Firestick 4k max (files with hdr10+ and dolby vision profile 8.1)

[bobaoapae]

Describe the bug

When playing a file that has hdr10+ and also dolby vision profile 8.1 image get full black or duplicate(check here).

This issue occours on all others players too, but kodi appers to have found a solution (here). Whe using this version i go do options -> video -> uncheck hdr10+ and video play smoth using Dolby Vision, if keep hdr10+ and dolby vision same issue happens, appers to have some problem with firestick decode that can't play a file with theses two codecs enabled, need to explicit configure player to use one or other

I can play the same file using this kodi modded version without any issue, but using exoplayer/libvlc on jellyfind don't work

Logs

No response

FFmpeg logs

No response

Media info of the file

Vídeo
Título: 4K HEVC HDR
Codec: HEVC
Perfil: Main 10
Nível: 150
Resolução: 3832x1596
Proporção da tela: 2.40:1
Entrelaçado: No
Taxa de quadros: 23.976025
Bitrate: 25167 kbps
Profundidade de bits: 10 bit
Intervalo do vídeo: HDR
Video range type: HDR10
DV title: DV Profile 8.1 (HDR10)
DV version major: 1
DV version minor: 0
DV profile: 8
DV level: 6
DV rpu preset flag: 1
DV el preset flag: 0
DV bl preset flag: 1
DV bl signal compatibility id: 1
Espaço de cor: bt2020nc
Transferência de cor: smpte2084
Cores primárias: bt2020
Formato de pixel: yuv420p10le
Quadros de referência: 1

Application version

latest

Device information

Amazon Firestick 4k max

Android version

latest

Jellyfin server version

latest

[bobaoapae]

Issue also reported on ExoPlayer now

https://github.com/google/ExoPlayer/issues/11096

[SubEdict]

Same. Is there any Kodi-Firestick fix to this issue that let me choose the HDR10+ and disables Dolby Vision? I'm with Samsung 4K TV Q95T (Only HDR10+, No DV). Firestick 4K Max, Kodi 20.1 latest nightly.

These files work fine from a PC and now that I got Firestick none of them identify the HDR10+. Unbelievable disappointed.

Can you please share the link to the Kodi version with the fix? The Kodi forum is down (been hacked).

[bobaoapae]

https://github.com/quietvoid/xbmc

This branch has the fix, it's in advanced config of the player

[SubEdict]

@bobaoapae Thank you very much, will test as soon as I can.

UPDATE: Installed and works great! (Tested 3 files with HDR10+DV) @KyleSanderson, Yep, that exactly what I did. Thanks.

FYI: LOL, now I got 2 Kodi versions on the "My Apps/Home" and both of them open the same old 20.1 (very strange). I thought, like in PC, it will replace the old version, didn't know about uninstall first (Glad I didn't because later on I copy the addon and userdata folders).

I'm able to launch the new 21-quietvoid from the Firestick Setting - Applications - Kodi 21 - Launch. Work fine, I hope it's ok? (Total newbie, less than 24 hours)

[KyleSanderson]

Either HDR10+ or DV should resolve the issue, just make sure you don't select both.

[bobaoapae]

I hope this issue receive some attention.. this it's a old bug already know on plex community but never get fixed by major players, kodi it's the first to release some kind of fix.

Libvlc has the same issue, mxplayer, justplayer, exoplayer.. and many others i tested, much of theses to depend on libvlc/exoplayer.

So if exoplayer or libvlc receive some fix this can propagate for several others players.

I already tested some kinds of "fix" in the code by my self but i really don't know nothing about codecs it's self to build the misssig logic arround... in my opnion player should check if has hdr10+ and dolby vision send just the best layer supported by display, at least on firestick due to have some bug on the decoder in the system that cause this bug.

[SubEdict]

Honesty, I have no idea how this issue doesn't get the highest exposure on the web. Where are the original devs? How come they didn't release this Kodi fork fix in the original nightly versions.

BTW, I see that the latest release was 3+ month ago (Jan 24), is it still maintained? There were so many other bug fixes in the original Kodi git. Any suggestion where else can I look for more updated/sync version?

Also, I already link your post to anyone else as the no'1 explanation + fix. :)

[KyleSanderson]

Honesty, I have no idea how this issue doesn't get the highest exposure on the web. Where are the original devs? How come they didn't release this Kodi fork fix in the original nightly versions.

BTW, I see that the latest release was 3+ month ago (Jan 24), is it still maintained? There were so many other bug fixes in the original Kodi git. Any suggestion where else can I look for more updated/sync version?

Also, I already link your post to anyone else as the no'1 explanation + fix. :)

The vast majority of jellyfin users are transcoding 480i and thinking that's the best they're going to get. Kodi is a bit better at 720p (down to 240p), but leaning on the latest codec and metadata combinations takes work from a developer who just isn't watching IPTV (which, unfortunately, is the vast majority).

