View source for Android hardware

{{mininav|[[Android]]}}
<section begin="intro" />For most [[wikipedia:High-definition video|high-definition video]]s (1080p or higher resolution), hardware video decoding is necessary for smooth video playback on most Android devices. Therefor this article contains a list of SoC chipset hardware, (SoC stands for "System on a Chip" which contain the CPU plus GPU and VPU circuits combination, and is also known as a "chipset"), as on Android platforms this SoC chipset is what can playback common video codecs smoothly using Kodi/XBMC.<section end="intro" />

The fact is, while some devices might be able to smoothly decode [[wikipedia:Standard-definition television|standard-definition video]]s and even some 720p or higher resolution videos using only software video decoding with raw CPU compute power, offloading a large part of video decoding tasks to an integrated VPU (Video Processor Unit) that is optimized specifically for this job is considered essential for almost all Android devices to be able to smoothly playback high definition videos.

==Basic requirements==
{{see also|Supported hardware}}
{{#lst:Supported hardware|Android}}

==How do I know what chipset I have?==
There are so many out there so it can something be difficult to find out, but these are some good websites for looking up the SoC (System on a Chip) chipset used in your Android hardware device:

* http://www.iboum.com - Digital media players
* http://gsmarena.com - Phones
* [[Wikipedia:Comparison of Android devices]]
* http://www.androidcentral.com/devices

Also as a reference you can compare different SoC (System on a Chip) chipset specifications on system-on-a-chip.findthebest.com as well as in http://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1GT7I4P8MDlfYvRaL9Wv0NplQJryl54pO_6-9P3g7Fvk/

==Compatible chipsets==
These specific mass-market hardware SoC chipsets listed below should be capable at least partial hardware accelerated video decoding support for the more popular video codecs in the latest official Kodi builds for Android. Also understand that for some devices you might first need to upgrade the hardware firmware image on the device to achieve smooth playback at 1080p or higher resolution. Please contact your hardware manufacturer support for an updated system update firmware and apply that upgrade image before installing Kodi.

{{warning|These pages are maintained by the community and should not be considered an endorsement or recommendation. The information on this page might contain errors. It might also contain ants, and their antsy antics.}}

