Experience with Chinese Android boxes?

[RanmaCanada 351]

Hi guys and gals, I was wondering how many people in here have had good experiences with the el cheapo chinese android boxes?  I currently have a Beelink mini MX, and have an MX 4k Pro on order and an MXQ Pro on order.  The Beelnk is using an Allwinner H3, where as the MX4 has a S905 and the MXQ has a Rockchip 3229.  The H3 has x264 and x265 hardware support, but lacks 10bit.  The s905 has 10 bit support for both and the Rockchip 3229 supports 10bit and hi10p! <--choice for anime!!  I typically have audio on passthrough and let the receiver do it's job!

 

I am hoping to get these other boxes within the next 2 weeks, as delivery time from China is slow, but I am really hoping that they will be able to change the face of what we are doing by making it easier to suggest devices that support everything.  The only thing I hate about the Beelink is the lack of 10bit and hi10p support, other than that EVERYTHING plays as direct streaming, while using an external player like MX Player (current VLC does not have H3 support).  The overhead taken off my server is fantastic, and everything gets to be viewed as intended, without become stereo, like it does for Roku users haha.

 

All said, each box only cost me about 30-35 dollars, and if they end up working, I honestly think they will solve a LOT of issues that everyone has.  Be it from codec support, to not having a strong enough server to transcode everything (since nothing has to be transcoded anymore )

[Deathsquirrel 741]

How many people have good experiences with cheap knock-off crap in general?  It's at least higher than zero so perhaps you'll luck out.

[Heuer 76]

I gave up with cheap Android TV 'M' boxes and bought an Nvidia Shield TV - never looked back. Regular f/w updates, Marshmallow, lightening fast processor, voice control etc etc. Also Eric, aka ebr the EATV developer, has a Shield TV himself so able to quickly sort any problems and test new features. With the Chinese knock-off boxes you are on your own if a problem cannot be replicated. 

[ebr 14930]

The Shield is an awesome box but expensive.

 

Nexus Players can be found for $50 bucks though and isn't a huge step down.

[Heuer 76]

Nexus is excellent value but requires a decent WI-Fi signal (no ethernet). Some of the Kodi forks will no longer support Rockchip so probably best to stick with Amlogic. The Minix boxes are well made and seem to be reliable but they cost more than a Nexus and can get into Shield pricing territory, but still stuck on Android 5.1 I believe.

 

The cheaper boxes work OK but expect problems with locking up and random re-boots; the remotes are horrible. Basically there is no support and f/w upgrades are rare but can introduce more problems. When I was using them (Amlogic M8) I always kept a spare close by ready to swap in. Overheating can be an issue so keep the box in free air, not in a cupboard or on top of an amplifier. If you have a wife/kids expect complaints about system performance!

 

The Shield TV has just about cornered the market and Kodi users in particular are flocking to it which is having an influence on developers (check the threads on the Kodi Forums). Not tried it but I believe it plays H264 Hi10P with h/w decoding off - don't think any Android device supports hardware decoding. Let us know how you get on with some side by side reviews.

[CFC 25]

Nexus is excellent value but requires a decent WI-Fi signal (no ethernet). Some of the Kodi forks will no longer support Rockchip so probably best to stick with Amlogic. The Minix boxes are well made and seem to be reliable but they cost more than a Nexus and can get into Shield pricing territory, but still stuck on Android 5.1 I believe.

 

The cheaper boxes work OK but expect problems with locking up and random re-boots; the remotes are horrible. Basically there is no support and f/w upgrades are rare but can introduce more problems. When I was using them (Amlogic M8) I always kept a spare close by ready to swap in. Overheating can be an issue so keep the box in free air, not in a cupboard or on top of an amplifier. If you have a wife/kids expect complaints about system performance!

 

The Shield TV has just about cornered the market and Kodi users in particular are flocking to it which is having an influence on developers (check the threads on the Kodi Forums). Not tried it but I believe it plays H264 Hi10P with h/w decoding off - don't think any Android device supports hardware decoding. Let us know how you get on with some side by side reviews.

I believe you can use a usb Ethernet adapter with the nexus. It uses OTG.

 

CFC

[RanmaCanada 351]

Nexus is excellent value but requires a decent WI-Fi signal (no ethernet). Some of the Kodi forks will no longer support Rockchip so probably best to stick with Amlogic. The Minix boxes are well made and seem to be reliable but they cost more than a Nexus and can get into Shield pricing territory, but still stuck on Android 5.1 I believe.

