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[FIX] Yoga tablet 2 10" display sharpness fix (UPDATE for Lollipop)

Why Yoga tablet 2 screen looks so blurred and sharpened at the same time
Have you been wondering why your screen on the 10" Yoga tablet 2 with KitKat doesn't look really crisp even with some obvious sharpening applied? Here is why!
Lenovo screwed up twice!
1. Blur filter is applied. (KitKat ONLY) The BIOS/bootloader defines wrong display resolution. The Intel graphics driver (i915) gets confused and switches on panel fitting which includes a blur filter (fuzzy filter). Normally this is used if the display resolution is different from the frame buffer resolution to scale the image. Here the device just scales 1:1 and applies the filter. Luckily the driver is open source and it turns out there is a way to overwrite this feature No longer true for Lollipop. Thanks Lenovo
2. Sharpen filter is applied. (KitKat and Lollipop) The panel is not programmed correctly. When disabling the CABC feature (/sys/lcd_panel/cabc_onoff) the sharpening effect is gone. But CABC should have nothing to do with sharpen. Unfortunately the specs of the display (AUO B101UAN01.E) are not public so I cannot verify if the correct MIPI DSI commands are sent to the panel.
So our display is softened then sharpened again! What a waste!
Both workarounds are only temporary. After each screen off/screen on sequence the old values are restored by the system. So we need an app which sets the values after the screen is switched on. Or a new kernel. Or Lenovo cares to fix it in a future release
Fix (Root partially required)
I wrote an app which can disable CABC / sharpness filter (requires ROOT) and can disable the blur filter (KitKat, no root required) . Of course I am not held responsible if you brick or burn your tablet. I tested this on my 1050F with rooted firmware S000143_150105.
1. Copy app to device and install
2. Start app and select your setting
3. The settings may apply only after switching screen off and on again.
Source on Github:
http://github.com/Matshias/yoga2sharpness
Bugs / issues
- may not work directly after reboot, only after screen on/off
- fullscreen video may switch on CABC/sharpness filter again
Any suggestions? I'd be really happy if you could test and report
Cheers!
Matt
Update Jan 21
make more reliable and add complete source
Update Jan 26
Reliable implementation as app which automates this process.
Update Jan 30
new version 1.1 (please uninstall old version!):
- add option to start at boot and enable/disable applying the settings at screen on for manual operation
- add little delay after screen on for more reliable operation
- app should be harder to kill by the system
Update Feb 2
new version 1.1.1:
- Fix occasional reboot issue when using the setting on display on. Turns out Android sends screen on broadcasts sometimes even if the display is off. This causes a crash if the filter settings are applied.
Update Feb 11
new version 1.1.2 (please uninstall old version):
- hopefully ultimately fix reboot issues by using different method to start on boot
Update Apr 30
tested with new firmware S000198_150422. Same as before. Lenovo has not fixed the issue, but the app works like before
Update June 3
New version 1.1.3:
- fix full screen video playback re-enabling CABC/sharpness filter. As for CABC itself root is required.
Update June 17
Update for Lollipop version 1.2.0:
- blur filter disable no longer needed
- sharpness filter is still present. If root becomes available for Lollipop this should work there too
Update June 19
Fix for rooted Lollipop - version 1.2.1:
- the mechanism for sharpness filter disable from 1.2.0 didn't work, probably due to SE Linux restrictions

Matshias, you are a legend!
I bought a Yoga 2 10" a couple of weeks ago and the odd blurred and sharpened effect ruins what is otherwise a great little tablet. I'd always suspected it was some kind of odd scaling issue, but I haven't had time or sufficient Android knowledge (or root access on my device) to properly investigate it, beyond making up some test images with alternate 1 pixel wide black/white lines - which were rendering as grey on the Yoga 2.
I had a support ticket raised with Lenovo about the issue, so I've referred them to this post and one on the Lenovo Community forums.
Thanks for your hard work, hopefully Lenovo will implement the fix in a software update soon!
Cheers,
Richard

Thank you!
matshias: Thank you.
The blur filter disable makes a HUGE difference. I really appreciate you taking the time to post your results, hopefully Lenovo will take note and implement a permanent fix.

workes
Hi!
I have just started using your app with the latest firmware on a 1050L.
0) Unrooted device
1) installed your app and applied the non-root part of the fix - worked after screen on/off
2) rooted device with temporary cwm solution from this parent thread (- which worked as well)
3) applied the root-required part of the fix from your app - works as well
Thank you for this!