Yes, it's a pretty pathetic situation honestly. However, there's a couple people trying to actually improve the ecosystem despite constant egos and "this worked on dialup", "media bitrates never exceed 1mbit/s", "Linux doesn't support HDR so I don't care", and every other fallacy under the sun.

[frezeen]

+1 need fix

[mikemulhearn]

I have this exact same issue with Fire TV 4K Max with Plex (same view as OP’s screenshot with the picture wrapping). I have no issues playing the same video through Plex on a 4K Fire TV (TV w/ Fire TV built-in). Wondering if this issue is specific to Fire TV 4K Max?

[rbjtech-github]

Yes it is - issue is the FireTV 4K Max. I have got around the issue by converting/fixing the DV8.1/HDR or DV8.1/HDR10+ media files - they now play just fine with Emby for FireTV (have yet to try JF - I'm just looking to transition..). Files prior to conversion worked fine on FireTV 4K, so issue is the Max I agree.

[tonihei]

I got around to investigate this a bit with a FireTV Stick 4K Ultra HD. It has the same decoders available I believe and it also fails to play the provided file with the Dolby Vision decoder on the device (despite the decoder claiming it supports this profile and level). If I force the HEVC fallback level decoder, it works just fine (but is of course no longer using Dolby Vision).

@ybai001 : Not sure if you also maintain these codecs, but it seems the Amazon Fire TV sticks have 3 different Dolby Vision codecs, and one of them has matching profile/level information to play the file in this issue: OMX.MTK.VIDEO.DECODER.DVHE.STH. However, the output is just black frames. Given the surprising number of reports in this issue recently, could it be that this was caused by some system update with a new codec binary?

If this issue is more permanent and can't be fixed by Dolby/Amazon, we could add a workaround in ExoPlayer to exclude this codec on these devices, but ideally we can just fix the underlying issue.

@ all issue reporters: The Kodi "fix" is basically what I described here: exclude the Dolby Vision decoder and force the fallback HEVC level decoder to play the video. You can do this manually in your ExoPlayer-based app by adding something like this on DefaultRenderersFactory (which can be set in ExoPlayer.Builder):

.setMediaCodecSelector(
  (mimeType, requiresSecureDecoder, requiresTunnelingDecoder) -> {
    if (mimeType.equals(MimeTypes.VIDEO_DOLBY_VISION)) {
      return ImmutableList.of();
    }
    return MediaCodecSelector.DEFAULT.getDecoderInfos(
      mimeType, requiresSecureDecoder, requiresTunnelingDecoder);
  })
``

[quietvoid]

@ all issue reporters: The Kodi "fix" is basically what I described here: exclude the Dolby Vision decoder and force the fallback HEVC level decoder to play the video.

No, that is not the case. You tested on the old 4K stick, not the 2021 4K Max.

On the 4K Max, even when forcing the regular HEVC decoder, it is still playing in Dolby Vision and outputs a blank image. Only the 4K Max behaves that way, it completely ignores the chosen decoder.

The only workaround has been to strip the Dolby Vision or HDR10+ from bitstream before passing the bytes to the decoder.

[rbjtech-github]

Are you sure the issue is not poorly created DV8 files ? I have seen the black output myself, but by running the 'correction/remux' using DoviTools - the files then play fine (with DV being triggered). Same with creating DV8 files from DV5 + HDR10, they play fine as well. Using the latest Exo in Emby actually, but assume JF issue would be the same.

[tonihei]

On the 4K Max, even when forcing the regular HEVC decoder, it is still playing in Dolby Vision and outputs a blank image. Only the 4K Max behaves that way, it completely ignores the chosen decoder.

This sounds very unusual. Are you certain it's not using the Dolby Vision decoder? You can verify this by looking at the logs in a bugreport or logcat.

Are you sure the issue is not poorly created DV8 files ?

I was working on the assumption that these a perfectly valid files that are also supported by other players. If the files are just broken media, then there is probably not much that can be done in the player and the media should be fixed instead.

[quietvoid]

This sounds very unusual. Are you certain it's not using the Dolby Vision decoder? You can verify this by looking at the logs in a bugreport or logcat.

Yes, the issue even affects users with displays that don't support Dolby Vision.

Are you sure the issue is not poorly created DV8 files ? I have seen the black output myself, but by running the 'correction/remux' using DoviTools - the files then play fine (with DV being triggered).

The files are perfectly valid here, it's just not super common for both HDR10+ and Dolby Vision to be in the same bitstream. I have no idea what this "correction" is doing but maybe it's just simply removing HDR10+.

