Android/Dream Box [ Illegal discussion = Ban ]

styron · 13-10-2017 5:48pm

flutered wrote: »

you opinions on this box please, i am thinking of getting a different box from my beelink, nothing wrong with it, i just feel in need of a new toy
http://www.ebay.ie/itm/S10-DDR4-3-32G-Android-7-1-Nougat-Octa-Core-4K-Media-Player-Smart-TV-BOX-MINI-PC/152658142843?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649

Worth a read - heat & ethernet port issues for some.

Geekbuying have it on flash for the next 7.5 hours at E53.10 (8-10 Days EMS to Dublin from one review). Even if caught by customs it's almost E9 cheaper than that Ebay option.

One_Of_Shanks · 15-10-2017 5:46pm

I had trouble with a seller on Amazon delivering my box so after I cancelled it I decided to get the Nvidia Shield instead.

However, a couple things I noticed and just wondering if this is normal..... Picture is very blurred on some TV shows and pretty sharp on others. Also blurred when streaming a football game live as well.
My TV is 1080, not 4k but surely it shouldn't be mad blurry anyway?
Is there something I'm doing wrong?

(EDIT - I deleted some stuff about what build I used.)

BandMember · 15-10-2017 5:54pm

One_Of_Shanks wrote: »

I had trouble with a seller on Amazon delivering my box so after I cancelled it I decided to get the Nvidia Shield instead.

Only got it installed today and used a "(name deleted)" thingy to get it sorted coz I'm clueless.

However, a couple things I noticed and just wondering if this is normal..... Picture is very blurred on some TV shows and pretty sharp on others. Also blurred when streaming a football game live as well.
My TV is 1080, not 4k but surely it shouldn't be mad blurry anyway?
Is there something I'm doing wrong?

And then one other question, if I'm just using this for streaming movies, boxsets and some sports, do I haveto install any additional apps or should these ones from (name deleted) do the job?
It seems good so far selection wise but just wondering.

Thanks:)

None of those questions you asked can be answered on this thread I'm afraid - please see the thread title. Any mention of builds or add ons will get the thread closed, just like the last time.

The answers to your questions are easily found on Google though....

One_Of_Shanks · 15-10-2017 6:10pm

BandMember wrote: »

None of those questions you asked can be answered on this thread I'm afraid - please see the thread title. Any mention of builds or add ons will get the thread closed, just like the last time.

The answers to your questions are easily found on Google though....

Woops. Sorry, I've deleted the mention of the build now, hadn't realised that wasn't allowed. My bad.

BandMember · 15-10-2017 6:28pm

One_Of_Shanks wrote: »

Woops. Sorry, I've deleted the mention of the build now, hadn't realised that wasn't allowed. My bad.

No problem, and thanks for being so understanding. Welcome to a whole new world - you've made a great purchase with the Shield, hope you get many happy years use out of it!!

One_Of_Shanks · 15-10-2017 6:31pm

BandMember wrote: »

No problem, and thanks for being so understanding. Welcome to a whole new world - you've made a great purchase with the Shield, hope you get many happy years use out of it!!

Cheers pal!

Loving it so far, Its taken me the entire day but finally getting the hang of it now and yep its pretty impressive alright.
The picture quality thing was a matter of changing to a much lower setting in the display settings tab, for some reason.

Kuva · 16-10-2017 2:24pm

I've bought a couple of boxes now, I only want to play stuff off a harddrive and it's just problems, I'd have a shield nearly for the money I've spent, do I really have to buy one? Are all these boxes so poor?

.red. · 16-10-2017 4:10pm

Kuva wrote: »

I've bought a couple of boxes now, I only want to play stuff off a harddrive and it's just problems, I'd have a shield nearly for the money I've spent, do I really have to buy one? Are all these boxes so poor?

Have you been buying cheap, low end boxes?

branners69 · 16-10-2017 4:57pm

Kuva wrote: »

I've bought a couple of boxes now, I only want to play stuff off a harddrive and it's just problems, I'd have a shield nearly for the money I've spent, do I really have to buy one? Are all these boxes so poor?

As already asked do you use cheap boxes? Also what is the issue with your harddrive, is it not found? What player and file manager app are you using?

Kuva · 16-10-2017 5:36pm

branners69 wrote: »

As already asked do you use cheap boxes? Also what is the issue with your harddrive, is it not found? What player and file manager app are you using?

