reactor_sa
Executive Member
Also running a few pi with openelec, it doesn't handle 20Gb 1080p files consistently - more often than not it struggles to buffer every 10 minutes, especially since I now make mkv with 7.1 96khz dts or Dolby.
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Quad core android XBMC players?
- Thread starter flarkit
- Start date
dualmeister
Honorary Master
Comparing a PI to a quad core NEO X8-H.
Really :erm:
Really :erm:
Don't jump on the MiniX NEO X8 bandwagon just jet.
Rockchip is releasing RK3288 TV Boxes with Mali T7** GPU, almost 2.5 x graphics performance of Amlogic Mali 450 in Mini X NEO X8.
Also, you will get lots more custom roms and tweaked kernels for it.
Some companies are already selling these boxes, but later in July they will become more mainstream when all the software and hardware is tweaked. Also they sell for about $100-110 currently, which is cheaper than the AMLogic Boxes.
Rockchip is releasing RK3288 TV Boxes with Mali T7** GPU, almost 2.5 x graphics performance of Amlogic Mali 450 in Mini X NEO X8.
Also, you will get lots more custom roms and tweaked kernels for it.
Some companies are already selling these boxes, but later in July they will become more mainstream when all the software and hardware is tweaked. Also they sell for about $100-110 currently, which is cheaper than the AMLogic Boxes.
It seems that the quad core DroidTV has just arrived in SA. Looks very interesting. Hopefully one or two early adopters will give some feedback.
http://www.avsupply.co.za/product_i...-xbmc-p-664?osCsid=aaj7p0irujscjeqrugqpspbp63
http://www.avsupply.co.za/product_i...-xbmc-p-664?osCsid=aaj7p0irujscjeqrugqpspbp63
Gosh I'm angry, I ordered and received the dual core version last week. Still happy with its performance though
@diets: I am still very happy with mine. I'm sure that it will take a long time for the quad core to reach the current stability and reliability of the dual core model. I would much prefer to watch shows on mine in the meantime than to do regular firmware and app upgrades etc.
EDIT: Here is a link which shows the M8 in more detail. This is probably an early engineering sample so the final product hardware may be a little different and the firmware should be much better.
http://www.cnx-software.com/2014/04/04/m8-android-tv-box-powered-by-amlogic-s802-unboxing/
EDIT: Here is a link which shows the M8 in more detail. This is probably an early engineering sample so the final product hardware may be a little different and the firmware should be much better.
http://www.cnx-software.com/2014/04/04/m8-android-tv-box-powered-by-amlogic-s802-unboxing/
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dualmeister
Honorary Master
Eish. Can never win :wtf:
NEO X9 it is then.
http://www.android-warehouse.com/en/minix-rockchip-rk3288-x9-neo-android-tv-box.html
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Well, yay. Just in time to be too late, durnit. Ordered 2x Minix Neo X8-H sets with Mele F10 Pro's from Geekbuying last week. H'ray for Dolby dts hardware decodiing
Good price on those M8's though!
@flarkit: Oh no! It would have been great to get some feedback about the new machines.
I must say that I have really been enjoying watching shows that I could never access on my Roku. I am also finding that streaming via XBMC works better on the DroidTV than when I was streaming the same content via Chrome on a Sony VAIO i7 laptop. I rarely experience any buffering from ProjectFreeTV whereas I often had to leave the show to buffer for several minutes on the laptop.
Did you get the free air mice as well with your order from GB?
I must say that I have really been enjoying watching shows that I could never access on my Roku. I am also finding that streaming via XBMC works better on the DroidTV than when I was streaming the same content via Chrome on a Sony VAIO i7 laptop. I rarely experience any buffering from ProjectFreeTV whereas I often had to leave the show to buffer for several minutes on the laptop.
Did you get the free air mice as well with your order from GB?
So 3 months later, media-center happiness is a Minix Neo X8-H 
I ordered from Geekbuying, paid extra for EMS shipping and had the parcel in my grubby paws 2 weeks later.
I've configured the device to use the wifi (even set at 802.11g for stability), which I was nervous about after seeing reports about stuttering and buffering. Our media servers are Win 8.1 PC's running serviio . I tested with a few 1080p movies and was uber-pleased to have buttery smooth playback. XBMC still delivers the goods!
The Mele F10-PRO air mouse and keyboard takes a little getting used to and deciding how the UI is best configured for our purposes will take some time, but the X8-H is pretty awesome.
Pros:
- Size, this little box is far neater than our HTPC)
- Performance, I'm impressed with video streaming over wifi.
- Functionality, almost anything an android tablet can do, this puppy can handle
- Price, for what it provides, it's worth the price compared to other cheaper android media hubs.
Cons:
- Tweaking the device to suit everyone's needs can be challenging, whilst maintaining a clean, easy-to-use setup.
Yep, the Minix M1 Air mouse was included, however they could've rather bumped the price up by $10 and offered the keyboard/airmouse combo. Typing with an airmouse is quite interesting
I ordered from Geekbuying, paid extra for EMS shipping and had the parcel in my grubby paws 2 weeks later.