Great great great! Like the others here I was looking for a solution to this Problem since I bought the tablet.
I am really satisfied with your APP, now everything is way sharper.
BUT: When I test the screens resolution with a screen test APP, only the horizontal ( long sides) resolution seems to be right now. The vertical resolution (short sides) is still just grey, when testing single pixel lines.
Do you have the same Problem, what could cause this?

fanatictentacle said:
Great great great! Like the others here I was looking for a solution to this Problem since I bought the tablet.
I am really satisfied with your APP, now everything is way sharper.
BUT: When I test the screens resolution with a screen test APP, only the horizontal ( long sides) resolution seems to be right now. The vertical resolution (short sides) is still just grey, when testing single pixel lines.
Do you have the same Problem, what could cause this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I see the same if the sharpness filter/CABC is still switched on. If you have root then try disabling the sharpness filter as well and then the screen test look fine. Obviously the sharpness filter in the panel is not uniform in all directions and seems to prefer horizontal resolution (in landscape mode).

Thanks again for the advice!
I just had to enable root, really cant look at that horrid screen anymore! But now it really looks as sharp as an 240ppi Display should look like!

problem
After installing the app I have problems.
In 10 minutes my tablet rebooted 3 times . Android not asked to reboot.
It was crash of sistem. My system is rooted.
After uninstalling I had no problems.
Regurds

Yosef said:
After installing the app I have problems.
In 10 minutes my tablet rebooted 3 times . Android not asked to reboot.
It was crash of sistem. My system is rooted.
After uninstalling I had no problems.
Regurds
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you use the start on boot feature? This might cause it. I uploaded new version 1.1.2 which should fix that problem. Let me know if it works for you.

this is a fantastic fix, one that Lenovo should have implemented themselves
actually when i just got the tablet over christmas, it was running older firmware in which the blur filter was actually not enabled. yes i now realize the text was "over sharp" but it was clear, and what i expected for the price (i.e. not double the price for a galaxy tab S) but i was fine with the sharpness, it looked good, and the tablet otherwise suits my needs perfectly, and gotta love that built in stand. i didn't even know what people meant about the image quality, considering the mid-range target audience of the tablet.
anyway, i recently got the OTA firmware update to the current S000143_150105 and that's when it messed everything up. it enabled the blur filter, and it looked HORRIBLE. i tried to accept it because at 1 ft from the tablet, the text actually looked all right, perhaps even a slight improvement because it was slightly softer. but the blur filter is applied to EVERYTHING, so all the images and everything on the screen was blurred....it was like looking at an HD monitor with a state of the art GeForce video card but using the standard windows video drivers...everything stretched and totally blurry.
this is a great fix, i don't have my tablet rooted and don't want to take the potential battery hit to disable the sharpening filter (since i think it looks good just with the blur filter disabled). it might be in my head though, but i feel like the system is a little more sluggish...maybe due to the update, maybe because of this (great) app...i wish lenovo would fix this, seems easy enough. sours me to an otherwise great tablet for the price.
speaking of battery, i noticed in the last day after installing the fix that my tablet powered off sometime during the day, and when i restarted, the battery had drained about 30%. and it continued to drain faster than before. i previously got well over 10 hours of usage time playing movies and web browsing, in addition to up to several days of standby....today i had to charge it within 24 hours and only got about 7 hours use time and 13 hours standby...any chance it's related to the fix, or has anyone experienced it after the firmware update?

