Description:
Mini M8S TV Box is a multimedia center which enables you to have the absolute best and most versatile home media experience. It is worthwhile for you to possess this TV box because it will let you enjoy plenty of HD movies, TV dramas and more videos on demand whenever you like with your friends and family.
Main Features:
● Amlogic S905 CPU is rapid and stable which can give you high speed feedback and smooth response.
● ARM Mail-450 as GPU of this TV box which gives you the high definition pictures and videos.
● 2.4G WiFi, offers a more stable WiFi signal for you to enjoy higher quality video experience.
● 2GB RAM + 8G ROM capacity, extendable capacity up to 32GB gives you more space to download your favorite apps and caches to browse websites, play games, run apps, watch movies more smoothly.
● Bluetooth 4.0 connectivity: Easy pairing with most Bluetooth-enabled devices (computer, mobile phone, keyboard, and others).
● Supports sync screen technology which can sync your phone displays to a larger screen to make you game experience more real.
● Infrared remote control lets you enjoy your wonderful life which the wireless brings to you.
Top comments
mcormack to InTheKnow444
29 Mar 1692#28
With your eyes.
Cavity to mmacarthur
29 Mar 1636#56
As illegal as a kitchen knife. All depends on what you do with it. A lot of free and paid services are available on it. But it's essentially a machine with Android.
pannan
29 Mar 1618#69
may be useful for some:-
Then we get to the Army of AMLogic devices including the likes the S812-H WeTek Core and the S905 MINIX U1.
There is also swarm of cheaper AML devices shipping out of Asia daily. For a first timer its hard to find a decent, reliable Kodi Android device.
Its very common with dirt cheap Android devices to come with lots of Bugs and no after sales support. Most are absolute rubbish, using pump and dump Marketing techniques to seduce unwary newbie buyers. False product reviews are very common.
Both the Core and the U1 are running the Android Lollipop OS, which results in a faster Android OS due to modern ART Android runtime optimisations, compared to Android KitKat you get on an older MINIX X-8H+.
I would no longer recommend any expensive Android device running KitKat because of this in 2016
Quote:
You need all the after sales support you can get with new Android Hardware. I cannot stress this enough.
The best Android device support comes from the 3 Kodi Diamond Sponsors - MINIX, nVIDIA and WeTek.
You get what you pay for with Android hardware devices. Smile
24p / 10-bit / HDMI 2.0 from here onwards...a peek into the future...without a Delorean !
You will need a compatible 4K HDMI 2.0 10-bit TV to take full advantage of these devices.
10-bit Video gives over 1 Billion colors vs 16,777,216 for 8-bit, see HERE for further details.
Even though these devices can decode 10-bit, video output will be 8-bit only due to lack of video player Software support (this includes Kodi)
The new AMLogic S905 has a fresh out of the wrapper, Android Lollipop 5.1.1 SDK, new Linux Kernel and comes with upgraded 10-bit / HDMI 2.0 tech specs compared to the S812-H's.
Excellent AMLogic VPU Hardware deinterlacing when using the amcodec decoder. However Android mediacodec uses inferior ff-mpeg2/h264 Software deinterlacing.
Speed is a tiny bit quicker compared to a Lollipop equipped S812-H device, but with a reduced number of cores in the GPU/VPU.
HD Audio Passthrough is activated in Android API Level 22 Firmware and will work when Kodi finally supports it in Krypton.
As all this is very new, users need to be aware the Firmware is immature with bugs currently being ironed out.
3D MVC (half res.) is a mixed bag too.
Hi10P H264 Anime decoding is not supported on the AMLogic S905's.
Even bug free 10-bit video output is an unknown quantity at this stage, and there are Hardware Problems with current SoC's.
After sales support is usually a BIG problem with dirt cheap AML Android devices.
S905's can be used as Fast cheap, 10-bit decoder, HDMI 2.0 boxes for those on a budget. If you can find one with decent firmware they represent good value, just beware of the current bugs for full Kodi feature compatibility.
BigBuds to MichaelJ85
29 Mar 1613#7
Phoenix, Spartan, beast. Just watched a screener of batman vs superman on salts.
I bought this box last week from gearbest but it hasn't come yet. Gearbest send your stuff by Belgium to prevent customs getting hold of it. I've had about 10 items delivered from gearbest since Christmas and never been hit with vat.
All comments (1386)
HankHandsome
29 Mar 16#1
***+++ STILL AVAILABLE +++***
*CLICK ON THE SHOPPING TROLLEY ICON ON THE MODEL YOU WANT AND IT WILL BE ADDED TO THE TROLLEY AT THE CORRECT PRICE*
Description:
Mini M8S TV Box is a multimedia center which enables you to have the absolute best and most versatile home media experience. It is worthwhile for you to possess this TV box because it will let you enjoy plenty of HD movies, TV dramas and more videos on demand whenever you like with your friends and family.
Main Features:
● Amlogic S905 CPU is rapid and stable which can give you high speed feedback and smooth response.
● ARM Mail-450 as GPU of this TV box which gives you the high definition pictures and videos.
● 2.4G WiFi, offers a more stable WiFi signal for you to enjoy higher quality video experience.
● 2GB RAM + 8G ROM capacity, extendable capacity up to 32GB gives you more space to download your favorite apps and caches to browse websites, play games, run apps, watch movies more smoothly.
● Bluetooth 4.0 connectivity: Easy pairing with most Bluetooth-enabled devices (computer, mobile phone, keyboard, and others).
● Supports sync screen technology which can sync your phone displays to a larger screen to make you game experience more real.
● Infrared remote control lets you enjoy your wonderful life which the wireless brings to you.
*CLICK ON THE SHOPPING TROLLEY ICON ON THE MODEL YOU WANT AND IT WILL BE ADDED TO THE TROLLEY AT THE CORRECT PRICE*
rev6
29 Mar 163#2
A lot of spec for the money. Remember import duty is a possibility.
HankHandsome to rev6
29 Mar 163#3
Very true. I've only been caught once and i've had a couple of boxes from China. I think it was around £6 or £7 in the end - wasn't from Gearbest though.
marky489 to rev6
30 Mar 16#203
Think they usually only bother if value is over £80
djwarden2015
29 Mar 161#4
Where is gearbeast located?
HankHandsome to djwarden2015
29 Mar 161#10
China.
mikerr to djwarden2015
29 Mar 161#46
China .. so long wait for delivery
UncleStan to djwarden2015
29 Mar 164#57
nearby the gates of hell :-)
MichaelJ85
29 Mar 163#5
Anyone know any decent addons... Other than Genesis and navy
BigBuds to MichaelJ85
29 Mar 1613#7
Phoenix, Spartan, beast. Just watched a screener of batman vs superman on salts.
I bought this box last week from gearbest but it hasn't come yet. Gearbest send your stuff by Belgium to prevent customs getting hold of it. I've had about 10 items delivered from gearbest since Christmas and never been hit with vat.
Genesis is pretty much dead now. Use Exodus, Specto, SALTS, Ice Films, 1Channel, Entertainment Hub or Velocity for movies.
Phoenix is decent too.
amoulden to MichaelJ85
29 Mar 16#80
I stream , more power, phoenix are all good. DNA is good for 4k
loumar76 to MichaelJ85
29 Mar 16#86
exodus, sports devil and phoenix are all good.
mjh71 to MichaelJ85
29 Mar 16#140
For sports try castaway
Matty8787 to MichaelJ85
29 Mar 16#142
Genesis was replaced by exodus same geezer who made em.
marky489 to MichaelJ85
30 Mar 16#204
Exodus, Genesis fork, U.KTurks, Phoenix navix are the best
streety21 to MichaelJ85
30 Mar 16#234
Watch a video on how to install 'Ares Wizard' that has all the best builds and I would recommend the beast
draeburn to MichaelJ85
30 Mar 16#329
I recently went the Wizard route, used Wookie and it was awesome, all the best latest addons and constantly updates. Certainly the best way to go for newbies...
trinitys_mate to MichaelJ85
30 Mar 16#377
Exodus is now the mutts nuts :wink:
moneybanks14 to MichaelJ85
31 Mar 161#560
Would have been easier to Google "best kodi addons 2016"...
Genesis is poor now
Exodus, stream all the sources (salts) phoenix and ukturks is where it's all at.
For TV series exodus and salts will be all you ever need!
wipeout1319 to MichaelJ85
31 Mar 16#561
exodus is a pumped up version of genesis, basically genesis was the trial run and exodus is the final product :smiley:
lukaszbator58 to MichaelJ85
31 Mar 16#568
phoenix
moz147
29 Mar 1611#6
Phoenix, exodus, live mix and Turks are all good
stphnstevey to moz147
31 Mar 16#633
Nice
cfbc to moz147
3 Apr 16#723
I have exodus and salts installed, but I cannot get it to stream films for some reason. Bad streams... I can stream series and live sport, but not the films. Very strange. MY ISP blocking?
Anyone help?
delpo
29 Mar 162#9
Good value, i paid £40 recently for my M8S which is the same spec.
Performance wise i am perfectly happy with it.
rev6
29 Mar 161#14
OpenELEC builds for the S905 should be coming out eventually, if not early builds already. Something to look forward to.
HankHandsome to rev6
29 Mar 16#17
I've been waiting over a year for a build for my M8S box to no avail
djwarden2015
29 Mar 163#15
Didn't think HUKD allowed deals form China?
rev6 to djwarden2015
29 Mar 16#16
GearBest is allowed now.
peterkay11 to djwarden2015
30 Mar 163#164
When their making money out of it they will allow any site. UK based companies that are established that don't throw them any money, then it's a NO!
jaydeeuk1 to djwarden2015
30 Mar 162#243
They don't unless they bribe... sorry, offer high amounts of commission (9% in this case)
rev6
29 Mar 16#18
Ths S805 chipset was better supported by developers, probably due to price at the time. I know of one developer that will be porting it to S905 eventually. I'm not sure about this exact box though.
djwarden2015
29 Mar 16#19
Easy Rev
DE4L3R
29 Mar 164#20
better spec than fire tv?
also customs..£8 royalmail handling fee+ vat? im probably wrong
rev6
29 Mar 162#21
I believe so.
InTheKnow444
29 Mar 161#22
forgive me, but how would you watch new movies on this?
mcormack to InTheKnow444
29 Mar 1692#28
With your eyes.
Candystore to InTheKnow444
29 Mar 165#40
Keep it in your pocket when you go the cinema.
kracker69 to InTheKnow444
31 Mar 16#471
Plenty of videos on youtube quite easy once you get the hang ,also plenty of advice on addons people are using here on Hukd
madmal
29 Mar 167#23
I have this box... originally tried to buy from Gearbest but it was "lost" in the post by Yodel. Paid a bit more a bought it from an ebay seller in the end. I flashed an Openelec build on it and it works great, I had a few issues with Android but it's really stable now with Openelec.
I waited a while to buy one of these and did a lot of research, Openelec was a must for me. For the money this is great
Correction... the one I have is the MINI MX which costs about the same.
*Sloman*
29 Mar 161#24
gearbest sent me the wrong android box. asked me to return at my own cost!!! contacted PayPal they sided with gearbest £12.45 was cheapest option
UncleStan to *Sloman*
29 Mar 163#60
that is shocking but unfortunately highly believable :-(
Beware people proceed with caution..
ngangekrubally to *Sloman*
30 Mar 16#237
That's why I stopped buying from them. Call your bank and they will reverse the payment. Santander did that for me.
rev6
29 Mar 161#25
Good to know it's already being worked on. Thanks :smiley:
There's no guarantee the MiniMX version will work perfectly on this box, unless it's the exact same innards.
pvfc247
29 Mar 162#26
Cheers for the link :wink:
Horrorwood
29 Mar 16#27
I bought this recently, it shipped on the 24th, will let everyone know how it is when it arrives.
sethcathison
29 Mar 161#29
Do you actually get a UK PSU with this or do you get a 2 pin one with a crappy UK adapter?
rev6 to sethcathison
29 Mar 164#31
delpo to sethcathison
29 Mar 16#33
if you scroll through all the pictures on the left on the gearbest site it shows a normal looking uk plug.[same as post 29]
whydoiwastemytimehere to sethcathison
30 Mar 16#270
OMG it must be really hard to change the Plug. I just guess you don't know where to send it of to to get it done, as it so expensive to get an electrician to come in and do it.
pvfc247
29 Mar 16#30
Hi all , can I ask if anyone can recommend a good alternative on Amazon the does the same please.
I have been looking at Android tv/pc boxes for a while but being new to me I find it a bit confusing, plus it would be good to get some information from someone who knows what what they are talking about.
