Compiling Kodi to make it have hardware decoding

[alpe]

I'm only getting SW decoding. With both h264 and hevc.
Installed with apt-get install kodi aml-libs.
Ubuntu minimal.
Do I have to do something else?
As posted above, I had to run:

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sudo usermod -a -G cdrom,audio,video,plugdev,users,dialout,dip,input,netdev kodi

Maybe there's some group missing to allow HW?

[odroid]

Do you use ubuntu-18.04.3-4.9-minimal-odroid-n2-20190806.img.xz?
What happens if you login as a root?

[alpe]

Do you use ubuntu-18.04.3-4.9-minimal-odroid-n2-20190806.img.xz?
What happens if you login as a root?

Yes.
Changing the systemd service to run as root works, so it's probably some group that I have to add the 'kodi' user to or some permission I have to change somewhere.
Any idea? I really don't want to keep kodi running as root.
Thanks.

[odroid]

I have no idea.
I hope other experts can help you.

[rooted]

I think it's the video group.

[gerulrich]

Check te kodi log for missing permissions:

cat /home/kodi/.kodi/temp/kodi.log | grep ERROR | grep AML

Enviado desde mi Redmi Note 4 mediante Tapatalk

[alpe]

I think it's the video group.

Thanks, but it's already on that group. :/

Check te kodi log for missing permissions:

cat /home/kodi/.kodi/temp/kodi.log | grep ERROR | grep AML

Enviado desde mi Redmi Note 4 mediante Tapatalk

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2019-10-16 00:48:19.788 T:548116812960   ERROR: AML: no rw on /sys/class/video/axis
2019-10-16 00:48:19.789 T:548116812960   ERROR: AML: no rw on /sys/class/video/screen_mode
2019-10-16 00:48:19.789 T:548116812960   ERROR: AML: no rw on /sys/class/video/disable_video
2019-10-16 00:48:19.789 T:548116812960   ERROR: AML: no rw on /sys/class/tsync/pts_pcrscr
2019-10-16 00:48:19.789 T:548116812960   ERROR: AML: no rw on /sys/module/ionvideo/parameters/freerun_mode
2019-10-16 00:48:19.789 T:548116812960   ERROR: AML: no rw on /sys/class/video/freerun_mode
2019-10-16 00:48:19.789 T:548116812960   ERROR: AML: no rw on /sys/class/audiodsp/digital_raw
2019-10-16 00:48:19.789 T:548116812960   ERROR: AML: no rw on /sys/class/amhdmitx/amhdmitx0/config
2019-10-16 00:48:19.789 T:548116812960   ERROR: AML: no rw on /sys/class/vfm/map
2019-10-16 00:48:19.789 T:548116812960   ERROR: AML: no rw on /sys/class/tsync/enable
2019-10-16 00:48:19.789 T:548116812960   ERROR: AML: no rw on /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_min_freq
2019-10-16 00:48:19.789 T:548116812960   ERROR: AML: no rw on /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_max_freq
2019-10-16 00:48:19.789 T:548116812960   ERROR: AML: no rw on /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_governor
2019-10-16 00:48:19.789 T:548116812960   ERROR: AML: no rw on /sys/class/amhdmitx/amhdmitx0/frac_rate_policy
2019-10-16 00:48:19.789 T:548116812960   ERROR: AML: no rw on /sys/module/di/parameters/bypass_prog
2019-10-16 00:48:19.789 T:548116812960   ERROR: AML: no rw on /sys/class/display/mode

Running this before starting kodi fixed it:

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sudo chown kodi /sys/class/video/axis /sys/class/video/screen_mode /sys/class/video/disable_video /sys/class/tsync/pts_pcrscr /sys/module/ionvideo/parameters/freerun_mode /sys/class/video/freerun_mode /sys/class/audiodsp/digital_raw /sys/class/amhdmitx/amhdmitx0/config /sys/class/vfm/map /sys/class/tsync/enable /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_min_freq /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_max_freq /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_governor /sys/class/amhdmitx/amhdmitx0/frac_rate_policy /sys/module/di/parameters/bypass_prog /sys/class/display/mode

I added it to rc.local and it worked.
Thanks.

