Update 6 | 2026-11-04 16:32 CET (Paris)
Work-in-progress build — not a stable release. RC3 was withdrawn after a FEL seek regression. This preview contains that same build; the FEL implementation is being audited and cleaned up. Some FEL files can currently stop playback after seeking, including through Blu-ray menus.
The images and matching attached sources below are the withdrawn RC3 payloads, unchanged. Their internal build version and filenames still say RC3. New FEL prototypes are not included. Normal RC3 will return only after the FEL cleanup and validation.
For this update, use the attached R1.0.0-RC3-sources.tar.zst and vendor archive. The existing Preview tag is unchanged, so GitHub’s automatic “Source code” links still describe the older Preview commit.
Changes since RC2
Changes since R1.0.0 RC2. CB1 0.5.
Dolby Vision
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Improved scaled Master Reference rendering by removing a redundant full-resolution intermediate pass, without changing movie pixels, metadata or Kodi scaling filters.
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Added software-decoded 10-bit AV1 Dolby Vision input using Kodi's existing uploaded textures. #85
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Added an explicit active-area override for already-cropped files retaining incorrect L5 margins. Authored margins remain the default. #84
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Added GPU bilinear FEL upscaling alongside Reference GPU. Master Reference retains its reference reconstruction filters.
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Fixed playback freezing on the reported Saving Private Ryan FEL sample. The enhancement decoder now recovers forward after damaged data, preserves already decoded exact pairs and resumes at a verified random-access picture instead of waiting indefinitely.
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Improved BL/EL pairing after Blu-ray seeks when both tracks contain unmatched preroll. Missing or ambiguous enhancement pictures are never replaced with neighbouring frames.
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Aligned HDR10-to-Dolby Vision Adaptive processing with the DV-source Adaptive logic while retaining its AI-derived source statistics.
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Kept independent playback preferences for Dolby Vision, HDR10 and HDR10+ sources. Automatic fallback no longer replaces the user's saved choice for the next file.
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Added Kodi default consistently to the three playback selectors, leaving normal playback to Kodi without CB1 image processing.
HDR10 rendering
- Reworked HDR10 Expert renamed to HDR10 Rendering Reference around explicit display mapping: manually entered peak brightness, OLED/LCD/projector black presets or a custom black level, and output gamut selection.
- Corrected near-black handling and creative-trim application to preserve shadow steps rather than applying a linear RGB offset that can crush them.
- Added bounded highlight/gamut handling and coherent output metadata, including targets above the source mastering peak.
- Improved HDR10 Rendering startup, resource ownership and transitions back from Dolby Vision; corrected the contrast-state issue reported during live switching.
HDR10+
- Improved HDR10+ to Dolby Vision Rendering metadata mapping with weighted source-distribution estimates, bounded handling of incomplete statistics and continuous scene/seek state. Source video pixels remain unchanged by this metadata conversion. Weighted-percentile estimation adapted from AVDVPlus HistogramPlus.
- Improved conversion startup and playback/seek recovery, with source metadata kept separate from estimated values.
- Retained native HDR10+ playback through Kodi default, without activating the conversion pipeline.
Blu-ray and BD-J menus
- Bundled the Java runtime and the BD-J JAR pair matching the native libbluray 1.5.0, avoiding the mismatch with older add-on JARs.
- Fixed UHD menu video dimensions, missing/unknown video-size handling, audio/subtitle language selection and component inventories. Shared Java control fixes adapted from SamuriHL's CoreELEC work.
- Improved direct-title stream inventory and BL/EL resynchronization without disc-name-specific workarounds.
Playback, HDMI and hardware
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Intel HDMI now identifies the source as a media player rather than a PC, avoiding LG automatic PC-mode and triggering Low Latency mode (#86). A driver override retains PC identification if required. Based on big-fella, via dangerouslaser.
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Fixed an HDR10-to-Dolby Vision AI startup wait after fallback/re-entry by correcting the existing preparation order.
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Fixed Intel HDMI link recovery with active HDR10+ metadata, retaining normal output validation. Contributed by lessbones in #83.
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Improved return to SDR, live connector-state checks and output recovery after failed playback or mode changes.
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Retained pending HDMI modesets until the requested timing is actually committed, including when Kodi temporarily reuses its last working configuration.
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Improved AI frame/pool retirement, re-entry and paused-output resizing, without changing native Kodi scaling filters.
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Added earlier NVIDIA driver-selection and boot diagnostics to distinguish driver initialization, connector selection and damaged boot media.
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Corrected audio channel-map handling and retry state without adding artificial audio/video offsets.
Interface and Player information
- Added optional optimized GUI compositing for compatible Dolby Vision output paths; movie pixels and metadata are unchanged. reducing GPU workload by 30% to render GUI on certain circuit
- Clarified file metadata, metadata used by CB1 and metadata sent to the TV. Forwarded metadata is no longer misleadingly described as unused merely because CB1 does not apply it locally.
- Clarified CM2.9/CM4 processing status, including live Auto/Auto 2 decisions.
Known issues
- Disc-specific Java applications and repeated-disc memory behaviour are not universally qualified.
