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codo27 posted:I went and tried out one of those cheapo android boxes from Amazon for $38 CAN. Works right out of the box, Kodi already on it with the addons installed. The thing came with Kitkat installed and also an older version of Kodi, 15.2 (with what looks to be arab writing on the logo when I run it?). I guess these things are pretty generic. It has the same launcher as the one my buddy has. What I'm wondering is if there is some kind of stock android I can get to put on this, hopefully Lollipop, I know Marshmallow for the likes of this would be especially ambitious. There is an icon for the app store on the home screen but I dont really feel confident in entering my google account info on this thing. You probably don't want to mess with the firmware, because it is typically custom modified to support the various chipsets, remote, etc. If you're lucky, the manufacturer will release 1 or 2 new firmwares before they abandon the product. I have a similar model, and I just created a new Goog account to access the Play Store. I, like you, didn't want to potentially give my primary email account login info to some Chinese spyware. I was able to uninstall the bloated 15.2 version of Kodi they had on there and put on 16.1 from Play. If you do this, make sure you do a Titanium backup of the Kodi apk in the event they did a custom compile of it and a clean version is broken. Other than those minor issues, it works awesome as a Kodi/Netflix/Spotify/Pandora box...for $30. Way better choice for me than the Shield, since I don't game and don't have a 4K TV.
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Jun 30, 2016 20:55
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wormil posted:I've been wanting to ask how good are these android boxes, like the plethora of $35-ish ones on Amazon? For an older 720p tv. I bought a $30 model (http://www.geekbuying.com/item/MXQ-...lix-360847.html), and it suits my needs on a 720p set just fine. Kodi, Netflix app, Soundcloud, Youtube, and various other apps I like to use on my phone. I'm actually surprised how well it works. The remote works well with their custom launcher and Kodi, but I also have a wireless USB mouse hooked up for using with the Netflix app (remote sucks here.) I haven't tested the 4K it claims to support, but I've played some high bitrate movies over ethernet with no stuttering. I imagine the Amlogic chip it has would probably do OK with many games, but that's not my thing. It may not have the polish of the Shield, but it's also 1/6 the price.
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Sep 24, 2016 01:49
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Vykk.Draygo posted:Doesn't Netflix HD only work on devices that Netflix has whitelisted? I believe that is the case. Even if boxes support Widevine DRM (the one I listed does), if they don't pay the Netflix tax, they aren't getting 1080/4K streams. I think if 1080+ is something you require for Netflix, I'd stay away from everything that isn't a Fire, Roku, Shield, or Chromecast. I will say that whatever resolution the push to unlicensed boxes looks fine at 720p.
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Sep 24, 2016 02:11
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wormil posted:Sounds good. Is the youtube performance good to go? Many devices (Roku, Fire) seem to struggle with YT. I've never had any problems with Youtube on a wired connection (never tested wifi). You do need a different input device though, the remote sucks for the touch based UIs of the mobile apps. For what it's worth, I just ran Antutu (v6.2) and got: Total: 36677 3D: 4027 UX: 13869 CPU: 13817 Ram: 4964
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Sep 24, 2016 19:59
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Belle Isle Tech posted:For reference I have a i3 NUC with 4GB of RAM and a wireless-N card that's connected on my 5GHz network, and my files are sitting on a Windows box connected via Gigabit ethernet that is serving the files through SMB to my devices, so I'm not sure what the bottleneck could be. What happens if you run GigE to your NUC and disable the wireless? That would at least narrow down the root of your problem. Disclaimer: I hate wireless and wire all the things I want to work perfectly.
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Dec 26, 2016 20:01
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Buy a $20 Gig-E switch and you won't have to lose sleep over this anymore. I don't mess with wireless for video.
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Apr 22, 2017 00:52
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spog posted:
I use a very basic Android box (Amlogic S905, 1GB RAM) and it works great with Kodi. Subtitles work just fine, though I don't use them that much. Maybe d/l Kodi on your phone, and if you can view the subs, they should work fine on one of these devices.
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May 31, 2017 01:10
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TomR posted:Edit: looking at the Mi Box, seems pretty good. Probably the best bet. I admit that I've been super happy with my El Cheapo China box, but I know they're a total crapshoot. It's probably not worth the $30 savings over the Mi if you have a ton of issues or have to return it.
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Jul 1, 2017 00:17
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mobby_6kl posted:Is an Amlogic S905X based box like this X96 going to work reasonably well mainly for watching youtube, html5 or videos from usb/network drives up to 1080p? Or is something S912 based like this H96 significantly better? It's basically twice more expensive for what's on paper a very marginal difference, though still not as much as the Shield I use a 905/2GB box for the purposes you listed, and it works just fine. However, I think the biggest advantage these boxes have is their low (<$35) price. If I was spending upwards of $70, I'd probably look to the Mi Box or new FireTV. Even with an ethernet adapter, you'd only be paying a bit more for much better hardware/software support and an actual warranty. That said, obviously those AliExpress/China boxes can be hit or miss, but I've had pretty good luck with my fairly modest needs.
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Sep 29, 2017 22:24
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