]

I am pretty sure it works, there is a whole thread for vaapi, linux, intel and among others this answer:

https://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid...pid2585547

[noggin]

I am pretty sure it works, there is a whole thread for vaapi, linux, intel and among others this answer:

https://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid...pid2585547

Oh - there's no major problem playing/decoding 10-bit HEVC AFAIK.  

The issue is getting a 10-bit output path to your display. Without this you are playing 10-bit but getting this output as 8-bit. That makes it a lot less-than-ideal for HDR (where you need the full 10-bit output range to avoid banding etc.)  The Intel platforms under Linux also don't currently seem to support HDR Infoframes - so there is no way of inserting HDR metadata into the HDMI stream, let alone the Displayport stream for conversion to HDMI using an LSPCon.

I've had HEVC 10-bit 2160p50 stuff playing on my Apollo Lake + external DP1.2->HDMI 2.0 converter - but it's been output as 8-bit not 10-bit.  No HDR flagging either. 

So AIUI - playback of 2160p 10-bit HEVC content is possible but not with 10-bit output and not with HDR flagging.

(As for Dolby Vision - there be dragons)

[3dfx]

I recently upgraded my hardware and bought the Gigabyte Z370N (see signature).

It's not so long that I got the TV so I'm still struggling with some issues but every day usage is good.

• working: DTS-HD, TrueHD
  
• working: 4k, 4k 10bit content (up to 30fps), 4k HDR (with Reinhard tone mapping)
  
• not working: 50/60Hz, connection can't be etablished or picture loss every 20-30 seconds, I've ordered a little bit more expensive cables (that are hopefully better)
  
• not working: Atmos (I think that's actually a software issue and will maybe tackled in Kodi19?, AVR gets TrueHD)
  
• not working: HDR (the HDR flag isn't set and metadata isn't transfered, but with Reinhard tone mapping it looks ok/good, there are some threads about that topic)
  

You need to upgrade to at least Ubuntu 17 (or better 18) as the libva driver supports coffe lake with v2.0 and higher, this how-to by fritsch is very good.
Also the unstable repo with Kodi 18 is needed for HEVC hardware accelerated decoding

I have the latest kernel 4.17.7

[User 29008]

@3dfx thanks for your input man.

I just ordered my new HW, went for the Asrock Fatal1ty Z370 Gaming itx/AC now which also has an HDMI 2.0 output and a couple of more features than the Gigabyte itx.
You are talking about the Gigabyte ITX board I mentioned with HDMI 2.0 right? Which port are u using HDMI 2.0 or DP 1.2 with HDMI 2.0 adapter?

Regarding sound ... I don't think it's a software issue concerning your HD Audio issues. I am on Ubuntu 16.04 right now with Kodi 17.6. Though still outputting via Nvidia 1050GTX HDMI 2.0 as of now. Dolby Atmos, DTS True HD etc. all seems to be working well. Tried a couple of samples I downloaded and 1-2 movies and my Denon X8500H detects Atmos signals it gets from my HTPC just fine. 

Anyway I will do a fresh install according to Fritsch howto for VAAPI when I got my new hardware tomorrow or friday and report back.

boba

[3dfx]

Yes I'm talking about the Z370N board.
I also looked into the ASRock board as it's one of three boards with an HDMI2.0 port, but the Gigabyte has two M.2 Slots and was cheaper than the ASRock.
I'm using the HDMI2.0 port, I didn't want to use an adapter, that's the reason for one of the three boards, right?

As I read your reply, I remembered, my TV says "Dolby Atmos" but my AVR doesn't (maybe cause I don't have an Atmos setup configured....)

[User 29008]

@3dfx 

yea, right. I just don't need 2 M.2 SSDs in my HTPC, ordered a Samsung 970 now as main drive and will keep my SATA SSD in there, maybe to play around with other stuff.
Regarding the HDMI 2.0 ports, I was just asking since I saw the other responses which stated that u wouldn't be able to get a complete 10Bit output chain somehow ... decoding yes, but neither HDMI 2.0 nor DP + Adapter would really be able to output 10bit HEVC to the AVR/TV ..... see the response above in the thread. Though from reading fritschs howto thread I doubt that this is true. Will see when I am setup in the next days.

Can't speak for your Pioneer AVR, but that might be the case, that it only recognizes Atmos etc when u have the according speaker config/setup.

boba

[3dfx]

I saw that post regarding 10bit color output, but as far as I understood, what noggin meant was: with the actually released drivers/kernel/kodi it isn't possible to have a 10bit path to the display.
And that's the state right now, only 8bit color range, but 10bit content is decoded nicely.
It works with windows, so it can't be a hardware related issue.
Coffe Lake supports Rec.2020 aka BT.2020 (Wide Color Gamut), so it should just be a matter of time.

/off-topic:
Regarding Atmos, it doesn't bother me, like I said, don't have Atmos configuration and TrueHD as fallback is enough
Actually Denon bought Pioneer 2-3 years ago, so it's the same manufacturer

[User 29008]

Alright I think I got it now what noggin meant .... good enough for me for now. What I want is stable HEVC 10bit decoding plus the HD Audio part since I am watching more and more 4K material. 

About Pioneer, didn't know that. I only was aware that Denon/Marantz belong together ... ;-)

[3dfx]

HEVC10 decoding works really good, also 4k content.
And the audio part worked even before without any problems.

Let me know if you get 4k60 working, I also will report back when I get my new (hopefully) better cables on friday.

[Matt Devo]

I've had HEVC 10-bit 2160p50 stuff playing on my Apollo Lake + external DP1.2->HDMI 2.0 converter - but it's been output as 8-bit not 10-bit.  No HDR flagging either. 

So AIUI - playback of 2160p 10-bit HEVC content is possible but not with 10-bit output and not with HDR flagging.

  
so how are you handling color space/gamut differences for output of HDR content? I don't mind not getting HDR output from Kodi ATM as my display isn't HDR capable, but the color mapping for HDR to non (or rec2020 to 709?) is definitely off, with HDR content appearing washed out and with a green shift. Using an external 3D lut file helps somewhat (but needs to be toggled based on source from what I can tell), but the HD version still looks better than the UHD version currently...

[P.Kosunen]

so how are you handling color space/gamut differences for output of HDR content? I don't mind not getting HDR output from Kodi ATM as my display isn't HDR capable, but the color mapping for HDR to non (or rec2020 to 709?) is definitely off, with HDR content appearing washed out and with a green shift.

  You need Kodi 18 for automatic color mappings.

[Matt Devo]

so how are you handling color space/gamut differences for output of HDR content? I don't mind not getting HDR output from Kodi ATM as my display isn't HDR capable, but the color mapping for HDR to non (or rec2020 to 709?) is definitely off, with HDR content appearing washed out and with a green shift.

  You need Kodi 18 for automatic color mappings. 

I'm not seeing much of a difference between Kodi 17.6 and 18.0a3 in terms of output of HDR content to a SDR display

[3dfx]

I also will report back when I get my new (hopefully) better cables on friday.

So I got my new and triple shielded cables today. 4k60 works without problems in kodi gui and with 60fps videos.
Should've known better that 7€ cables, even if HDMI2.0 advertised, wouldn't do it [emoji28]
It was an AmazonBasics cable, and in comparison to the new cables, very thin.