{|
| A "|| {{yes}} ||" mark indicates that SoC (System-on-a-Chip) chipset should be able to decode those codecs at least 1080p in Kodi without issues.
|}
{| width="100%" class="datatable"
|-
! rowspan="2" | Chip<br />manufacturer !! rowspan="2" | SoC chipset !! rowspan="2" | Examples of media players / development boards running Android and using these SoC chipsets with Kodi support !! colspan="5" | Hardware video decoding !! rowspan="2" | Notes
|-
! H.264 !! MPEG-2 !! VC-1 / WMV 9  !! HEVC (H.265) !! VP9 
|-
| Allwinner || A31 / A31s / A33 || Justop Quadro, Mele A1000G/M8/M9, Measy B4K/U4K, VidOn Box, VidOn.me AV200 || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || <ref name="Open-source violator">Warning for open source violators that do not comply with Kodi's GPL license! There are a few SoC manufacturers, like example Allwinner and Realtek or media player using their chipsets, that violate the GPL license that Kodi (and XBMC before) is bound under. This type of violation done by forking and not releasing all source code that they integrate into Kodi / XBMC when they modify or add closed source code or non-complatible code. This is because Kodi's code is bound under an open source license that require that all code integrating with Kodi's own GPL project is also releasing under a GPL compatible license. Other that hurting the Kodi project by not contributing as required, the risk for end-users buying hardware that rely on open source violations is not getting any support for the official Kodi project.</ref>
|-
| Allwinner || A80 / A83T || Tronsmart Draco AW80, Rikomagic MK80 || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || <ref name="Open-source violator"/>
|-
| Amlogic || S801 / M802 / S802 / M802 (formerly AML8726-M8) || Geniatech ATV582 / MyGica ATV582, Minix Neo X8/X8-H, Eny Technology ES8, Tronsmart Vega S89/S89-H, Beelink S82/S82H/M8, Xiaomi Mi Box Enhanced || {{yes}} || {{yes}} || {{yes}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || 
|-
| Amlogic || S805 / M805 / S806 / M806 / S812 || Eny Technology EM9/M8S/M8C/EM6Q-MXQ, Geniatech ATV585/ATV1810 / MyGica ATV585/ATV1810, Minix NEO X6 /X8-H Plus, Hardkernel ODROID-C1, Ugoos S85, SkyStream X5, Sumvision Cyclone X4, Xtreamer Wonder, Beelink S82 Plus, WeTek Core || {{yes}} || {{yes}} || {{yes}} || {{yes}}<br />{{smaller|(8-bit only)}} || {{?}} || <ref name="8-bit Main HEVC (H.265) profile support only">Some SoC's hardware video decoders like the one in Amlogic S805/M805/S806/M806/S812 and Rockchip RK3288/RK3368 are limited to only supporting the Main HEVC (H.265) profile, which means that they only support 8-bit color range and lower bit-rate, and they do therefor not support the Main10 HEVC or Main12 profiles which is uses for 10-bit and 12-bit color ranges respectivly, which also require support for higher bit-rates. This usually also means that they will not be capable of playing HEVC videos encoded in 4K (2160p) resolution at 60 FPS (frames per second). For more information see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Efficiency_Video_Coding_tiers_and_levels</ref>
|-
| Amlogic || S905 || Beelink MINI MX, Geniatech ATV495/ATV1950, MyGica ATV49/ATV1950, Hardkernel ODROID-C2, Ugoos AM1/AM2 || {{yes}} || {{yes}} || {{yes}} || {{yes}} || {{?}} ||  
|-
| Amlogic || S905D / S905M / S905X / S908 || Xiaomi Mi Box (2016) / Xiaomi Mi Box 3 / Xiaomi Mi Box S (2018) || {{yes}} || {{yes}} || {{yes}} || {{yes}} || {{yes}} || 
|-
| Amlogic || S912 || Beelink GT1, Eny Technology Enybox X2, Rikomagic MK22, Videostrong KM8 Pro || {{yes}} || {{yes}} || {{yes}} || {{yes}} || {{yes}} || 
|-
| Broadcom || BCM2836 / BCM2837 || || {{?}} || {{?}} || {{?}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || 
|-
| Broadcom || BCM28145 / BCM28155 || [[Amazon_Fire_TV|Amazon Fire TV Stick (2014/2015)]] || {{yes}} || {{yes}} || {{yes}} || {{no}} || {{yes}} || 
|-
| Freescale/NSX || i.MX 6 series (i.MX6 / i.MX6S / i.MX6SL / i.MX6D / i.MX6DL / i.MX6Q) || CompuLab Utilite, SolidRun CuBox-i & CuBoxTV, SolidRun Hummingboard, UDOO|UDOO Neo/Duo/Quad, Wandboard Solo/Dual/Quad || {{?}} || {{?}} || {{?}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || 
|-
| HiSilicon || Hi3798C V200 || HiMedia Q10 Pro || {{yes}} || {{yes}} || {{yes}} || {{yes}} || {{yes}} || 
|-
| Intel || Atom E3815 / E3825  || Intel MinnowBoard MAX Development Board || {{?}} || {{?}} || {{?}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || 
|-
| Intel || Atom  Z3530 / Z3560 /  Z3580 / Z3735 || Google Nexus Player, Minix Neo Z64 || {{yes}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || 
|-
| Intel || Celeron N3000 / N3050 / N3150, and Pentium N3700 ||  ASRock Beebox, Gigabyte BRIX|| {{yes}} || {{yes}} || {{yes}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || 
|-
| Intel || Core M3 6Y30 / M5 6Y54 / M5 6Y57 / M5 6Y75 || Intel Compute Stick  || {{yes}} || {{yes}} || {{yes}} || {{yes}} || {{yes}} || 
|-
| MediaTek || MT5890 || Sony Android TV (2015 and 2016) || {{yes}} || {{yes}} || {{no}} || {{yes}} || {{yes}} <br />{{smaller|(4K TV only)}} || 
|-
| MediaTek || MTK6589 / MT6589 / MT6589T / MT6589M ||  || {{?}} || {{?}} || {{?}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || 
|-
| MediaTek || MT8127 || Amazon Fire Tablet (7", 2015), Amazon Fire TV Stick with Alexa (2016) || {{yes}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{yes}} || {{yes}} || 
|-
