TX3 S905x3 coreelec with netflix addon can not play 1080p smooth

I have a android box TX3 S905x3 2/16GB. I installed Coreelec and Netflix addon. But when I watch Netflix, It is not smooth, dropped frames, CPU ~100% although I modding a big heat sink and fan, I also overclock GPU by ssh command and used fast uSD samsung calss 10 u1. While another s905x3 Beelink GT1 mini 2 plays well, perfectly,
coreleec info
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Cpu-Z Android
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Netflix Witcher 1080p
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Beelink Gt1

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Not enough power to play 1080p NF with software decoding. Set NF resolution to 720p.
Just the 922X boxes can NF inputstream 1080p playing proper.
Other boxes maybe can, but there is too high cpu usage/temp.

NF low bitrate streams can be played with 1080p on almost all 905xx devices, but high bitrate streams can be played at 1080p only on 922x devices.
Check the actual bitrate when you compare 2 devices. I can get many NF streams in 1080p on my S905x and S912 boxes, but all with low bitrate.

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The stream MUST to set auto. Therefore bitrate not changeable.Manual is only for development scope, and cause problems with all the streams

https://github.com/CastagnaIT/plugin.video.netflix/issues/365#issuecomment-562172856

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So Netflix 1080p only for S922X and S90x only 720p

Yes.
All other just trick, but not recommended, also from the NF addon devs do not recommend the manual setting for bitrates…

So forgive my noobish question, why can it handle 4k just fine with plex/kodi player? Is it something to do with streaming technology and more specifically software decoding? And if this is the case, why not just run netflix from the android side which supports hardware decoding?

To run NF in 4k you must have a box with Netflix certified Widevine L1. Only a limited number of boxes with Android have NF certified Widevine L1. Those boxes do 4k hardware decoding of NF streams and none of existing boxes/SBC-s without certified L1 can do hardware decoding for NF 4k streams. That is why they use software decoding and none to my knowledge have enough power to do 4k software decoding. Hence only 1080p and 720p are available, and then only for selected, mainly NF own, material…

So is the Kodi player / Plex Connect doing hardware decoding? I dont seem to get the frame skips with my 4k content using kodiplexconnect but the 1080p on netflix does.

Where can you use 1080p Netflix hardware decoding, which device and on which OS ?

It’s a Netflix limitation! You cannot play ANY NF 4k stream without Widevine L1 decription, and without Widevine L1 there is no hardware decoding for 4k Netflix streams!

I think we are talking past each other. I got a new s905x3 box. I set it up to connect to plex. It plays my 1080p and 4k files smoothly through plex. I then decide to try Netflix. It struggles with 1080p. I am told its a limitation of the hardware. So I ask why does it work fine on plex but not netflix, does plex somehow use hardware not software decoding? Then you tell me netflix is the problem. This doesnt explain why plex works fine on the same hardware. Well unless i can infer that plex is using hardware decoding?

PS I think xiaomi mi s has Widevine L1 as does nvidia shield and a few others.

Quick answer for you.
Plex is playing local media from your device either from a HDD or NAS I’m assuming. This media will use hardware decoding.
YouTube or Netflix are streaming content externally to your device. This cannot be hardware decoded without a Wildevine L1 license. This doesn’t exist currently on Coreelec and also needs to be licensed by the device manufacturer. The files will be software decoded and the limitation is the chip being used to decode. The S905X3 chip your using cannot handle 1080P if you want to decode 1080P use a S922X chip.

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There are some topics addressing netflix on kodi/CoreELEC here in the forum if you search correctly. In those topics you can verify that @Sholander appears in them quite often because he knows what he’s talking about. I ask you please to listen to those who try to help and may have more knowledge than you and respect everybody.

Yes I agree and i appreciated him for responding. I was just trying to get to the answer that alexbudd finally confirmed. I had a new box that seemed to work with 4k in some areas but couldn’t handle 1080p in others. Now i 100% know why. I don’t see how i was disrespectful trying to understand how plex was pulling off 4k while netflix couldn’t handle 1080p? I tried writing that post multiple ways to not sound like a jerk before hitting reply. I guess you still saw it as such. Sorry if i stepped on anyone’s toes but I appreciate alexbudd for understanding and guiding me to the answer I was looking for.

Yes, now I understand that it was really a question of understanding. No problem and sorry if I seemed harsh.

Just to clear it up for someone like me, stumbling over this thread.

Local Media from your Plex Server is not DRM Protected. So your file is MP4 encoded and your box has this Codec in Hardware to decode MP4

Neflix files are also MP4 files, so they are encoded, an your box could decode them in Hardware.
But in addition they are DRM protected=encrypted.
With widevine this decryption makes your video lag, because you CPU has to decrypt the streamed bitrate on the fly, higher quality=higher bitrate more CPU load.

On Android there is a app called “DRM Info” ther you can check if your Device is L1 or L3
L1=Full Hardware decryption=Full Resolution
L3=limited resolution (SD)
But if Netflix does’nt like your device or Vendor its blacklisted and L1 Device is L3 in Netflix app
You can check this in the Netflix app under Settings

On Linux there is no such inbuilt widevine layer, therfore all linux boxes will take the widevine implementation from chrome browser or better ChromeOS recoveryimage, with addon inputstream.adaptive. And it will fallback to software decryption

Thats the reason why our beloved boxes can’t play proper fullHD, they lack proper linux hardware widevine implementation.

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