[alpe]

Another question.
After some time with the tv off, after I turn it back on again the screen is black.
It's not the kodi screen saver.
I press various buttons on the keyboard and it stays black. Even restarting kodi doesn't bring it back up again.
This happens when running as root as well.
Tried disabling HPD, but same.

[mad_ady]

It's consoleblanking. There is a boot option to turn that off.

[alpe]

It's consoleblanking. There is a boot option to turn that off.

Disabled it as instructed in viewtopic.php?t=18819
Will update in a while with results.
Edit: It works. Thanks.

[alpe]

Another issue. Don't worry, I already solved this one.

Problem:
If I start the board (kodi starts automatically at boot) with the tv off, and later turn on the tv, there's no image and the Kodi cpu usage is quite high. Restarting kodi with the tv on works.
Looking at the log there was a "WARNING: UpdateResolutions: ProbeResolutions failed.".
Disabling display_autodetect on boot.ini didn't solve it.

Solution, in case someone encounters this issue in the future:
Simply go to Settings -> Display -> Display mode, and change it to Windowed. But by doing this the resolution, at least here, was very small.
So, I also created the file /home/kodi/.kodi/userdata/advancedsettings.xml with this inside:

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<advancedsettings version="1.0">
    <window>
        <width>1920</width>
        <height>1080</height>
    </window>
</advancedsettings>

I didn't notice any downsides to doing this. HW decoding works and CPU usage seems the same...

[memeka]

Try setting an edid in boot.ini with desired resolution

[alpe]

Try setting an edid in boot.ini with desired resolution

How?
Tried:

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setenv hdmimode "custombuilt"
setenv modeline "1920,1080,148500,67500,60,1920,2008,2052,2200,1080,1084,1088,1125,0,1,1"

Oh, and is there a way to bring the console up again when the service running kodi stop?

[alpe]

Is it possible to get Netflix working on Kodi? (like this: viewtopic.php?f=98&t=34076)
Or not yet?
Thanks.

[odroid]

Netflix add-on should work in 1080p resolution.

[alpe]

Netflix add-on should work in 1080p resolution.

"Widevine CDM is currently not available natively on ARM64. Please switch to a 32-bit userspace for Widevice CDM support."
So I guess I would have to use Kodi:armhf, right?
Is kodi:armhf available and updated on the N2 repository?

Update: Just checked and kodi:armhf insn't provided by http://deb.odroid.in/n2. If using armhf is the only way to run Netflix, please consider adding it (and possibly other required packages) to the repository in addition to aarch64.

[Nuems]

As far as I know, Widevine CDM isn't officially available for 32-bit Linux either, however, it is part of ChromeOS (both 32 and 64bit). The library can be extracted from ChromeOS recovery images. There are kodi addons outside of the official repsoitory that automate this process and also take care of updating Widevine CDM when necessary (about once a month or so). One of those is the "Joyn" addon from this repo: https://github.com/kodinerds/repo/raw/m ... inerds.zip
[Joyn is an streaming platform for (mostly) German live TV and the channels' media libraries.]

[alpe]

As far as I know, Widevine CDM isn't officially available for 32-bit Linux either, however, it is part of ChromeOS (both 32 and 64bit). The library can be extracted from ChromeOS recovery images. There are kodi addons outside of the official repsoitory that automate this process and also take care of updating Widevine CDM when necessary (about once a month or so). One of those is the "Joyn" addon from this repo: https://github.com/kodinerds/repo/raw/m ... inerds.zip
[Joyn is an streaming platform for (mostly) German live TV and the channels' media libraries.]

Thanks.
I got that error while using one of these methods. It download the ChromeOS image, but on installation gave that error. :/

[desiqx]

Netflix add-on should work in 1080p resolution.

"Widevine CDM is currently not available natively on ARM64. Please switch to a 32-bit userspace for Widevice CDM support."
So I guess I would have to use Kodi:armhf, right?
Is kodi:armhf available and updated on the N2 repository?

Update: Just checked and kodi:armhf insn't provided by http://deb.odroid.in/n2. If using armhf is the only way to run Netflix, please consider adding it (and possibly other required packages) to the repository in addition to aarch64.

