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Cheap But Good Android Box

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  • 09-07-2018 6:06pm
    #1
    jeffk
    Registered Users Posts: 5,830 ✭✭✭


    Looks like my X96 Mini is finished, no A to A cable to try and fix it and for the price of it probably be half the price of the box

    Any suggestions to replace it?

    As cheap as possible, dont want to order from china with wait times and customs, want one to play all codecs, then play some files over WIFI, mostly youtube etc

    I seen Xiaomi Mi Box being suggested, have some things from them and think they are great(usb cigarette bluetooth thing and powerbank)

    Thanks


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  • Options
    #2
    DopeTech
    Registered Users Posts: 6,754 ✭✭✭DopeTech


    jeffk wrote: »
    Looks like my X96 Mini is finished, no A to A cable to try and fix it and for the price of it probably be half the price of the box

    Any suggestions to replace it?

    As cheap as possible, dont want to order from china with wait times and customs, want one to play all codecs, then play some files over WIFI, mostly youtube etc

    I seen Xiaomi Mi Box being suggested, have some things from them and think they are great(usb cigarette bluetooth thing and powerbank)

    Thanks

    Xiaomi mi box 3 is well worth €70. Plays iptv, YouTube, Netflix and anything else I throw at it flawlessly.


  • Options
    #3
    jeffk
    Registered Users Posts: 5,830 ✭✭✭jeffk


    Sir Dosser wrote:
    Xiaomi mi box 3 is well worth €70. Plays iptv, YouTube, Netflix and anything else I throw at it flawlessly.


    Any link to Europe warehouse please

    Really don't want to be waiting ages and take my chances with customs


  • Options
    #4
    CalamariFritti
    Registered Users Posts: 5,405 ✭✭✭CalamariFritti


    Just go on eBay and narrow your search to European locations?

    Just had a bad experience with a cheapie box. Just couldn't get Kodi to run stably on it even though it ships with a supposedly tailored version of it. Couldnt get to the root cause yet and I dont think I'll waste more time on it. Could have been the movies I have but unlikely that every single one I tested had a problem. They all played before on my ancient popcornhour.

    Since then I've been told on different forums that it often doesn't pay to go for the ultra cheapie boxes. They can be flaky and bugs rarely ever get sorted. Depends on what you want to do with it I guess. I'm going for a slightly dearer box now that has reportedly good Kodi support and a manufacturer who does updates.

    Wanna buy a mecool m8s pro? Practically brand new just has trouble with Kodi with some movies. €50 its yours. Ships from Ireland too. ;)


  • Options
    #5
    jeffk
    Registered Users Posts: 5,830 ✭✭✭jeffk


    CalamariFritti wrote: »
    Just go on eBay and narrow your search to European locations?

    Just had a bad experience with a cheapie box. Just couldn't get Kodi to run stably on it even though it ships with a supposedly tailored version of it. Couldnt get to the root cause yet and I dont think I'll waste more time on it. Could have been the movies I have but unlikely that every single one I tested had a problem. They all played before on my ancient popcornhour.

    Since then I've been told on different forums that it often doesn't pay to go for the ultra cheapie boxes. They can be flaky and bugs rarely ever get sorted. Depends on what you want to do with it I guess. I'm going for a slightly dearer box now that has reportedly good Kodi support and a manufacturer who does updates.

    Wanna buy a mecool m8s pro? Practically brand new just has trouble with Kodi with some movies. €50 its yours. Ships from Ireland too. ;)

    What box are you looking at?

    Did you take the kodi off that came with it and put it from play store or SPMC

    What issues are you having?


  • Options
    #6
    CalamariFritti
    Registered Users Posts: 5,405 ✭✭✭CalamariFritti


    I'm looking at a Minix U1 now. Ordered it with the air mouse/keyboard for 100 off adverts.

    With the other box I tried all sorts of Kodi versions. The one that came pre-installed (17.4), most recent Krypton stable (17.6) and a few Amlogic specific builds, mostly 16.x releases. Will have one more go with spmc 16.7.

