[shomari]

I don't understand this talk of some having direct lines to RK; as I can tell from what is posted here most of the info/apps/firmware being discussed are almost a month and several iterations old re: development cycle. Talk of coordinated efforts between factories and RK is simply not true or not effectively practical, as some houses are markedly advanced compared to other brands/makers.

1. The new modified xbmc fork is out and in the wild [it's been out of testing since last week]. Just like the first one, simply because most users [testers/devs whatever honorifics these days] haven't seen it, doesn't mean it hasn't shipped. Like last time, just wait. Several things have changed in the fork, at this point I don't even bother to chronicle things as I did initially, as it was largely fruitless and simultaneously frustrating amongst a mass of opportunistic users . Suffice to say the companies leading the 'beta-testers' on are either behind themselves, or are just playing you.

2. Updates to RK3288 firmware *and* kernels to improve playback have already taken place; and have already been shipped. As posted and evidenced previously, most users [even members of glorified forum marketing, search-engine swindle 'open beta test groups'] have outdated RK3288 firmware. Again, this is why some RK3288 excel at video playback [audio handling has also changed] while others fail.

It's a sign of market maturity though, when the hearsay and speculation reaches rumor-mill, groupie level; commercially speaking. So I guess there's that.

[purduethumbs]

+1

I don't understand this talk of some having direct lines to RK; as I can tell from what is posted here most of the info/apps/firmware being discussed are almost a month and several iterations old re: development cycle. Talk of coordinated efforts between factories and RK is simply not true or not effectively practical, as some houses are markedly advanced compared to other brands/makers.

1. The new modified xbmc fork is out and in the wild [it's been out of testing since last week]. Just like the first one, simply because most users [testers/devs whatever honorifics these days] haven't seen it, doesn't mean it hasn't shipped. Like last time, just wait. Several things have changed in the fork, at this point I don't even bother to chronicle things as I did initially, as it was largely fruitless and simultaneously frustrating amongst a mass of opportunistic users . Suffice to say the companies leading the 'beta-testers' on are either behind themselves, or are just playing you.

2. Updates to RK3288 firmware *and* kernels to improve playback have already taken place; and have already been shipped. As posted and evidenced previously, most users [even members of glorified forum marketing, search-engine swindle 'open beta test groups'] have outdated RK3288 firmware. Again, this is why some RK3288 excel at video playback [audio handling has also changed] while others fail.

It's a sign of market maturity though, when the hearsay and speculation reaches rumor-mill, groupie level; commercially speaking. So I guess there's that.

[User 231261]

I've seen that some manufactures now ship with kodi 14.0 helix alpha.. is that the fork you refer to and do we lose features if we upgrade to the regular nightly builds from team kodi?
Do you say that koying and others are not working with Rockchip for the benefit of an official kodi release supporting the RK3288 hardware?

user don't benefit from rumors so please provide some clarity.

[alimickwhit]

I don't understand this talk of some having direct lines to RK; as I can tell from what is posted here most of the info/apps/firmware being discussed are almost a month and several iterations old re: development cycle. Talk of coordinated efforts between factories and RK is simply not true or not effectively practical, as some houses are markedly advanced compared to other brands/makers.

1. The new modified xbmc fork is out and in the wild [it's been out of testing since last week]. Just like the first one, simply because most users [testers/devs whatever honorifics these days] haven't seen it, doesn't mean it hasn't shipped. Like last time, just wait. Several things have changed in the fork, at this point I don't even bother to chronicle things as I did initially, as it was largely fruitless and simultaneously frustrating amongst a mass of opportunistic users . Suffice to say the companies leading the 'beta-testers' on are either behind themselves, or are just playing you.

2. Updates to RK3288 firmware *and* kernels to improve playback have already taken place; and have already been shipped. As posted and evidenced previously, most users [even members of glorified forum marketing, search-engine swindle 'open beta test groups'] have outdated RK3288 firmware. Again, this is why some RK3288 excel at video playback [audio handling has also changed] while others fail.

It's a sign of market maturity though, when the hearsay and speculation reaches rumor-mill, groupie level; commercially speaking. So I guess there's that.

Hi Shomari,you are definitely far closer to the release of roms than myself. As a consumer, I have no vested interests other than I want a solid XBMC experience on the Measy B4S (that my hard earned cash has been used to purchase) and I can't easily find the updated firmware and kernels you mention.

I see that you have left the above mentioned 'beta-testers' forum (and it is worse off without you there) so no matter where I search I'm stuck with a buggy, laggy and outdated experience.

This may seem off topic but without good roms, the RK3288 is left wallowing in terms of a decent XBMC experience.

To put this into perspective my Raspberry Pi (openelec), t-r42 (wasser), k-r42 (wasser), Pipo P1(riley) all outperform what should be a major step forwards in performance (my Measy B4s)

Please help the community if you can, although I appreciate your reluctance based on what I have seen in forums elsewhere.

