[Guide] Homatics Box R 4k Plus CoreELEC installation, configuration and modding

[Flynn84]

Should the remote be working after first booting CoreElec or do I have to connect a keyboard to pair it? Just pressing home and back until the LED blinks does not do the trick. Rebooted into Android and back to CoreElec but remote not connecting whatsoever. I do have the DuneHD version and the remote is connected as R25 in Android if that makes any difference.

Edit: I connected a keyboard to pair the remote but the remote didn’t work after pairing. Repaired several times without success. I then tried rebooting (I didnt unpair before) and now the remote suddenly works.

[KodiKinG]

How to update the android tv firmware?

[DS_DV]

ill incorporate that in my guide update (:

but basically you have to go into your power menu and select reboot to emmc than inside android just update as every other android tv

[KodiKinG]

Idk how android tv works its my first atv box tbh.
I hope i will receive my box tomorrow.

Thnx for the info

[DS_DV]

Compatible Devices:

Supported devices by CoreElec Team: List

Details and Pictures of the devices: AVS Forum Thread

Requirements

• Android TV v5310 or higher for working Dolby Vision
  (see FAQ for upgrade instructions)
• fast USB Stick / USB SSD
  ( this will be the main boot drive ) i reccomend: Samsungs FIT Plus USB 3.1
• flashing tool like Balena Etcher or Rufus (Win only)
  (this is used to flash CoreELEC image onto the USB Storage )
• CoreELEC 20 amlogic-ne GENERIC image
  (This is considered the stable version ,based on Kodi Nexus )
• CoreELEC 21 amlogic-ne GENERIC image
  (this is the bleeding edge version ,based on Kodi Omega which is still in Alpha stage ,so don’t complain if it’s buggy ).
• Sim Tray Tool / Toothpick
  (or any other tool that you can use with the device’s reset pin hole)
• Enable CEC on your TV
  (this is optional,but i recommend to enable CEC so you can do the CoreELEC’s initial setup easily ,using the TV’s remote control )

Preparing Installation Drive

1. Connect the USB Storage to your PC and open flashing tool (eg Balena Etcher)
2. Select the CoreELEC’s image file (eg. CoreELEC-Amlogic-ne.aarch64-20.3-Nexus_nightly_20230729-Generic.img.gz )
3. Select the USB Storage that you want to use, proceed with the installation.
4. Verify that the flashing process was successful
   (Balena Etcher will do that for you in the Validation process [green bar])
5. 6. Your USB drive will now have two partitions ,COREELEC and STORAGE
6. 7. Open the COREELEC partition ,navigate to device_trees folder
7. 8. Copy sc2_s905x4_sei_smb_280.dtb file to COREELEC root and rename it dtb.img .
8. 9. Safely remove the USB drive from your PC

CoreELEC Installation

1. Insert the USB drive in the Homatics’s USB3 port (blue)
   (USB3 is faster / USB2 had Suspend )
2. reboot/boot the device into UPGRADE MODE

Simple Method / Restbotton

• PowerOFF the device and remove the DC power connector
  (or remove the power adapter from the wall socket )

• Press and keep pressing the reset button,
  then Power ON the device while keep pressing the reset button
  (hold even if menu / fastboot is shown).

• Release the Reset Button (if you see the CoreElec boot screen)

Advnaced Method / ADB (only from AndroidTV)

• enable ADB in Android
  (make sure ADB Debug is enabled and working )
• Run the reboot command with update parameter
• adb reboot update
• wait until you see CoreElec boot screen

3. follow the initial CoreELEC on-screen setup
   (For working Remote see FAQ / CEC requirements )

Troubleshooting :

You have followed all the steps from this guide but CoreELEC is still not working.

Boot issues

1. Try USB2 port.
2. Double check that you have used the correct DTB and you renamed it correctly.
   (see Requirements Step 2.)
3. If you are using an USB HUB: try removing it and attach the USB drive directly to the USB port.
4. try another USB Drive (usb stick,ssd,etc)
   there were several reports about certain USB sticks or USB-SATA adapters not working correctly either this device ,even if they are fully working on a PC/Laptop or other devices.

(some especially old or often reformatted USB sticks have issues with their controllers)

[some vendors offer reset tools with which you can deep reset/reformat the usb stick and remove any kind of write protection or other settings but since its a controller reslash i wont link to it use google ]

Known Problems

Original Bluetooth Remote (B21) not working after a reboot:

Solution : Press Back + Home buttons for 5 seconds and your remote should be working again

CoreELEC it’s not working after resuming from stand-by.

Stand-by is not officially supported on these devices,so i recommend you to avoid using it.