Thanks in advance.
mobeus1 to pvfc247
31 Mar 16#573
zenoplige are selling these on amazon£39.99 purchased 1 4 weeks ago works well was preinstalled with kodi 15.2 all links had been lost updated the box all fine full sky package movies .sport etc ordered 8pm fri night delivered 12 noon Saturday amazon prime just removes the uncertainty o buying from china.
orange1234 to pvfc247
24 Apr 16#1133
Depends what you want. If you want ALL satellite tv stations then you need a satellite box such as VU+ Solo2 which has 2 tuners (watch one channel and record another) and a hard drive (1tb is plenty) to record, rewind, etc. Blue HD Skin will be familiar look. You could look on ebay for something called a satellite Gift. If you can get one that gives you an image with the gift already installed. There are lots of satellite forums with guides. OpenVix is popular
If you want to watch movies, football, missed tv series Netflix,TV Players etc than you need something that runs Kodi on Android. Amazon TV box will do the job if you want something you can get from the UK with lots of support forums. Google side load Android amazon TV (not firestsick, although this is possible too but is a bit under-powered) or watch a youtube video. Husham Memar - YouTube is good. It's not hard. When you Install Kodi, you will have access to thousands of apps, you only need about 12, but you'll end up having 50 or more if you're not careful, all duplicating each other. Google Essential android Kodi addons. Exodus, genesis, Isteam, TVmix for worldwide tv on demand, showbox, salts, are in the top 10. hope that helps. There are lots of Videos on youtube, there is a learning curve but is worthwhile. openvix on the satellite box does have what it calls TS Media which is a cut down and adapted version of Kodi. It's very good for basic movies and etc, if you want "everything" then you can't beat an Android box. Hope that helps
topazz
29 Mar 168#32
It's probably entirely unrelated that Gearbest are signed up with Quidco, which by a happy coincidence is closely related to HUKD. There are big differences when buying direct from China compared with using a UK retailer. In fairness i have never had any problems with Gearbest but innocent punters should be made aware of the pros and cons involved.
mattmerch
29 Mar 167#34
nice specced piracy box
rvcshart
29 Mar 161#35
What, scr already?
I checked sites before i left for work yesterday and didnt see one.
vulcanproject
29 Mar 167#36
I love how this is basically a computer in a tiny box for £26 with capabilities I would have killed for 15 years ago, paying £1000 for something remotely as capable
amour3k to vulcanproject
30 Mar 16#252
No problem! .. I can sell you the same thing for £999.00 within a 2-3 week window if you want? (a whole £1 OFF!), what you reckon?. :-)
Hehehehehehe.
It's alllllllllll goooooooood though, lol.
BattleCat to vulcanproject
30 Mar 16#443
It was the original xbox, chipped with Xbox Media Player which then became XBMC :smiley:
x80ssm1
29 Mar 161#37
can someone explain if i use apps like showbox can i use this box so its on my tv? can i use my phone as a remote for stuff like games?
devlino
29 Mar 163#38
Not a screener
tjc2005
29 Mar 162#39
Cold.
Reason: Gearbest.
Elevation
29 Mar 16#41
Can I sideload Roku?
BigYoSpeck
29 Mar 16#42
Anyone tried 10bit x265 content on these and know if they will actually play?
I've got an s805 which though fine with regular x265 content just can't handle 10bit.
AndyRoyd to BigYoSpeck
30 Mar 161#175
Haven't yet found an S905-based box that cannot play 10bit x265 smoothly via Kodi. S805 and S812 don't like 10bit; neither does RK3368. My preferred player for all media was MXplayer but that struggles with 10bit x265 so exclusively for 10bit I now use Kodi.
Cavity
29 Mar 16#43
When you say slow on Android? How slow exactly? Laggy or unusable?
bubblegum2910
29 Mar 16#44
these types of devices plug into the hdmi of your tv, you can play games, but the processor is not powerful enough for much in the way of game playing.
keith43
29 Mar 16#45
ordered the beelink p2 from gearbest it turned up and didn't work - they want me to pay to return it and it looks like Paypal sides with them - crap from China avoid!
jamesdaley940 to keith43
31 Mar 161#545
I bought a mobile phone and wanted to return it , as soon as I phoned PayPal they said I couldn't send a phone to China because there customs will refuse it down to the battery, PayPal gave me a full refund there and then and told me to message gearbest and tell them to arrange a courier to pick it up from me, which they never did
georget
29 Mar 161#47
No gigabit but nice price. Hot!
Jonnyblock
29 Mar 161#48
Presumably the 4k fire TV Box is superior?
OrangeAgent
29 Mar 161#49
Anyone know what the Wifi is like on this? I got a hacked firestick and its not great upstairs, but good you can put the unit behind the TV unlike nowtv
keifrb
29 Mar 161#50
Will this be supported and updated? I purchased a Minix recently due to there reputation, build quality and the fact they support there devices....
Yes it has it pre-installed. Even if it didn't it takes a couple of minutes to install via Google Play store. You can also update the pre-installed version via Google Play store.
mmacarthur
29 Mar 162#55
Isn't all this highly illegal? Just asking as if it is I'm genuinely surprised how openly people are discussing it.
Cavity to mmacarthur
29 Mar 1636#56
As illegal as a kitchen knife. All depends on what you do with it. A lot of free and paid services are available on it. But it's essentially a machine with Android.
tfish to mmacarthur
30 Mar 165#349
LOL my god the Govt has you right where they want you. You're the dream citizen.
mattmerch
29 Mar 164#58
sorry to inform this is not a screener the oscars season is over :smiley:
shaney2k
29 Mar 16#59
I was considering the Shield purely for emulation, Genesis and N64 primarily. With a bluetooth controller but this be up to the job?
shootomanUK to shaney2k
30 Mar 16#145
This is nowhere near the shield, it will probably run genesis emulation & other 8 bit/16bit emulation but when I comes to emulating 32bit & 64bit systems It will struggle.
The shield is the way to go for emulation, its far superior to this mini m8s
Also a great kodi experience!
MrDre to shaney2k
30 Mar 161#354
I've got an Amazon fire tv 4k box which handles those well without issue and also PS1.
Given this is similar spec I'd say it would probably be up to it.
Cavity
29 Mar 16#61
Voted hot but decided against it. Rpi2 still doing it's job however slow
I have a slightly different box which is usable but kind of laggy. My box has the following specs:
CPU: Amlogic S805 Quad-Core Cortex-A5 at 1.5GHz
GPU: Quad-Core Mali-450 at 600MHz+
RAM: 1gb DDR3
I paid £23 for it but maybe I should get this one instead. Can someone with the knowhow tell me what exactly is causing the lag in terms of opening apps, scrolling the pages and menu etc. Should I get a box with a better CPU or a better GPU or with more RAM?
The specs on this box is pretty good but no WIFI antenna with 5ghz support seems like the only downside for me.
lawllb
29 Mar 162#67
RAM and CPU are both important. In your case I think more RAM is essential. 2gb RAM will make a big difference with this box. I have this box and it never lags. Furthermore, I use an ethernet connection rather than Wifi
credington
29 Mar 161#68
10-15 day direct delivery is free. Discount code doesn't work BTW.
pannan
29 Mar 1618#69
may be useful for some:-
Then we get to the Army of AMLogic devices including the likes the S812-H WeTek Core and the S905 MINIX U1.
There is also swarm of cheaper AML devices shipping out of Asia daily. For a first timer its hard to find a decent, reliable Kodi Android device.
Its very common with dirt cheap Android devices to come with lots of Bugs and no after sales support. Most are absolute rubbish, using pump and dump Marketing techniques to seduce unwary newbie buyers. False product reviews are very common.
Both the Core and the U1 are running the Android Lollipop OS, which results in a faster Android OS due to modern ART Android runtime optimisations, compared to Android KitKat you get on an older MINIX X-8H+.
I would no longer recommend any expensive Android device running KitKat because of this in 2016
Quote:
You need all the after sales support you can get with new Android Hardware. I cannot stress this enough.
The best Android device support comes from the 3 Kodi Diamond Sponsors - MINIX, nVIDIA and WeTek.
You get what you pay for with Android hardware devices. Smile
24p / 10-bit / HDMI 2.0 from here onwards...a peek into the future...without a Delorean !
You will need a compatible 4K HDMI 2.0 10-bit TV to take full advantage of these devices.
10-bit Video gives over 1 Billion colors vs 16,777,216 for 8-bit, see HERE for further details.
Even though these devices can decode 10-bit, video output will be 8-bit only due to lack of video player Software support (this includes Kodi)
The new AMLogic S905 has a fresh out of the wrapper, Android Lollipop 5.1.1 SDK, new Linux Kernel and comes with upgraded 10-bit / HDMI 2.0 tech specs compared to the S812-H's.
Excellent AMLogic VPU Hardware deinterlacing when using the amcodec decoder. However Android mediacodec uses inferior ff-mpeg2/h264 Software deinterlacing.
Speed is a tiny bit quicker compared to a Lollipop equipped S812-H device, but with a reduced number of cores in the GPU/VPU.
HD Audio Passthrough is activated in Android API Level 22 Firmware and will work when Kodi finally supports it in Krypton.
As all this is very new, users need to be aware the Firmware is immature with bugs currently being ironed out.
3D MVC (half res.) is a mixed bag too.
Hi10P H264 Anime decoding is not supported on the AMLogic S905's.
Even bug free 10-bit video output is an unknown quantity at this stage, and there are Hardware Problems with current SoC's.
After sales support is usually a BIG problem with dirt cheap AML Android devices.
S905's can be used as Fast cheap, 10-bit decoder, HDMI 2.0 boxes for those on a budget. If you can find one with decent firmware they represent good value, just beware of the current bugs for full Kodi feature compatibility.
fatdeeman to pannan
30 Mar 16#446
^^This^^
The chipset is great but the firmware on some of these boxes isn't even fully compatible with the underlying hardware so you won't get 24p or 10bit. Best to research and look for any reviews if available. Some of the boxes are well supported by the makers and even come with optimized versions of Kodi but others are literally a capable chipset that's been trapped under non optimised firmware.
dogsballs
29 Mar 16#70
for the price its not bad
AndyRoyd to dogsballs
30 Mar 16#176
Considering it's near-impossible to find a UK-sourced S905 box with 2GB ram under £43, the price is very good - even if hit with the possible £13 import fees.
Had it on pre launch and at the time the fastest box on the market other than the Shield which i also own with things like this you get what you pay for, dont expect any updates you get stuck with it as is and if its rubbish it stays rubbish. My Ziddo is always getting updates, supports everything including HD audio which no doubt this doesn't. My shield updated to Android 6 and since then Kodi hasn't worked all the backgrounds go black and its been unstable and unusable.
spiceychicken691
29 Mar 161#72
genietv is the only addon you need
DoctorZed
29 Mar 16#73
Price gone up to 27.70'ish.
Dockerman
29 Mar 162#74
Now at £28.01.
Dockerman
29 Mar 16#75
£25.98. price is for the EU plug version.
rev6 to Dockerman
29 Mar 16#77
BigBuds
29 Mar 16#76
Sorry I thought it was called a screener if fined at cinema sorry my mistake.
danmed
29 Mar 16#78
Sorry but there is no screener of BM v SM.. There is only an HD-TS which is awful quality.
gadger007
29 Mar 163#79
Gearbest.... AWFUL service... Good luck ordering off these shoddy people... And then trying to get your money back..
soza to gadger007
29 Mar 163#82
It's less of a problem than the more expensive tablets often posted here, but I'm still surprised that GearBest "deals" are allowed to be posted here as they're known to fake reviews and they have an awful returns/refund policy. Plus look at the name of the website we're using.... HotUKDeals, not HotChinaDeals :smirk:
DeanJones
29 Mar 16#81
Gearbest our terrible at posting takes forever,
Gollywood
29 Mar 16#83
Im a total novice to this.
I've added KODI app to my Android TV. Then added something called Fusion to it. Is there any other stuff I can add. I saw something called Genesis. Is it similar to Fusion?
RiverDragon8 to Gollywood
29 Mar 161#85
Fusion is the build (proper name is hub wizard) and Genesis is a video add-on. Google how to install paradox and super repo and that's all you need.
lukaszbator58 to Gollywood
31 Mar 16#590
phoenix, turk tv, download and install app called showbox.
Do you have a link for the amazon Prime version? Thanks
credington to NizamuddinP
29 Mar 16#100
You're joking. Doubt it.
Nuka
29 Mar 16#92
Got the older version of M8S from elsewhere a while back and its been mostly solid but stuck on KitKat. I remember they shortly released M8S+ with Lollipop. When I asked seller for a firmware update due to couple minor issues was told to send it back for refund but decided keep it. Great for the price just remember it may never be officially updated.
Cavity
29 Mar 162#93
Shh! Don't give away the game..
sully01
29 Mar 16#94
.................
Draak
29 Mar 16#96
How did you pay the duty?
mcdarius
29 Mar 16#97
Damn I deserve a bit of that wonderful life that wireless brings. Sold!
credington
29 Mar 16#98
Lesser specs
HankHandsome
29 Mar 16#99
to be honest, i can't remember - it was a few years ago.
zgeor
29 Mar 16#101
You might be better off buying one of these Andoer Z4 Android from a certain chinese website for £48. I got one and it is actually quite good. It does [email protected] and has HEVC support. However it doesnt have VP9 support which is not a dealbreaker for me. And it runs android.