 

The cheaper boxes work OK but expect problems with locking up and random re-boots; the remotes are horrible. Basically there is no support and f/w upgrades are rare but can introduce more problems. When I was using them (Amlogic M8) I always kept a spare close by ready to swap in. Overheating can be an issue so keep the box in free air, not in a cupboard or on top of an amplifier. If you have a wife/kids expect complaints about system performance!

 

The Shield TV has just about cornered the market and Kodi users in particular are flocking to it which is having an influence on developers (check the threads on the Kodi Forums). Not tried it but I believe it plays H264 Hi10P with h/w decoding off - don't think any Android device supports hardware decoding. Let us know how you get on with some side by side reviews.

Well once I get the rockchip based device, which is supposed to do hi10p in hardware, I will post as detailed reviews as I can of them. 

 

My main concern is I need devices that can do hi10p and 10 bit x265, as I am converting all my anime to 10bit x265, and well most of my collection of movies as well, to mainly save on space and bandwidth.  The shield is out of range for most of my friends and family, so these little boxes are pretty much my best option.  Plus, if you go with the namebrand boxes, they do regular updates as well.

 

Hopefully Thursday Amazon will deliver them and then i can have some reviews up over the weekend and it will either be glorious, or monstrous haha.

[speechles 1920]

 

 

The overhead taken off my server is fantastic, and everything gets to be viewed as intended, without become stereo, like it does for Roku users haha.

/me shakes his head

 

It is misconceptions like this that lead to confusion. The roku doesnt require losing surround when transcoding or playing directly. When you try to throw shade around it works better when it is the truth.

 

 

 

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

[RanmaCanada 351]

/me shakes his head

 

It is misconceptions like this that lead to confusion. The roku doesnt require losing surround when transcoding or playing directly. When you try to throw shade around it works better when it is the truth.

 

 

 

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

Every single user that I have that uses a Roku has everything transcoded to stereo (Roku 2-3 and stick, no 4's and 1 Roku TV).  Do I have to get them to install Blue Neon or whatever?  Roku also doesn't support DTS, and most of my stuff is DTS, though I have been thinking of transcoding them down to 5.1 aac, just I have been out of the home theater arena for a while and I do not know if 5.1 or 7.1 is supported by the current running of receivers.

 

I love the Roku setup because it's so easy a caveman can use it, but when that caveman has a 7.2 surround sound system, yes 2 subwoofers, using a Roku just doesn't do it justice as there is no passthrough for audio, that I know of at least.  These little boxes allow passthrough, and are cheaper than getting a shield or building an HTPC.  

 

If I am wrong, please feel free to correct me, as I am sure I am not the only one who thinks thus and your words will NOT fall on deaf ears.

[speechles 1920]

Roku supports dts passthrough, and ac3 passthrough. If your setup doesnt allow dts passthrough then the blue neon app transcodes dts to ac3. Get them to install the blue neon app and setup the preferences for surround.

 

Those chinese knock-off boxes are future ddos bots too. Ever wonder what oddball software comes preinstalled? How easy are backdoors to implement on them? These type usually use kodi and the iptv plugin filled with pirate m3u links which lead to putlocker,zshare,uploaded.to,etc type links which they attempt to stream directly. They arent exactly tailored to legitimate uses at all. If your format the device, and can flash standard firmwares to them they might be alright. If you can root them, and remove suspect system files that contain spyware they are cool. Otherwise they are just interesting devices atm. Not really worth noticing yet unless you want to pirate eveything over streaming http links.

 

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

[Luke 37116]

How about a made in the USA box?

[Heuer 76]

   

[RanmaCanada 351]

Roku supports dts passthrough, and ac3 passthrough. If your setup doesnt allow dts passthrough then the blue neon app transcodes dts to ac3. Get them to install the blue neon app and setup the preferences for surround.

 

Those chinese knock-off boxes are future ddos bots too. Ever wonder what oddball software comes preinstalled? How easy are backdoors to implement on them? These type usually use kodi and the iptv plugin filled with pirate m3u links which lead to putlocker,zshare,uploaded.to,etc type links which they attempt to stream directly. They arent exactly tailored to legitimate uses at all. If your format the device, and can flash standard firmwares to them they might be alright. If you can root them, and remove suspect system files that contain spyware they are cool. Otherwise they are just interesting devices atm. Not really worth noticing yet unless you want to pirate eveything over streaming http links.