    Just having random freezes with a lovely DA-DA-DA-DA-DA-DA-DA... sound and its not just the app but the box is gone complete. Have to pull the plug. So I imagine its something driver or hardware related. Its standard x264 1080 stuff tho. I have one movie where it happens every time at the same point. I have that movie checked and re-encoded and there is nothing weird there. My ancient popcornhour breezes through it.

    The Minix U1 has a better board from the same chipset family but is a libreElec reference box and seems to be based on the 16.x Kodi that still has the amlogic drivers. Also it appears Minix has a more serious support and more frequent firmware updates than Mecool who seem to have none.

    Having said all that I'm far from an expert. Just what a few evenings on google and forums will give you.

    I just hope I'm not having the same issues with the 'better' box. Not sure what I do then. Buy Nvidia Shield I suppose but while happy to pay 100 I was hoping not having to pay 200.


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  • Options
    #7
    Johnboy1951
    Registered Users Posts: 13,990 ✭✭✭✭Johnboy1951


    CalamariFritti wrote: »
    I'm looking at a Minix U1 now. Ordered it with the air mouse/keyboard for 100 off adverts.

    With the other box I tried all sorts of Kodi versions. The one that came pre-installed (17.4), most recent Krypton stable (17.6) and a few Amlogic specific builds, mostly 16.x releases. Will have one more go with spmc 16.7.

    Just having random freezes with a lovely DA-DA-DA-DA-DA-DA-DA... sound and its not just the app but the box is gone complete. Have to pull the plug. So I imagine its something driver or hardware related. Its standard x264 1080 stuff tho. I have one movie where it happens every time at the same point. I have that movie checked and re-encoded and there is nothing weird there. My ancient popcornhour breezes through it.

    The Minix U1 has a better board from the same chipset family but is a libreElec reference box and seems to be based on the 16.x Kodi that still has the amlogic drivers. Also it appears Minix has a more serious support and more frequent firmware updates than Mecool who seem to have none.

    Having said all that I'm far from an expert. Just what a few evenings on google and forums will give you.

    I just hope I'm not having the same issues with the 'better' box. Not sure what I do then. Buy Nvidia Shield I suppose but while happy to pay 100 I was hoping not having to pay 200.

    Have you tried a CoreELEC on SD card or USB stick?
    https://github.com/CoreELEC/CoreELEC/releases


  • Options
    #8
    CalamariFritti
    Registered Users Posts: 5,405 ✭✭✭CalamariFritti


    No, I haven't. Thanks, will give it a go.

    Looks tricky tho, could be another couple of evenings out the window. Maybe I wait 'til I have the U1, at least there shouldn't be any question marks over the device tree,


  • Options
    #9
    jeffk
    Registered Users Posts: 5,830 ✭✭✭jeffk


    What I was going to say, stick to sd card or that method, least you can go back to stock easily

    I think you where mad to pay 100 and on lollipop. The x96 mini I got was only 25 and was great

    Hopefully you have no issues with box


  • Options
    #10
    CalamariFritti
    Registered Users Posts: 5,405 ✭✭✭CalamariFritti


    jeffk wrote: »
    What I was going to say, stick to sd card or that method, least you can go back to stock easily

    I think you where mad to pay 100 and on lollipop. The x96 mini I got was only 25 and was great

    Hopefully you have no issues with box

    I suppose I don't need most recent so android 6 doesn't really bother me. If I just have something that works Kodi for me in a stable manner I'll be happy enough. And as for the €100, well, yes could do without that, but if that one doesn't work I will simply return it. And if it does its a €100 well spent.

    I might end up buying the nvidia shield yet, probably should have done that in the first place. ;)

    As for the m8s pro, I bought it off Amazon US and returning a $50 item just doesn't make sense in that case. Will try libreElec on it and see how that goes. Might still be a useful moviebox for the bedroom or so.

    Yes I probably have more money than sense. Which is not the same as saying I have a lot of money, just very little sense.