HankHandsome
29 Mar 161#102
Why spend £23 quid more on a box that does exactly the same ?. The one in the link does [email protected] and has HEVC support .. and runs Android (they all do...).
Weird reply ..
Disco Dave
29 Mar 16#103
Bought stuff more expensive than this from Gearbest and never paid tax
Disco Dave
29 Mar 161#104
I would recommend Ares Wizard. Loads of builds and add ons in one place
Wellhung to Disco Dave
29 Mar 16#107
Ares never connects to the server nowadays though.
YouTube is your friend, just search for Kodi Wizards there.
Take your pick from this ebay store you will get what you ordered and quickly: http://stores.ebay.co.uk/justopeshop?_trksid=p2047675.l2563
I got the MX MINI from here and it is bulletproof so far on Ethernet not wifi.
Android 5.1 and an easy front end, which is good cos the remotes are always rubbish.
Combination of S905 and 2GB RAM is rarely below mid-£40s ex-UK, but hardware features are higher for that price. Example http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/391406400581
credington
29 Mar 16#106
Has 16gb Rom vs 8gb. Only difference I can see.
dan5
29 Mar 164#108
Nice analogy.... if 99% of kitchen knife use was for stabbing people. :smiley:
credington
29 Mar 16#109
Only 1GB Ram but has gigabit ethernet
RealDash
29 Mar 16#110
I got this one from them and never had to pay import tax... works flawlessly with kodi and youtube etc. http://www.gearbest.com/tv-box-mini-pc/pp_232374.html
Also it does have Blutooth which I wasnt expecting as its not in the description...
HankHandsome
29 Mar 16#111
The one I saw was only 8gb - and a rockchip model as well. meh. horses for courses i suppose :smiley:
Wellhung
29 Mar 161#112
Flawless so far, no lag and no buffer.
Using the confluence skin in kodi helps for some reason and I got rid of the bloat and only use Exodus and Mobdro.
I don't think your using your box to it's full potential if your just using those 2 add-ons, total waste. Try installing a build that comes with all the latest and best add-ons.
Mandroid578
29 Mar 16#124
Why am I getting charged £26.68?
credington to Mandroid578
29 Mar 161#126
Paypal $ to £ exchange rate
ibblackberry1
29 Mar 162#125
Depends on what your using it for exodus and one or two others give you access to the majority of movies and TV that the general viewer wants.
Assuming sports is not your thing what would adding other addons give me?
RiverDragon8
29 Mar 16#127
From your comment your another novice. You can add sooooooooo many video add-on's restricting yourself to only two is madness.
ripuk
29 Mar 16#128
Who wrote this ****?
"Amlogic S905 CPU is rapid and stable which can give you high speed feedback and smooth response."
ibblackberry1
29 Mar 162#129
I am a novice, agreed. But on the couple of addons I have I have not as yet found a movie or programme not being there.
If I put more addons it will still just be the same movies and programmes. Admittedly I am not looking for sport or porn or amine or things of that nature.
So if I add more addons what extra will I get when I have all the top movies and programmes from a couple of popular addons?
Wellhung
29 Mar 162#130
There is nothing on any of those other add-ons that I can't get with the 2 I use, apart from some grainy live TV, radio and karaoke.
All you do is lag the box with infinite addons that show the same stuff.
Chowchilla
29 Mar 16#131
id advise going for a pre-combiled build. Apollo buid is lightweight and easy to set up. it has everything you could need (and no XXX content)
ibblackberry1
29 Mar 16#132
I agree, had the beast for a bit, and the black box (which was decent), but ended up streamlining the addons for my firesticks and they work a dream.
007xico
29 Mar 16#133
Spend a bit more and get something with proper support.
Had 3 of these boxes over the last few years and can't recommend them.
They have many issues that never get sorted.
credington to 007xico
29 Mar 16#136
Which boxes have proper support? genuine question.
HankHandsome to 007xico
29 Mar 161#137
Like what ?
These boxes are usually fine - you get the odd person who has issues and decides to tell everyone to avoid them, but more often than not they're fine.
RiverDragon8
29 Mar 161#134
Google 'install paradox kodi' and youtube install super repo. That's all you need.
ibblackberry1
29 Mar 161#135
I'll give it a go on a tablet and see what's what but I can't see it giving me much extra in the way of mainstream content. Basically if the blue ray, or dvd screener, or rip is out in torrent land then something like exodus will generally have it (for mainstream popular content).
I'll give the build you mention a whirl though
RiverDragon8
29 Mar 16#138
Stick with those two add-ons and you'll be alright.
HankHandsome
29 Mar 16#139
I've just tried one of these for the M8s that I have and it's done what it always does and soft bricks it. I can recover it as i figured out how to do it last year with one particular rom that i can boot from, but i always get this when i try any of the M8S versions of OpenELEC.
Makes me wonder if my box is a clone and has some different innards i suppose ..
tipsy1973
29 Mar 16#141
addoninstaller and look through what you can get, join a kodi group on FB & look about
aian
29 Mar 16#143
I am using a Gigabyte Brix GB-XM14-1037 with a 32GB mSATA and 8GB RAM with OpenELEC.
The CPU is a 3rd generation Intel Celeron 1037U 1.8GHz
Does anyone know if this KODI box will be faster than my existing machine if I install OpenELEC on it?
madmal to aian
30 Mar 161#151
I'd say yes for sure if you were running kodi on Windows. I don't think you will notice any degradation in performance with your setup and an s905 running openelec, even with 1gb ram, the s905 will probably be faster to be honest.
pannan
30 Mar 161#144
To tell you the truth, I don't think you are if you are streaming crappy low bit rate rips with poor stereo sound. Kodi is meant as a front end for a media library primarily. Download decent full copies and you'll appreciate the difference.
Chowchilla
30 Mar 16#146
would it be better to install openelec on this device rather than using android?
madmal
30 Mar 16#147
That's the problem with all these boxes, there are sometimes different hardware variants and when the wrong rom is flashed the inevitable happens. That's why I went for the Mini Mx there just seems to be one version of that that made by Beelink, Openlec ROM is working well with it.
HankHandsome to madmal
30 Mar 16#183
Weirdly enough, after going around the houses somewhat, I actually found a version of Openelec that actually works. Most of the other versions i tried actually installed and ran, but when I rebooted the box and took the memory card out, i realised they'd only installed to the card itself which was a pain.
Reverted to the rom i know always works then tried OpenELEC-Amlogic.arm-M8S-6.0.0.2.zip and it works!. Reboots normally and doesn't need the memory card either. Hopefully i'll be able to restore my backup I took last night as well.
I know there's a 6.0.3 version that was updated just this month, but i'm kind of thinking i don't want to tempt fate :smiley:
Have you used this particular device then ?
RiverDragon8
30 Mar 16#148
'To tell you the truth' everyone on here knows why they are using Kodi for. To tell me i don't know what I'm talking about is utter nonsense. I've been downloading for over 14-15 years and since using Kodi i probably only download from torrent sites now and again (If i see a film/TV series i like i will make a copy but that's very rare).
Kodi is very convenient if you just want to watch something of decent quality and not bother downloading it, something that is glaringly obvious if you knew what you was talking about.
madmal
30 Mar 16#149
It wasn't really slow but sometimes kodi would crash and sometimes I'd get lag. Also took about a minute or two to boot with android, with openelec it boots straight to kodi in about 15 seconds. The main thing is that it's very stable.
kamy786rulz
30 Mar 16#150
I have Amazon Fire TV 4K and have been enjoying Robocop add on for a while especially the exceptional coverage of BT sport HD channels for champions league . But recently they closed down the addon and now I there are not many addons for what I can see that match that viewing experience from Robocop. Can anyone here give me a recommendation for a HD BT Sport addon that is stable and free on Kodi ??
aian
30 Mar 16#152
Thanks madmal.
I am rather intrigued by the fact that it can support H265 videos.
Just one more question.
99% of the material I watch is on three USB3 drives.
The Brix has a USB3 port to which I have connected a USB3 hub and it all works from there.
Would the lack of USB3 of this Kodi box affect performance at all?
Chowchilla to aian
30 Mar 161#154
1080p will be fine over USB 2. Id wager you could do 4k over usb 2.0 depending on the bitrate.
ben2005 to aian
30 Mar 16#156
USB 2.0 max transfer rate is about 20-25mb a sec if a remember correctly.
A bluray player reads a disc at 40mbps max. That's 5mb a sec (I think) so no worry about transfer speed for videos reading from USB
madmal to aian
30 Mar 16#158
You will want to use a better remote than the infra red ones that get supplied with these boxes, that will take up one of the USBs. Hevc 265 runs fine on my mini mx, really amazed by the quality considering the file sizes. You should never need full usb 3 speeds for streaming video unless it's 4k or uncompressed, probably ok even then.
ben2005
30 Mar 16#153
I have a s812 2gb box and running ps1 and n64 games are good! (As long as you tweak the settings and make it openGL) makes them look upscaled. When ever i used to play old games i remember them looking good on a CRT tv. But if i plugged a ps1 to a big tv it would look bad so this little magic box lets me relive old games how they are in my head lol.
It can just about play Dreamcast games too.
Chowchilla
30 Mar 16#155
Definelty gonna try openelec on my box when it arrvies, thanks for the link
madmal
30 Mar 16#157
Note I have the mini mx running openlec. Not this exact box although there are some openlec roms listed for it.
aian
30 Mar 16#159
Not interested in 4K at all, but how about 3d @ 1080p?
Chowchilla
30 Mar 16#160
tempted to cancel my order and get thge miniMX version 1.0. looking at the amliux forums seems its better supported.
madmal
30 Mar 16#161
Still don't see an issue with that
madmal
30 Mar 16#162
Good plan! There are some resellers on eBay that are selling the mini mx with that exact openlec rom on it for about 50 quid, cheeky ****. It was dead easy to DIY. Im using the January rom, haven't bothered updating to the march one.
Chowchilla
30 Mar 16#163
done, canceled the and went with the miniMX 1.0 Has gigabit ethernet and 5ghz wifi so it seemed like a good deal all in all.
its slightly more expensive but looking at reviews and forums it seems like its better suported and has frequent OTA's the last ota it had seems to have fixed alot of issue people were having. and the openelec support is there.
kalico
30 Mar 161#167
Don't risk buying from Gearbest. Ever.
stuboy76
30 Mar 16#168
best programme for these boxes is wookie search in YouTube,exodus,etc all in one place and they have a lite version your welcome
DonkeyKonk
30 Mar 162#169
Isn't this all pretty Dodgy ?
dan5 to DonkeyKonk
30 Mar 162#191
Yes. Amazing how many criminals there are on here!
sp3345
30 Mar 16#170
This box is very slow compared to Fire tv
Fire tv 10 times faster
chocci
30 Mar 163#171
Tbf, you seem to be the novice with your duff info. A few addons is all you need to access 99% of the media available. Different addins generally source their material from the same streaming sites so adding more just creates lag and increased kodi load times.
chocci
30 Mar 161#172
Mb = megabit
MB = megabyte
Max theoretical usb2 transfer speed is 480Mbps / 60MBps
sotomonkey
30 Mar 16#173
That plug concerns me a little, it's a shame it isn't USB. I bought a tablet once that had a plug like that and the top pin on the plug broke as it was crappy plastic. Would be ok if it broke and was USB.
montana78
30 Mar 16#174
Can this do dts? And showbox using standard remote?
chocci to montana78
30 Mar 16#177
The standard remote is pretty useless so you'll need an airmouse. Showbox, mobdro, cartoon hd etc runs fine as do all the play store apps
Honeyswift
30 Mar 16#178
Could you run a Plex server on this?
kha27
30 Mar 16#179
I'm a novice is this better than the Amazon Fire TV 4K?
Please advise
Thanks
C4arlJenko
30 Mar 16#180
in my experience you can't beet just installing a couple of android apps called showbox, Megabox hd, mobdro, cartoon hd. It maybe something I'm doing wrong with kodi but there's always so many links that's not working it gets too frustrating for words...
sJohnson23
30 Mar 16#181
Can you run a VPN on these? Call me paranoid but I expect the shoe to drop on using these one day.
Partypooper
30 Mar 16#182
I have the black box build any one know how to update it?
e_munky
30 Mar 16#184
I already have a fire stick, is it worth buying a dedicated box or will the firestick be ok to run kodi?
if you've already got a fire stick then it's worth keeping. the specs are identical as far as processor and ram goes. obviously you can probably do more with this box as it's essentially an android tablet connected to your TV, but if you're just interested in Kodi then i'd stick with the stick .. so to speak :smiley:
pannan
30 Mar 16#185
Maybe you need to read what you had initially wrote as you talked about a build with latest addons which clearly refers to inferior quality streaming. You just stick with that and your torrentz , mate!
fatbrummie
30 Mar 161#186
Genesis ended 4 months ago.Use Exodus & Phoenix.As for the beast and spartan,their not add ons,their over rated crap builds.
