[Issue]: hevc black screen and av1 laggy Mi Box S 3rd

[Iagiacrus]

Describe the bug

Hi i recently got the new mi box s 3rd gen but with the Moonlight client on automatic codec or hevc i only get a black screen.

Av1 work but with micro lag even with great speed connection

H264 work

I see other one get this issue.
Soc AMLOGIC S905XM5
Maybe too recent device need a update ? Thanks

Steps to reproduce

Launch the stream on automatic codex or hevc mode

Affected games

All source affected

Other Moonlight clients

PC

Moonlight adjusted settings

No

Moonlight adjusted settings (please complete the following information)

Normal settings

Moonlight default settings

Yes

Gamepad-related connection issue

Yes

Gamepad-related input issue

Yes

Gamepad-related streaming issue

Yes

Android version

14

Device model

Mi box s 3rd gen

Server PC OS version

Windows 11 24h2

Server PC GeForce Experience version

3.28.0.417

Server PC Nvidia GPU driver version

576.52

Server PC antivirus and firewall software

Windows Defender

Screenshots

No response

Relevant log output

Additional context

No response

[logNand3]

I am having the same issue on the newly released Onn 4k Plus which uses the same SOC (Amlogic S905X5M)

I have an RTX 3080ti and am unable to test AV1, but H264 works fine (albeit with more latency and without HDR support), but HEVC is entirely unusable.

The decoder being used is c2.amlogic.hevc.decoder which should be able to handle 4k60 streams just fine, but instead we are left with either black screens or horrible latency with about one frame per second of any sort of motion.

Below is an image of what Moonlight reports in it's debugging.

[mattegoghero]

I have the same issues with my 3rd gen Mi Box, AV1 and HEVC are completely unusable, I only get a few frames per second.
H264 works but it's a bit laggy with like 50ms of response time between button press and visual response.
I've been trying to use moonlight with sunshine on host PC at 1080@60fps setup, with wifi 6, Ethernet and a 2070rtx on my PC.

[AlexZorzi]

On my 3rd gen mi box and AMD 9070xt, only 264 encoding seems to work, I don't notice any lag on this codec compared to the other user.

[CiDHemS]

Same problem with x88pro x5m with amlogic s905x5m

Hevc black screen or 1fps, and av1 black screen or 2fps. H264 smooth.

[firyanis]

Same issue with Xiaomi TV Box 3rd gen on HEVC... eventually picture appears but is frozen. Cannot move mouse.
Can't confirm about AV1 because 3080.
On h264, it works but not optimal.

I think i will return the box. Anyone can suggest a better soc ?

[fernando-stteffen]

Same problem here

[MattW2]

Just to add to the list. Onn 4k Plus, 400 mbps Wi-Fi connection. HEVC is unplayable. h264 works at 1080 and 1440 but not at all at 4K, won't even connect.

On the same network, an old FireStick 4K works perfectly from the same host using HEVC.

Hoping this is something that can be fixed on the moonlight side

[huster00h30]

Hello,
Same issue there with the xiaomi tv box 3gen
If someone found something it's would be helpful
Also with h.264 i got a lot of pixels and its note very good if you have some tips for that thanks

[PacificSilent]

Hello, I am experiencing the same issue here.
I bought the Xiaomi TV Box S 3rd Gen a few days ago and in AV1 the rendered frames are lower than those received, that is, streaming is constant at 60 frames (over Wi-Fi 6, RTX 4080), but in the rendered frames it is between 50-54 fps, which causes microstuttering and it is annoying not to be able to see the image smoothly.

If I switch to H265 or HEVC, I get a black screen and the TV box freezes.

When I switch to H264, it doesn't support 4K resolution, otherwise it won't connect, so I have to leave it at 1440p or less.

Note that the parameters indicated in AV1 are:
Lost frames: 0%
Average latency: less than 15
Decoding time: 6-8 ms

Is this a TV box error? Or a Moonlight/Artemis error?

[firyanis]

I don’t know on which side the problem was, but since I saw I wasn’t going to be able to fix it, I sent the box back. I bought a Thomson 270 instead and I don’t have any issues… It’s not the same SoC (S905X4), and that’s exactly what I wanted to avoid running into the problem again.

[PacificSilent]

Hello, I have some unfortunate news. I was debugging my Xiaomi TV Box S 3rd Gen Amlogic S905X5m with ADB to test for failure cases:

• H.264 crashes when you select 4K resolution at 60fps
  Results: debugging shows that it is only possible to use the h.264 codec in 4k if it is below approximately 34 fps. It is possible that they will have to make a change in the kernel or an OS update to fix it. For now, it is only possible at 30fps. With the other resolutions, there are no problems, except that a higher bitrate is needed for better quality, which, if increased, becomes saturated and starts to have rendering problems.

• h.265 hevc crash: it was impossible to get it to work. The only thing I managed to do was get an image, but it always freezes. I think this is because the codec is blocked or limited in the hardware.

• AV1: several optimization settings were missing for it to work better on the Amlogic S905X5m and without so much microstuttering, getting very close to stable 60fps, which was fixed after a few adjustments. The problem I see here is that you can only achieve decent stability in 4k 60hz if you lower the bitrate a lot, which reduces quality and ultimately isn't very pleasant.

I've read in some places that Steam Link works well, which I haven't had time to test. If I get around to testing it, I'll leave comments to compare.

Summary: wait for an update to be released or go for another client option.

[PacificSilent]

Hello again, i have good news, after extensive testing, I've achieved smooth 4K 60FPS AV1 streaming on the Xiaomi TV Box S 3rd Gen (Amlogic S905X5) using a custom build of Moonlight Android (Artemis project), install the version v20.3.0-experimental.x release. This works over a standard 5GHz WiFi connection (TP-Link Archer C6, non-WiFi 6).

⚙️ Configuration That Works

PC Setup

• GPU: RTX 4080 -> rtx 40 I think it is necessary for AV1 encoding
• CPU: Ryzen 7 7700X
• RAM: 32GB
• Streaming Software: Latest Apollo version
• Settings:
  • Virtual screen enabled
  • No FPS cap
  • VSync disabled
  • No RTSS frame capping

Moonlight Client for Android TV (Custom Build)

• using the v20.3.0-experimental.x release from Artemis fork

Stream Settings:

• Resolution: 4K (3840x2160)
• FPS: 60
• Bitrate: 80 Mbps
• Codec: AV1
• Frame Pacing: Balanced
• HDR: Enabled

🔍 Important Notes

• WiFi Network: Works reliably on 5GHz WiFi (tested with TP-Link Archer C6)
• Compatibility: Likely works with other Amlogic S905X5 devices like the Onn 4K Pro
• Performance: The Amlogic hardware decoder handles 4K AV1 at 60FPS with very low latency

IMPORTANT EDIT: Enable the LFR and Tight Vsync options, otherwise the fps will not synchronize and microstuttering will occur.