Keep up the fight

[shomari]

I've seen that some manufactures now ship with kodi 14.0 helix alpha.. is that the fork you refer to and do we lose features if we upgrade to the regular nightly builds from team kodi?
Do you say that koying and others are not working with Rockchip for the benefit of an official kodi release supporting the RK3288 hardware?

user don't benefit from rumors so please provide some clarity.

There's two additional forks using Kodi 14 as base currently shipping with RK3288, along with the initial fork that's still shipping, believe it or not. You will lose several features if you go back to the mainline (official) releases.

I don't know which individuals are working with RK, but I do know references to outdated firmware and releases when I see them.

Just as an example, there are companies [I won't bother naming] putting out 'beta firmwares' presented as bleeding edge that are actually based on packages well over a month old; this is getting ridiculous, as the multiple forks combined with inconsistent firmware experiences across RK3288 devices is quite the maze for both end users and those providing support alike.

...and at least the initial fork looked and felt different - it had to, being based on an old test build - but the new forks are fit and prim like Kodi true and proper, an imposter to the tee. Going to be a problem in the long run, for sure.

---

I don't understand this talk of some having direct lines to RK; as I can tell from what is posted here most of the info/apps/firmware being discussed are almost a month and several iterations old re: development cycle. Talk of coordinated efforts between factories and RK is simply not true or not effectively practical, as some houses are markedly advanced compared to other brands/makers.

1. The new modified xbmc fork is out and in the wild [it's been out of testing since last week]. Just like the first one, simply because most users [testers/devs whatever honorifics these days] haven't seen it, doesn't mean it hasn't shipped. Like last time, just wait. Several things have changed in the fork, at this point I don't even bother to chronicle things as I did initially, as it was largely fruitless and simultaneously frustrating amongst a mass of opportunistic users . Suffice to say the companies leading the 'beta-testers' on are either behind themselves, or are just playing you.

2. Updates to RK3288 firmware *and* kernels to improve playback have already taken place; and have already been shipped. As posted and evidenced previously, most users [even members of glorified forum marketing, search-engine swindle 'open beta test groups'] have outdated RK3288 firmware. Again, this is why some RK3288 excel at video playback [audio handling has also changed] while others fail.

It's a sign of market maturity though, when the hearsay and speculation reaches rumor-mill, groupie level; commercially speaking. So I guess there's that.

Hi Shomari,you are definitely far closer to the release of roms than myself. As a consumer, I have no vested interests other than I want a solid XBMC experience on the Measy B4S (that my hard earned cash has been used to purchase) and I can't easily find the updated firmware and kernels you mention.

I see that you have left the above mentioned 'beta-testers' forum (and it is worse off without you there) so no matter where I search I'm stuck with a buggy, laggy and outdated experience.

This may seem off topic but without good roms, the RK3288 is left wallowing in terms of a decent XBMC experience.

To put this into perspective my Raspberry Pi (openelec), t-r42 (wasser), k-r42 (wasser), Pipo P1(riley) all outperform what should be a major step forwards in performance (my Measy B4s)

Please help the community if you can, although I appreciate your reluctance based on what I have seen in forums elsewhere.

Keep up the fight

I'll PM you. Everything over there is over a month old, we had identified what needed addressing in the B4S compatible ROMs moving forward but the project was withdrawn prematurely as you already know.

[User 231261]

Starts to look like a competition between manufacturers on who has the best xbmc fork.... and end users are left with confusion.
When it is a competition and Rockchip is not in the lead, the chance of getting a sourcecode is nil as the right solution will be a advantage they won't give away to the competition.

My advice to users would be to see it as a proof of concept for content that you don't have anyway and then switch to the regular xbmc/kodi release and keep banging the manufacturer for a compliant xbmc release.

I sincerely hope the efforts of the kodi developers to get these HW features into main kodi release are successful and soon.

I would love to see a maintained list of features that are in the manufacturers kodi fork and not in the nightly build kodi.

[nickr]

Don't forget it is the distributor (of the compiled software) who is obliged to provide the source.

[alimickwhit]

I'll PM you. Everything over there is over a month old, we had identified what needed addressing in the B4S compatible ROMs moving forward but the project was withdrawn prematurely as you already know.
[/quote]

Thanks Shomari, anything you can do to help is really appreciated.

[mo123]

There are 2 version of the new Kodi XBMC.
For the external player solution, you can unzip the app and look at the changes, files added. Look at XBMC's wiki pages how external player works. I suggested it to Rockchip.
For the other Kodi version, they integrated the HEVC pull request on XBMC that is still not integrated, and modified the DVDPlayer file to play software SD videos, will probably be in next version. Also integrated Stagefright solution from SPMC. The code is freely available on github on XBMC and SPMC repos.

For the Mediacodec integration, I'm not sure, since they say they optimized Libstagefright. That code is probably not available.

Most people will not have perfect video playback since you need the latest firmware after 2014-10-10.
Some manufacturers are just better than others, already 10 of my suggestions have made it into my manufacturers box.
Mediacodec with the new Kodi works almost perfect on my box.

Other people with Tronsmart or Beelink devices still report green screens and jittery playback.

[User 231261]

And now I'm confused... there are two kodi forks but both legit as the source is in github and will be part of a future official kodi release?

