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VS10 Output Modes

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VS10 Output Modes

Dolby Vision-capable Amlogic chips contain Dolby's VS10 engine, which can convert the decoded picture before it leaves the box: SDR up to HDR10 or Dolby Vision, HDR10 down to SDR or up to Dolby Vision, Dolby Vision down to SDR. TinyPPI offers these conversions for the playing title through the VS10 dialog, through direct run_mode commands, and from the web dashboard.

VS10 dialog

Contents

Opening the dialog

  • RunScript(script.tinyppi,dialog) from a key, or
  • NotifyAll(script.tinyppi,open_dialog) (fastest), or
  • Settings → General → Launch mode → VS10 dialog, so the normal TinyPPI key opens the dialog instead of the overlay.

The dialog has the same requirements as the overlay: CoreELEC 22+, fullscreen video, something playing. Pressing the key again closes it.

Key Action
Up / Down (or Left / Right in the bar) Move between the buttons
Left / Right (single-button layout) Step to the previous / next choice (wraps around)
OK Apply the mode on the focused button, or open the overlay from Player process info
Back, Esc, Stop Close the dialog without switching

The chosen mode is applied after the dialog has closed and the video window has settled (250 ms), because Kodi drops actions sent while a dialog is closing.

Which modes are offered

The first button is always Player process info, which opens the TinyPPI overlay. The other buttons depend on the source:

Source Buttons Mode applied
SDR Original · SDR → HDR10 · SDR → Dolby Vision original_sdr · hdr10 · dv
HDR10 HDR10 (Original) · HDR10 → SDR · HDR10 → Dolby Vision original_hdr · sdr8 · dv
Dolby Vision Dolby Vision (Original) · Dolby Vision → SDR original_dv · sdr8
HDR10+ (none — Player process info only) —
HLG (none — Player process info only) —
Dolby Vision + HDR10+ hybrid (none — Player process info only) —

Why some sources have no modes:

  • HDR10+ and HLG are not VS10 inputs; the driver has no mode group for either.
  • A Dolby Vision grade that also carries an HDR10+ (ST 2094-40) payload reads as Dolby Vision, but the driver does not take a VS10 mode while the HDR10+ payload rides along. Rather than offer a switch that does nothing, the dialog and the dashboard offer none. (A stream whose HDR10+ Kodi has stripped for a display without HDR10+ support keeps its modes — what was removed is no longer in what the decoder sees.)

The dialog keeps re-detecting the source twice a second while it is open. If the detection finishes after the dialog appeared, the buttons change in place, and the panel keeps its size so nothing jumps.

Dialog layouts

Pick one under Settings → VS10 dialog → Layout → Dialog layout:

Layout Panel size What it looks like
Single button (default) 700 × 216 One button showing the current choice; Left/Right step through the choices. Made for remotes that have little more than a direction pad and OK.
Bar 1702 × 206 The choices side by side in a low, wide panel that leaves most of the picture visible.
Dialog 471 × 546 The original layout: the choices stacked in a tall panel.

All three draw the same choices for the same source.

Position and colors

Settings → VS10 dialog → Dialog position:

Setting Default Range
Vertical position 100 % (resting on the bottom margin) 0 % = top margin … 100 % = bottom margin
Horizontal position 50 % (centred) 0 % = left margin … 100 % = right margin

Every layout keeps a 50 px margin to the screen edge. The panel is hidden until it has been placed, so it never jumps into position.

Colors (each with its own opacity): global background, background, header title, header icon, separator line, Button text (unfocused buttons), Selection (focused button background) and Selection text (focused button text, black by default). See Colors and Themes.

Direct switching with run_mode

run_mode applies a mode immediately, without opening any window — ideal for keymaps and automation:

RunScript(script.tinyppi,run_mode,<mode>)
Mode Output Notes
original_sdr Source passed through (VS10 bypass) For SDR sources.
original_hdr HDR10 HDR10 passthrough.
original_dv Dolby Vision Alias of dv.
original_hlg VS10 off Restores follow source with Dolby Vision disabled — the state Kodi leaves for HLG. Not offered in the dialog; useful to clear a leftover mode.
dv Dolby Vision Player-LED boxes get IPT, TV-LED boxes tunnelled IPT (see below).
hdr10 HDR10
sdr10 SDR, 10-bit
sdr8 SDR, 8-bit What the dialog's → SDR buttons use.

run_mode applies a mode even where the dialog offers none (for example on a Dolby Vision + HDR10+ hybrid). It then logs a warning that the driver may not take it.

How a switch is applied

1. Native VS10 actions first

Newer CoreELEC builds contain native vs10.* actions (vs10.original, vs10.dv, vs10.hdr10, vs10.sdr). TinyPPI detects them once per session by asking Kodi for the setting coreelec.amlogic.dolbyvision.vs10.dv, which arrived together with them.

