Amlogic not working - KODI - Live TV stuttering

Shark83

Hello all,

I have noticed that since the first SW version I was never able to use Amlogic as a hardware acceleration codec on Kodi or any other app. It is supposed to be great for that matter, beelink have announced as being one of the advantages of the GT1 but, no one is able to use it and even more amazingly beelink is telling customers to turn that option off on multiple threads.

So how can you announce Amlogic and then it is just unusable?

I need Amlogic for Live TV Streaming and also for video streaming.


Can you fix this and make it useable? Older and cheaper boxes have much better performance than the GT1 when not using amlogic because the image just stutters all the time.

You are aware of this. You know it is your issue as well as the other issues you have with your firmware. Please et it resolved. No one wants to pay to have beelink GT1 being used as a paperweight.

Thanks.

ASW1

I don't use Kodi for video, but I do stream full HD live TV with hardware decoding.
I use MX player (pro, but normal version should also work), and this player also had issues with this soc.
However, since the last update there is the option to use an "alternative HW+ decoder" in the settings.
I've been using that and it works great.

It's hardly beelink's fault that Kodi doesn't provide the right codecs yet for the S912, is it?
I'm sure that in time more app makers will have integrated support for this soc, until then there is not much to do but wait patiently.

jw429

More reading info on the amlogic codec and Kodi

http://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=229310

http://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=291176

I think this quote sums it up perfectly:

You are going to find a whole bunch of stuff broken as no one is developing for these S912 devices, LibreELEC included.

Best piece of advice at this current time, send the S912 device back or box it until such time as AML Kodi devs get interested.
There currently is no Kodi Android code maintainer, so progress is very likely be pretty slow for unsupported devices.

And even then a lot of Developers will not be willing to shell out for new HDR10 TV's just to support budget AML boxes for free.
Thats the reality of the situation.

It also looks like the amlogic codec will not be included in the new (17) version of Kodi.

http://kodi.wiki/view/Kodi_v17_(Krypton)_changelog

https://github.com/xbmc/xbmc/pull/9688

We who want to be on the bleeding edge will always face these issues.  It's the early adopter price.  Hopefully like with all the previous chips this is resolved in a few months.  For the price, the GT1 performs great but that's all relative to each user.

ravazOne

Reasoning:

Android only started maturing after Android 5.0 as well as the devices
AMLogic was the main codec used in the initial Android port however now it's now time to follow the official Android API. AMLogic doesn't completely follow this and that causes a lot of IFDEF / hacks to support both.
We are too low on manpower to keep supporting hacks on this platform and the only sane way forward is following the official Android API.
The code is still there for now. This patch will simply stop compiling AMLogic for the Android platform. Should no one pick this up it will be completely removed for Android but could still be used for Linux. AMLogic code needs a complete rewrite anyway.

I didn't go through the hack required for Kodi to work correctly, but I agree with Kodi team that the solution should be provided by Amlogic following the standard android way. Acceleration on kodi 17 already works except on live TV, meaning it may be "simple" to solve the issue.
I would appreciate to hear from Beelink guys if they have any plan to fix this issue. Is Amlogic converging to the standard Android implementation?

mamil_km

I am also curious what will be the solution to the problems of the GT1. I also think if they use the chip amlogic is amlogic should provide GT1 drivers to work properly. Beelink please write what you intend to do next. GT1 can be a great device only needs a good software.

Shark83

Hi guys,

Thank you for the info provided. Don´t get me wrong, I am very happy with this box, but as I want to use it mainly for Live TV and a few Kodi add-ons I was disappointed on getting stuttering whenever I use any hardware acceleration. If I use amlogic alone it stutters, when I have media codec, the same, when I have media codec (surface) the same.

Can somebody please advise on what should I do to watch Live TV and videos without stuttering? Should I use a different App? Should I install a different add-on? Any ideas or suggestions?

Thank you for all your help.

jw429

Shark83 replied at 2016-10-28 23:33
Hi guys,

Thank you for the info provided. Don´t get me wrong, I am very happy with this box, but a ...

Ok.  I'm using SPMC and I'm watching BBC2 right now via the Sanctuary add-on with no stuttering.  Live TV via the FilmOn.TV add-on works well too.

I guess it'd be better if you tell us what you're using for Live TV and we can go from there.  If you're using Simple Client IPTV, have you tried setting up Kodi to use external players?  I haven't set that up in ages but a google search should set you right.

Shark83

You're right. Sorry, my fault. I intend to use Live TV via Simple Client IPTV.

jw429

Shark83 replied at 2016-10-28 16:28
You're right. Sorry, my fault. I intend to use Live TV via Simple Client IPTV.

Haven't used that in a while so I'm no help on that issue.  Hopefully one of the others here can chime in.

Last thoughts, have you tried using SPMC the Kodi fork?  You can have both installed at the same time and it can't hurt to try it out to see if its an issue specific to Kodi now they don't have a main Android dev/maintainer.

SPMC: http://spmc.semperpax.com/

Good luck.