[smithmal]

Over at the vi40 Elite subsection, many users have installed XBMC for Android and are enjoying the many benefits of this cool app. The issue with the Elite is that it's a single core A10 which the XBMC devs have not yet created builds that allow for video hardware acceleration (in terms of video rendering).

What does this mean? It's means on the non-Amlogic phones/tablets:
1. You can't watch 720p/1080p videos
2. You need to force XBMC to stream movies to an external player like MX Player of DicePlayer


The vi40 dual core has a Amlogic 8726-MX cpu. Suppossedly, Amlogic has released it's kernal information to the community allowing XBMC devs to create XBMC builds with hardware acceleration built in and successfully working. I know this works well for the single core version of the 8726 chipset (M1 and M3) but have yet to hear this also being the case for the M6/MX version of the CPU that the vi40 dual core tablet has. So.... I'm wondering if anyone here that owns a vi40 dual core has taken the XBMC for a spin and verified that hardware acceleration is indeed working?

Please let me/us know.

Thanks,

smithmal

This post has been edited by smithmal: 09 November 2012 - 02:32 PM

[ebsbow]

http://www.pivosforu....php?f=11&t=847

I have no idea if our device supports neon, but I suppose so being an Cortex A series.

Both versions:
https://code.google....p/xbmc-android/

XBMC looks nice on the tab.

HD movies run very slow with MKV and aac, there is no way to select an other renderer.
Can't really see if hardware is on or not.

It's also using up power very quickly. Even when not playing any media.

This post has been edited by ebsbow: 10 November 2012 - 10:22 AM

[smithmal]

ebsbow,

The hardware acceleration (HA) enabled XBMC builds are not one of the Neon/Non-Neon builds typically seen on the XBMC DL page. If you install a HA build on the Onda then hardware acceleration should work by default. Also, with this build I don't believe software rendering is accessible (it is greyed out in the settings). Which build are you using? The google.com link below is noted in the product description by an Android Set Top Box vendor (Oval Elephant) for a 8726-MX box they are selling so I suppose you could give that for a spin and see if you get any improvements:

(http://www.ovaleleph...product_id=2085)

The pre-build .APK for XBMC to support hardware playback at 1080p can be found here: (***This is for the original M3 single core AMLogic-M3 and may also work on this dual core)https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B8fDsuRgEEBkY0plSzZaQ1RyYnc And the Nightly Builds (Expect some bugs):

https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B8fDsuRgEEBkT0FXamtLdWZxcFE


BTW, at the moment, XBMC is very power hungry and is a known issue (I think this happens on all tablets presently).



Thanks,

smithmal

This post has been edited by smithmal: 12 November 2012 - 02:25 PM

[ebsbow]

This version( XIOS 073012.apk) crashed my device, It does not install at first and displays conflicting signatures warnings.(It also removes previous profiles from XBMC.)

I would not recommend installing this to the faint of heart.

MKV AAC 720p:
No renderer option.
When searching video freezes or audio stops.
If the video runs, it runs faster( with post processing on) then the previous version.
Again, can't see if HW is activated or not. No option available.
Audio gets out of sync with some files.

This post has been edited by ebsbow: 13 November 2012 - 06:07 AM

[smithmal]

ebsbow,

The following link discusses hardware acceleration with the Amlogic 8726 SoCs.

The latest XIOS build is October 2012. Please try it and let me know if the apk behaves any better on the Onda vi40 dual core:
xbmc-XIOS-100912.apk

And yes, unfortunately everytime you update the XBMC apk, your settings get wiped (add-ins, etc.) I believe there is a mechanism to save your profile and quickly reinstall it after flashing a new XBMC build, but its a bit challenging and not very user friendly. Hopefully the devs will build this into their future releases so that users can easily back up thier profile and then re-install it afte flashing a new build.

In terms of ascertaining if hardware acceleration is enabled, you should be able to go to system ---> settings --> playback --> render method. If S/W rendering is greyed out then by default you are using hardware acceleration. Also, while your video is playing you can press "o" which will bring up an on-screen display of the video rendering info. The bottom line should provide CPU % information. If it's hardware accelerated, the GPU is working and the % CPU should be pretty low (less than 10%). More info on this can be found here.


Thanks,

smithmal

This post has been edited by smithmal: 13 November 2012 - 10:40 AM

[ebsbow]

Ah, ok..