Can’t PowerON the device with the remote

Cause: Some of these devices don’t have an IR receiver ,so if you PowerOFF your device ,you won’t be able to power it ON with a Bluetooth remote .
Solution: Either use an IR dongle (eg. FLIRC) or avoid a complete shutdown of the device.
(i use a remote power plug for example tasmota with home assistant or use a wireless plug)

DolbyVision is not working

Possibile Cause:

1. Your Android TV firmware might be incompatible with your current CoreELEC version.
   (see Requirements)
2. You might need to enable DolbyVision in Android TV before using CoreELEC
   (eg. You never used Android TV after you bought the device and you went straight to CoreELEC installation )
3. you need to enable DolbyVision support on your TV / Projector either in Settings or via Firmware upgrade

FAQS

Q1: Is it possible to install CoreELEC on the device’s internal storage ?

A: No,do to the nature of how CoreELEC works on this device ,it is not possible (and probably never will) to install CoreELEC on the internal storage .
However ,it is possible to use a sort of hybrid installation that will let you use the internal storage for the “STORAGE” partition ,but keep in mind that this solution is not supported by the CoreELEC Team,so use it on your own risk and don’t complain if you are having issues or data loss.

Here’s the solution ( thx @vpeter )-> Homatics Box R 4K Plus - #278 by vpeter

Q2: Is it possible to customize the device’s LEDS light?

A: While there’s no CoreELEC’s built-in option for that ,there’s a separate add-on that does that .

Homatics LEDs add-on → Homatics LEDs addon

Q3: I would like to reboot to AndroidTV by using a remote control button ,is it possible to assign that function to a remote button?

A: You can use this example ( thx again @vpeter ) to accomplish that .
Remember ,that’s only an example ,so you might need to adjust it for your needs.

Reboot to Android with remote control button → Physical button execute script - #6 by vpeter

Remote Control Configuration

• Homatics Bluetooth remote pairing

1. Go to Settings → CoreELEC Configuration → Bluetooth
2. On the Homatics remote press BACK + HOME for seconds (this will put the remote in pairing mode )
3. Check if your remote is showing in CoreELEC’s Bluetooth screen ( usually is named B21,B25 ,depending on your model )
4. Select the remote and press PAIR
5. Check if CoreELEC is responding to the remote commands

NOTE : If the remote is not working even if the pairing was successful ,try to re-pair it ( BACK+HOME combo) or reboot the device.

NOTE 2 : If the remote stop working after a reboot/shutdown ,try to re-pair the remote (BACK+HOME).
Unfortunately this is a known issue and you will most likely face it when you reboot from CoreELEC to Android and then back to CoreELEC .
Currently there’s no fix or workaround .

• DuneHD Homatics Box R 4k Plus

If you want to use the IR (infrared) protocol of your DuneHD ,you will need a “remote.conf” file ,compatible with your remote .
Thankfully ,another user shared such a configuration file ,so you won’t have to create one yourself .
Copy the “remote.conf” file to “/storage/.config” folder and reboot the device.
To customize the remote buttons i recommend using the “Keymap Editor” add-on ,from Kodi Repository → Program Add-ons section .

Link to DuneHD remote.conf → Homatics Box R 4K Plus - #620 by aszi

• Nokia 8010 IR remote protocol with meson-ir driver

In the links bellow you can find the KEYMAP and the instructions how to use your Nokia 8010 infrared remote protocol with CoreELEC and meson-ir.
NOTE that the second link has a more complete configuration file ,so i recommend using that one .

Link 1 (more detailed instructions) → Homatics Box R 4K Plus - #985 by frodo19

Link 2 (fully working KEYMAP) → Homatics Box R 4K Plus - #1077 by Vex

Q4: My Remote is not Working

A: For Homatics Blutooth remote try to re-pair it
(pres & hold BACK+HOME until the green LED is blinking fast - when it stops blinking its paired again and should work)

For remote.conf KeyMaps see:
Nokia: Homatics Box R 4K Plus - #1077 by Vex
Dune HD: Homatics Box R 4K Plus - #620 by aszi
Homatics: Homatics Box R 4K Plus - #960 by vpeter

Q5: I have a distorted Screen after Boot

A: Always boot the Homatics box after AVR / TV

If you see something like the Picture below you HDMI handshare probably failed.
Make sure your AVR / TV are properly started before starting the Homatics box!

Q6: How to upgrade my Firmware (eg for Dolby Vision)

A: Upgrade the Android TV version.