@digitalatlas: Thanks for testing the app.
Regarding your observations, I don't think sluggishness can be attributed to the app. After all it doesn't do much. Only when the screen is switched on or you manually start the app it changes the kernel setting. So it really shouldn't have any impact on performance.
The battery life should also not be affected by the app itself. It does not have any background tasks other than the kernel setting mentioned above and it shouldn't wake up the device as well. Although I saw occasionally that my app gets informed that the screen was switched on even though the screen was not switched on. That caused some reboot issues. But that was fixed with version 1.1.1 and 1.1.2 and I didn't see a reboot since I use 1.1.2. Also there are reports of hangs/reboots by other users unrelated to my app. Anyways it might be the case that changing the kernel setting has some other effect on the hardware, kernel and battery life. According to Intel documentation the filter is not meant to be switched on or off while the display is active. However, it is the only time it is possible to change it in our system. So to be sure we have to test and disable/uninstall the app and see if the battery life improves.
Hopefully Lenovo fixes this with an upcoming update!

Thanks!
Just got this tablet in the mail today and was disappointed by its display. So grateful for your fix, its like night and day with the blur gone. Guess I have a good reason to root now to get rid of the sharpness too. Mind me asking what method you used to root for this firmware?

Falv said:
Just got this tablet in the mail today and was disappointed by its display. So grateful for your fix, its like night and day with the blur gone. Guess I have a good reason to root now to get rid of the sharpness too. Mind me asking what method you used to root for this firmware?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I used the temporary CWM method [GUIDE] CWM & Root Lenovo Yoga 2 (8/10/13)
It is easy enough and works fine, but keep in mind that there might be issues with OTAs.

I'll keep track of the battery over the next little while, hopefully it was just an aberration that first charge. I'm getting better results with this second charge since the update and your fix.
Could you or someone post a picture shoeing the effect of turning the sharpening filter off? Might help some of us decide it rooting is in fact worthwhile. Thanks!

digitalatlas said:
I'll keep track of the battery over the next little while, hopefully it was just an aberration that first charge. I'm getting better results with this second charge since the update and your fix.
Could you or someone post a picture shoeing the effect of turning the sharpening filter off? Might help some of us decide it rooting is in fact worthwhile. Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried taking pictures but it doesn't really show the effect. Instead I made two screenshots and recreated the filter with GIMP. It should be very close to what the panel does.

Does anybody have any info from Lenovo? I think that this is preposterous! How can someone do that and have it go through testing? Unless there were no tests at all.
Buying Lenovo was a mistake.

v1.2 tested on my new 1050F. Awesome. I was disapointed by the screen but now it's perfect. Thank you so much to have done this patch!

+1
AMAZING PICTURE QUALITY!!.
Without blur picture is good, but witchout blur and sharpness image quality is FU…NG AWSOME!!
THANKS!!!!!

saupiquet said:
v1.2 tested on my new 1050F. Awesome. I was disapointed by the screen but now it's perfect. Thank you so much to have done this patch!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1
Great app, thank you

Are you all running this with rooted devices? Mine is not yet rooted but notice a big difference with this app. How much better is it if I was to root the device? Thank you so much for this fix. I recieved my tablet today and was very disappointed with the display.

Found a fully functioning ATSC tv tuner.

Hello all,
I just wanted to let all who are interested know that the MyGica A681 USB stick works 100%. I have it hooked up to one of those flat window mount antennas and it receives full HD signal that I view through the PadTV app found on Play Store. The PadTV app lacks in a lot of ways, it would be cool if someone around here was able to come up with something better. A few of the channels have a major A/V delay but it may be due to reception and not the tuner stick or app. Overall, it was a very worthwhile purchase for me, if anyone has any questions let me know.
Hopefully this is useful information for a cord-cutter somewhere. I'm not in any way affiliated with MyGica, just a fellow MOJO owner who couldn't find any info on a TV Tuner stick that would work with our boxes so I took the dive on my own.

Thanks buddy, this is a great discovery!

AndroidSupaFan said:
Thanks buddy, this is a great discovery!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No problem. I've pretty much been doing a lot of my own discovering what works since there's not much documentation for our devices. Like I said in my first post, it would be awesome if someone around here was able to come up with something better for a channel surfing app. PadTV gets the job done, but it's certainly not the prettiest. I forgot to mention that it also does DVR, but one of my issues is that it will only save to internal storage and not something like an external drive or an SD card. The channel info/current episode descriptions are several hours behind. If theres a button on my remote for Channel +/-, I haven't found it. You have to use your mouse to bring up and scroll through channels. Again, it gets the job done, I can watch 39 or so OTA channels, and quite a few of which are HD. It's just not the most MOJO friendly UI, since it was intended for phones.
Some other things I use daily that work 100%: Ouya controller (as 2nd controller), Plugables brand 7x USB 3.0 hub, & a Rii Mini i8 keyboard. Obviously stuff like my Logitech Bluetooth receiver that I run to my stereo also works to receive audio from MOJO. My USB wired Logitech PC game controller works great as well.
Just trying to help fellow XDA'ers and Googlers not worry about compatibility before they order something like I did. That said, most if not all of my worries were completely unfounded because everything I've thrown at the MOJO so far works like a charm!