Ordered this on the 21st for $36.99, don't know whether still an option, but when I ordered you could just choose one up from the cheapest shipping for free. It was dispatched 4 days later, not arrived yet.
Chowchilla to sibeer
30 Mar 161#200
yeah that is still active, 7-14 days it says, mine shipped out this morning.
RiverDragon8
30 Mar 16#192
LOL, duff info?? Are you blind, stupid or both?? Wellhung has basically installed Hub wizard and not knowing what the video add-ons are or what they do (some video add-ons have 3,4,5 different purposes) has one by one uninstalled each one. Anyone in the know (obviously not you) will tell you what are the must add-ons to have. Wellhung thinks by only using 2 add-ons that's all he needs and the other add-ons just lag and slow down the box, if that's the case go to settings and turn off auto updates so he can manually update himself (Use google or youtube to find out how).
Regular Kodi users will have a go to add-on, if the quality isn't quite there i.e watching TV series and it's only showing in 480 they will use another add-on to see if they can get a better quality ideally in HD (this is why you have different video add-on, something completely lost to a novice like you and Wellhung).
With all these FREE to install add-ons at your disposal you think you only need 2?? I use 4 different add-on for my Movies and TV series, MTV add-on, 4 different sports add-on, Food network, Cooking channel, Football highlights, Youtube etc,etc...... Wellhung is missing out on so much because he is a novice that doesn't know and you thinking he is correct makes you look stupid doesn't it, makes you look like a novice that doesn't know.
kay-p
30 Mar 16#193
Forget all this rubbish and hassle with boxes like this. Just get yourself an Amazon Fire Stick. Good specs, fast, easy to use. Done.
HankHandsome to kay-p
30 Mar 16#194
Fire Sticks are perfectly fine for the less technically capable I suppose ..
woodg8 to kay-p
30 Mar 161#196
fire stick has the benefit of netflix but it has no 4k like this box has nor does it do x265, like this box does. This box is far more future proof than a fire stick if you know what you're doing
woodg8
30 Mar 16#195
would be all over this if it wasn't gearbest, a truly horrible company
RiverDragon8
30 Mar 16#197
For the life of me how did you jump to that conclusion that me saying installing a build with the latest add-ons refers to inferior quality streaming?? Best thing to do when you get an Android TV box is to install a decent build that comes with the latest add-ons (which is the norm). You have never used Kodi before i can tell.
danib
30 Mar 16#198
Apart from putting kodi on this box; what else can you do ?
greencat to danib
30 Mar 162#199
Most things you can do with an android phone (except make calls over a mobile network).
Ah that's great, glad it's working for you... did you not try OpenELEC-Amlogic.arm-M8S-6.0.3.zip ? This is actually a pretty good box then as it has 2Gb RAM, the Mini MX only has 1Gb however it does have 1Gb Ethernet, which it not a big deal really.
The quote about Fire Stick is nonsense. The only good advantage the amazon devices have over any of these imported amlogic boxes is that they support netflix properly.
Jetset1981
30 Mar 16#205
Agreed! I try different builds using Ares wizard. Pulse lite is good on the fire stick and run the heavier build on my tab.
However I have a question (which I have googled but cant find an answer) I have added a 32G SD card and also a 32G USB. I changed the download path in Exodus for example to either, it says download complete, but I can never find the downloads on the removable media?
If I download to the onboard 16G , everything is fine? Any ideas???
si121
30 Mar 16#207
At the moment, I just connect my laptop up to the TV via HDMI. Not really too difficult. What's the benefit of this box? Does it stream as well as a laptop?
BigYoSpeck to si121
30 Mar 16#215
Depends on the laptop. It's likely not as powerful as a laptop but then this is designed for a single function to sit and live plugged into the TV permanently and provide streaming functions.
It'll use less power than your laptop, has a remote control but it won't do anything your laptop can't do other than run Android only apps.
A lot of them do have Miracast though which is a cool feature and may even let you stream your laptop to the TV without a cable.
not voting either way....but some great tv box advice on here :smiley: remember YouTube and google are your friends....loads of tutorials and advice....had the mxq but just sent it back to Amazon due to very poor wifi connectivity....I must have stable wifi....currently looking at the minix u1....more costly but by all accounts, A lot better with more support.....
That's a different model with significantly lower spec.
NizamuddinP
30 Mar 16#216
And zemtv
fatbrummie
30 Mar 161#217
Sticks are wifi only so make sure you have a decent net connection.IMO you can't beat a fixed ethernet line.
fatbrummie
30 Mar 16#218
Loads of help and support groups in facebook and tbh there's you tube with loads of help
HankHandsome
30 Mar 16#219
no, fair point indeed. i've always had ethernet for my box. it's connected to my NAS drive as well which runs sickrage so i get all the tv shows i watch automatically downloaded as well.
just nosing around and see that the moneysports add-on is now dead apparently ..
AndyRoyd
30 Mar 16#220
Could use ethernet to USB adapter with sticks. Not perfect but generally more solid than wifi.
sibeer
30 Mar 16#221
Day 9, the suspense is killing me with all the Gearbest haters. Ordered quite a bit from China over the years but never from these dudes.
playaz
30 Mar 164#222
Not voting but i'll just leave this here
The Piracy Box Sellers and Youtube Promoters Are Killing Kodi - direct from Kodi themselves...
It's a good point. Actually went for the Shield instead of one of these types of boxes so at least it is a more 'official' way to do things from the Kodl angle.
What people do with the addons is another story all together (maybe they should rename these to 3rd Party Extensions)?
BigYoSpeck to playaz
30 Mar 162#227
I do agree that unscrupulous people aiming to illegally profit from the amazing free tool that is Kodi is a problem and just last week I had to educate my brother who was saying he knew a guy that sold 'chipped' boxes to get the football on. But the gearbest site link doesn't even mention Kodi let alone free content.
Ultimately ebay needs to get it's act together allowing these to be marketed on it's platform this way as I don't see how them profiting from these items being sold and not policing the listings is any different than the file sharing websites the rights holder go out all to shutdown.
Chowchilla
30 Mar 16#223
is there no means of tracking?
lmurray17
30 Mar 16#226
Can you order in GBP? £££
karlypants
30 Mar 16#228
Does anyone know if there is much difference between this and the OTT M8s box that has been flooded on Ebay?
a4007035
30 Mar 16#229
Personally I prefer using a Zotach Zbox than using this. Yes it is pricier but the spec is so much better
joetootell
30 Mar 16#230
what kodi build is everyone using? currently using Pulse but think it's ****.
reckoning
30 Mar 161#231
"It is worthwhile for you to possess this TV box"
Sounds like something a Jedi would say.
hotuklikes
30 Mar 16#232
I have been using Kodi for awhile now on all my devices but things are abit different now...
anyway I would recommend Windows 10 for movies apps ect now, its as easy as pie from the app store, I have been using Windows 10 apps instead of Kodi now (just simpler and quicker) and can cast to my SmartTV (depending which apps)
but HOT for this
danib to hotuklikes
30 Mar 16#235
Which apps are these? and are there free?
joedb to hotuklikes
31 Mar 16#465
can you explain a little more about using the apps in win10? I am feeling the same about kodi.. feel it's dying out slowly the more its getting abused.
WheresMeNuts
30 Mar 16#233
Doing it all wrong bud.
saucysarah1971
30 Mar 16#236
Merlin !!
WalkerboyUK
30 Mar 16#238
There is no screener of BvS.... only a really poor camera copy.
spiceychicken691
30 Mar 161#239
these boxes cannot cope with 4k. they also don't have hdmi 2
fastcarmaniac
30 Mar 16#240
Dont need one, but ordered anyway! Thanks Op
rev6
30 Mar 161#241
This chipset (the S905) is made for UHD content. It has HDMI 2.0 ([email protected]), HDCP 2.2, it can hardware accelerate H.265 (UHD) and I believe 10bit support too, not sure if it's partial.
Spark
30 Mar 16#242
Can these do DTS? My Fire TV G1 can't at the moment and it's a real annoyance.
madmal to Spark
30 Mar 161#262
With openelec yes, not with the android versions Kodi. On mine all the DTS and passthrough options are there in Openelec. Also I use an external audiophile DAC with mine and that works well with Openelec, with android it also worked but the volume is either full or mute.
shaney2k
30 Mar 16#244
Thanks :smiley:
streety21
30 Mar 16#245
I've never tried Merlin, worth a look into?
usman330
30 Mar 16#246
Anyone know if this can be switched off properly (not hibernate) from the remote at night.
I have a fire tv box in the bedroom and it bugs me that its on and using wifi while I sleep - i really dont want wifi to be running through my bedroom while i sleep!
rev6 to usman330
30 Mar 161#247
Yeah.
usman330
30 Mar 16#248
Thanks for answering.
What does this compare like for power with the Fire TV box/ stick.
Is it on a par with the Fire TV box or a lot more sluggish like the stick
rev6
30 Mar 161#249
It's very a capable SoC (chipset), it won't be anything like the Fire Stick. Feature wise, better than the Fire TV too. I guess it depends on the Android optimization but these run mostly stock.
karlypants
30 Mar 16#250
Just taken the plunge and bought one.
Cheers OP. :smiley:
DisgruntledOrc
30 Mar 16#251
What should I actually be looking for in a Kodi box? I was looking at the Shield box a few days ago and two on Amazon a few weeks ago (PM me and I can link you them if you like?)
What are the most important stats to consider? The two Ive tried in the past were amazingly slow and unresponsive.
madmal to DisgruntledOrc
30 Mar 16#265
One that will run Openelec with the latest Amlogic s905.
dankerrysmum
30 Mar 16#253
Great spec for price , use stand alone apps such as mega box had and mobdro as well as kodi
bisky
30 Mar 16#254
Might of just watched a CAM of Batman v Superman, but not a screener.
byrd1uk
30 Mar 16#255
Sorry, I'm a noob and have lots of questions. Be grateful for any answers!
It says it has an RJ45, does anyone know if it works well on ethernet instead of wi-fi? Thanks.
Also, can you install apps to the SD card if it's Android 5.1?
Does it use Play Store for apps? Could I put the Amazon App Store on it?
Has anyone managed to connect any bluetooth headphones to it? Or a gamepad or anything like that?
Thanks!
ThugBasher to byrd1uk
30 Mar 16#260
It works on both but I found it better to be on wi-fi.
Haven't tried installing apps via the SD card, as mines linked to the Play Store if I need any apps.
Same with bluetooth I haven't tried it as I have no need for it. I wouldn't consider using this for gaming tbh.
Flashhard
30 Mar 16#256
Which is the best option raspberry pie or amlogic box ?
I thank you in advance
Flash
madmal to Flashhard
30 Mar 16#261
By the time you have bought a case power supply and remote etc.... the Pi is not that attractive value wise. Also the s905 is more power CPU wise and Pi can be laggy from what I've seen on some youtube videos. Amlogic is a better option if all you want is Kodi.
Swarfega
30 Mar 16#257
Other products exist where they perform better on Wi-Fi than on Ethernet?
pannan
30 Mar 16#258
By a decent build you are clearly referring to a ready made build which comes with streaming sources, aren't you? Otherwise the builds on kodi.tv are all standard builds. Your argument about the best thing to do holds no water either and if you are such a Kodi aficionado perhaps you'd be aware that installing borked, bloated builds isn't the best thing to do: https://kodi.tv/the-piracy-box-sellers-and-youtube-promoters-are-killing-kodi/
Frank7heTank
30 Mar 16#259
I've just ordered this item from Gearbest. It's obviously a risk when reading the bad feedback from the comments on here, but there are 6000+ reviews on TrustPilot and the majority of them are good. I don't believe Gearbest will fake that many reviews to bump up their ratings... You get what you pay for, and if you want a cheaper Android box with good enough specs then you'll have to take the risk and pay. Otherwise pay more and buy something from the UK.
What's the benefit of installing an entire build, is it just to cut time, for the novice?
I much prefer the idea of picking and installing addons, rather than just dumping a load on.
At the moment I'm only using Exodus, Salts, and Pheonix. I see a lot of people mentioning having multiple addons to ensure a quality stream, but tbh, two correctly setup addons is more than adequate.
Anyways, heat added, even though the UK plug price has gone up.
byrd1uk
30 Mar 16#264
Sorry, I'm a noob and have lots of questions. Be grateful for any answers!
It says it has an RJ45, does anyone know if it works well on ethernet instead of wi-fi? Thanks.
Also, can you install apps to the SD card if it's Android 5.1?
Does it use Play Store for apps? Could I put the Amazon App Store on it?
Has anyone managed to connect any bluetooth headphones to it? Or a gamepad or anything like that?
Thanks!
chocci to byrd1uk
30 Mar 161#274
excellent over ethernet. I just stick all my apps on google drive and install them on all my devices from there
yes, it uses play store
I have the amazon app store / underground apps on mine. Runs fine.