| MediaTek || MT8173 || [[Amazon_Fire_TV|Amazon Fire TV (2015)]] || {{yes}} || {{yes}} || {{no}} || {{yes}} || {{yes}} || 
|-
| MStar || MSO9180 / MSO9180D1R / MSO9280 / MSO9810 || Egreat A9, Kaiboer F5/Q6/C9-M, MeLE V10/X2000, UyeSee T1H, Tronsmart Pavo M9, Xtreamer Prodigy, Zidoo X9 || {{yes}} || {{yes}} || {{?}} || {{?}} || {{?}} || 
|-
| Nvidia || Tegra 3 || OUYA || {{yes}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || 
|- 
| Nvidia || Tegra 4 / Tegra 4i / Tegra 4s || ZTE FunBox, Mad Catz M.O.J.O., NanoTech Nuvola NP-1 / NP-C / NP-H1, UTStarcom MC8768, Google ADT-1 (Android TV Developer Kit), [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shield_Portable Nvidia SHIELD Portable] || {{Yes}} || {{yes}}<br />{{smaller|(CPU)}} || {{?}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || 
|-
| Nvidia || Tegra K1|Tegra K1 (TK1) || Unuiga Game PC U1, Snail Games OBox, UTStarcom MC8718, [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shield_Tablet#Shield_Tablet_K1 Nvidia SHIELD Tablet K1] || {{Yes}} || {{yes}}<br />{{smaller|(CPU)}} || {{?}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || 
|-
| Nvidia || Tegra X1 (TX1) || Nvidia SHIELD TV || {{Yes}} || {{yes}}<br />{{smaller|(CPU)}} || {{yes}}<br />{{smaller|(CPU)}} || {{Yes}} || {{yes}} || 
|-
| Qualcomm || Snapdragon 210 / 212 ||  || {{?}} || {{?}} || {{?}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || 
|-
| Qualcomm || Snapdragon 410 / 412 / 415 / 425 / 430 / 435 || DragonBoard 410c (Turn off "MediaCodec" HW acceleration). Nobel64 Development Board || {{yes}} || {{yes}} || {{?}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || 
|-
| Qualcomm || Snapdragon 600 || [[Amazon Fire TV|Amazon Fire TV (2014)]], Compulab Utilite2, DragonBoard 600c, Inforce 6410Plus Development Board, Intrinsyc Open-Q 600 Development Board || {{yes}} || {{yes}} || {{yes}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || 
|-
| Qualcomm || Snapdragon 617 || Lenovo Moto G4 || {{yes}} || {{yes}} || {{no}} || {{yes}} || {{yes}} || 
|-
| Qualcomm || Snapdragon 652 || Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 || {{yes}} || {{no}} || {{yes}} || {{yes}} || {{yes}} || 
|-
| Qualcomm || Snapdragon 800 / 801 / 805 || Razor Forge TV || {{?}} || {{?}} || {{?}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || 
|-
| Qualcomm || Snapdragon 808 / 810 / 820 || HTC M9 (Turn off "MediaCodec" HW accelleration) || {{yes}} || {{yes}} || {{yes}} || {{yes}} || {{?}} || 
|-
| Qualcomm || Snapdragon S4 ||  || {{yes}} || {{?}} || {{?}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || 
|-
| Realtek || RTD1195 (RTK 1195) ||  || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || <ref name="Open-source violator"/>
|-
| Realtek || RTD1295 (RTK 1295) ||  || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || <ref name="Open-source violator"/>
|-
| Rockchip || RK3066 || Imito MX1/MX2, Minix NeoG4/X5, MK808/802, Ugoos UG802/UG007 || {{yes}} || {{?}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || 
|-
| Rockchip || RK3188 || Jesurun DX05, Minix X7, MK802IV, MK809III, MK902, Ugoos UG007B, Tronsmart T428/MK908, CS968, CR11s, J22, GM282, LT88, T-R42, CS919-II, K-R42, CS918, MK888 || {{yes}} || {{yes}}<br />{{smaller|(CPU)}} || {{?}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || 
|-
| Rockchip || RK3036 / RK3126 / RK3128 / RK3288 || Firefly-RK3288, ChipSpark PopMetal, Uyesee G1H, Nagrace HPH NT-V6, Eny Technology EKB318/EKB328, Kingnovel R6/K-R68, Beelink R28, FireFly FirePrime Development Board, Ugoos UT3/UM3, Rikomagic MK902 II, Measy B4S, Ruach A20s, CloudMedia OpenHour, CloudnetGo CR12/CR13CR16, Tronsmart Orion R28, Youku Box K1, Unuiga Game Box 19-6R || {{yes}} || {{yes}}<br />{{smaller|(CPU)}} || {{?}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || 
|-
| Rockchip || RK3368 || Beelink i68, CloudnetGo CR18/CR13 Plus, Eny Technology EKB368, Himedia H7 III, Measy B4T, Ruach A20s-H, Rikomagic MK68, Tronsmart Orion R68, Zidoo X6/X6 Pro || {{yes}} || {{yes}}<br />{{smaller|(CPU)}} || {{yes}}<br />{{smaller|(CPU)}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || 
|-
| Rockchip || RK3228 / RK3228B / RK3228H ||  || {{yes}} || {{yes}} || {{yes}} || {{yes}} || {{?}} ||
|-
| Rockchip || RK3229 / RK3399 || Firefly-RK3399, MXQ-4K || {{yes}} || {{yes}} || {{yes}} || {{yes}} || {{?}} || 
|-
| Samsung || Exynos 3 Single (formerly Exynos 3110) ||  || {{yes}} || {{?}} || {{?}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || 
|-
| Samsung || Exynos 4 Dual/Quad series (formerly Exynos 4210 / 4212 /4412 / 4418) || Hardkernel ODROID-U3/U2/X2, FriendlyARM NanoPC-T1/NanoPC-T2 || {{yes}} || {{yes}}<br />{{smaller|(CPU)}} || {{yes}}<br />{{smaller|(CPU)}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || 
|-
| Samsung || Exynos 5 Hexa/Octa series (Exynos 5260 / 5410/ 5420 / 5422) || Hardkernel ODROID-XU/XU2/XU3/XU3 Lite, Arndale Octa || {{yes}} || {{yes}}<br />{{smaller|(CPU)}} || {{yes}}<br />{{smaller|(CPU)}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || 
|-
| Samsung || Exynos 7 Octa (Exynos 5433) || Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 (SM-T815) || {{yes}} || {{no}} || {{yes}} || {{yes}} || {{no}} || 
|-
| Samsung || Exynos 8 Octa series (Exynos 8890) || Samsung Galaxy S7 (Europe) || {{yes}} || {{no}} || {{yes}} || {{yes}} || {{yes}} || 
|-
| Texas Instruments || OMAP4430 / OMAP4440 / OMAP5430 / OMAP5432 ||  || {{yes}} || {{?}} || {{?}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || 
|}