Would a wired XBox 360 controller work?

psxfa said:
Would a wired XBox 360 controller work?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't have one to test but I'm 99% sure it would.

I'd just like to clarify a point: it may sound like nitpicking, but it's not the PadTV app that works; it's the PadTV-HD app. The standard PadTV just says it can't find a device.
That being said, the little MyGica is a little giant. I live in a fringe reception area, for decent reception I need a huge rooftop antenna, but this little thumb-drive-sized receiver still picks up a round dozen stations on the 10-cm piece of coat hanger wire it comes with. Yes, the weaker stations have audio lag problems; I hope a better antenna fixes that. It also costs about half what other similar units do, and most of them work on windows only.
I tried a few of the other TV apps on Play Store but the PadTV-HD was the only one that recognized the A681. I didn't find it all that bad an interface, except that the sidebars won't stay in place longer than a couple seconds, and I couldn't find a setting for that. It also lacks a volume control, as the MOJO itself does, so you must hope you have some control somewhere else. And there is no info in the EPG (electronic program guide) even though it appears to have that function. But I was able to find and watch several different channels without any real problems; except, of course, that TV programming in general sucks. Unless you're a sports fan.
So thanks, @tideee88, for the heads-up here!

kevinthefixer said:
I'd just like to clarify a point: it may sound like nitpicking, but it's not the PadTV app that works; it's the PadTV-HD app. The standard PadTV just says it can't find a device.
That being said, the little MyGica is a little giant. I live in a fringe reception area, for decent reception I need a huge rooftop antenna, but this little thumb-drive-sized receiver still picks up a round dozen stations on the 10-cm piece of coat hanger wire it comes with. Yes, the weaker stations have audio lag problems; I hope a better antenna fixes that. It also costs about half what other similar units do, and most of them work on windows only.
I tried a few of the other TV apps on Play Store but the PadTV-HD was the only one that recognized the A681. I didn't find it all that bad an interface, except that the sidebars won't stay in place longer than a couple seconds, and I couldn't find a setting for that. It also lacks a volume control, as the MOJO itself does, so you must hope you have some control somewhere else. And there is no info in the EPG (electronic program guide) even though it appears to have that function. But I was able to find and watch several different channels without any real problems; except, of course, that TV programming in general sucks. Unless you're a sports fan.
So thanks, @tideee88, for the heads-up here!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, thank you for mentioning that it is in fact the PadTV HD app. Hope I didn't cause anyone any confusion. I also had no luck trying other tuner apps and I tried literally every one available on Play Store (including non-ATSC ones) and even tried sideloading a few because I dislike PadTV HD so much.
I agree that the MyGica stick is a great little device. I'm really impressed with it when it's able to do it's thing properly. I never tried the dinky little antenna it came with, I ordered a 25-mile distance flat window-mount antenna and it gets me about 39 channels here in Pittsburgh, PA. Lots of them are HD, and look and sound great. However, many of the Play Store reviews for PadTV HD seem to indicate that the slow motion, lag, and stuttering are a result of the app not taking advantage of hardware acceleration and thus is trying to encode 1080p on the fly via software rendering or something to that effect. Other than the mild inconveniences of things like not having a dedicated button for CH +/- and as you noted, the channel info being totally useless, it's a real bummer that I can't even get the channels I could be getting if it weren't for a poorly written app that is unfortunately our only option at the moment. I feel as though this is a real hole that could be filled with the rate at which Android set top boxes are becoming popular.
I mostly purchased this because the only time I ever need to watch broadcast TV is when my Steelers are on and hence have no use to pay for cable. I'm really hoping we have a new app sorted out before football season because FOX is one of the channels that currently comes in very laggy and out of sync for me at the moment.
Your MOJO doesn't have volume control, though? It certainly should. Do the hardkeys not work on your C.T.R.L.R.? Android system volume works perfect for me in all apps. Failing that, I've found you can change the volume in Pad TV HD by clicking somewhere in the video frame and dragging your mouse up or down, like a swipe if it were touch. Hopefully that helps!