I use my bluetooth headphones and work perfectly
boro_boy to byrd1uk
6 Apr 162#762
There's 2 USB ports
[img]
kunhadi
30 Mar 161#266
And some beer... don't forget the beer
kiish
30 Mar 16#267
Download "The Beast" add-on for KODI, it has all the sports movies etc all in one :smiley:
jammy1
30 Mar 161#268
Gearbest has one of the worst customer service I've ever encountered. Please avoid them.
Spark to jammy1
30 Mar 16#276
Oh they're a bag of garbage. All the Chinese sellers are. Aliexpress is usually the safest option for importing stuff like this because that way the seller doesn't get paid until either you say you have the item and are happy with it or 2 months have passed without any complaint.
Jefft
30 Mar 16#269
Gearbest may not fake that many reviews but Trustpilot might. They are well known for fake reviews.
HankHandsome
30 Mar 162#271
probably time i adjusted the price accordingly for the UK plug version. but then if you've got a spare power adaptor, you can always order the EU version for cheaper I guess.
finished tinkering with my new openELEC installation as well. VERY pleased i've finally found a working version after all this time.
peterpickles to HankHandsome
30 Mar 16#280
Thanks for the post. Is your working version of openELEC on this pageOpenELEC
It would be nice if you can post a link to you working version if possible. Thanks
Chowchilla to HankHandsome
30 Mar 16#281
could of told me this before I canceled my order and went with another ha.
What build was it
RiverDragon8
30 Mar 16#272
So you never used Kodi before and now trying to tell me about Kodi?? seriously??
lindsaysagilbert
30 Mar 16#273
Exodus is a really good addon
Spark
30 Mar 16#275
Thanks, do you know if it can do DTS from Plex, Netflix as well?
The passthrough options are there in my Fire TV but if I enable DTS output in Plex or Kodi then I just get no sound.
samueljr2
30 Mar 16#277
Does this have optical audio?
hotuklikes
30 Mar 16#278
all free, Cinema4free , movies online... animewatcherx if your into anime... Hotdrama/Couch Potato Drama if you are into korean/asian drama and asiandramaunlimited for asian movies too
and then ofcourse there are apps like Netflix, Viki ect lol
smeeghead
30 Mar 16#279
Has anyone actually bought AND received one of these from Gearbest..... was tempted then stopped short of payment after seeing the comments about faked reviews on Trustpilot and also mention of the better chipset the S905 (which machine??)
mholes
30 Mar 16#282
Could please someone roughly explain me how does it work? I am a PC techie a bit, but just don't get this.. You plug it with a monitor, then turn on and connect via wi-fi, let's say. What's next? Can you browse web with it? Can you access youtube and so on? Where do you get the movies from, than? Thank you very much for answer in advance!
BigYoSpeck to mholes
30 Mar 16#285
It will run Android apps so you have all the legal means like Youtube, Netflix, Iplayer, 4od, Demand 5 and ITV player etc...
It will run an Android web browser as well though in all honesty they're tuned for tablet use so don't really work well on the big screen.
And then you can run a media centre app like Kodi which can stream from a local network source like a NAS or with certain extensions of varying degrees of legality from web sources.
coleraine to mholes
30 Mar 163#286
I can't beleive you are a PC Techie and don't understand how to get movies and tv on this box.
kashmemon
30 Mar 16#283
Gearbest ❄️
hugh1988
30 Mar 161#284
Hilarious m8. Well done.
ct89
30 Mar 16#287
Have this - great box no issues yet. Only thing is don't expect to use sky go on it as it is rooted by default. I have tried unrooting but sky go still recognises it as rooted
danmed to ct89
30 Mar 16#288
as far as i know, sky go doesn't work on any Android boxes, regardless of root.. they don't want it competing with their Now TV product
Spark
30 Mar 16#289
Its not that, IIRC Sky and a few other application vendors use device whitelisting as a means to control installs and compatibility. If you changed the device ID on this box to match a Samsung Galaxy phone, Nexus tablet etc then it might very well work. Some banking apps use a similar system.
Dan7712
30 Mar 16#290
Cheers - Was only going to buy this if I could ditch android and run OpenElec
danmed
30 Mar 16#291
Interesting.. I will have a look at this, i can't see it working personally though as if it did, a lot of people would have no more need for Multiroom.
madmal
30 Mar 161#292
On the Android version of Kodi I didnt get the pass through options, Openelec I do. I dont have the means to actually test DTS on a receiver.
Not sure why you want to use Plex with this, it will play everything natively from a SMB share, and also give you all the metadata for your files if you set up kodi in library mode.
Spark
30 Mar 161#293
I don't use Sky but does Sky Go work on a TV/tablet/laptop via TV Out? If so then there's really no difference.
From Sky's standpoint I can see why they wouldn't want to support these devices. Providing telephone support for them would be a minefield especially since some of them come pre-loaded with Chinese hybrid Android ROMs that could be best described as 'non-standard'.
Spark
30 Mar 16#294
Because SMB support on Kodi is crap IMHO and Plex makes things so much easier and puts a nice 'family-friendly' interface on it to boot.
Obviously I'm talking about home LAN streaming there and not unofficial internet streaming. When it comes to the latter Kodi is pretty much unrivalled at the moment.
From what I read last weekend, Amazon Fire devices are weird when it comes to DTS. They use their own transcoding system to playback DTS from Amazon Video and Netflix but the likes of Kodi, Plex etc don't work because those try to get the box to decode DTS streams directly.
Because of the custom codec presence though, 3rd party apps still think that the hardware support is there which may be why I get the DTS options available in Kodi (even though they don't actually work) but you don't on your Android box.
retrend
30 Mar 16#295
I found the vast majority of the issues with my M8III similar spec to this were due to the launcher.
Using apex everything was far more reliable.
phoenixology
30 Mar 16#296
Better off just buying the Nvidia Shield, the reviews say it all.
Spark to phoenixology
30 Mar 16#301
It costs over £100 more and is massive overkill if you just want a media player.
hcc27 to phoenixology
30 Mar 165#343
Yes. The problem I have is this box is £25, the Shield is £120. When you pay 5 times as much, you should expect at least twice as good..
scjbirch
30 Mar 16#297
this or Jailbroken Apple TV 2?
Spark to scjbirch
30 Mar 16#304
Absolutely this.
This versus Fire TV is a much harder sell but this is absolutely a better choice than the Apple TV.
gnarlybear
30 Mar 16#298
Could you explain how importing via Belgium avoids duties?
UncleStan
30 Mar 16#299
Quick question what are currently the best kodi addons for sports content.
thx in advance :-)
markkeenan to UncleStan
30 Mar 16#305
UK Turks, Livemix, Robocop
Spark
30 Mar 16#300
Simple, they don't manage customs as strictly as the UK does and once the item has been processed by an EU member state then its fair game so far as VAT is concerned.
I've seen similar re-mailing happen on Chinese products shipped through France as well.
madmal
30 Mar 16#302
I wouldn't say it's crap but I have had issues with some Kodi builds on Android devices, like it can't find the SMB share and you have to enter the IP address. Works really well with my Openelec ROM, I can browse for my Windows 7 PC (used as a server) no problem, everything works super quick as I'm using Gig ethernet not wifi. I can stream blurays uncompressed with zero stutter even when I skip backwards/forwards anywhere into a file almost instantaneously. Only slight issue I have sometimes is a short wait while my server spins up the disk but that's more to do with power saving settings on the server.
Plex is just more clutter and unnecessary CPU overhead on your server.
HankHandsome
30 Mar 162#303
It's not actually, I tried a few versions from that forum just last night.
THIS is actually the M8S box I have - it's an Amlogic S812, but still has 2GB of RAM.
Well if you were up at about 2:30am last night when I finally found it, I could have told you then :smile:
I used the link posted by madmal back on page 2 at post #21
I specifically used the OpenELEC-Amlogic.arm-M8S-6.0.0.2.zip version. Booted my box into recovery, did the usual wipes and flashed it from the Memory Card and it all worked fine and continues to work - i've rebooted the box multiple times and watched some of my local content and some streamed stuff and everything is perfect.
Hope that helps :smiley:
scjbirch
30 Mar 161#306
Smashing. thanks very much
Spark
30 Mar 16#307
I had to setup a local Windows 10 logon just so Kodi could see it over the weekend (Kodi cannot use Windows Live credentials for file permissions). I only tried Kodi SMB to see if I could get full sized uncompressed Blu-ray rips to stream from my PC to the TV over our home network but unfortunately I don't think the required bandwidth was there and it just continuously paused to buffer. I'm considering retrying it again over homeplug (the Amazon TV is on Ethernet but the server was on WiFi).
My PC's CPU is Skylake so resource requirements aren't really an issue but I did notice that the server CPU use was a little sporadic via Plex.
danmed
30 Mar 16#308
I'll prefix this by saying that i am really not a fan of Plex.. however i'd be interested in knowing why you think Kodi's Samba support is lacking.. it works perfectly for me with a library of over 1500 movies and 14000 tv episodes.. I run Kodi (libreElec) on an RPI2 with a MYSQL back end and have 0 issues.
joethepope
30 Mar 16#309
I'm using an MXQ box Dual core t4300 its ok, would this be a significantly better unit?
Spark to joethepope
30 Mar 16#313
Yeah. Chances are that's a 1GB RAM box as well so this would be a marked improvement.
cipavlou
30 Mar 16#310
Also worth checking out the ODroid-C2 - similarly spec'd to this, but can run a Ubuntu build as well as OpenElec, Android, etc (as well as having HDMI 2.0, 2160p/60 H264/H265 decode, etc). Think this is only Android/OpenElec? More expensive at ~£45 though
mattmerch
30 Mar 16#311
forget atv2 atv 4 can run kodi very nicely now
Spark
30 Mar 16#312
It was just a lot of hassle to get it up and running. I think you have a dedicated server setup like that then it's probably much easier but just to get it to see files on a Windows PC was far more difficult than it should have been.
madmal
30 Mar 16#314
Yeah, I would look into it and it's definately worth it. only time I would consider Plex is to use the TVs internal media player that dosent support all file formats.
Also regards your "family freindly" concerns look into setting up library mode on Kodi makes eveything so much easier. No need to browse files, you'll have a netflix type interface. All you do is right click on your SMS share and designate the content as Movies or TV shows... Kodi then goes off to the internet to fetch all the metadata and images for all the files in your SMB share and then adds a Movies and TV section to main menu.
Forgot to mention, sometimes SMB issues are nothing to do with Kodi but the way Microsoft implements file sharing. You have to fiddle folder permissions or worst case with null sessions on your media shares.
simate
30 Mar 162#315
Its a TS not a screener :wink:
joethepope
30 Mar 16#316
The 'live Mix' addon is good also.
joethepope
30 Mar 161#317
thanks Spark.
Spark
30 Mar 16#318
Thanks I could look into that. I use a custom build at the moment that uses its own skin but I occasionally find myself needing to dip back into Confluence to make changes and stuff anyway.
WheresMeNuts
30 Mar 16#319
In the past when I've made a post that's been rejected by a Mod, they say they only accept UK dealers based in the UK :-/
Great deal BTW :-)
maxmax
30 Mar 16#320
All films/sports can be found in one place>> Navi-x
Livemix will go down soon as it is a hack of a hack of a hack lol
SavageDonkey
30 Mar 16#321
It can never be £6 or £7 because postal services will take £10 first for the privilege of taking the duty!
WheresMeNuts
30 Mar 16#322
Robocop is dead now as it Genese & Moneysport.
maxmax
30 Mar 16#323
Specto is the new Genesis :wink:
donthasslethe
30 Mar 16#324
Question. If you're just watching movies in HD do you need 2gb or would 1gb suffice?
maxmax to donthasslethe
30 Mar 161#325
Either will do, just that a 2gb works better & faster but still very watchable on a 1gb
Spark to donthasslethe
30 Mar 16#327
2GB makes setting these things up much easier. A lot of sources update daily and the updates download and install just after Kodi is launched. The more RAM you have, the more multitasking you can do and the lower the chance of Kodi freezing.
BigYoSpeck to donthasslethe
30 Mar 16#328
I've got an s805 device with only 1gb and it doesn't feel laggy for playing 1080p content. It's cpu can't cope with 10bit x265 content but any other is fine.
Spark
30 Mar 161#326
Yes it can. DHL don't charge the same level of admin fees as the Royal Mail do. I got something last year by DHL and the fee was only around £3.52. It was literally just the VAT based on the total declared cost of the product.
mikeyp
30 Mar 16#330
Adds to the basket at £25.98. Ordered!
sibeer
30 Mar 16#331
If only they all did that. HATE the handling fees, they really spoil items at this sort of cost if you get hit with them.
Spark
30 Mar 16#332
This is £30.51 on AX if anybody would prefer not to use Gearbest (and I wouldn't blame you for that tbh).