1. Boot as usual and navigate to your Power menu
2. Select reboot to emmc
3. wait until Android TV is booted.
4. upgrade like any other Android TV/Device
   • login to android
   • navigate to settings
   • check for update & install
     if there is no update available it was suggested to write homatics support

I still need help and have read all the Guides and FAQ thoroughly

You may polity ask your Question in the official Support Thread
Remember:

• it is a Project run and build by Volunteers
• Prior to posting an error: Read how to post logs
• try to search the Thread if your Question may be awnserd before

Thank you all<3

@pretoriano80 for the Original Guide
@vpeter for the permission to write this as a Wiki Template

and all the other supporting this project
CREDITS : All credits go to their respective owners.

//edits:
20230805 formatting & fixes

[vpeter]

One table of supported devices is also this: Homatics/Dune/Nokia/Rocktek Dolby Vision

[pretoriano80]

@DS_DV why not adding only the missing pieces instead of a redacted and updated full guide ?
IMHO it’s a bit confusing and looks a bit like highjacking. :))

[frodo19]

@vpeter thats little outdated now… nokia has ir port too, homatics and homatics dune new versions not have av port anymore…

[DS_DV]

i promised to update and post my obsidian notes this weekend.
You “rushed” me with your posting.
So i saw no sense in just making another guide.
Which is the reason why i tried to add and incorporate my notes and the things i remembered from the thread.

If you don’t like that i based it on your post i can write my own (but as i said i see no reason i redundant work).

I especially tried not to delete anything so i don’t know where sth should be “redacted” ? O.o

Are you referring to spoilers ? O.o
They make the thread less cluttered and improve the UX for new users since they are not slain by a wall of text and can quickly navigate.

To be honest for my taste this draft still looks pretty clutter and not very user-friendly.
If i find some time ill work on that.

If the CoreElec team has some whishes (like if it should stay all in one post or for Example plit parts) ill incorporate that ofc.

At least my goal with this was to make sth which can replace the first post of the Support thread so new users have a better UX and dont have to ask that many questions (or can easily be linked to)

[vpeter]

@frodo19

little outdated now

It is based on information we had at that time. We were mostly interested in LED type, PCB revision used and Amlogic dt-id used.

[pretoriano80]

@DS_DV what i meant is that it would have been easier for me to add the extra info from your guide to OP,if it wasn’t the complete guide ,but only the pieces that are missing from my guide .

However ,there’s no problem for me,as long as it helps people to start the CoreELEC journey without asking the same things over and over again .

An if someone fails to follow such a guide ,then it’s probably better to start with the basics before installing CE.

[Vasco]

If you have no objections we’ll incorporate parts of the guide in our wiki.

[pretoriano80]

No problem ,it would be nice if the Wiki could cover some of the infos from here.

[DS_DV]

sure that was the whole idea of it

[KodiKinG]

What coreelec version i meed for dolby vision Nexus or Omega?

[DS_DV]

@KodiKinG

What coreelec version i meed for dolby vision Nexus or Omega?

@DS_DV

You may polity ask your Question in the official Support Thread

Restructure of CoreELEC device structure

Restructure of CoreELEC device structure These changes are valid if you have a CoreELEC installation last updated before 28.07.2023 Dear all, we did run into some issues with the current Kodi Omega. Right now it is not recommended to use Kodi Omega as a daily used device. We hope these issues are solved soon by Team Kodi but there is no timeline yet. This forced us to rework current CoreELEC device structure including the backport of Dolby Vision to Kodi Nexus. Right now Dolby Vision was onl…

[pretoriano80]

Wrong question !
You should ask “which Android TV firmware is required for DolbyVision support on CE?”.

Your device’s Android TV firmware must be v.5310 or higher ,just like i wrote in this guide .

With v5310 you will get DolbyVision in both CE20 and C21.
With firmwares versions lower than v5310 ,only certain (older) CE21-NE builds will have working DolbyVision .

[KodiKinG]

Thank you!

[Portisch]

Please add this to your guide:

Add possibility to use suspend mode when using CoreELEC on USB device

This modification do require advanced user skills by using a solder iron.

The USB 5V are controlled by a step-down converter. This converter do have a enable pin.
By pulling this pin high to Vin it get enabled. By pulling the enable pin low the converter is disabled.
The enable pin is controlled by the device u-boot by pull high/low a GPIO pin.
This GPIO pin will drive a simple Mosfet what will pull down the enable pin of the converter if set.

So when the Mosfet is removed the USB 5V are permanent on.

Homatics is not able to remove the code line in u-boot source what do set/clear this GPIO pin because it’s out of their control.

Location to find the Mosfet (Homatics Dune R4 Plus, PCB 2022.3.25, SMB.280.08D)

Mosfet assembled

Mosfet removed

The left upper pad is hard to get released as it’s the ground pin. So the heat of the solder iron is quickly removed.

Use at your own risk: can void warranty!