Kodi: Quick fix for dark screen during playback

The TV Boxes based on the Amlogic S912 processor are becoming increasingly popular and so does its hardware acceleration issue affecting Kodi where the playback looks too dark and the brightness level cannot be adjusted.

Luckily there is a quite simple workaround.
The workaround below restores the Brightness control and only requires to follow the 4 simple steps below with your remote.


1. In settings, switch to the Advanced mode by clicking the gear icon on the bottom left.
2. Go to the Videos section and disable the option "Allow hardware acceleration - MediaCodec (Surface)"

3. Play a video and adjust the brightness to the desired level.

4. To keep the brightness setting permanent, click on "Set as default for all media" in the Video Settings page.

Another fix exists that requires some tweaking of the build.prop file
and while it does not "fix" the Brightness control, it eliminates the need to use it. Your device must be rooted though.