tideee88 said:
Yes, thank you for mentioning that it is in fact the PadTV HD app. Hope I didn't cause anyone any confusion. I also had no luck trying other tuner apps and I tried literally every one available on Play Store (including non-ATSC ones) and even tried sideloading a few because I dislike PadTV HD so much.
I agree that the MyGica stick is a great little device. I'm really impressed with it when it's able to do it's thing properly. I never tried the dinky little antenna it came with, I ordered a 25-mile distance flat window-mount antenna and it gets me about 39 channels here in Pittsburgh, PA. Lots of them are HD, and look and sound great. However, many of the Play Store reviews for PadTV HD seem to indicate that the slow motion, lag, and stuttering are a result of the app not taking advantage of hardware acceleration and thus is trying to encode 1080p on the fly via software rendering or something to that effect. Other than the mild inconveniences of things like not having a dedicated button for CH +/- and as you noted, the channel info being totally useless, it's a real bummer that I can't even get the channels I could be getting if it weren't for a poorly written app that is unfortunately our only option at the moment. I feel as though this is a real hole that could be filled with the rate at which Android set top boxes are becoming popular.
I mostly purchased this because the only time I ever need to watch broadcast TV is when my Steelers are on and hence have no use to pay for cable. I'm really hoping we have a new app sorted out before football season because FOX is one of the channels that currently comes in very laggy and out of sync for me at the moment.
Your MOJO doesn't have volume control, though? It certainly should. Do the hardkeys not work on your C.T.R.L.R.? Android system volume works perfect for me in all apps. Failing that, I've found you can change the volume in Pad TV HD by clicking somewhere in the video frame and dragging your mouse up or down, like a swipe if it were touch. Hopefully that helps!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'll try the volume control thing. I'm using CM12.1 and maybe it has a volume control somewhere but I haven't found it yet, I'm used to hardware switches. I'm not using the CTRLR either, just a keyboard & mouse. I'm still working on display resolution problems, as I don't really have the right display hardware for the MOJO, and it's picky that way. I'm about to give up entirely on the powered HDMI-2-VGA adapter to the 1280x1024 computer monitor, too unreliable even just in Android. Neither it nor the HDMI-2-DVI cable to the old Dell monitor will display at all in recovery, for that I have to commandeer the living room and the only true HDMI display in the house, which is a projector--not the best setup for tweaking a device. Still doing my homework on tweaking TWRP to 720P which I hope will solve that problem.

kevinthefixer said:
I'll try the volume control thing. I'm using CM12.1 and maybe it has a volume control somewhere but I haven't found it yet, I'm used to hardware switches. I'm not using the CTRLR either, just a keyboard & mouse. I'm still working on display resolution problems, as I don't really have the right display hardware for the MOJO, and it's picky that way. I'm about to give up entirely on the powered HDMI-2-VGA adapter to the 1280x1024 computer monitor, too unreliable even just in Android. Neither it nor the HDMI-2-DVI cable to the old Dell monitor will display at all in recovery, for that I have to commandeer the living room and the only true HDMI display in the house, which is a projector--not the best setup for tweaking a device. Still doing my homework on tweaking TWRP to 720P which I hope will solve that problem.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm running a rooted stock rom via HDMI so I'm not sure about your display issues as I haven't had any. But I use a bluetooth keyboard/mouse most of the time and the volume hardkeys work on that as well. If your keyboard has volume hardkeys and they don't work, it may be some sort of issue with your rom. AFAIK, my keyboard's drivers are just generic Windows ones.