When they exist and a video plays, TinyPPI sends the action and watches the Dolby Vision driver for up to 500 ms. If the driver state changed, the switch is done. If it did not — or no video plays — TinyPPI falls back to its own path.

sdr8 has no native action (vs10.sdr always means 10-bit SDR), so it always takes TinyPPI's own path, which keeps 8-bit and 10-bit SDR distinct.

2. TinyPPI's own path (sysfs)

TinyPPI writes the same Amlogic Dolby Vision driver nodes CoreELEC's Kodi writes when it opens or closes a decoder:

Node Role
/sys/module/aml_media/parameters/dolby_vision_enable Y / N — Dolby Vision core on or off
/sys/module/aml_media/parameters/dolby_vision_policy 1 follow source, 2 force output
/sys/class/amdolby_vision/dv_mode The output mode to force (see below)
/sys/module/aml_media/parameters/dolby_vision_ll_policy Low-latency policy: 0 for tunnelled IPT (TV-LED), 1 for IPT (Player-LED)
/sys/module/aml_media/parameters/dolby_vision_mode Read only: the output the driver is actually sending
/sys/module/aml_media/parameters/dolby_vision_status Read only: whether the core is still running

dv_mode values: 0 bypass · 1 Dolby Vision IPT (Player-LED) · 2 Dolby Vision tunnelled IPT (TV-LED) · 3 HDR10 · 4 SDR10 · 5 SDR8.

The order of the writes matters: Dolby Vision is enabled before the policy forces an output; for bypass the policy goes back to follow source, the core is allowed to stop, and only then is Dolby Vision disabled. Writing enable=N into a live core left the display half-switched.

3. Player-LED or TV-LED

For a Dolby Vision output TinyPPI reads Kodi's coreelec.amlogic.dolbyvisionled setting (0 = TV-LED, 1 = Player-LED) and picks tunnelled IPT or plain IPT accordingly, setting the matching low-latency policy. If the setting cannot be read, the driver's current low-latency policy is used; failing that, TV-LED (CoreELEC's default).

4. HDR10 ↔ Dolby Vision goes through SDR

The driver cannot move directly between an HDR10 and a Dolby Vision output. When such a switch is requested during playback, TinyPPI makes two complete switches — first to SDR10, then, once the Dolby Vision core is down and after a 250 ms pause, to the requested mode — exactly as if you had pressed SDR and then the mode by hand. A staged switch is bounded at 15 s.

5. Display reset

Kodi only re-negotiates the HDMI output when the stream's own HDR type changes. A VS10 switch during playback bypasses that, so the TV would stay on the old format with wrong colors (most visibly in Player-LED mode). After a switch TinyPPI waits for the driver to confirm the new output and then sets the Amlogic UPDATE property on the HDMI connector through DRM — the same step Kodi uses to re-apply the current mode.

  • Switches made through sysfs always get the reset.
  • Switches made through native actions get it only when they cross the Dolby Vision line (the actions handle the rest themselves).
  • The reset needs CoreELEC 22's kernel (5.15); elsewhere it is a harmless no-op, and the switch itself never fails because of it.

6. From the dashboard

A switch requested from the web dashboard takes exactly the same path as run_mode. A switch takes a few seconds; taps that arrive in the meantime are not queued up — the last one wins, so three quick taps end in the mode tapped last rather than three switches in a row.

Reading the log

Every switch is logged (see Troubleshooting). Typical lines:

TinyPPI: native VS10 Actions available -> preferred during playback, with sysfs fallback if they don't take effect
TinyPPI: mode 'dv' set via VS10 Actions -> Action(vs10.dv)
TinyPPI: 'sdr8' has no native VS10 action -> using built-in TinyPPI VS10 (sysfs) to keep the exact output
TinyPPI: /sys/class/amdolby_vision/dv_mode = 5
TinyPPI: mode 'sdr8' set via built-in TinyPPI VS10 (sysfs)
TinyPPI: 'dv' cannot be reached from the output now on the wire in one switch -> going through SDR first

Warning signs:

Line Meaning
FAILED /sys/...: [Errno …] and mode '…' NOT set via built-in TinyPPI VS10 (sysfs) The driver node was not writable — usually not an Amlogic Dolby Vision box, or an unsupported kernel.
VS10 Action(…) had no effect on the DV driver -> falling back … The native action did nothing; the sysfs path was used instead.
'…' did not move the driver's output mode -> no display reset The driver did not confirm the change within 1 s.
'…' is being applied to a Dolby Vision title that also carries HDR10+ … A run_mode on a hybrid grade; the output may not change.

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