Btw,
In previous versions, the only rendermethod is 'Automatic Detection'.
There is no list nor other choice.
And it is not grayed out. But I guest that HW is on when playing MKV.

edit;
xbmc-XIOS-100912.apk:
Video( MKV+AAC HD) plays faster but again I was not able to select anything like
stated above. Didn't feel like HW. Even less options in this version( no post processing..)
Also the video is displayed in an resolution far beyond the hardware resolution of the Vi40.
As a consequence only a quarter of the image is shown.
None of the options seem to work.

An other thing is that when the device is tethered to an external display, no picture
is available. Only sound and a blank screen in the app.

This post has been edited by ebsbow: 15 November 2012 - 04:24 AM

[smithmal]

ebsbow, on 14 November 2012 - 04:51 AM, said:

Ah, ok..

Btw,
In previous versions, the only rendermethod is 'Automatic Detection'.
There is no list nor other choice.
And it is not grayed out. But I guest that HW is on when playing MKV.

edit;
xbmc-XIOS-100912.apk:
Video( MKV+AAC HD) plays faster but again I was not able to select anything like
stated above. Didn't feel like HW. Even less options in this version( no post processing..)
Also the video is displayed in an resolution far beyond the hardware resolution of the Vi40.
As a consequence only a quarter of the image is shown.
None of the options seem to work.

An other thing is that when the device is tethered to an external display, no picture
is available. Only sound and a blank screen in the app.

Seems like we're getting somewhere though... Did you try pressing "o" when playing a video and seeing if you can see the video rendering info? Also, I don't believe at the moment when pushing video to an external monitor/TV you can watch video on both the tablet and the monitor at the same time on this build of XBMC so there may be a setting in the Onda to force video to the external monitor.


What resolution was your mkv file? Did you notice any stutter in the video when watching it (or a quarter of it anyway)? I don't have a dual core Onda vi40, so it's a little hard for me to troubleshoot, but I dig around and see what I can find out regarding the cropped video on the tablet and the lack of video on external monitors.


Thanks, smithmal

This post has been edited by smithmal: 15 November 2012 - 10:40 AM

[smithmal]

I'm still looking into the video cropping problem.


There is always the option to use a build that forces video on external player like MX Player or Diceplayer. Below is are links for two apks allowing XBMC stream videos to be pushed tor MXPlayer or DicePlayer (I prefer MX player myself). You can try this and see if you can play 1080P/720P vids on the Onda. Just make sure you have either MX or Dice installed before installing this ROM.

https://nuskunetwork...2or/1/453477145


If the directions are anything like the single core A10 verision, there should be an associated .xml file with both apks which you will need to put in the userdata folder for the XBMC. In order to do this, you will need root and use a root browser to see and write to the appropriate folder.


smtihmal

[ebsbow]

The Onda does play 1080p with hardware and post without any problem.
MX is the prime video player for this. I have run 1080p through the beamer
without an hitch. That is, only through the beamer, not on both displays.

The files that where used for this test where:
MKV 720p x264(h264) aac
Using "o" beside Audio an Video theres is W(fps:33...)

Sound drops out at random. No stutter, But it didn't feel like HW.


edit;
after I removed the statusbar, the movies where displayed in the correct resolution. No hardware as fare as I can tell.

This post has been edited by ebsbow: 18 November 2012 - 10:00 AM

[smithmal]

Well if the dual-core can play HD movies with MX Player Pro no problem, then I would suggest using a version of XBMC which uses the MX Player as an external media player to get the best performance out of XBMC:


1. Download the XBMC, MX Player Pro version from the following link: My link
2. Within the link you should have MXPlayerPro.apk, XBMC.apk, playercorefactory.xml and readme.txt
3. Install MX Player Pro first
4. Install XBMC and then close it
5. Using a root capable browser drop the file in the following folder: /sdcard/Android/data/org.xbmc.xbmc/files/.xbmc/userdata

6. You may need to edit the playercorefactory file as follows to work with MXPlayer Pro:
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<playercorefactory>
<players>
<player video="true" audio="false" type="ExternalPlayer" name="MPC-HC">
<filename>com.mxtech.videoplayer.ad</filename>
<hidexbmc>true</hidexbmc>
</player>
</players>
<rules action="prepend">
<rule video="true" player="MPC-HC"/>
</rules>
</playercorefactory>

(Change "com.mxtech.videoplayer.ad" to "com.mxtech.videoplayer.pro")

7. Save changes to file
8. Open XBMC and try player a video. It should open in MXPlayer Pro and should use hardware acceleration.


smithmal

This post has been edited by smithmal: 26 November 2012 - 02:18 PM

[ebsbow]

Euh, wat's the point again?
Think I am going to pass on this.