CE-NG Dolby Vision (+FEL) for DV-licensed SOCs (s905x2, s922x/z, s905x4)

Development Development & Testing
824

Try one of those? :wink:
https://archive.coreelec.org/Amlogic-ng/CE-21/

825

Hi everyone,

I’ve been trying to get Dolby Vision working on my ODROID N2+ using several CoreELEC-NG 20.5+ and 21+ builds, following the instructions and using the dovi.ko module as described in this thread.

I’ve tried the following:

  • Verified I’m running NG builds (not NE).
  • Used method (b): plugged the CoreELEC USB into my PC and copied dovi.ko into the same directory as dtb.img and kernel.img.
  • Rebooted, and confirmed dolby_support does not appear under Settings → System → CoreELEC.

Despite following the recommended procedure (including placement of dovi.ko and rebooting), Dolby Vision isn’t working on my ODROID N2+. I understand from the thread that DV FEL is working on other s922x-based boxes like the Ugoos AM6+ and Minix U22X-J — is there something different about those units compared to the N2+?

Could anyone who got this working on an ODROID N2+ share the exact CoreELEC version, dovi.ko build/date, and any special tweaks or steps? I’d really appreciate!

Thanks in advance!

826

No DV-licensed SoC

827

Check out this thread, doppingkoala managed to get DV working on non DV-licensed SOCs like the N2. It will give you some DV playback capabilities.

828

This work is “unsupported” so will not become part of any released version of CE.

1 Like
829

Interesting

830

I am extremely confused about Dolby Vision and how HDR works in general, so I am unable to figure out whether what I am doing is correct and whether the results are in line with my efforts.

Based on the first post of this thread, I purchased a Homatics R4K Pro and installed the CE-ng latest nightly, 21.4 something generic version. Installed it, copied the correct dtb and presumably the correct dovi.ko file into confgifiles and I have a working CE box.

I hooked up the box to my Sony 75X82L TV which is an entry level Sony DV TV

After that the Dolby Vision settings in System menu of Coreelec become visible. I do not know which option to select, so I left it at defaults.

After that I copied couple of the demo videos from the 1st post to the box and played them.

In the first clip, BL_EL, I can see the colours swirling and faint silhouettes of the text and the woman as shown in the image in the first post along with a time progress indicator.

When I play the file EL.mkv I can only see some faint colourless video on the screen.

After that I downloaded a demo video from demolandia and played that. It played with reasonably good picture quality. However, if I go into video settings of the Sony TV when this video is playing, the picture mode shows as HDR and not Dolby Vision, whereas the test files before this showed picture mode as Dolby Vision (not sure I am looking in the right place)

I disabled Dolby Vision from the System settings in CE and played the video again and the colours were all off.

If I press “O” on the keyboard when the video is playing I do not see anything that points to Dolby Vision or HDR in the video information section.

If I issue dmesg | egrep -i ‘(dv|dolb|dov)’ from ssh during video playback I get the log as here The log shows pieces that say “Dolby VSIF, switching signal to SDR” , so I am not very confident that all is well.

Can someone check and let me know what they think about my build?

Lastly, the reason why I went for this box and DV compatibility is because I am seeing that a lot of newer content is being released in Dolby Vision, so I guessed that I need a DV playback compatible box to play that content even if my TV/ projector is not Dolby Vision compatible and the CE box will help play the DV content to the said displays in HDR.

Or is my assumption wrong, will a non DV CE box also play DV files in HDR?

:nerd_face:

831

Log snippets are useless, only full log will help:
https://wiki.coreelec.org/coreelec:ce_support

Only if profile 7, 8 or 10 what is including a HDR fallback.

EOTF & Gammut tells you current output mode.

It’s prefered to use CE-NO.
CE-NG is old and outdated and EOL.

832

Hi,

Just purchased the Homatic R 4k plus. I have been reading though the forums for approx 8-10 hours, trying to understand everything and avoid asking questions.

  1. I want to test DV FEL on my new LG G4.
    The instructions is extremely unclear in the forums. Which -NG version is the best to get?
    The stable https://github.com/CoreELEC/CoreELEC/releases/download/21.2-Omega/CoreELEC-Amlogic-ng.arm-21.2-Omega-Generic.img.gz
    Or the nightly
    https://relkai.coreelec.org/Amlogic-ng/ce-21/CoreELEC-Amlogic-ng.arm-21.2-Omega_nightly_20250512-Generic.img.gz

  2. There is conflicting info on which dtb file to use.
    This one:
    sc2_s905x4_4g_1gbit.dtb (85kbit)
    or this one:
    sc2_s905x4_sei_smb_280.dtb (65kbit)

Hope someone can help me clear these thing up.
Thanks

833
  1. Nightly
  2. sei_smb_280
1 Like
834

One post above yours, it is written that Coreelec-no is the preferred variant to use, since the ng branch is EOL. The infromation is very confusing.

My Homatics box gives a pop up saying “upgrade android firmware to minimum linux kernel version 5.15.137” when I booted using CE-no. Dont know how to upgrade kernel.

835

Upgrade Android using OTA or maybe manual request from: Homatics Devices Update Request

1 Like
836

You can use the NG in your box.
The Dolby Vision profile 7 Fel exist just there. It is very stable version.

837

  1. Could you give input on why the nightly is better? Is there anything the nightly does better, than the “stable” 21.2 version from january 2025? Also when is the nightly “good enough”? Should I always chase the upgrade once every month for example?

  2. I actually went with the “sc2_s905x4_4g_1gbit.dtb” and I think it works ok.
    I believe some people were complaing about the ethernet not working on “sc2_s905x4_sei_smb_280.dtb”
    Is that also your perception?
    What is the actual difference. I fail to understand that.

838

Then what is this post supposed to mean? CE-NG Dolby Vision (+FEL) for DV-licensed SOCs (s905x2, s922x/z, s905x4) - #831 by Portisch

I just installed CE-no because of that.

What should I use for Profile 7 FEL?

840

You did not read the post in detail.
It says the follwoing:

The s905x4 needs to be running CE-NG to use this dovi.ko for DV FEL playback. DV FEL is NOT supported in CE-NE.

841

The second one is made EXACTLY for this device.

842

If I already used the “wrong one” to boot up.
The /flash is read-only now.
I wanted to replace the old dtb.img with new one.

Should I make /flash writeable? and then replace file? Or make a new USB from scratch?

843

The CE NG version need to use, so simple is that.
You don’t read the title of the topic?

1 Like
844

NG is EOL. Nightly has the latest code and likely won’t receive anymore updates.