Last 1 was 70quid ish on Amazon, s905x, 2 gig ram. Trongle is name on it.

It finds everything fine but stops, stutters randomly, or the audio is out of sync, the files are fine on the desktop, tried multiple usb sticks so it's definitely these crap boxes, tried using Kodi, vlc, spmc to play stuff.

It lowers the quality aswell, a full hd file looks like dvd, I seen a comment on that box thread in bargain alerts from someone saying the image quality seems to have improved with that, I'm guessing these p-o-sh1te lowering quality is a common thing.

Another quy linking to parts needed to cool the box as cooling is non existent in them, wtf like.

Updated box there aswell but it fixed issues and introduced others.

Maybe I could try custom ROM but that's hours of time that I just don't have or want to spend on it.

batistuta9 · 16-10-2017 7:00pm

See if you can put libreelec on any of them

branners69 · 16-10-2017 7:24pm

Kuva wrote: »

Last 1 was 70quid ish on Amazon, s905x, 2 gig ram. Trongle is name on it.

Try using ES File Explorer to locate the harddrive. Then use MX Player or BS Player to play the file. ES lets you select your default player.

Could you try copying the file to the local storage? To see if you have the same problems?

Or hook the harddrive to your desktop and try streaming the files over ethernet if you can!

Kuva · 16-10-2017 7:24pm

batistuta9 wrote: »

See if you can put libreelec on any of them

Using libreelec usb creater (yes?) which version do I use?

styron · 16-10-2017 7:32pm

You've tried an SD card and giving you the same issues?

batistuta9 · 16-10-2017 7:39pm

Kuva wrote: »

Using libreelec usb creater (yes?) which version do I use?

You'd need to have a look around their forum to see if it's available for your boxes.

branners69 · 16-10-2017 7:44pm

@Kuva What files are you trying to play 720p/1080p x264 or x265? Only my Minix U1 can play x265 smoothly. The others will stutter or not play x265 files at all.

Kuva · 16-10-2017 8:01pm

batistuta9 wrote: »

You'd need to have a look around their forum to see if it's available for your boxes.

40 mins in, 10 tabs open, still not sure which version to download, slice CM3 or Generic X86, these links say use the one with the img.gz extension, sure they both do?

https://forum.libreelec.tv/thread/2156-8-0-2e-libreelec-8-0-for-s905-s905x/?pageNo=1

https://forum.libreelec.tv/thread/5556-howto-faq-install-community-builds-on-s905-s905x-s912-device/

https://libreelec.tv/2016/08/usb-sd-creator/

And then it gets messy, seems you have to leave the USB stick/or SD Card, I don't have an SD Card handy and didn't want to buy one just to see if this POS works, leave it in all the time (it'll only boot from one, could be either) and reboot into recovery and then boot up Libreelec from there. Ahh. Copy Android folders first incase of soft bricking device/ multiple device trees! I've gone gray in the past messing about with this stuff, never again.

This box is for parents, can't be at this crap, times haven't moved on at all with this stuff.

Thanks for suggestions guys, I'l try the shield, massive expense/overkill for intended purpose but life is to short for this crap.

Kuva · 16-10-2017 8:04pm

branners69 wrote: »

@Kuva What files are you trying to play 720p/1080p x264 or x265? Only my Minix U1 can play x265 smoothly. The others will stutter or not play x265 files at all.

Just a mix of x264.

I threw a few x265 at it as bought the box as a future proof type of thing and it did play the few I tried.

The high horse brigade · 16-10-2017 8:35pm

Kuva wrote: »

40 mins in, 10 tabs open, still not sure which version to download, slice CM3 or Generic X86, these links say use the one with the img.gz extension, sure they both do?

https://forum.libreelec.tv/thread/2156-8-0-2e-libreelec-8-0-for-s905-s905x/?pageNo=1

https://forum.libreelec.tv/thread/5556-howto-faq-install-community-builds-on-s905-s905x-s912-device/

https://libreelec.tv/2016/08/usb-sd-creator/

And then it gets messy, seems you have to leave the USB stick/or SD Card, I don't have an SD Card handy and didn't want to buy one just to see if this POS works, leave it in all the time (it'll only boot from one, could be either) and reboot into recovery and then boot up Libreelec from there. Ahh. Copy Android folders first incase of soft bricking device/ multiple device trees! I've gone gray in the past messing about with this stuff, never again.