[rbjtech-github]

I've had issues with DV8 (DV/HDR10) files with the same black screen symptom on the Max - a run though the correction/remux fixes those - so I assumed (incorrectly) that it fixed the DV/HDR10+ files as well. I just tested two 'fixed' DV/HDR10+ files and I still get the black screen. The standard DV8/HDR10 files are now all ok. So please disregard the above about it being fixed - it's not.

Apologies - my mistake !

[bobaoapae]

The test files run without problem in the same version of jellyfin on the TV it's self, issue only in the firestick.

Also this happens in all the majors players i tested on the firestick, it's a bug in the firestick but amazon don't assume the problem.

The only working solution it's the solution provided by some fork of Kodi, to enable disable Dolby or HDR10+, doing exactly what @quietvoid said, they remove the bytes from the stream.

[ybai001]

I got around to investigate this a bit with a FireTV Stick 4K Ultra HD. It has the same decoders available I believe and it also fails to play the provided file with the Dolby Vision decoder on the device (despite the decoder claiming it supports this profile and level). If I force the HEVC fallback level decoder, it works just fine (but is of course no longer using Dolby Vision).

@ybai001 : Not sure if you also maintain these codecs, but it seems the Amazon Fire TV sticks have 3 different Dolby Vision codecs, and one of them has matching profile/level information to play the file in this issue: OMX.MTK.VIDEO.DECODER.DVHE.STH. However, the output is just black frames. Given the surprising number of reports in this issue recently, could it be that this was caused by some system update with a new codec binary?

If this issue is more permanent and can't be fixed by Dolby/Amazon, we could add a workaround in ExoPlayer to exclude this codec on these devices, but ideally we can just fix the underlying issue.

@ all issue reporters: The Kodi "fix" is basically what I described here: exclude the Dolby Vision decoder and force the fallback HEVC level decoder to play the video. You can do this manually in your ExoPlayer-based app by adding something like this on DefaultRenderersFactory (which can be set in ExoPlayer.Builder):

.setMediaCodecSelector(
  (mimeType, requiresSecureDecoder, requiresTunnelingDecoder) -> {
    if (mimeType.equals(MimeTypes.VIDEO_DOLBY_VISION)) {
      return ImmutableList.of();
    }
    return MediaCodecSelector.DEFAULT.getDecoderInfos(
      mimeType, requiresSecureDecoder, requiresTunnelingDecoder);
  })
``

@tonihei , I'll check with Dolby internal stakeholder about this issue. Stay tuned.

BR, Yanning

[ybai001]

@tonihei , our Dolby QA tested some Dolby Vision Profile 8, Level = 6, CCID = 1 contents on Amazon Firestick 4K max. There is no this kind of issue. Could you help to share the media with me for testing? You can send a link to [email protected].

[bobaoapae]

@tonihei , our Dolby QA tested some Dolby Vision Profile 8, Level = 6, CCID = 1 contents on Amazon Firestick 4K max. There is no this kind of issue. Could you help to share the media with me for testing? You can send a link to [email protected].

Can I send? I have some files here with this problem in firestick 4k max.

[ybai001]

@tonihei , our Dolby QA tested some Dolby Vision Profile 8, Level = 6, CCID = 1 contents on Amazon Firestick 4K max. There is no this kind of issue. Could you help to share the media with me for testing? You can send a link to [email protected].

Can I send? I have some files here with this problem in firestick 4k max.

@bobaoapae, tonihei has already sent us the test stream and we can reproduce this issue now. The corresponding engineers are analyzing this issue. Stay tuned.

[theinfguy]

Is there an update on this?

Also having major issues playing back content on the 4K Max.

[ybai001]

Let me check with team whether they can provide some feedback early this week. Thanks for your patient.

[ybai001]

Here is feedback from corresponding team.

First of all, they did some testing. Playing the stream with HDR10+ and Dolby Vision stream on Firestick and Amazon Cube TV

• FireStick 4k Max – Video playback is black, Audio is Good.
• Amazon Fire TV Cube – Video playback is fine (selects Dolby Vision), Audio is Good. Exoplayer used is v2.11.apk from Dolby Vision Source SDK v2.6 LA.

So, as of now it looks like on few devices having good playback and other devices it is black.

The team is still consulting the Amazon team why the variation is observed on amazon devices.

[bobaoapae]

This problem it's a little old... just got more attention theses days.

reference: https://forum.makemkv.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=29757

[Marvellll]

Im having the same issue of black screen on dv hdr files on my firestick 4k max. I hope there will be a fix. I can provide files with the issue if needed

[bobaoapae]

@ybai001 hello any news on that?

[ybai001]

@ybai001 hello any news on that?

Our engineering team is consulting Amazon team but has not got feedback by now. :(

[ghost]

damn not even dolby getting a response from anazon? they should really give out refunds for their shitty device