tideee88 said:
I'm running a rooted stock rom via HDMI so I'm not sure about your display issues as I haven't had any. But I use a bluetooth keyboard/mouse most of the time and the volume hardkeys work on that as well. If your keyboard has volume hardkeys and they don't work, it may be some sort of issue with your rom. AFAIK, my keyboard's drivers are just generic Windows ones.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same display issues regardless of ROM. AFAIK there are only four, and I tried them all. (This is a very rare instance of me following my own advice: try all the different flavors before deciding on a favorite.) Several people have reported similar issues while in system but I think I'm unique in the recovery problem. Changing the resolution by editing the build.prop improved my display in system but did nothing in recovery; I will just have to carry the MOJO into the living room whenever I need to use recovery, which shouldn't be that often. The bright side is that I learned to unpack and repack recovery images.
My keyboard is a wired mini with no extra room for media keys, but it does have a third control key (FN) to emulate them. But I can't see the blue-on-black icons to use them unless the room is brightly lit! Volume control is not a biggie for me though, I run the audio through a seventies-vintage amp and speakers. I pity those who grew up with "modern" surround sound, satellite speakers and a single subwoofer. My setups often fool both myself and the dogs, we can't tell if the noise is outside the open door or inside the TV.
BTW Windows keyboard drivers won't work on Android, but it's such a low-level thing they are just included in the kernel. Somewhere in the ROM is a keyboard map that can be edited (with root of course), but I misremember where. I never had to remap a keyboard.

PadTV HD app no longer works for me as of the latest update. For anyone considering purchasing a tuner, I recommend against it. Flushed $40 down the toilet.

If you'd like I'll send you the old version, I'll just need to save it then upload it. You'd just have to uninstall the newer version then sideload the old one and not allow it to update. Just PM me.

kevinthefixer said:
If you'd like I'll send you the old version, I'll just need to save it then upload it. You'd just have to uninstall the newer version then sideload the old one and not allow it to update. Just PM me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can you please send me the version that works?

Video playback on Remix - extremely choppy please help before I go insane!

I posted a thread up a while ago about playback being poor on Remix with 50Hz content (mods please delete that thread thank you), but it seems following a recent fresh install that all video playback is absolutely terrible no matter how I approach it.
I use an external WD 2Tb drive which connects via Stickmount. This is working fine for roms and also on other units (Ouya, Rpi2 etc). It's a mains powered drive and I plug it directly into the USB 2 slot and then into the wall so it doesn't use the MOJO's power. My telly admittedly isn't the best - it's an old Samsung 32" HD Ready thing that usually only goes to 720p (but will detect and utilise 1080p as evidenced by my Ouya) but it has never displayed this issue before. Ouya playback wasn't amazing, but it was way better than I'm experiencing here.
No matter what media player I use, be it Kodi, SPMC, MX Player, VLC or even directly from the gallery, all playback from local files on the drive (mp4, MKV, avi, divx and so on) is extremely choppy. Frames seem to be dropping, jumping and lagging, making video viewing unbearable. At first I thought it was the media player, but no matter what I settings I adjust the video will stutter. I've tried my own recommended settings, and many different types of combinations but nothing stops it. Believe me, I've spent hours at this! I've even tried changing out the HDMI cable for something better but it's made no difference.
So now I'm pretty confident this is happening at system level and cannot be addressed in the player's settings. There must be a setting somewhere that needs to be addressed to enable better video playback. Please please help me, I am going insane. Or could it be the TV and I should buy a proper HD set?
Either way, help me end this madness please!

Too late to get help before you go insane--you're addicted to Androids.
Do you have the same problem streaming from the internet? That would tell us if it's an input or output problem. Also, don't let's overlook the obvious--are you plugging in the HDD into the USB3 port or the USB2? Have you tried copying a file to a good fast microSD card and playing it from there? (the Samsung EVOs recently dropped in price dramatically). And it might be worth trying out CM12.1 again too. Maybe even trying a different USB cable to the HDD. But you didn't have this problem before you reinstalled RemixOS, did you? I'm rambling but I want to get as many ideas out before my short-term memory loss kicks in. But I would think the MOJO has plenty of horsepower on any Lollipop ROM to play videos at 1080p. Resource hog running in the background? Did you try a task killer?