I had the same problem recently. We need to use Kodi with 32bit userspace and still having 64 bit kernel and everything else. So In perfect world the easiest will be :

apt get install kodi:armhf

But in reality it's not that easy. I need to have fully functional Kodi, like in Coreelec in Ubuntu. I was fighting for some time and in final I'm using Coreelec until will find some easy way to do that.

For example for official odroid n2 repo has kodi 18.3 RC and I couldn't easy install pvr iptv simple addon and inputstream adaptive for Netflix unfortunately.

Maybe there is another better solution to get 32bit Kodi from coreelec in our latest Ubuntu image? Do you have any ideas guys? Is compiling Kodi and addons working without problems with hardware acceleration?

[odroid]

We tried to build the Kodi for armhf but there were too many errors we couldn't fix.

[mad_ady]

Not sure how well kodi is dockerized, but if it has direct access to /dev and /sys, a docker version of kodi might work and bypass dependency issues...

[Truly]

While I wait for my board I'm doing some research.

How to install Kodi on Ubuntu minimal?
Acceleration works on minimal?
How can I open Kodi automatically on boot? Rc.local?

Thanks.

if you need cec working with kodi do the following:
Edit /media/boot/boot.ini and add hdmitx=cec3f in bootargs.

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sudo apt-get update
mkdir -p ~/ubuntu-packages/libcec-package
cd ~/ubuntu-packages/libcec-package
apt-get build-dep libcec4
apt-get source libcec4
cd libcec-4.0.2+dfsg1
# edit debian/rules
vim debian/rules # add -DHAVE_AOCEC_API=1 in dh_auto_configure line and save
debuild -us -uc
cd ~/ubuntu-packages/libcec-package
sudo dpkg -i libcec4_4.0.2+dfsg1-2ubuntu1.1_arm64.deb
sudo dpkg -i cec-utils_4.0.2+dfsg1-2ubuntu1.1_arm64.deb
sudo apt-mark hold libcec4
sudo apt-mark hold cec-utils

after that you can install kodi with:

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apt-get install kodi aml-libs

Add a service file for kodi: /etc/systemd/system/kodi.service

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[Unit]
Description=Kodi
After=network.target

[Service]
Type=simple
# Another Type: forking
User=kodi
WorkingDirectory=/home/kodi
ExecStart=/usr/bin/kodi-standalone
Restart=on-failure
# Other restart options: always, on-abort, etc

# The install section is needed to use
# `systemctl enable` to start on boot
# For a user service that you want to enable
# and start automatically, use `default.target`
# For system level services, use `multi-user.target`
[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

I use kodi as user, but you can use whatever you want. You must verify that the user has the required permissions.

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systemctl daemon-reload
systemctl start kodi
systemctl enable kodi

that's all i think

I had to create the user Kodi manually with:

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sudo adduser --disabled-password --disabled-login kodi

And run:

sudo usermod -a -G cdrom,audio,video,plugdev,users,dialout,dip,input,netdev kodi

as suggested in other post.

This looks like a comprehensive list of steps needed to compile and install Kodi with HW decoding on ubnuntu minimal.

I'm wondering if we can expect that Kodi with HV decoding will be added to the repository at some point in the future, so that it can be easily installed (apt-get install)?

[odroid]

The latest minimal Ubuntu image supports "kodi-fbdev" package.
https://wiki.odroid.com/odroid-xu4/os_i ... 10-minimal

[Truly]

Great!

Is this also present in the latest image for N2?

If yes, the only thing needed to install Kodi is:

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apt install kodi-fbdev

[odroid]

You might need a couple of more packages probably.
viewtopic.php?f=177&t=34438&start=50#p266126

[Truly]

It looks like the it's not in the repository:

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sudo apt update
sudo apt install kodi-fbdev
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
E: Unable to locate package kodi-fbdev

[gerulrich]

It looks like the it's not in the repository:

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sudo apt update
sudo apt install kodi-fbdev
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
E: Unable to locate package kodi-fbdev

To install kodi you have to execute

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apt-get install mali-fbdev kodi aml-libs

cec is working now with the packages from repository (edit boot.ini and put hdmitx=cec3f in bootargs).

if you have planned to run kodi as regular user (not root) you have to set some permissions to enable hardware decoding)
viewtopic.php?f=177&t=34438&start=150#p270654

if you want run as a service:
viewtopic.php?f=177&t=34438&start=100#p270592