Openelec Build for OPI PC and 2 now with HW decoding

Demetris · Published in 2016-3-10 17:21:10

Edited by Demetris at 2016-3-10 22:50

1.Switch off opi pc then on standby for ~1h then power on leads to a loading screen bottom right corner only mouse works background greyed out you have to remove power.
2.Trying to reboot Opi pi after on from stanby system freeze you have to remove power.
3. Major picture freeze/lag every 20 seconds on 1080p videos through samba share, not much noticable on 720p.
Not much time using it yet, will report back if anything else comes by.

cbm80 · Published in 2016-3-11 00:10:01

jernej replied at 2016-3-10 00:31
If you want to change resolution, you must change value of screen0_output_mode. All possible modes ...

Are you sure? Value for 720p60 is for sure 5. Number 10 is 1080p60. I think that in your last test image you set HDMI 1080p60. I'd ask to return to 720p60. I haven't tested new image yet, but people above claim that is doesn't play smooth so I probably stay with previous one.

jernej · Published in 2016-3-11 00:47:57

Edited by jernej at 2016-3-10 19:38

cbm80 replied at 2016-3-10 17:10
Are you sure? Value for 720p60 is for sure 5. Number 10 is 1080p60. I think that in your last test ...

You are correct. I fixed my post.

About stutter: I'm pretty sure that this is not related to video resolution. Both versions are using HW supported video scaling and rendering so I suspect the issue lies somewhere in video decoding loop. It would be nice if someone would do git bisect to see which update caused the issue.

EDIT: I noticed this jittering.

jernej · Published in 2016-3-11 02:38:09

slaine replied at 2016-3-10 10:18
Hi, thanksfor new images, (I have no linux machine yet, so I cannot compile). I did sometests…My c ...

Thanks for report. Could you do some git bisect to figure out which commit caused jittery effect? In the latest commit, I changed CPU governor to performance. It should improve situation.

jernej · Published in 2016-3-11 02:40:48

Demetris replied at 2016-3-10 10:21
1.Switch off opi pc then on standby for ~1h then power on leads to a loading screen bottom right cor ...

Could you please tweak advanced settings about buffering?

jernej · Published in 2016-3-11 02:47:31

To all,

zhao_steven provided HDMI CEC driver and I already included it on git. Unfortunately, it's only emulating this protocol over GPIO so some soldering is needed. Currently, I don't have access to soldering equipment, so I can't try it out. If someone feels a bit adventurous, please read on.

What is basicly needed is to remove R104 resistor and solder a wire between PA21 pin and one R104 pad - that which is connected to HDMI connector. Along that, you would need an image, compiled from latest git source. If you already have some older build, don't forget to clear u-boot to get new script.bin.

cbm80 · Published in 2016-3-11 05:11:16

Edited by cbm80 at 2016-3-11 06:01

Regarding CEC - it seems to be the same solution like in Zidoo X1. I can test CEC on my OPiOne where it is easier for me to solder this connection than solder IR receiver, especially that I wanted to use One with TV remote only. Let me know when you produce new image. And please find out if this PA21 (GPIO#26) should be connected to HDMI-CEC pin directly or via any resistor. I don't want to burn HDMI in my TV

EDIT: I've just localized R104 on OPiOne PCB - it is located in left top corner of the bottom side. It should be relatively easy to solder wire directly to pin #26.
EDIT2: I'm not sure if R104 is good place to solder. Signal from SoC comes via Q2 MOSFET transistor which works in level converter configuration. However low and high sides are powered by same voltage 3V , so probably MOSFET only buffers signal from SoC to HDMI. Signal from GPIO should rather be delivered to input side of Q2 which should be cut from HCEC. And it can be rather difficult because everything here is so tiny. Maybe someone more familiar with HDMI protection could advice.

Unfortunately I have bad news regarding stuttering. It looks really awfull. I've just watched full Spectre movie. It is definitely not related to the source of media SMB/HDD. It seems that entire OpenELEC stops for a while every 10-15s. It is very well visible even in pause mode where GUI is displayed and long name of the movie is smoothly scrolling left. Every 10-15 second it jitters. Even in file list mode when you see longer names scrolled it is the same. So it is very simple to check and replicate. I still use previous 0224 version at 720p60.
Entire Spectre dropped about 750 frames (during 144 minutes movie). This is first full movie I watched using OpenELEC so I cannot say if it was ok before. Previously I used Kodi in Androids.

jernej · Published in 2016-3-11 06:06:27

cbm80 replied at 2016-3-10 22:11
Regarding CEC - it seems to be the same solution like in Zidoo X1. I can test CEC on my OPiOne where ...

I'm not expert in electronics either, but I think if R104 is removed, then only ESD will pose a risk. I didn't meant to solder on resistor.

About video playback problems: Which version does and which doesn't work for you exactly?

cbm80 · Published in 2016-3-11 16:34:35

Edited by cbm80 at 2016-3-11 16:40

Of course I meant to desolder R104 and use direct connection between GPIO pin and HDMI pin 13 (via R104 pad). But as I wrote manufacturer uses here additional MOSFET between HCEC from H3 and HDMI. If HCEC signal from H3 was different than HDMI voltage level I'd understand this solution. But here we have same voltage, so transistor is used probably to protect HDMI somehow. This way direct connection between GPIO and HDMI could be also dangerous. Especially that in OrangePiPC and One models Xunlong got rid of all protection Zenner diodes which are on the schematics. There are empty soldering pads only left. I compared it with photos of Pi 2 and Plus versions and there are all diodes in these models. So even using power supply higher than 5.3-5.5V can be dangerous for all connected devices (via USB and HDMI) because there are no protections left. Typicaly USB data lines also have Zenner diodes at 3.3V level and power line at 5V. There are no such diodes on our PCBs. Probably that's why the price is so low.

cbm80 · Published in 2016-3-11 16:38:01

Edited by cbm80 at 2016-3-11 16:41

Regarding video stutter. I tested it in the morning. Test is very simple. You don't even need to play anything. Just start OpenELEC and observe nice smooth RSS stream scroller at the bottom of the screen. It freezes for a fraction of second every 10-15 seconds.

As I mentioned I used only 0224 version which suffers from stuttering. How to get previous versions? I can burn them and check if there is any proper version.