== Common codecs currently without hardware decoding in Kodi ==
Videos encoded with these codecs can only be played back in Kodi using software video decoding using CPU, meaning no decoding tasks are offloaded to optimized VPU or GPU hardware. Many videos may still play back just fine at standard definition resolutions, while others might have severe issues with playback.

As platforms with faster CPUs come out for Android software video decoding using CPU will get better, but do not expect miracles from the average Android box. It still all can depend on how demanding the decoding of that particular video encoding is or how high resolution it uses, and how powerful the CPU is.

* H.264 Hi10P - No hardware decoders for Hi10P (High 10 Profile, also known 10-bit H.264) currently exist for any ARM hardware. Most H.264 Hi10P videos will not play smoothly as most ARM CPUs are just not powerful enough to software decode it fast enough. 
* H.264 MVC - No open source software decoder or hardware decoding for [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiview_Video_Coding MVC (Multiview Video Coding)] stereoscopic 3D video decoding currently exist for Kodi on any platform. Kodi relies on FFmpeg for software demuxing and decoding, so Kodi have to wait for FFmpeg to first add software decoding support of MVC for H.264, and for hardware decoding Kodi relies on the SoC chipset hardware manufacturer to add support for this to their SDK (Software Developer Kits) and for the media player box manufacturers to implement that into their firmware images.
* H.265 MVC (HEVC MVC) - No open source software decoder or hardware decoding for [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiview_Video_Coding MVC (Multiview Video Coding)] stereoscopic 3D video decoding currently exist for Kodi on any platform. Kodi relies on FFmpeg for software demuxing and decoding, so Kodi have to wait for FFmpeg to first add software decoding support of MVC for H.265 (HEVC), and for hardware decoding Kodi relies on the SoC chipset hardware manufacturer to add support for this to their SDK (Software Developer Kits) and for the media player box manufacturers to implement that into their firmware images.
* RealVideo/RMVB (RV 8/9/10) - There is currently no support in Kodi for RealVideo hardware video decoding, though software decoding of RMVB videos is possible via FFmpeg but can struggle with high definition sources on older or low-end hardware.
* VP8 (WebM v1 video) and VP9 (WebM v2 video) - There is currently no support in Kodi for VP8  hardware video decoding, though software decoding of VP8 videos is possible via FFmpeg but can struggle with high definition sources on older or low-end hardware. Most hardware manufacturers have not even implemented API support for VP8 decoding in the firmware images of Android for their devices, and this is despite the fact that the WebM project licenses VP8 hardware accelerators (RTL IP) to semiconductor companies for 1080p encoding and decoding at zero cost. Nvidia and Rockchip and a few other less known companies does however provide hardware decoding of VP8 in their SoCs, for Tegra 4 and RK29xx respectivly. ARM, Broadcom, Texas Instruments, and Qualcomm as well as ZiiLABS, ST-Ericsson, and Huawei have all announced upcoming support for hardware acceleration of the WebM format and VP8/VP9 codecs. Intel have also let its intention known that they will add hardware-based acceleration for WebM and VP8/VP9 codecs in its future Atom-based chips if the format gains popularity. VP9 does howver to this date not appear to have hardware decoding support in all but the very newest ARM SoCs for Android, such as exanple Nvidia Tegra X1 (TX1) used in Nvidia Shield TV.

==Notes==
<references />

== Device specific info ==
Here are a few device-specific guides/help areas that the community has provided. 

{{Device notice}}

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[[Category:Android]]
[[Category:Hardware]]