Which android media player hardware are you using for XBMC?

P

prasanv

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I'm using a HP Micro server N54L with a Nvidia GeForce 220 to Have HDMI with Sound
I loaded Openelec (Standalone version of XBMC)
Added an HP media remote
And Added some hard drives, you could add a ROM if the need arises.

Upgrades will always be available as it uses a generic i386/x64 OS
Has the option of using it to download media, has the upgrade ability for any number and size hard drives.
 
DroidTV is pretty much top if you want those specs. Older Dual Core jellybean the Geniatech ATV520e is good too
 
prasanv said:
Hello All,

I'm looking to purchase a media player to run XBMC on, I was looking to purchase a quad core media player with 2GB RAM and ofcourse Android 4.4 as the base OS. Any suggestions beside DROID TV MXIII?

http://www.avsupply.co.za/product_info.php/droidtv-mxiii-2gb-media-player-with-android-and-xbmc-p-686

I'm considering to buying this unit which costs around R1500 but if I can get a better device for the same price and future proof, why not?

Any suggestions guys?

Regards
Click to expand...

This is the highest spec Android TV Box at the moment
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Android-TV-BOX-with-RK3288-4G-DDRIII-32G-Storage-support-4K-2K-with-HDMI-2-0/1999602114.html

or you can save about R200 and get the 2GB RAM/16GB ROM version.
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Android-TV-BOX-with-RK3288-2G-4G-DDRIII-8G-16G-32G-64G-optional-FLASH-Support-1080P/1826664727.html
Just send the seller(Tina) a private message and place the order, don't pay yet.
You will receive an email/message back that the DHL shipping fee has been reduced to $35 for South Africa.

Here is their website
http://www.nagrace.com/nagrace/en/products/detail/id/125.html

Developers already created a custom ROM for the device on freaktab forum and no negative feedback so far.

It also has an HDMI IN port, a first for Android TV Boxes.
AP6335 802.11 AC Wifi
H.265 Hardware decoding
Support BD-ISO and 3D BD-ISO
1000M LAN
USB2.0 Host x3

The manufacturer already made new hardware changes, bigger heatsink and released a firmware update.
They also make Firefly development boards, so there will be lots of support since those boards use the same firmware and hardware.
You can also dual-boot Android and Ubuntu, image available on their firefly website
http://www.t-firefly.com/html/en/feature/

It's only slightly more expensive than the Amlogic Quad-Core device you want to buy and will be future proof at least for 2 years.

Buying on Aliexpress from reputable sellers is very safe.
The money doesn't get released to the seller until you received the product and you can open a dispute.
Just be aware of other sellers also selling similar RK3288 TV Boxes with low ratings(no blue diamonds or blue crowns and no comments,feedback from buyers).
 
prasanv said:
Hello All,

I'm looking to purchase a media player to run XBMC on, I was looking to purchase a quad core media player with 2GB RAM and ofcourse Android 4.4 as the base OS. Any suggestions beside DROID TV MXIII?

http://www.avsupply.co.za/product_info.php/droidtv-mxiii-2gb-media-player-with-android-and-xbmc-p-686

I'm considering to buying this unit which costs around R1500 but if I can get a better device for the same price and future proof, why not?

Any suggestions guys?

Regards
Click to expand...

Worth the money going local, you'll get it faster as well, also better support.
The DroidTV's are just so much easier than an HTPC.
 
prasanv said:
It is very impressive.. But the website don't have sufficient information on how we can order and get one on this side.
Click to expand...

They will start shipping the Firefly board soon, from the chat logs I read, maybe 2-3 weeks.
It's mainly for developers that want to test things, almost like a Rasberry Pi.
Remember products with the RK3288 Processor only came out the beginning of September, but the manufacturer's were already busy 3 months prior to test and improve their software and products.

Chrome OS will also work in future on the Firefly and the TV Boxes, since there is already a Chrome OS kernel available. Only up to the individual manufacturers to provide support for their device or developers to port it from another device.

Tablets from eg. PIPO also now use the RK3288 Processor
http://www.ainol-novo.com/pipo-p1-rk3288-quad-core-9-7-inch-retina-screen-ram-2gb-android-tablet-32gb.html

I bought their 2GB/16GB ROM TV Box so long, so will receive it soon.
They did a test with the latest NFS game for 6 hours and the box still run great without any issues.
The source code is also available, so tweakers/ROM Developers will be able to do some cool stuff.
There will be lots of companies releasing RK3288 Processor Tv Boxes, most of the firmware is universal compatible, only the kernel is different(to make different hardware like wifi,ethernet etc. working) Only small modifications to a kernel source is necessary to make a certain device's firmware run on your device.
https://bitbucket.org/T-Firefly/firefly-rk3288/overview
I will see if I can do a small review after receiving it.
Here is a picture of the inside


Some interesting videos about RK3288 TV Boxes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdlYCTKYUtM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPwnyCRE0l4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qK_vusJDZ6E
 
Last edited:
xbmcfan said:
They will start shipping the Firefly board soon, from the chat logs I read, maybe 2-3 weeks.
It's mainly for developers that want to test things, almost like a Rasberry Pi.