- Some GTX 10-series , Intel Arc and NVIDIA RTX 50-series compatibility reports.
- DV to HDR10+ need to be refined
Next focuses
- Bug fixing following new issues.
- Continue HDR10/HDR10+ and affected-GPU compatibility qualification.
- Extend Blu-ray menu coverage with further authored discs and logs.
- Player Information UI rebuild
Earlier Preview update history
Update 5 | 2026-11-03 00:09 CET (Paris)
Update 5 changes
Playback and stability
- Fixed conversion startup being interrupted by Kodi's configured display-switch delay.
- Fixed OSD viewport and clipping during conversion startup.
- Fixed seek/re-entry stalls caused by repeated GPU retirement or a retained first frame losing its startup state.
- Drain VAAPI output before reopening a larger decoder surface pool, preventing a startup/reopen crash.
- Intentional cancellation of a video-buffer wait is no longer reported as a timeout or dropped frame.
Dolby Vision
- Fixed incorrect native HDR10 contrast after switching away from Dolby Vision conversion, including automatic fallback. The fix restores native renderer state and reloads its shader; no compensating filter is applied.
HDR10+
- Fixed HDR10+ playback using the plain-HDR10 rendering preference after its first frame.
- Fixed forward/backward seek freezes in HDR10+ to Dolby Vision playback.
Audio and Player information
- Recover ordinary stereo PCM when HDMI/ALSA temporarily reports an unnamed two-channel layout; passthrough is unchanged.
- Corrected Player information when a dual-track Profile 7 base layer is discovered after the initial stream inventory.
Remaining limitation
- Some HDR10+ metadata still triggers native HDR10 fallback. Metadata mapping/validation refinement remains in progress; this update does not add an AI handoff at that transition.
- The final automatic-fallback contrast fix was checked against the same rendered frame in native HDR10: no RGB-code difference in software captures outside the GUI. Additional post-fix whole-file/seek checks were interrupted when the temporary Support connection closed.
Update 4 | 2026-11-02 18:35 CET (Paris)
Update 4 changes
- Included Java and matching libbluray 1.5.0 BD-J support files directly in the image; no Java add-on installation is required.
- The built-in Java runtime takes priority over older installed Java add-ons.
- Fixed BL/EL recovery getting stuck after seeking when matching presentation timestamps have different decode delays.
- Added BL/EL queue-head diagnostics for remaining disc-specific stalls.
- Added early NVIDIA boot messages, persistent boot snapshots and previous-boot journal collection.
- Movie pixel processing and Dolby Vision metadata are unchanged.
Update 3 | 2026-11-02 16:24 CET (Paris)
Work-in-progress build: this preview evolves as fixes are added. Code cleanup is not complete. This is not a stabilized release.
Update 3 changes
- Player information separates File metadata, Used by CB1 and Sent to TV.
- Clearer CM4 option names and actual CM4 status, without conversion arrows.
- Removed reserved blank row space from metadata fields.
- Fixed a Settings-to-playback freeze during automatic refresh-rate changes.
- Preserved the desktop return resolution without opening a display-confirmation dialog during playback.
- Fixed missing startup intent on the later Kodi renderer resolution request, avoiding a separate SDR timing switch before HDR activation.
- Added bounded HDMI startup diagnostics. Movie pixel processing and metadata are unchanged.
Update 2 changes since Update 1
- Smaller text throughout Player information.
- Simplified metadata blocks: Source blocks and Sent to TV or Used by CB1.
- Fixed text instead of scrolling values, with shorter descriptions and multiline diagnostics.
- Video processing is unchanged.
Update 2 changes since RC2
Dolby Vision
- Added GPU bilinear FEL upscaling, replacing the nearest-neighbor fallback when VAAPI scaling is unavailable.
- Added the Reference GPU FEL filter as a selectable option for other conversion modes. Master Reference retains its reference filter.
Playback and stability
- Fixed cases where stopping playback during a resolution change could leave HDR signaling active instead of returning to SDR.
- Fixed stale HDR10 session reuse after a rejected output activation, ensuring subsequent playback prepares the required output surface.
Settings
- Separate remembered rendering preferences for Dolby Vision, HDR10 and HDR10+ inputs.
- Automatic fallback no longer replaces the preferred rendering mode.
- Fixed rendering options incorrectly remaining unavailable after stopping a different source format.
HDR10+
- Fixed source-specific preference selection during continued HDR10+ playback, preventing accidental use of the plain-HDR10 preference.
Player information
- Corrected misleading "Unused blocks" reporting: metadata forwarded to the TV is no longer marked unused.
- Displays whether CM2.9-to-CM4 conversion is actually active, including live updates for Auto and Auto 2.
Blu-ray menus
- Updated BD-J Java add-on packaging with matching libbluray 1.5.0 support files.
- Prevented stale or incomplete Java support files from being packaged. Requires the updated JRE add-on attached to this release.
Diagnostics
- Added targeted diagnostics for deferred playback shutdown and SDR output restoration.
Work in progress
- Improve HDR10 reliability.
- Fix support issues on some Intel Arc GPUs.
- Fix support issues on NVIDIA GTX 10-series and some RTX 50-series GPUs.