This box is for parents, can't be at this crap, times haven't moved on at all with this stuff.

Thanks for suggestions guys, I'l try the shield, massive expense/overkill for intended purpose but life is to short for this crap.

It won't be x86, thats for Intel and Amd processors, it will most likely be Arm or Meditek. You need to finnd out what hardware i in your box and follow the guide for that

bazzz · 16-10-2017 10:17pm

The high horse brigade wrote: »

It won't be x86, thats for Intel and Amd processors, it will most likely be Arm or Meditek. You need to finnd out what hardware i in your box and follow the guide for that

There should be a version for s905x chipsets and should be able to install to internal memory.If booting from the USB/SD is too much of a pain.

Suckit · 18-10-2017 5:10pm

@Kuva

https://libreelec.tv/downloads/generic-amlogic/

Safer to install LibreElec on a card first in case you have any issues. But if you want to try direct to Nand you should not have an issue if you read everything

Edited to add links -

dahat · 18-10-2017 6:21pm

Suckit wrote: »

@Kuva

https://libreelec.tv/downloads/generic-amlogic/

Safer to install LibreElec on a card first in case you have any issues. But if you want to try direct to Nand you should not have an issue if you read everything
Meant to add links -

Can you tell.me what chip is applicable to a 1g MXIII?
I also have a Minix Mx as well but can't be sure what chip that is as well.

Great link btw.

Suckit · 18-10-2017 6:41pm

dahat wrote: »

Can you tell.me what chip is applicable to a 1g MXIII?
I also have a Minix Mx as well but can't be sure what chip that is as well.

Great link btw.

I am almost sure that it is the S805 - https://sx05.eu/s805/

Edited
I can not remember for sure, but i believe that the MXIII works better with the MXQ build, but it also works with the HD18Q so you will know if you are getting some small errors.

Mini MX is S905 i think

styron · 18-10-2017 6:51pm

dahat wrote: »

Can you tell.me what chip is applicable to a 1g MXIII?

Should be the Amlogic S802 for both 1&2 GB about three years old. If you got it through any of the Chinese sites your purchase history should detail it.

funnyname · 19-10-2017 10:34am

I have an MX box, I don't use it a whole lot as I find I spend too much time trying to find what I want.

I understand these type of boxes help turn your TV into a large tablet but there is also the Android TV OS. Is it possible to install this on the MX box or is it only compatible with certain devices like Mi Box or Nvidia Shield etc?

yabadabado · 19-10-2017 10:39am

funnyname wrote: »

I have an MX box, I don't use it a whole lot as I find I spend too much time trying to find what I want.

Trakt is well worth checking out.

Cotts72 · 20-10-2017 12:32am

any decent android boxes for 30-40 euro worth taking a punt on? Have a zgemma downstairs but looking at getting a cheap box for the bedroom

branners69 · 20-10-2017 8:44am

Cotts72 wrote: »

any decent android boxes for 30-40 euro worth taking a punt on? Have a zgemma downstairs but looking at getting a cheap box for the bedroom

Would you think about picking up a 2nd hand Minix or the likes. You can get a Minix x8-h on Adverts from €35! Put the S812 firmware on it and you get Lollipop 5.1 one! Will play most things you throw at it, maybe just not x265!

Suckit · 20-10-2017 11:02am

branners69 wrote: »

Would you think about picking up a 2nd hand Minix or the likes. You can get a Minix x8-h on Adverts from €35! Put the S812 firmware on it and you get Lollipop 5.1 one! Will play most things you throw at it, maybe just not x265!

Personally, i would not buy a 2nd hand any of these boxes.
There are plenty in that price range that would be perfect for OPs needs.

Macy0161 · 20-10-2017 11:09am

Total newbie to this - finally got around to plugging in my Alfawise H96 Pro+. Box itself seems to be working, but struggling to pair the remote (using a usb mouse at the moment). Anyone any tips, or have I dodgy remote/ box? Next on the list was going to be a wireless keyboard anyway, but will I be able to put the box on standby with that?

Despite that, I'm impressed enough to start thinking about a mibox/ proper android TV option! Haven't really tried other players, but happy enough with netflix which i did test. Do the likes of eir/ eurosport players work with an official Android TV box?

Android/Dream Box [ Illegal discussion = Ban ]

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