Ubuntu 16.04.03 / Kodi / Chromium graphics problem

[MAD]

Hi all,
I'm running a C1+ with Ubunto 16.04.03 Mate image and I've changed the following:
- update / upgrade / dist-upgrade to current version for all packages (Kernel 3.10.107-192, Kodi 17.6, Chromium 65.0.3325.181)
- disabled IPv6 to let Kodi find my UPNP server (IP2SAT box)
- some minor stuff to ease up usage (autologin etc.)
- CPU Freq set to 1.7Ghz

When I'm starting Kodi and connecting to a UPNP stream from my IP2SAT box, the frame gets transparent (desktop shown) and no video is shown. This is happening both for fullscreen and window mode. When moving the mouse over it, the bars are showing up (top and bottom), so Kodi is working but no video. I've double checked that MALI is used and this is shown correctly both for Chromium (started correctly with use-egl=egl and ignore-gpu-blacklist), Kodi (System Info / Video) and also stated correctly when using glmark2-es2 (smooth animations with 52-58fps and showing "Mali-450 MP / OpenGL ES 2.0). But when I use es2gears it shows with 59fps and the same behaviour (animated gear wheel, but transparent frame inside window). Same is for Chromium with webglsamples Aquarium demo (transaparent frame, 8fps - regardless if 1, 100 or 500 fishes).

So I assume that in general, HW graphics acceleration is working, but for whatever reason not fully for Chromium and Kodi The strange thing is that at least Kodi was working with my IP2SAT UPNP box in the beginning (If I remember correctly this was before I updated/upgraded everything).

What to do?

[MAD]

Just tried to open a m4v video with VLC Player - same issue, transparent frame and no video shown
And just read some more posts on GPU on C1+, now I'm a bit confused: Some are saying, that video decoding is not HW accelerated (which would mean I have two may be unrelated issues with OpenGL and video), some are saying it is !?
Update: I've tried VLC with Tools/Preferences/Video/Output set to "X11 video output (XCB)" and now I see the video, but again transparent (shine through desktop background) so still buggy...

[odroid]

The transparent issue could appear when the Mali DDX doesn't work correctly.
When I played with C1 Kodi last week, I had no such issue.
We will freshly install the same image with full updates and let you know the result.

[odroid]

We cleanly flashed this image and updated all the system software.
ubuntu-16.04.3-mate-odroid-c1-20170908.img.xz

Kodi had no transparent issue when we played videos in fullscreen mode.
But window mode has the transparent problem. It is a known issue due to the HW overlay limitation.

Since VLC doesn't utilize the hardware accelerator, it is not worth to try.

If you need a lightweight video player, consider trying crashoverride's c2player.
viewtopic.php?f=112&t=24350

[MAD]

Hmm, not sure to completely understand your answer. When saying "and updated all the system software" you mean that you didn't update/upgrade Chromium and Kodi? I can't recall if there was an update/upgrade for these packages but just to make sure I understand correctly. And what about es2gears - do you experience the same behaviour as my installation (transparent "see through" window background)? And what about webglsamples Aquarium demo in Chromium?
I will try c2player tonight with my .m4v (h.264) videos.

[odroid]

Yes, we updated the software with the following steps.
https://wiki.odroid.com/odroid-c1/os_im ... st-upgrade

To fix the transparent issue, we had to modify the /media/boot/boot.ini file to enable 24bit mode instead of 32bit mode.
https://github.com/mdrjr/c1_bootini/blo ... ot.ini#L36

But, Kodi will not show the video layer with 24bit mode.

[MAD]

OK, I will change it to 24 bit in boot.ini tonight. I did the same update procedure you're referring to...
"Kodi will no show the video layer with 24 bit mode" - what do you mean?

[odroid]

Kodi GUI layer uses the GPU rendering which must have the alpha-blending enabled 32bit color mode to show the video layer correctly.
If we enable 24bit mode, the video layer is not visible.

[MAD]

OK, got it. Just one last clarification, when you say Kodi fullscreen is working you mean fullscreen on X11, right?

[odroid]

Yes.

[MAD]

I've changed boot.ini to 24bit, rebooted and checked again with the following results:
glmark2-es2, es2gears and Kodi (Window and full screen) all same behaviour as with 32bit, the preview of a film from my NAS is shown at the left in Kodi, when starting the film, only Kodi menus/window frame can be seen; same with mpg2 stream from my Sat2IP box in Kodi (UpnP). Chromium looks odd when started (no color, horizontally shifted content). I've installed Midori to try another browser, at 24bit it plays Youtube videos smoothly.

So obviously something is broken...

[odroid]

I can access my C1+ board tomorrow and I will check the issues with Ubuntu carefully.
Meanwhile, please try @meveric's Debian image.
viewtopic.php?f=114&t=17569

[MAD]

I will reinstall from scratch (maybe also meveric's image) at the weekend, If I recall correctly the C1+ always boots from eMMC if inserted, correct? I then need to open the case and remove it first before installing freshly from uSD...

[odroid]

Yes, C1+/C2 boot from eMMC if your plug both two boot media together.

[odroid]

I've cleanly flashed 20170908 image.
es2gears had no transparent issue and worked correctly at ~60fps with VSYNC.
Kodi 17.3 worked well with some H.264/H.265 1080p test videos.
Chromium shows flashing blank screen when I ran Webgl pages.

I'm updating the system now and I'll add test result soon.

Edit.
After full system updating,
es2gears and glmark2-es2 had no transparent problem.
Kodi 17.6 worked fine.
Chromium still has the display flashing issue with GPU acceleration while ODROID-C2 has no such issue.
We will look into the webgl issue early next week.

Please try Debian image when you have time and let us know the result.

[MAD]

Just to let you know: I've switched my C1+ and C2 usage/images, so I'm now using my C2 with 20170908 image which is working fine (Chromium with Video, Kodi, es2gears, glmark2-es2 and Aquarium test in Chromium). My C1+ is powerful enough to run Volumio with HiFi shield (also up and running smoothly). So I did no further investigation using the Debian image...

[Sahab]

I'm having the same issue with fresh v3.1 (18lts ubuntu).
Any updates related to it?

Thanks for help.

[Sahab]

Any help?

[odroid]

Sorry. We couldn't find a solution.