 

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

The beautiful thing about these is they come rooted, so you can remove whatever you want.

[MSattler 387]

The beautiful thing about these is they come rooted, so you can remove whatever you want.

 

As long as there are no rootkits that come with the rooting

[RanmaCanada 351]

Well I have my boxes, just the S905 ones as the Rockchips are still on the way from China, and the S905 boxes play nice with Emby for Mobile, but not the Emby for Android TV/Fire TV (it will install and will load, then freeze and cause the boxes to reboot! haha).  VLC still appears to not support the S905 chipset, but MX Player and Kodi DO!  I have had no issues with direct streaming ANY content from my server, even over the internet.  I have tested with my friend who lives a few blocks away and every single file direct plays. MKV files with DTS sound have the sound passthrough, HEVC 10bit is no problem at all.  All I gotta do now is some extensive testing with anime for the subtitle issues that I was having earlier, and see if it is an ASS or SSA issue, as SRT files work fine and so does vobsub.

 

Thus far, for 40 bucks with shipping, this is a great answer for what I wanted.  Now if only VLC would add support for the S905 for hardware HEVC and 10bit, it would be perfect.  It's annoying to have to pick an external player each time, but it's no where near a deal breaker and I know Luke and company have no control over it as they only use VLC as a player on the backend and didn't write VLC.

 

Once I get the Rockchip players, i will update again and let ya'll know how things are going.  

 

On a side note, does anyone know of an android player, other than Kodi, that buffers for network/internet streaming?  I ask because Mxplayer was supposed to have this fixed in 1.8 but it obviously hasn't and this has been an issue for years.  So I am looking for a different player to add as an external just in case family can't understand that they need to exit Kodi once the file is done playing and it will bring them back to Emby and they can pick the next episode or movie.

 

Thank you for your time!

[Heuer 76]

You may want to experiment using SPMC rather than Kodi as the Android developer 'Koyring' has left the main group and is continuing with his own Kodi fork: http://spmc.semperpax.com/ Android is likely to be left behind in the current Kodi wars!

[TSandman 3]

Bought a MXIII-G  few weeks ago, but it couldn't cope with some of the movies I had (high rate h264 BD Rips).  Gotten an NVidia Shield and right now everything (that I tried) goes smoothly.

 

Only downside: The chinese boxens are running full andro and not the crippled AndroidTV version, but you can always root & flash a full Andro (might loose some bits though)

[RanmaCanada 351]

Bought a MXIII-G  few weeks ago, but it couldn't cope with some of the movies I had (high rate h264 BD Rips).  Gotten an NVidia Shield and right now everything (that I tried) goes smoothly.

 

Only downside: The chinese boxens are running full andro and not the crippled AndroidTV version, but you can always root & flash a full Andro (might loose some bits though)

Did you try the external player option?  I found that the VLC embedded player does not have the support for the chips like mxplayer and others do.  It's a shame really as it would solve a lot of issues.  Kodi.  Your MXIII-G uses and 812 chip which can do x265 but not 10bit x265 or 4k.  So it will choke on high bitrate stuff.  cnx-software has reviews of most of the boxes and lets you know how well they do in testing with kodi and other players.

 

Try your box again with the external player option and it should work.  Even my H3 based Beelink works with the external player option, just not 10bit HEVC.

[RanmaCanada 351]

So I would like to post an update.  Got my Rockchip 3229 device, and all I can say is it's a POS.  The only way that I can play anything is with the embedded home theater app and I use DLNA.  None of the external players will support x265 10 bit playback at all.  Kodi and SPMC work fine for h264 but no h265 at all.  Will only do it in software mode, even with ZDMC installed.

 

Thus far the S905 appears to be the best bet, but it still has some issues with DTS.  The next version of the S900 series is supposed to fix this.

 

I really hope better player support comes down the pipe for these chips.  

[doddsie 10]

I have 2 3188 Rockchips and all I can say is "Horses for Courses" I use them for simple tasks (LIve TV, bit of Music) and they do what it says on the Tin - would not use in my living room, but feel the more choice we have and simple thinking we can make use of the "Cheap Knock off boxes"

 

Just my two penneth (2 cents)

[RanmaCanada 351]

Well once the newer Amilogic chips come out, I will pick one up and see how well things work.  The S905 is almost perfect, with using Kodi or SPMC, but the lack of proper DTS support really sucks, as passthrough has noticeable beeps in it.  The S905 plays everything I have thrown at it, but the beeping during DTS is a killer.