Exactly. I have no objection to paying the UK tax on it if I have to but it shouldn't be a way for courier firms to legally fleece people on the side.
cochin007
30 Mar 16#334
don't buy Chinese boxes/ After some months they stop updating.. I have 3 boxes which are of no use since we don't know who made it and where to get it updated
Spark to cochin007
30 Mar 161#336
If by stop updating you mean Android updates then that's to be expected and isn't actually needed.
If you mean Kodi/source updates then that isn't really possible and you shouldn't be buying these things unless you are occasionally able to maintain them yourself anyway.
HankHandsome to cochin007
30 Mar 16#340
weird .. I've had a chinese box for over a year and it's still going fine ..
007tyc to cochin007
30 Mar 161#358
Hear hear, I have had this same issue with the MXQ box. It needs a firmware update but that's not possible because it's impossible to know which hardware revision of the box I have. And the seller doesn't know anything, so that's it, I'm lumbered with the same crappy firmware.
johneem
30 Mar 16#335
search youtube for Ares Wizard March 2016 - I have Pulse CC for Jarvis build on mine.
If it's daunting then stick with it, took me a few days to get into it, wouldn't be without it now :smiley:
DELOS
30 Mar 16#337
you can also install showbox,movie hd ,cartoon network, and megabox hd all apk file (stand alone from kodi)
spiceychicken691
30 Mar 16#338
I host 4k content on kodi. I can tell you that these cannot cope. T8 boxes and nvidia Shields can
sotomonkey
30 Mar 166#339
It's less illegal than a kitchen knife. Don't believe me? Try walking around in public with one of these devices in your hands.
maxmax
30 Mar 161#341
I take my Kodi out in public with me out all the time on my phone, No problems o.O
wekslap
30 Mar 16#342
Would I notice much improvement using this compared to my raspberry pi 2 with openelec?
rev6 to wekslap
30 Mar 16#362
Yes.
DoctorZed
30 Mar 16#344
Back down to $36.99 for the UK plug option (price changes when added to basket).
Ordered one for an older family member, so can anyone reccomend a very user friendly build?
gordo1964
30 Mar 16#345
What's it like compared to a Roku 3 box or are they different?
Spark
30 Mar 16#346
The fire stick is a different processor chipset and is only 1GB RAM.
WheresMeNuts
30 Mar 16#347
Yes I know,but some people still have it on Kodi.
maxmax
30 Mar 161#348
Why is this?
with that code it go`s from £25.98 to £31.37?
does not make sense lol
hcc27
30 Mar 161#350
Yeah, I also tried this. It increases the base price and then applies a 9% discount. Then you cannot go back to your previous price unless you close out the transaction for a new one.
Spark
30 Mar 161#351
That has happened to me on the Chinese sites before unfortunately.
maxmax
30 Mar 16#352
better without the code £25.98 lol :smiley:
FredsVan
30 Mar 16#353
Sorry if this has already been asked, I have a Nexus Player. Does this box have any big advantages over the Nexus?
Tyash
30 Mar 16#355
Can we watch TV via this box without TV license?
HankHandsome to Tyash
30 Mar 16#363
You can watch any TV without a licence if you know your rights. There are plugins for Kodi that will stream various channels though.
YouDontWantToKnow to Tyash
30 Mar 16#370
You cannot watch "live" tv without a license.
Anything else goes...
fatbrummie to Tyash
30 Mar 162#426
What;s a TV License?
tfish to Tyash
31 Mar 16#464
Yes as long as it isnt live but this will change in 2017.
cicobuff
30 Mar 161#356
Or just buy it on eBay from a UK seller for a couple of quid more and avoid any complaints or stress.
quakerphil to cicobuff
30 Mar 16#357
Agreed, Gearbest are a nightmare to deal with.
qwales
30 Mar 16#359
Any advantage of having one of these boxes over using a old but more powerful home theatre Pc?
maxmax to qwales
30 Mar 161#361
I have it on my old PC and it works better than on Android boxes :smiley:
slain
30 Mar 16#360
I love how people are still not smart enough to know when something is a cam.
maxmax
30 Mar 16#364
As said above yes
but if you can get a good pvr iptv simple client and you will have all the channels you want and in HD no extra add-ons needed
Just google it or look on youtube :wink:
YouDontWantToKnow
30 Mar 16#365
hot
(saved for later)
tweety
30 Mar 16#366
I added the code FBGBES and the price went up by $4 :confused:
maxmax to tweety
30 Mar 16#367
Yes delete it from your cart and re-add it but put no codes in, should come to £25.98
UncleStan
30 Mar 16#368
thanks for that will give it a go this evening :-)
kiish
30 Mar 16#369
Just realised this is the less powerful version of the M8S which I have, purely used for Kodi to watch tv/movies :smiley: Works great compared to the Fire stick which lagged on Kodi with multiple of add ons
HankHandsome
30 Mar 162#371
i went on to the gearbest live chat to see if they could fix the code and got this ..
"Our agents are too busy to sever you now"
They take their jobs VERY seriously :smile:
maxmax to HankHandsome
30 Mar 16#372
It is Nighttime in China thats why lol
Also I think codes do not work if the item is a sale item? not 100% sure.
DoctorZed to HankHandsome
30 Mar 16#373
It's not broken, that's just how the site works.
The discount is applied to the original inflated price.
peterpickles
30 Mar 16#374
Thanks for the info.
HankHandsome
30 Mar 16#375
Yes you can .. not having a licence doesn't magically make the television stop working.
Legally, yes, you're supposed to have one but if you know your rights then you don't ever have to get one.
mikeyfive
30 Mar 16#376
I'm struggling to get decent feeds off mine.
Everything seems to have been shut down.
YouDontWantToKnow
30 Mar 16#378
What? Watching "live" TV? That would require bending the truth which in itself is a criminal offence.
Wellhung
30 Mar 16#379
Just remember the more people the worse the streams become and the quicker it gets taken down. So sshhhh
maxmax
30 Mar 16#380
Good add-ons to get are
Specto/Phoenix/Exodus/Velocity/PubFilm/Livemix/UK turks/Navi-x/DNA/Go movies & Go TV/Izle/Niter/cCloud/Sportsdevil/NJMsoccer and many many more :wink:
fishmaster
30 Mar 16#381
China and Amazon own online retailing now. Chinese companies even have warehouses in the UK that they use to ship products and avoid tax, thus putting pressure on other retailers that do pay tax. HMRC are too slow to respond.
N1Andy
30 Mar 16#382
Probably a stupid question, but can I install skygo and amazon prime on this?
Spark to N1Andy
30 Mar 16#395
Sky Go is a tricky one but Amazon Video should work without any trouble.
johnr8
30 Mar 16#383
Any one know if you can upgrade android 4.4 to 5.1. If it can how do you do it
fishmaster to johnr8
30 Mar 16#385
Why would you want to go from one of the best Android operating systems made to one of the worst, if not the worst? Lollipop is an absolute sack of crap.
Watching live TV in the UK without a TV licence is an enforceable criminal offence. You absolutely can get summoned to court and fined for this. You do not have to respond to any letters from TV licensing or let anyone from TV licensing in to your house, however if they suspect you have a TV and are watching it live, they can apply for a warrant, however they have to provide evidence. The summary of this is, if you watch live TV you must get a TV licence or if found out you will be taken to court and fined, this is not about knowing your rights, this is the absolute truth.
Streaming any content whether you own it or not is NOT a criminal offence, although once we leave the E.U. this year it probably will be made in one as we won't be at the mercy of EU law then. Streaming live content without a TV licence is a criminal offence and you face prosecution if you don't have a licence. So don't go thinking you have rights to not get a TV licence if you watch live broadcasts. You rights are to not engage in conversation with TV licensing and you don't have to give them your name or any details if they ask.
TL;DR
Watching live TV without a licence is a criminal offence, you face prosecution if they discover you watching live TV. Can't make it any simpler than that.
If you DON'T watch live TV then you simply do NOT have to talk or engage with TV licensing at all, despite all their letters they send you.
londonguy
30 Mar 161#386
nice upgrade for my 805 cheers
redwhorns
30 Mar 16#387
Sorry if it's been asked before, but is it possible to put something else on here for media streaming purposes?
Currently use my PS3 for streaming from my PC, would be good to get something that doesn't need to have the files transcoded and can handle various codecs.
ukfix
30 Mar 161#388
Which M8S model do you have?
Anyone if there are big differences between the S812 and S905 processors?
foxabcd1234
30 Mar 16#390
+1
F9T
30 Mar 16#391
HOT
kiish
30 Mar 161#392
I have the one with S812 CPU / 2GB RAM / 8GB Storage but this seems close enough to be nearly similar. CPU differences aren't huge from the benchmarks available.
Spark
30 Mar 161#393
Gave in and ordered one. I realised that I had some loyalty credit so it came out at just under £20 delivered. I'll give it a try and compare it to my current Fire TV if/when it arrives.
lokha
30 Mar 16#394
Hey OP,
Good find, have some heat.
Cheers :smiley:
HankHandsome
30 Mar 161#396
You know I had a reply all ready to go and I re-read your response and I get it - you're simply trying to stay on the right side of HUKD by not essentially "promoting illegal activity", which is absolutely fine.
My point still stands though - if you know your legal rights, you do not have to have a TV Licence, but of course you are quite correct in that the law states that a licence is required to own equipment capable of receiving live broadcast television.
It doesn't require "bending" of anything because you are under no obligation to even talk to the capita salespeople, so you are never in a position to have to "bend" anything.
ukfix
30 Mar 16#397
Yep I read up and they seem super similar, other than this having Android 5.1 rather than 4.4 with the S812, I didn't know if I was missing something as the processor benchmarks are so similar
rev6
30 Mar 16#398
Feature wise, this is better. As it supports HDMI 2.0, HDCP 2.2, [email protected]
I would get a S905 chipset box over a S812. The S912 should be out this year.
sethcathison
30 Mar 163#399
what a **** you are, have you ever changed the plug on a transformer before? I'd really like to see it if you have.
Spark
30 Mar 16#400
It's best not to try to keep up with these things. Chinese hardware cycles change extremely quickly because their manufacturing to sale mark-ups are low and money for them is always in the new devices rather than supporting a current model. Tbh I wouldn't really want to change boxes anymore than once a year unless its unavoidable.
joethepope
30 Mar 161#401
Ordered thanks Hank
ukfix
30 Mar 16#402
Thanks for all the info, I'm just not sure I can handle waiting a month for one of these to be delivered when the S812 model is available for £33 from the UK!
HankHandsome to ukfix
30 Mar 16#404
it's not that long ago that the S812 was the best one available mine is an S812. I guess if you've already got one, it's not so bad waiting to order a better one !
Spark to ukfix
30 Mar 16#413
It is a total crap shoot. Usually the actual shipping from Asia doesn't take that long but some of these Chinese resellers can take ages to actually dispatch orders in the first place.
Right now they're quoting dispatch in 3-5 days but I wouldn't accept that as cold hard fact.
johnr8
30 Mar 16#403
Hi Max
Thanks for the link I am a novice but I will have a look .Any advice would be most appreciate
Regards Johnr8
ukfix
30 Mar 16#405
Surely it's not worth buying the S905 if you already have the S812!
saucysarah1971
30 Mar 16#406
Definitely
ame2418
30 Mar 16#407
Are there any benefits of this over using an android phone with showbox, mobdro and a chromecast?.....just curious.
BigYoSpeck to ame2418
30 Mar 16#408
You don't need to use your phone
johnr8
30 Mar 16#409
Hi
I was told there is less buffering on 5.1 and its a lot faster . Thanks for the info
regards johnr8
HankHandsome
30 Mar 16#410
well in terms of progression, I'd naturally assume 905 is better than 812. more efficient processing ? less power consumption- stuff like that maybe ?
rev6
30 Mar 16#411
Yes.
ukfix
30 Mar 16#412
I just meant if you already have the S812 I'm not sure the benefits of the S905 are worthy of buying another box that's all :smiley:
johnbuckley948011
30 Mar 16#414
paid over £60 for one of these from Amazon gutted!
AndyRoyd
30 Mar 161#415
I upgraded from my S812 box to an S905 box to achieve 10bit capability.
Chowchilla
30 Mar 16#416
i went for the Mini MX Ver 1.0 as it seems the beelink devices have a small following of tech heads. and it has 5ghz wifi and gigabit internet. Cancelled this order last night and ordered the one i mentioned. they shipped it out this morning and started to process my refund in the afternoon.
Now lets just see it arrive.
rev6 to Chowchilla
30 Mar 16#417
Good choice. The only negative compared to this is the 1GB RAM?
credington to Chowchilla
30 Mar 16#430
Lucky you. My order is still processing. AArrgghh.
Can you download music albums on these boxes?
PS Google or look on Amazon for Droidsmart - great support
Cenobite
30 Mar 16#422
Cheers. I'll add this to my growing pile of unused tech
HankHandsome
30 Mar 16#423
the first rule is to always buy the latest version :smiley:
rev6
30 Mar 16#424
The second rule is to always buy the latest version.