I bought their 2GB/16GB ROM Tv Box so long, so will receive it soon.
They did a test with the latest NFS game for 6 hours and the box still run great without any issues.
The source code is also available, so tweakers/ROM Developers will be able to do some cool stuff.
I will see if I can do a small review after receiving it.
Here is a picture of the inside
Click to expand...

That's a great news. May I ask how much this unit have costed you?
 
@prasanv: Take a look at these two reviews from CNX-Software. It appears that the S802 based machines like the MXIII will handle playback of video files and XBMC much better than the current Rockchip RK3288 based machines. The support from AVSupply is also excellent in case you have any problems. I have sent you some screenshots from the MXIII that you were interested in in a previous thread.

http://www.cnx-software.com/2014/09/09/rk3288-review-kingnovel-k-r68/
http://www.cnx-software.com/2014/08/19/probox2-ex-review/
 
Last edited:
prasanv said:
That's a great news. May I ask how much this unit have costed you?
Click to expand...

I paid $164 with DHL shipping, around R1800.00 for the 16 GB ROM version.
Probably going to pay some clearance fees also with DHL >R200?
The 32 GB ROM version will cost around R2000.00 excluding taxes.
I'm actually looking forward in using Lubuntu and tweaking it and the faster CPU/GPU for gaming and video playback.
Before Christmas, there will be hundreds of Chinese factories producing these kinds of RK3288 Media Players and prices will come down very fast. Their previous CPU RK3188 that is used in almost all Android Media Boxes apart from Amlogic's chips still dominate the market. But there were some issues with those boxes since every company tried to cut costs and release clone devices with different wifi chips and didn't all release updated KitKat firmware and stayed with Jellybean. Also used 3.0.36 kernels that were outdated and unstable but the average user didn't notice anything.
These new boxes luckily use new 3.10-3.14 kernels and don't have any of the problems the previous hardware had.

For the HPH 2GB RAM/16GB ROM or 4GB RAM/32GB ROM Box, you can read more here
http://www.freaktab.com/showthread.php?13830-HPH-Android-TV-BOX-RK3288
You can sent Tina in that forum an email or PM to lower the DHL fee if needed or for more information.

Remember you can plug in a PC mouse and keyboard and use it as a mini PC.
Also run XBMC and stream from lots of plugins.
Manufacturers' and XBMC developers are still working on full HEVC H265 support for XBMC/Kodi but the stock video player work 100% so far, only a matter of a few weeks until XBMC/Kodi has full HEVC H265 support.

Here are also some other manufacture's boxes but they use slow China Airmail and their DHL shipping is expensive.
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/RKM-MK902-II-2G-16G-Android-4-4-Quad-Core-RK3288-4k-2k-TV-BOX-Bluetooth/2025060834.html
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Free-shipping-Ugoos-UT3-2-0GHz-2G-16G-RK3288-Quad-core-Android-KitKat-4-4-TV/2030539577.html
This one looks a bit ugly and not so much support but cheaper.
http://www.geekbuying.com/item/Tronsmart-Orion-R28-Meta-RK3288-Quad-Core-2-0GHz-Android-4-4-4K-TV-Box-HDMI-HDD-Player-2G-16G-Support-2-4G-5G-Wifi-Bluetooth-OTA-OTG-331614.html


If I compare it with the first Android media player stick I bought 2 1/2 years ago, it was an
Alwinner 1Ghz, weak GPU, Slow Wifi, Overheating problems, slowness but
It was the first TV Stick you could plug into your HDTV and run Android apps, play games, watch movies and surf the web.
That time it cost around $120.00 with an airmouse.
 
Hi, does the Nagrace support Dolby DTS-HD and True-HD passthrough? I know the Droid TV MX-III doesn't at the moment.

xbmcfan said:
This is the highest spec Android TV Box at the moment
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Android-TV-BOX-with-RK3288-4G-DDRIII-32G-Storage-support-4K-2K-with-HDMI-2-0/1999602114.html

or you can save about R200 and get the 2GB RAM/16GB ROM version.
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Android-TV-BOX-with-RK3288-2G-4G-DDRIII-8G-16G-32G-64G-optional-FLASH-Support-1080P/1826664727.html
Just send the seller(Tina) a private message and place the order, don't pay yet.
You will receive an email/message back that the DHL shipping fee has been reduced to $35 for South Africa.

Here is their website
http://www.nagrace.com/nagrace/en/products/detail/id/125.html

Developers already created a custom ROM for the device on freaktab forum and no negative feedback so far.

It also has an HDMI IN port, a first for Android TV Boxes.
AP6335 802.11 AC Wifi
H.265 Hardware decoding
Support BD-ISO and 3D BD-ISO
1000M LAN
USB2.0 Host x3

The manufacturer already made new hardware changes, bigger heatsink and released a firmware update.
They also make Firefly development boards, so there will be lots of support since those boards use the same firmware and hardware.
You can also dual-boot Android and Ubuntu, image available on their firefly website
http://www.t-firefly.com/html/en/feature/

It's only slightly more expensive than the Amlogic Quad-Core device you want to buy and will be future proof at least for 2 years.

Buying on Aliexpress from reputable sellers is very safe.
The money doesn't get released to the seller until you received the product and you can open a dispute.
Just be aware of other sellers also selling similar RK3288 TV Boxes with low ratings(no blue diamonds or blue crowns and no comments,feedback from buyers).
Click to expand...
 
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