I’ve never been able to play 4K VP9 videos smoothly in any Android TV boxes so far. It’s possible in Nvidia Shield Android TV, but the device is relatively expensive, and hard to source in many parts of the world, and NEXBOX A5 is the first Android TV Box I own capable of handling 4K VP9 @ 60 fps thanks to Amlogic S905X processor.
So I tested 3 4K Vp9 video using MoviePlayer app pre-loaded in the device:
- 4K Hawaii Sunset _ GoPro Hero 4 Black 4k@30fps-I7CycuMpQ3w.webm – 3840×2160 resolution @ 30 fps; no audio; ~24 Mbps; Downloaded from YouTube with youtube-dl script
- phfx_4KHD_VP9TestFootage.webm – 3840×2160 resolution @ 25 fps; no audio; ~14 Mbps
- The.Curvature.of.Earth.4K.60FPS-YT-UceRgEyfSsc.VP9.3840×2160.OPUS.160K.webm – 3840×2160 resolution @ 60 fps; Opus audio; ~30 Mbps
As you’ll see in the video below, the good news is that all three videos could be played relatively smoothly.
The not-so-good news are that the player does not currently support Opus audio (minor issue should should be easily fixable by software), it was not perfectly smooth (although watchable), and the version of Kodi 16.1 inside the device does not support VP9 hardware video decoding just yet.
NEXBOX A5 firmware is actually work in progress, and the company is also waiting for a new version of Amlogic SDK. Google Play Store and related Google services are not installed, so I have not tried 4K videos in YouTube, one of the main reason to get VP9 support. However, I understand that Android TV is required for support for 4K YouTube videos, so only a handful of devices should support it, but who knows maybe there will be workarounds.
Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.
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what about very high biterate VP9 videos like 60+ Mbps
does HEVC and h.264 have any improvements in this version
Hello, i’m curious if the issue of Amlogic s905 rev B, fixed with rev C, of some hevc 4k videos (like Astra canal+ promotion channel) are now fixed with s905x, thanks in advance
Hi @cnxsoft!
Could you please try the following file:
ftp://serv.valdikss.org.ru/Downloads/4K%20Video/tara-no9-vp9.webm
This is VP9 59.94 fps with peak bitrate of 40 Mbit/s and Vorbis audio.
@natsu
Please provide a sample. I only have 30 Mbps VP9 videos.
@Anthony
Yes, the 4K 10-bit HEVC DVB-S2 stream I have is now playing fine.
@ValdikSS
That video plays perfectly, and audio is OK.
Could you VP9 try a Kodi v17.0 “Krypton” nightly build?
http://mirrors.kodi.tv/nightlies/android/arm/
http://kodi.wiki/view/Developer_builds
@Harley
Please point me to the commit for VP9 audio codec support for Amlogic S905X/S912 processors
Links for?
phfx_4KHD_VP9TestFootage.webm – 3840×2160 resolution @ 25 fps; no audio; ~14 Mbps
The.Curvature.of.Earth.4K.60FPS-YT-UceRgEyfSsc.VP9.3840×2160.OPUS.160K.webm – 3840×2160 resolution @ 60 fps; Opus audio; ~3
@war59312
Normally all the sample I use are @ http://www.cnx-software.com/2010/03/17/where-to-get-video-audio-and-image-samples/
@ValdikSS
By the way, I can see the video is available @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Vk3qJ4LwAw
Did you download it, or encode it yourself?