RiverDragon8
30 Mar 16#425
Fishy is right, it's a popular misconception that you have to have the latest OS when really if you have an OS that works you don't need to update it (Kitkat 4.4 is solid). If you really wanted to upgrade you can always flash a different ROM on your device (your TV box might come already rooted, a lot of them do), install SuperSU and root checker to see.
rev6
30 Mar 16#427
A good root checker is to run an application you need root for :smile:
HankHandsome
30 Mar 16#428
I see you are well schooled in the rules of owning technology. well done ! :smile:
my own take on having the latest version of android is that it's probably a lot more relevant for mobile phones than these boxes. with these boxes, as riverdragon has said, the last good, solid version is perfectly fine and it's not necessary to upgrade because it's like you'll be upgrading to get features you'll never use.
RiverDragon8
30 Mar 16#429
Or to check if you have root access, that's what you do right? if you root or check if your device already comes rooted you install root checker.
rev6
30 Mar 16#431
I wasn't starting anything with you... But if you need root, you need it for specific applications. I don't see the point of downloading a root checker to check for root, when you can just install and run the applications you rooted for and if they fail to get superuser access then you obviously haven't got root.
Both will give you the exact same result so I guess it doesn't matter how you do it. :confused:
RiverDragon8
30 Mar 16#432
Matey said how to you upgrade from 4.4 to 5.1 and my reply was to flash a different ROM, check first if your device comes already rooted because a lot them do, install SuperSU and root checker to see (2 mins of his time).
rev6
30 Mar 16#433
If the device comes already rooted, it should have Superuser or SuperSU installed already.
RiverDragon8
30 Mar 16#434
No, my last 2 Android TV boxes come already rooted and i had to install SuperSU myself. This is where your going wrong, your just assuming something without any real experience.
rev6
30 Mar 162#435
I said "should" not "will".
RiverDragon8
30 Mar 16#436
Stop assuming things, if you have first hand knowledge then by all means share your experience and help others.
rev6
30 Mar 16#437
Aye captain!
peterpickles
30 Mar 161#438
Looks OK for the money & rooted according to a review here Mini M8S
rev6 to peterpickles
30 Mar 16#439
Well spotted :smiley:
sibeer to peterpickles
31 Mar 16#455
That review is very helpful for anyone on the fence. Basically it looks like it does everything most people will need nice and snappy, as well as being as future proof as this budget will get you.
Nayno
30 Mar 16#440
Anyone know if there's a similar box with tuner built in?
rev6 to Nayno
30 Mar 16#441
Another option is a USB tuner.
bargainhunter666
30 Mar 16#442
Might be a bit delayed at the airport then...
mrdude
30 Mar 16#444
Worth upgrade from a mk808?
calumlegend
30 Mar 16#445
Can I just download kodi on to my hudl, and then chrome cast it to my tv?
RiverDragon8
30 Mar 16#447
I'm guessing you posted that picture for my benefit to show it already rooted with SuperSU already installed. What about other TV boxes that come rooted with no SuperSU? Like my Beelink mini MX and my Beelink M18??
How would you advise someone asking you how to upgrade from 4.4 to 5.1?
scoot
30 Mar 16#448
i remember my first plasma back in 2002 , it was classed as a plasma monitor
it never had a tv tuner,
if you wanted that they were £150 extra
i still had to give my name and address for tv licence laws
could of said no as it never had a tv tuner
but they said its capable of recieving tv broadcast
was no point in arguing lol as i had a tv licence anyway lol
HankHandsome
30 Mar 16#449
The law was actually changed a while back to remove the requirement for stores to ask you for licencing information. some stores still try and get away with doing it though.
rev6
30 Mar 162#450
I didn't.
stato257
30 Mar 16#451
Ordered one for the mancave. Anyone know of a decent android stick with similar spec to plug into a wall mounted TV in my lounge? Cheers in advance
fatdeeman
30 Mar 16#452
The problem is a lot of these boxes come with firmware that isn't at all optimised for the chipset so while the hardware is capable of doing UHD and 10bit in it's sleep there's nothing in the firmware that enables you to use the capability.
fatdeeman
31 Mar 16#453
Couldn't agree more, the more addons you use the more you're needlessly duplicating the same thing over and over.
platinums
31 Mar 16#454
This one cannot be rooted, bear that in mind if you like to tinker like me.
The remote is crud. Damned awful. Luckily I only use it for XBMC and can use my phone to queue and play movies etc.
I have the MX III 4k. I cannot find any firmware that works with mine, and cannot update it to say lollipop, or just even flash it with a normal rom without all the crap that this one came with.
I dont think I will buy a china box again, probably go for a roku or something more mainstream .
byrd1uk
31 Mar 16#456
Thanks! Ordered.
sofiasar
31 Mar 16#457
does it connect to sky ?
HankHandsome to sofiasar
31 Mar 16#472
no
thebox
31 Mar 16#458
Does anyone know why Genesis on Kodi has stopped working? I've tried searching Google but I just get technological jargon answers!
MrChristos to thebox
31 Mar 161#460
I believe it has been superceded by 'Exodus' now
verbumSapienti
31 Mar 16#459
learn a little, live a lot
wacky_blonde
31 Mar 16#461
I had the Apple and Android Boxes. Both fab. Android is easier to clean out etc thou
Fab for new films, sports live etc
JohnOFarrell
31 Mar 16#462
What's the difference between this box and say Kodi on a laptop/Tablet for instance? Sorry if it's a dumb question, I don't really understand what this box does and why it is any better than any other box
greencat to JohnOFarrell
31 Mar 162#468
It is not better than any other box, but the spec is very good for the price - assuming it works and is free of glitches.
Kodi will likely work as well on a laptop/tablet as this.
The advantage over a laptop/tablet is that is it likely uses less power than most laptops, it comes with a remote so no need to get up to change what you are watching, can be left permanently plugged into your tv, is fan less so possibly less noisy than a laptop. In short, even though it is cheap - the advantages are having a device which is somewhat optimised for watching content on a big screen.
wtfthorny
31 Mar 16#463
is there any benefit to one of these as opposed to just casting to the tv from a phone with kodi?
Mikestone
31 Mar 16#466
What a deal! Already listed, thank you for the promo.
R4m13
31 Mar 16#467
Decent price
theaccountant
31 Mar 16#469
I have my own files in a library. How do I get KODI to show the last played file? How can I make it show my files like Plex?
Thanks
kkms
31 Mar 16#470
Thanks op just ordered. Anyone tell me if an external HDD can be connected to one of the usb ports?
royboy2011 to kkms
31 Mar 16#474
Yes
daro_london
31 Mar 16#473
why ?
flamethrower
31 Mar 16#475
no wonder why Belgium is in a position like this now
lugsy3
31 Mar 16#476
Nice find op, I keep re trying Kodi for the live footy nut always find it so hit and miss and then go back to acestream links for quality. I suppose it's just knowing the latest best addons as they change so often. Heat added.
666bandit666
31 Mar 163#477
Surely you're not relating selling on chinese goods to terrorism?
shootomanUK
31 Mar 16#478
Hmm...gearbest, I ordered something from them at Christmas & the item did not get delivered or even processed when I checked my account, I contacted them through the website numerous times demanding a refund but didn't get a reply till last week and finally got my money back.
There's an old saying if it looks to good to be true, it usually is.
I'm once bitten twice shy, wouldn't be ordering anything from them again!
mattmerch
31 Mar 16#479
my experience with gearbest
ordered a doogee x5 pro from gearbest on a tuesday was delivered saturday for £33 i cant complain and i am aware the warranty is not worth anything :smiley:
Yes that says it is 1gb ram and also ships from China by this delivery time estimate
simonwright91
31 Mar 16#481
Anyone got a good add on for 3D films?
tvlovesme to simonwright91
31 Mar 16#585
not an add on but movie HD app is good. may be a problem to navigate with standard remote though.
Naruto
31 Mar 16#483
2 questions - Which delivery option do I choose? What is the best alternative to this box?
rev6 to Naruto
31 Mar 16#486
Standard.
MiniMX.
MarksNParkers
31 Mar 16#484
ok I'm still using an openbox V5s with sky content in sd. am I right in thinking that these android boxes / fire sticks are the next generation? my subscription runs out next month so would look to purchase this rather than paying £25 for 6 months.
thanks
boro_boy to MarksNParkers
31 Mar 16#489
thats an expensive line. Who I use is £30 for the year, £16 for 6 months. PM me if you want the website
a2tmfk
31 Mar 16#485
ok. so you need to know what happens if your item does it turn up.
I ordered a tablet early Jan. it still has not arrived. they will not act until 25 days have passed.
item still not arrived so they offered me HALF of my money back as STORE VOICHERS?
unbelievable. stay well clear is my advice.
forcedv to a2tmfk
31 Mar 161#488
Are you going to copy and paste this garbage comment on every Gearbest thread?
Online shopping isn't flawless fella, get a refund from Paypal. Easy!
mikeyp to a2tmfk
31 Mar 16#588
Same thing happened to me, if its over £100 make a claim to your credit card company under section 75 of the consumer credit act. They reversed the transaction in my case, failing that the CC company would have refunded me anyway. They maybe able to reverse the transaction even if its below £100, so worth a try.
I still use Gearbest for the odd thing, you have to be prepared to take that risk :wink:
shootomanUK
31 Mar 16#487
RudiBryson
31 Mar 16#490
good deal heat added , but id sooner buy from amazon for £33 ( which I just have) with free next day delivery and the box fully loaded . It might end up costing you this any way with import tax .
evilskanker to RudiBryson
31 Mar 161#493
Got the link for that?
bilbob to RudiBryson
31 Mar 16#494
Which box? I can't find one with same spec and 2gb ram on Amazon with prime?
cfbc to RudiBryson
31 Mar 16#500
Got a link please?
KopCity
31 Mar 161#491
does this accept "IPTV" or M3U file?
thanks
bojangles to KopCity
31 Mar 16#534
no reason why it shouldn't once you install the relevant apps.
cannycoyote
31 Mar 16#492
ordered! will replace my firetv stick with this..fed up with it buffering and timing out all the time!
barbiegirl to cannycoyote
31 Mar 16#497
What makes you think that's down to the firetv stick? How do you kjnow it's not your network.
These android boxes don't really do anything that you couldn't do on a phone or even a desktop PC. Kodi can be installed on both. The packages simply aggregate streams.
If you can't be bothered with all this, just try something like Mobdro on Android. Has all the channels you could imagine...
seany1977
31 Mar 16#495
Hot for the price. However as mentioned by the other good citizens of HOTUKD, gearbest suuuucks. I bought a small metal LED torch from them. it took 6 weeks to arrive. it was only about £1.50 so I did not complain.
I am also shocked that nobody has chirped up with 'You would be better off getting a Raspberry Pi' *In mock nerdy voice*.
cannycoyote
31 Mar 16#496
anyone know how to install play store app on this?
HankHandsome to cannycoyote
31 Mar 16#502
Play will already be installed on it as standard
cannycoyote
31 Mar 16#498
it says on the q&a on the website that play store is not installed on it. any idea how you would install it?
saayinla
31 Mar 16#499
I bought a Doogee phone from them few weeks ago, but the useless Hermes courier tracking shows parcel as delivered even though "mis sort to courier" was the previous status before delievered and paypal decided that since tracking showed delivered then I must have received it. I hate the courier company with a passion Hermes that is.
By Phillip Mar-30/2016 08:03:20
Question:
Is google Play Store and Amazon App store available on this box ? Can I install android apps from the google play store and amazon app store ? apps like PLEX and Games Can I install apps from other sources like showbox, cartoon HD and Mobdro ? Thanks
Reply:
Hello Phillip,
Thank you for your inquiry,you need to downlod google Play Store and Amazon App store.Of course you can install android apps from the google play store and amazon app store.Have a nice day.
HankHandsome
31 Mar 16#504
I'll be very, very surprised if this doesn't come with play already installed.
ok, further reading implies it may well have been lost in translation and they don't quite know what they're on about ..
"f wi-fi.You can install apps to the SD card ,it's Android 5.1.It uses Play Store for apps.You can put the Amazon App Store on it.Y"
joanne10
31 Mar 161#505
I have a MXQ quad core Kodi box. No problems with mine. Great piece :smiley:
scrumpypaul
31 Mar 16#506
cheers
cfbc
31 Mar 16#507
Thank you. Would rather pay more and get it tomorrow and also knowing an easy return if no good. Ordered! What these pre-loaded with as I am new to Kodi and just installed on my phone with Pheonix... Having a play
DonCapri
31 Mar 16#508
ordered. let's hope it turns up...
lawllb
31 Mar 16#509
It was installed on my MX8 box purchased from Amazon. I am pretty confident it will be pre-installed on this box. In any case you can easily download Google Play via the pre-installed browser on the box. Merely google 'Google Play APK' on the browser and download it.
markkeenan
31 Mar 161#510
I can not download to either my SD card or USB stick, I can change the download path in say, exodus, to one of them (have tried both) and when kodi says download is complete, I can not find any download. If I download to onboard storage then no problems.
