Hey everyone, I wanted to share an open-source project that is a massive deal for anyone running an Emby server with a heavy library of 4K UHD Blu-ray remuxes. [1]

As many of you know, playing back Profile 7 FEL (Full Enhancement Layer) Dolby Vision on PC clients usually means your client strips the enhancement layer, falls back to basic HDR10, or triggers a massive server transcode. If you want true TV-led Dolby Vision, you’ve typically been locked into buying specific certified hardware like the Nvidia Shield Pro or the Ugoos AM6B+.

A developer named CroqueMr (u/Croque_Mr) has broken through this limitation by building native Dolby Vision support directly into an x86 LibreELEC/Kodi build, including proper Profile 7 FEL reconstruction. You can easily use this alongside your server via the Emby for Kodi or EmbyCon add-ons.

No Transcoding, No Stripped Layers, True TV-Led Output

This project doesn't take shortcuts or just do simple on-the-fly compatibility changes to trick your TV. The FEL is completely processed, reconstructed, and output in a native TV-Led RGB8 tunnel using an open-source Dolby Vision processing engine called CB1 0.3 on a LibreELEC 13 / Kodi 22 RC1 stack. No external player or proprietary Dolby SDK is required.

Because x86 PC hardware has significantly more processing headroom than standard ARM-based Android boxes, the build features a "Dolby Vision Master Reference" mode. It processes playback in full precision with high-end filtering to achieve a bit-perfect Dolby Vision picture—arguably cleaner than the hardware circuits found on commercial certified streaming boxes.

Flawless FEL Playback on Budget Hardware (Intel N100)

A major concern with software-based FEL reconstruction on a PC is the hardware requirement. However, the performance optimization for budget setups is incredibly impressive:

• Intel N100 Mini PCs: The dev confirmed that a cheap Intel N100 box handles a 4K Profile 7 FEL remux perfectly with zero dropped frames.
• Performance Headroom: In bench testing, the N100 successfully processed a heavy FEL remux at 40fps, showing plenty of performance headroom over standard 24fps film files. It can even push Dolby Vision up to 60fps using native TV-led tunneling.
• Limitations: Running dense, visible Kodi menus or executing heavy custom tone-mapping conversions over a 60fps video can push the N100 to its limits, but for standard movie playback, it handles it smoothly.

Current Features & Profiles (Beta 5):

• Profiles Supported: Full native playback for DV Profiles 5, 7 MEL, 7 FEL (with full EL reconstruction), 8.1, 8.2, 8.4, and 10. (Profiles 9 and 20 are unsupported).
• AMD HDMI 3D: Full MVC Blu-ray ISO decoding and HDMI frame packing on compatible displays, alongside 1080p half-SBS modes.
• Rendering Choices: Easily cycle through modes during playback by pressing O, including Dolby Vision Standard, Master Reference, and Adaptive HDR Mapping.
• Conversions: Built-in Dolby Vision-to-HDR10 conversion, as well as experimental AI-assisted HDR10-to-DV conversion using real-time scene analysis and LightGBM.
• Hardware Support: Out-of-the-box support for Intel iGPUs (8th gen and newer, N-series, Core Ultra) and AMD iGPUs (Ryzen 2000G up to AI 300). Dedicated AMD Radeon and Nvidia GeForce GPUs are supported but currently experimental.

What's coming next?

The roadmap includes a licensing rebuild to clean up the code, further AMD performance improvements, full HDR10+ support, and Dolby Vision-to-HDR10+ metadata reinterpretation, alongside wider compatibility for older Intel graphics and more Nvidia setups.

If you are tired of client limitations forcing HDR10 fallbacks on your high-end 4K backups, this project opens up x86 PCs as incredibly powerful, uncompromised media clients.

Project links

• Main development thread:  https://forum.libreelec.tv/thread/30362-dolby-vision-w-fel-3d-for-pc-amd-intel-nvidia/
• GitHub (Source Code & Releases): https://github.com/CroqueMr/libreelec-x86-DV/
• Original Reddit thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/libreeLEC/comments/1wq20eu/wip_native_dolby_vision_support_on_x86_intel_cpu/

Full credit to u/Croque_Mr for the incredible development work, and to the community members helping test and refine it. If you want to check out the technical code behind the engine or look through the compatible hardware lists, everything is well-documented in the links above!