  • Options
    #11
    jeffk
    Registered Users Posts: 5,830 ✭✭✭jeffk


    CalamariFritti wrote: »
    I suppose I don't need most recent so android 6 doesn't really bother me. If I just have something that works Kodi for me in a stable manner I'll be happy enough. And as for the €100, well, yes could do without that, but if that one doesn't work I will simply return it. And if it does its a €100 well spent.

    I might end up buying the nvidia shield yet, probably should have done that in the first place. ;)

    As for the m8s pro, I bought it off Amazon US and returning a $50 item just doesn't make sense in that case. Will try libreElec on it and see how that goes. Might still be a useful moviebox for the bedroom or so.

    Yes I probably have more money than sense. Which is not the same as saying I have a lot of money, just very little sense.

    Well it's more having the lastest as you can get ,especially to me if your handing out big money. The newest codec etc is never far away, you don't want to have to buy a new box because of a software rather than its broke broke

    I think the shield is more for gaming and then kodi etc, to me it's silly money to pay

    I wouldn't mind taking a punt at 20 or so, but then its you saying issues, rather than wanting something newer etc then i could be wasting 20 off a new box

    Ah sure there is worse things to do with your money, at least you have tech there rather than a hangover etc

    Worse case re video issues, get AVI files, thats the most basic plain version and should work on anything without any issues


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  • Options
    #12
    CalamariFritti
    Registered Users Posts: 5,405 ✭✭✭CalamariFritti


    Ye either way even if they dont work out for me these are brand new yokes, so I reckon I can move them on or return.
    My popcornhour lasted me nearly ten years. if I end up spending a couple of hundred and it lasts me another 5 it'll be grand.


  • Options
    #13
    The high horse brigade
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,456 ✭✭✭The high horse brigade


    CalamariFritti wrote: »
    Ye either way even if they dont work out for me these are brand new yokes, so I reckon I can move them on or return.
    My popcornhour lasted me nearly ten years. if I end up spending a couple of hundred and it lasts me another 5 it'll be grand.

    If you want 5 years get the Shield. Nothing else gets support for that long. Definitely if you're spending money you should look for the most up to date device you can get to last longer. Android is all about support and updates, it's continually evolving (and breaking support for older devices)


  • Options
    #14
    CalamariFritti
    Registered Users Posts: 5,405 ✭✭✭CalamariFritti


    Thats fair enough but really once I have Kodi up and running what support do I need? Its running right? If I dont touch it, it will keep running. Of course some add-on like the scraper (for example) might break at some point and the update of it might not be compatible with my old kodi version then and all that. I get that. But out of support doesnt necessarily mean it stops working there and then.

    Played with libreElec this morning and I either got lucky or its not that difficult, but I got it up and running and it has Kodi 17.6 and so far I have seen nothing funny. Big test next, a certain movie that kept crashing on me at the same point every time...


  • Options
    #15
    The high horse brigade
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,456 ✭✭✭The high horse brigade


    CalamariFritti wrote: »
    Thats fair enough but really once I have Kodi up and running what support do I need? Its running right? If I dont touch it, it will keep running. Of course some add-on like the scraper (for example) might break at some point and the update of it might not be compatible with my old kodi version then and all that. I get that. But out of support doesnt necessarily mean it stops working.

    That's where your wrong unless you're only watching local content. The streaming add-ons get broken all the time and need continuous updates and even newer versions of Kodi. That's all I will say about that


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    #16
    CalamariFritti
    Registered Users Posts: 5,405 ✭✭✭CalamariFritti


    The high horse brigade wrote: »
    That's where your wrong unless you're only watching local content. The streaming add-ons get broken all the time and need continuous updates and even newer versions of Kodi. That's all I will say about that

    I'm a local content guy so should be ok for a while but I understand most people are probably not. But thanks I get what you're saying.

    On another note:
    Yay, libreElec/Kodi plays the movies I had trouble with without a problem. I think my mecool is cool after all.


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