If end users are getting screwed here I would like to know the procedure of nailing manufacturers to the xbmc wall of shame...

[nickr]

There are 2 version of the new Kodi XBMC.
For the external player solution, you can unzip the app and look at the changes, files added. Look at XBMC's wiki pages how external player works. I suggested it to Rockchip.
For the other Kodi version, they integrated the HEVC pull request on XBMC that is still not integrated, and modified the DVDPlayer file to play software SD videos, will probably be in next version. Also integrated Stagefright solution from SPMC. The code is freely available on github on XBMC and SPMC repos.

For the Mediacodec integration, I'm not sure, since they say they optimized Libstagefright. That code is probably not available.

Most people will not have perfect video playback since you need the latest firmware after 2014-10-10.
Some manufacturers are just better than others, already 10 of my suggestions have made it into my manufacturers box.
Mediacodec with the new Kodi works almost perfect on my box.

Other people with Tronsmart or Beelink devices still report green screens and jittery playback.

They, they, they. Who is they?

[alimickwhit]

There are 2 version of the new Kodi XBMC.
For the external player solution, you can unzip the app and look at the changes, files added. Look at XBMC's wiki pages how external player works. I suggested it to Rockchip.
For the other Kodi version, they integrated the HEVC pull request on XBMC that is still not integrated, and modified the DVDPlayer file to play software SD videos, will probably be in next version. Also integrated Stagefright solution from SPMC. The code is freely available on github on XBMC and SPMC repos.

For the Mediacodec integration, I'm not sure, since they say they optimized Libstagefright. That code is probably not available.

Most people will not have perfect video playback since you need the latest firmware after 2014-10-10.
Some manufacturers are just better than others, already 10 of my suggestions have made it into my manufacturers box.
Mediacodec with the new Kodi works almost perfect on my box.

Other people with Tronsmart or Beelink devices still report green screens and jittery playback.

I know this is off topic but where can we find the updated firmware?

[mo123]

There are 2 version of the new Kodi XBMC.
For the external player solution, you can unzip the app and look at the changes, files added. Look at XBMC's wiki pages how external player works. I suggested it to Rockchip.
For the other Kodi version, they integrated the HEVC pull request on XBMC that is still not integrated, and modified the DVDPlayer file to play software SD videos, will probably be in next version. Also integrated Stagefright solution from SPMC. The code is freely available on github on XBMC and SPMC repos.

For the Mediacodec integration, I'm not sure, since they say they optimized Libstagefright. That code is probably not available.

Most people will not have perfect video playback since you need the latest firmware after 2014-10-10.
Some manufacturers are just better than others, already 10 of my suggestions have made it into my manufacturers box.
Mediacodec with the new Kodi works almost perfect on my box.

Other people with Tronsmart or Beelink devices still report green screens and jittery playback.

They, they, they. Who is they?

'They' are Rockchip.
Manufacturers have nothing to do with XBMC, they receive the compiled XBMC from Rockchip. So Rockchip should release all the source code, probably only Mediacodec HEVC that they might have changed. The other improvements are in their firmware.
Some manufacturers that are 'partner' companies of Rockchip have their own software/video engineers that test XBMC and report problems back to Rockchip what they and their customers experience.
Other manufacturers only take the source code of Rockchip and sometimes when they feel like it, release new firmware without change-logs or informing their customers and they use inferior hardware like RAM, EMMC chips that cause problems for users in the long run. They only care about sales.

If you are someone with a square shaped RK3288, you probably have a more stable device and firmware.
People with rectangular shaped boxes, might have a v1/v2 board that was rushed out by manufacturers to cash-in on the hype of RK3288 devices and didn't do proper tests.
These boxes might still work great in future if these manufacturers release new firmware.

---

Most people will not have perfect video playback since you need the latest firmware after 2014-10-10.
Some manufacturers are just better than others, already 10 of my suggestions have made it into my manufacturers box.
Mediacodec with the new Kodi works almost perfect on my box.

I know this is off topic but where can we find the updated firmware?

What device do you have?
Does it have 8GB or 16GB ROM?
AP6335 wifi / or AP6330?
If it's not AP6335 wifi, my kernel improvements won't work, but you can still try to flash only system.img
Will send you a PM with my firmware to test.

Don't want to post firmware in public, otherwise lots of people will brick their devices trying new things.

[alimickwhit]

What device do you have?
Does it have 8GB or 16GB ROM?
AP6335 wifi / or AP6330?
If it's not AP6335 wifi, my kernel improvements won't work, but you can still try to flash only system.img
Will send you a PM with my firmware to test.

Don't want to post firmware in public, otherwise lots of people will brick their devices trying new things.
[/quote]

Measy B4s, 8gb ,square PCB. many thanks will test. Feel free to PM

[jacko5]

Mo123.
I have a Ugoos UT3 with 16/09/2014 firmware do you know if i can get updated firmware for my UT3 ?
I have looked on Ugoos website but nothing new, i have also check in the firmware update setting of the UT3 for new firmware.
Thanks.