[BenGosu]

Kodi 18.5 on a new TV box (T95 Max+, s905x3 chipset, Android 9.0)

I just want to get rid of the black letterbox bars... when I zoom in the video player won't go bigger than the screen edges, so you end up with a stretched aspect ratio vertically... I tried everything, disabling hardware acceleration doesn't help and no option in the zooming list would enlarge the image in all directions so you'd get no black bars and still correct aspect ratio...

In MX Player I would fix this issue by selecting SW decoding instead of HW and HW+. I wish there's a solution for Kodi too.

Thanks for any advice!

[Klojum]

Could it be that you are watching a video with 'built-in' black bars?
Videos with a resolution of 1920x1080, but the actual display of 1920x800 (or 960, or whatever).
Such videos are a bit harder to zoom.

[BenGosu]

Kodi 18.5 on a new TV box (T95 Max+, s905x3 chipset, Android 9.0)

I just want to get rid of the black letterbox bars... when I zoom in the video player won't go bigger than the screen edges, so you end up with a stretched aspect ratio vertically... I tried everything, disabling hardware acceleration doesn't help and no option in the zooming list would enlarge the image in all directions so you'd get no black bars and still correct aspect ratio...

In MX Player I would fix this issue by selecting SW decoding instead of HW and HW+. I wish there's a solution for Kodi too.

Thanks for any advice!

Oh no, definitely not the case, it happens with any movie with letterbox format...

[BenGosu]

I read this might happen with boxes built with this new chipset, the s905 series and I'm just wondering if there should be a software update to fix this. As I mentioned with the MX Player the problem is fixed by selecting SW decoding instead of HD, so basically using software and not hardware. That's why I tried disabling the hardware acceleration in the Kodi player but that doesn't fix the issue. I'm not sure if it's a box hardware issue, or an Android 9 issue or a Kodi 18.5 issue...

I anyone else experiencing this problem?

[Shrike]

I read this might happen with boxes built with this new chipset, the s905 series and I'm just wondering if there should be a software update to fix this. As I mentioned with the MX Player the problem is fixed by selecting SW decoding instead of HD, so basically using software and not hardware. That's why I tried disabling the hardware acceleration in the Kodi player but that doesn't fix the issue. I'm not sure if it's a box hardware issue, or an Android 9 issue or a Kodi 18.5 issue...

I anyone else experiencing this problem?

I also have this box and I have exactly the same problem. The good news is that it is not a hardware problem, because it works fine when I boot in CoreELEC from SD-card. But of course then I cannot use the other apps on the box.

I was wondering if you have already found a solution or workaround to make it work in Android?

[Shrike]

I have made two log files of my TV box (T95 Max+, s905x3 chipset, Android 9.0), booting from Android and booting from CoreELEC

Booting from Android (custom zoom not working properly): 
https://paste.kodi.tv/yogupayeve

Booting from SD-card with CoreELEC (custom zoom works as it should): 
https://paste.kodi.tv/fujiyaxewe

Perhaps this can give a clue what is going wrong in the Android setup and possible fix?

(sorry for the crosspost - both topics are about the same issue I think)

[Shrike]

UPDATE:

I found that I can "fix" this problem by changing these settings the Kodi Player:
"Allow Hardware Acceleration - MediaCodec (Surface)" --> Disable
"Allow Hardware Acceleration - MediaCodec" --> Disable

After I do this, the zoom works as it should. But the video is less smooth.

[OlafOlaf]

UPDATE:

I found that I can "fix" this problem by changing these settings the Kodi Player:
"Allow Hardware Acceleration - MediaCodec (Surface)" --> Disable
"Allow Hardware Acceleration - MediaCodec" --> Disable

After I do this, the zoom works as it should. But the video is less smooth.

[OlafOlaf]

UPDATE:

I found that I can "fix" this problem by changing these settings the Kodi Player:
"Allow Hardware Acceleration - MediaCodec (Surface)" --> Disable
"Allow Hardware Acceleration - MediaCodec" --> Disable

After I do this, the zoom works as it should. But the video is less smooth.

I had the same Problem on Fire TV Cube and Sony 4k TV. I tried everything install and deinstall Kodi an several vido options. But nothimg help. Finally I found here the solution. Thank you

[Janrover]

Thanks!