kevinthefixer said:
Too late to get help before you go insane--you're addicted to Androids.
Do you have the same problem streaming from the internet? That would tell us if it's an input or output problem. Also, don't let's overlook the obvious--are you plugging in the HDD into the USB3 port or the USB2? Have you tried copying a file to a good fast microSD card and playing it from there? (the Samsung EVOs recently dropped in price dramatically). And it might be worth trying out CM12.1 again too. Maybe even trying a different USB cable to the HDD. But you didn't have this problem before you reinstalled RemixOS, did you? I'm rambling but I want to get as many ideas out before my short-term memory loss kicks in. But I would think the MOJO has plenty of horsepower on any Lollipop ROM to play videos at 1080p. Resource hog running in the background? Did you try a task killer?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for your detailed reply!
1. Playing video via the YouTube app looks fine.
2. The HDD is plugged in via USB2. The CTRLR dongle is in the USB3 slot.
3. Haven't tried playing a file via SD Card. I have a good Sandisk one somewhere and will give it a go. Good idea.
4. Will certainly try a newer USB cable as I do like to eliminate the obvious and easy solutions first where possible. But no, I did not have this issue with the Rpi or the Ouya.
5. I will try a task killer but like you I don't think this is the issue. Going into Remix settings there doesn't seem to be anything reported as taking up a lot of memory.
Two things I have tried since posting. First was playing the same files with OSMC on Rpi2, and second was changing the HQ scaling on the MOJO in SPMC. On OSMC I notice I do seem to have a duff file, one in particular that first got me worried, but I was still getting some judder with other files. As for HQ scaling, my Google Fu reveals the usual recommended setting is 20% rather than the default 0%. But after playing with it, I've put it right up to 70% and this seriously seems to have helped. I'll keep playing and see how it works across different files. It's such a shame that Android doesn't switch the display mode like Linux does on demand.
I don't think it's the fault of Remix any more tbh. I'm pretty sure I can get this right. But there's a lot of trial and error and I have a lot of varying content to cater for. However if all else fails I will indeed give CM 12.1 another go. Unless there's going to be a CM 13 soon....
Again, thanks for your help.

I think first I'd try swapping the dongle and the HDD, see if the USB3 port does it. Next another USB cable, is the HDD USB3 compliant? If so make sure the cable is also.
I wouldn't count on any more development happening for the MOJO. Aside from Mad Catz, there has been only one developer working on it, and I haven't seen any posts from him lately. CM makes it as easy as humanly possible to port their ROM to any given machine, and they publish a guide for it, so next time I have a few months off I might try to aquire that skill. But don't hold your breath.

The HDD is USB2 only. I'm going to try a shorter cable I think, if I can find one in my cupboard, but I'm hoping I've fixed it in the settings for now. I hope so anyway as I really like Remix OS and don't want to change.
No, I don't have any expectation of any further development really. I just remember UJD talking about the possibility of CM13 but that was some time ago. To be honest though if there was never another made for the MOJO, it wouldn't upset me very much. We already have three or four brilliant options on 5.1.1 that are a huge step up from the stock rom. I consider myself very spoilt for choice.

K-Project said:
The HDD is USB2 only. I'm going to try a shorter cable I think, if I can find one in my cupboard, but I'm hoping I've fixed it in the settings for now. I hope so anyway as I really like Remix OS and don't want to change.
No, I don't have any expectation of any further development really. I just remember UJD talking about the possibility of CM13 but that was some time ago. To be honest though if there was never another made for the MOJO, it wouldn't upset me very much. We already have three or four brilliant options on 5.1.1 that are a huge step up from the stock rom. I consider myself very spoilt for choice.
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Ya, I feel exactly the same way. FWIW I also feel that way about my Asus TFs; I now have marshmallow ROMs for TF300 and TF700, and the performance from 3 and 4-yr-old tablets is amazing.