I've configured the device to use the wifi (even set at 802.11g for stability), which I was nervous about after seeing reports about stuttering and buffering. Our media servers are Win 8.1 PC's running serviio . I tested with a few 1080p movies and was uber-pleased to have buttery smooth playback. XBMC still delivers the goods!
The Mele F10-PRO air mouse and keyboard takes a little getting used to and deciding how the UI is best configured for our purposes will take some time, but the X8-H is pretty awesome.
Pros:
- Size, this little box is far neater than our HTPC)
- Performance, I'm impressed with video streaming over wifi.
- Functionality, almost anything an android tablet can do, this puppy can handle
- Price, for what it provides, it's worth the price compared to other cheaper android media hubs.
Cons:
- Tweaking the device to suit everyone's needs can be challenging, whilst maintaining a clean, easy-to-use setup.
Yep, the Minix M1 Air mouse was included, however they could've rather bumped the price up by $10 and offered the keyboard/airmouse combo. Typing with an airmouse is quite interesting
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I've also got the X8-H and so far it's behaving itself. The M1 is a waste of space, so I'm looking for a better air mouse. Have you updated to beta 5 firmware? I'm still on the original firmware - I'm waiting for the 1st non-beta updates which apparently will be out later this month. I read that the X8-H needs firmware tweaking to use all the keys of the Mele F10-PRO air mouse.
I tried to do an OTA update, since the website lists a firmware version which is (slightly) newer. However, the builtin updater replied that my unit was on the latest. Since it seemed stable enough for my 1st bit of testing, I'm not fussed.
The biggest adjustment for me, is coming from an Openelec HTPC with a generic MSCE remote which provided 1-click access to the playback buttons and a power button. Having to navigate to the onscreen buttons in XBMC player, is a little more of a chore, but hardly detracted from my enjoyment.
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Download the "keymap editor" addon and assign the Multimedia keys (Play, Stop, etc.) to numeric or unused keys on your remote
So 3 months later, media-center happiness is a Minix Neo X8-H
I ordered from Geekbuying, paid extra for EMS shipping and had the parcel in my grubby paws 2 weeks later.
I've configured the device to use the wifi (even set at 802.11g for stability), which I was nervous about after seeing reports about stuttering and buffering. Our media servers are Win 8.1 PC's running serviio . I tested with a few 1080p movies and was uber-pleased to have buttery smooth playback. XBMC still delivers the goods!
The Mele F10-PRO air mouse and keyboard takes a little getting used to and deciding how the UI is best configured for our purposes will take some time, but the X8-H is pretty awesome.
Pros:
- Size, this little box is far neater than our HTPC)
- Performance, I'm impressed with video streaming over wifi.
- Functionality, almost anything an android tablet can do, this puppy can handle
- Price, for what it provides, it's worth the price compared to other cheaper android media hubs.
Cons:
- Tweaking the device to suit everyone's needs can be challenging, whilst maintaining a clean, easy-to-use setup.
Yep, the Minix M1 Air mouse was included, however they could've rather bumped the price up by $10 and offered the keyboard/airmouse combo. Typing with an airmouse is quite interesting
Im thinking of selling my ATV400 Dual Core player for a Quad Core player, the Duel Core struggles with my BD collection and there's buffering.
Have you tried playing a large 30-45GB BD mkv file from your device over the lan?
Reason I ask is I have a WD MYCloud which houses my media collection, both DroidTV and MyCloud are connected to gigabit wifi TP-link router but i get stuttering on large BD files, can only think it down to slow processor on DroidTV?
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A customer tested a 48GB 1:1 copy of a Blu-ray movie, and it played without issue on the dual core DroidTV MX
Have you tried playing the same movie from an external USB drive?
I haven't tried streaming a 1:1 BD mkv so far, so this could be an interesting exercise, assuming I got hold of one. For our purposes, it's more important to be able to play media smoothly and wirelessly, so full BD movies are played from the disks via our "old" BDP
I used to use a 2TB, ran out of space and regretting buying the 4TB myCloud and now "streaming" video.
I'll test tonight via usb drive.
Avatar BD 45GB .mkv is the movie that buffers on DroidTV but works fine on laptop and macbook.
LCBXX
Honorary Master
Honestly, my Minix Neo X8-H was behaving like a POS out of the box. After much effort I finally got it stable by flashing the Beta008-002 ROM with a CPU Fix from Finless over on the Freaktab Forum. Rock-stable and it plays anything I throw at it without issues - all the 60-90Mb/s 4K clips I got from HDClub plays flawlessly. I run BeyondXBMC on it with the Navi-X plugin for live streaming, loving it!
Bought it locally here: http://www.micropointsa.co.za/, R1600 including the M1 Airmouse.
Bought it locally here: http://www.micropointsa.co.za/, R1600 including the M1 Airmouse.
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Is there an "absolute idiot's guide" for doing this, perhaps? I'd like to try it out!