[GUIDE] Using OnePlus 8 on LineageOS 18.1 as gaming console (HDMI out etc)

Hi guys, I just got a OnePlus 8 and loaded LineageOS 18.1 onto it and wanted to use it to play games on my 4K TV.
The following is a list of the problems and solutions I encountered to get there.
First, I used a USB-C to HDMI adapter on my 4K TV.
I connect my DualShock 4 to it via bluetooth for a console experience.
a) Problem 1 - Full screen output is shifted to the right slightly (black bar on left side)
Solution 1 - I rooted and used this Magisk module here with the OnePlus 8 preset. It requires enabling in Developer settings (Cutouts) after installation.
https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/module-n3o-no-nonsense-notch-overlay.4226413/
b) Problem 2 - Aspect was weird (black bars on top and bottom)
Solution 2 - SecondScreen with the resolution set to 1080p fixed this. Full screen on TV.
c) Problem 3 - Despite setting SecondScreen to 1080p, phone was outputting to my 4K TV at 4K30Hz (and presumably just upscaling). Horrible input lag and frame rates. I could find NO SETTING to change this anywhere. ADB commands such as adb shell wm size etc had no effect and I think are just what SecondScreen uses behind the scenes as they produced a similar effect. But when I connected it to my 1080p monitor there were no issues, things were smooth and responsive so....
Solution 3 - I bought something like one of these: an EDID emulator for HDMI and it is working like a charm. Fools the phone into thinking the TV's max res is 1080p and so the phone outputs at that. Now buttery smooth frame rates.
https://www.amazon.com/Passthrough-Generrtion-Headlesskeep-Extenders-3840x2160/dp/B08RCMFLMK/
d) Problem 4 - Brightness on phone weirdly tied to brightness on TV. I had to run it at full backlight to get full brightness on TV
Solution 4 - Disabling the display anti-flicker setting seemed to unlink the brightness on the phone and TV. Now I can play at normal brightness on TV with zero on phone (set by SecondScreen)
e) Problem 5 - Using a phone as a video game console uses battery.
Solution 5 - Got a new USB-C adapter that allows charging. Not this, but something like this. Confirmed can charge and have video out to my TV at the same time.
https://www.amazon.com/Multiport-Delivery-Converter-Compatible-Chrome-Book/dp/B087Q62H89/
And there you go. So far this seems totally viable and cool, and I am a fussy, hard-to-please kind of person.
I am looking forward to using this to keep playing some RPGs I would like to get through, with a console experience at home but still able to pick up and continue a bit when out.
Hope this helps someone! Spent hours googling and trying to figure this stuff out.

It's **** like this that got me into modding droids in the first place. You are a legend and a gangster. Keep on doing whatever. XD

This is an excellent guide and gives me more confidence to install the mod and mess with it. Thanks
Useful info like this will hopefully increase the likelihood that the community will use roms to implement the desktop experience. Maru was one example I saw a redditor post but it's in early development.
Also check out Taskbar which is an excellent app for DTE on non-rooted phones

Problems with 4k video input

Last month I bought a cheap Chinese 4k android TV and for the last weeks it has been great.
However I recently bought a PS5 and it is basicly stuck at 1080p forever unless I restart the TV every time I want to game.
The only way I get the PS5 to output 4k to the TV is on the first time after a cold boot of the TV. At this state everything is working really well (4k HDR everything).
Now if I turn the PS5 off and power it on again, it reports it can only do 1080p and the option for 4k is greyed out and the only way to fix it is to reboot the whole TV.
As you could imagine this is totally driving me crazy. (By the way the same Symptoms apply to other 4k capable devices such as a Fire TV Stick I had laying around)
The TV settings are also completely useless and there are no options regarding "UHD Color" or resolution.
If someone has any ideas on how to fix this I would be really happy.
Thank you in advance.

So I fiddled with the settings a bit and stumbled across a greyed out setting called "HDMI-EDID Version" which was set to "AUTO-EDID" but since this is a greyed out setting I could not change it in any way.
Then after countless hours of searching in the Internet and tempted to buy an HDMI EDID emulator, I found someone who had similar issues with a shield TV and a projector. He used adb and "bugreport" to find out about the EDID capabilities of his TV and so did I.
So now after generating the bug report using adb and searching for EDID, I found this line:
"settings/global/tv_input_hdmi_edid_version" which was set to "2" by default.
So fair enough I executed the command:
adb shell settings put global tv_input_hdmi_edid_version 1
And the greyed out setting now shows "EDID-2.0" and everything is working as it should and no more restarting of the TV is required to get 4K HDR from the PS5.
So it seems like it was indeed a firmware issue or more or less a broken auto EDID feature.