Can anybody help with this?
What's this like for running local media off a HD? Does it run HD files off exfat, and high-bit files from camcorders etc.?
Thanks!
HankHandsome to harj
31 Mar 16#516
I have mine connected to my NAS drive and it runs everything perfectly fine - full HD no problem.
Up to you really. Octa-Core for Kodi will be like getting Deep Blue to play Commodore 64 games though :smiley:. It'll be nice and it'll likely work without an issue, but it's a bit of overkill really.
RiverDragon8
31 Mar 16#513
So your happy just to use Exodus and Mobdro on Kodi and nothing else (something both Wellhung and chocci thinks are acceptable), i personally think it's a waste with some many add-ons at your disposal. For example I'm using an add-on right now that only plays 1080 movies, an add-on that play TV episodes with one click mostly in HD (for the newer TV episodes) without clicking link after link (Something lost if your only using just 2 add-ons). I'm quite partial to the Food network i think that's got some great videos on that (15 different TV shows), i like watching Football highlights add-on so I'm up to date with the football home and away, etc,etc.......
If your more experience Kodi user you can disable auto update and manually update your favourite add-ons which helps with lag also you can select which sources that work so that speeds up load times. Both Wellhung and chocci are novices and inexperience, blind leading the blind.
Wibblefish
31 Mar 165#514
I have read the last 26 pages and i am still none the wiser :neutral_face:
cfbc to Wibblefish
31 Mar 16#517
Know the feeling! :smiley:
shindigger
31 Mar 16#515
Wookie on Kodi, on laptop and Sony TV, works well.
Did i read Android has split from Kodi?
What repercussions would there be for TVs running android?
Sony are not known for elongated product support are they??:confused:
giorgoXXI
31 Mar 162#518
I was wondering what was the catch... and then I realized the WiFi only works on 2.4 Ghz. That's a massive deal breaker unless you are going to hard wire this.
meanmoose
31 Mar 16#519
Does this work with only 32gb expansion as per the website linked?
Save your money, but a fire tv stick or fire box if you need it hardwired, to many cheap clones that are unsafe to leave switched on for long periods of time and overheat etc.
db12
31 Mar 16#527
I installed the beast on my box, Ive tried to use phoenix and salts but most things just dont load. I use sky BB, do ISPs block the streams? Ive also been using robocop for BT sports but have read that its closed, does anyone know of alternatives as good as robocop? cheers
cecilmcroberts
31 Mar 161#528
Totally agree with Riverdragon. Spending a little time setting up each addon you use correctly is well worth it along with manually updating your addons.
Wongduk
31 Mar 16#529
£26.64 after paypal conversion this morning 31/03/2016 , still good price and deal
S c 0 TT y
31 Mar 16#530
Just purchased, thanks!
sotomonkey
31 Mar 16#531
If you think about it, it's even less illegal than your own body as, naked bike ride aside, stripping off naked and walking down the street would prov
Opening post
Mini M8S TV Box is a multimedia center which enables you to have the absolute best and most versatile home media experience. It is worthwhile for you to possess this TV box because it will let you enjoy plenty of HD movies, TV dramas and more videos on demand whenever you like with your friends and family.
Main Features:
● Amlogic S905 CPU is rapid and stable which can give you high speed feedback and smooth response.
● ARM Mail-450 as GPU of this TV box which gives you the high definition pictures and videos.
● 2.4G WiFi, offers a more stable WiFi signal for you to enjoy higher quality video experience.
● 2GB RAM + 8G ROM capacity, extendable capacity up to 32GB gives you more space to download your favorite apps and caches to browse websites, play games, run apps, watch movies more smoothly.
● Bluetooth 4.0 connectivity: Easy pairing with most Bluetooth-enabled devices (computer, mobile phone, keyboard, and others).
● Supports sync screen technology which can sync your phone displays to a larger screen to make you game experience more real.
● Infrared remote control lets you enjoy your wonderful life which the wireless brings to you.
Top comments
Then we get to the Army of AMLogic devices including the likes the S812-H WeTek Core and the S905 MINIX U1.
There is also swarm of cheaper AML devices shipping out of Asia daily. For a first timer its hard to find a decent, reliable Kodi Android device.
Its very common with dirt cheap Android devices to come with lots of Bugs and no after sales support. Most are absolute rubbish, using pump and dump Marketing techniques to seduce unwary newbie buyers. False product reviews are very common.
Both the Core and the U1 are running the Android Lollipop OS, which results in a faster Android OS due to modern ART Android runtime optimisations, compared to Android KitKat you get on an older MINIX X-8H+.
I would no longer recommend any expensive Android device running KitKat because of this in 2016
Quote:
You need all the after sales support you can get with new Android Hardware. I cannot stress this enough.
The best Android device support comes from the 3 Kodi Diamond Sponsors - MINIX, nVIDIA and WeTek.
You get what you pay for with Android hardware devices. Smile
24p / 10-bit / HDMI 2.0 from here onwards...a peek into the future...without a Delorean !
You will need a compatible 4K HDMI 2.0 10-bit TV to take full advantage of these devices.
10-bit Video gives over 1 Billion colors vs 16,777,216 for 8-bit, see HERE for further details.
Even though these devices can decode 10-bit, video output will be 8-bit only due to lack of video player Software support (this includes Kodi)
The new AMLogic S905 has a fresh out of the wrapper, Android Lollipop 5.1.1 SDK, new Linux Kernel and comes with upgraded 10-bit / HDMI 2.0 tech specs compared to the S812-H's.
Excellent AMLogic VPU Hardware deinterlacing when using the amcodec decoder. However Android mediacodec uses inferior ff-mpeg2/h264 Software deinterlacing.
Speed is a tiny bit quicker compared to a Lollipop equipped S812-H device, but with a reduced number of cores in the GPU/VPU.
HD Audio Passthrough is activated in Android API Level 22 Firmware and will work when Kodi finally supports it in Krypton.
As all this is very new, users need to be aware the Firmware is immature with bugs currently being ironed out.
3D MVC (half res.) is a mixed bag too.
Hi10P H264 Anime decoding is not supported on the AMLogic S905's.
Even bug free 10-bit video output is an unknown quantity at this stage, and there are Hardware Problems with current SoC's.
After sales support is usually a BIG problem with dirt cheap AML Android devices.
S905's can be used as Fast cheap, 10-bit decoder, HDMI 2.0 boxes for those on a budget. If you can find one with decent firmware they represent good value, just beware of the current bugs for full Kodi feature compatibility.
I bought this box last week from gearbest but it hasn't come yet. Gearbest send your stuff by Belgium to prevent customs getting hold of it. I've had about 10 items delivered from gearbest since Christmas and never been hit with vat.
All comments (1386)
*CLICK ON THE SHOPPING TROLLEY ICON ON THE MODEL YOU WANT AND IT WILL BE ADDED TO THE TROLLEY AT THE CORRECT PRICE*
Description:
Mini M8S TV Box is a multimedia center which enables you to have the absolute best and most versatile home media experience. It is worthwhile for you to possess this TV box because it will let you enjoy plenty of HD movies, TV dramas and more videos on demand whenever you like with your friends and family.
Main Features:
● Amlogic S905 CPU is rapid and stable which can give you high speed feedback and smooth response.
● ARM Mail-450 as GPU of this TV box which gives you the high definition pictures and videos.
● 2.4G WiFi, offers a more stable WiFi signal for you to enjoy higher quality video experience.
● 2GB RAM + 8G ROM capacity, extendable capacity up to 32GB gives you more space to download your favorite apps and caches to browse websites, play games, run apps, watch movies more smoothly.
● Bluetooth 4.0 connectivity: Easy pairing with most Bluetooth-enabled devices (computer, mobile phone, keyboard, and others).
● Supports sync screen technology which can sync your phone displays to a larger screen to make you game experience more real.
● Infrared remote control lets you enjoy your wonderful life which the wireless brings to you.
*CLICK ON THE SHOPPING TROLLEY ICON ON THE MODEL YOU WANT AND IT WILL BE ADDED TO THE TROLLEY AT THE CORRECT PRICE*
I bought this box last week from gearbest but it hasn't come yet. Gearbest send your stuff by Belgium to prevent customs getting hold of it. I've had about 10 items delivered from gearbest since Christmas and never been hit with vat.
Phoenix is decent too.
Genesis is poor now
Exodus, stream all the sources (salts) phoenix and ukturks is where it's all at.
For TV series exodus and salts will be all you ever need!
Anyone help?
Performance wise i am perfectly happy with it.
also customs..£8 royalmail handling fee+ vat? im probably wrong
You can see the Openelec builds discussed here http://amlinuxmedia.com/forum/index.php?topic=13.60
and the builds are available to download here http://amlinux.ru/image/devel/
I waited a while to buy one of these and did a lot of research, Openelec was a must for me. For the money this is great
Correction... the one I have is the MINI MX which costs about the same.
Beware people proceed with caution..
There's no guarantee the MiniMX version will work perfectly on this box, unless it's the exact same innards.
I have been looking at Android tv/pc boxes for a while but being new to me I find it a bit confusing, plus it would be good to get some information from someone who knows what what they are talking about.
Thanks in advance.
If you want to watch movies, football, missed tv series Netflix,TV Players etc than you need something that runs Kodi on Android. Amazon TV box will do the job if you want something you can get from the UK with lots of support forums. Google side load Android amazon TV (not firestsick, although this is possible too but is a bit under-powered) or watch a youtube video. Husham Memar - YouTube is good. It's not hard. When you Install Kodi, you will have access to thousands of apps, you only need about 12, but you'll end up having 50 or more if you're not careful, all duplicating each other. Google Essential android Kodi addons. Exodus, genesis, Isteam, TVmix for worldwide tv on demand, showbox, salts, are in the top 10. hope that helps. There are lots of Videos on youtube, there is a learning curve but is worthwhile. openvix on the satellite box does have what it calls TS Media which is a cut down and adapted version of Kodi. It's very good for basic movies and etc, if you want "everything" then you can't beat an Android box. Hope that helps
I checked sites before i left for work yesterday and didnt see one.
Hehehehehehe.
It's alllllllllll goooooooood though, lol.
Reason: Gearbest.
I've got an s805 which though fine with regular x265 content just can't handle 10bit.
http://www.gearbest.com/tv-box-mini-pc/pp_324842.html
The shield is the way to go for emulation, its far superior to this mini m8s
Also a great kodi experience!
Given this is similar spec I'd say it would probably be up to it.
CPU: Amlogic S805 Quad-Core Cortex-A5 at 1.5GHz
GPU: Quad-Core Mali-450 at 600MHz+
RAM: 1gb DDR3
I paid £23 for it but maybe I should get this one instead. Can someone with the knowhow tell me what exactly is causing the lag in terms of opening apps, scrolling the pages and menu etc. Should I get a box with a better CPU or a better GPU or with more RAM?
The specs on this box is pretty good but no WIFI antenna with 5ghz support seems like the only downside for me.
Then we get to the Army of AMLogic devices including the likes the S812-H WeTek Core and the S905 MINIX U1.
There is also swarm of cheaper AML devices shipping out of Asia daily. For a first timer its hard to find a decent, reliable Kodi Android device.
Its very common with dirt cheap Android devices to come with lots of Bugs and no after sales support. Most are absolute rubbish, using pump and dump Marketing techniques to seduce unwary newbie buyers. False product reviews are very common.
Both the Core and the U1 are running the Android Lollipop OS, which results in a faster Android OS due to modern ART Android runtime optimisations, compared to Android KitKat you get on an older MINIX X-8H+.
I would no longer recommend any expensive Android device running KitKat because of this in 2016
Quote:
You need all the after sales support you can get with new Android Hardware. I cannot stress this enough.
The best Android device support comes from the 3 Kodi Diamond Sponsors - MINIX, nVIDIA and WeTek.
You get what you pay for with Android hardware devices. Smile
24p / 10-bit / HDMI 2.0 from here onwards...a peek into the future...without a Delorean !
You will need a compatible 4K HDMI 2.0 10-bit TV to take full advantage of these devices.
10-bit Video gives over 1 Billion colors vs 16,777,216 for 8-bit, see HERE for further details.
Even though these devices can decode 10-bit, video output will be 8-bit only due to lack of video player Software support (this includes Kodi)
The new AMLogic S905 has a fresh out of the wrapper, Android Lollipop 5.1.1 SDK, new Linux Kernel and comes with upgraded 10-bit / HDMI 2.0 tech specs compared to the S812-H's.
Excellent AMLogic VPU Hardware deinterlacing when using the amcodec decoder. However Android mediacodec uses inferior ff-mpeg2/h264 Software deinterlacing.
Speed is a tiny bit quicker compared to a Lollipop equipped S812-H device, but with a reduced number of cores in the GPU/VPU.
HD Audio Passthrough is activated in Android API Level 22 Firmware and will work when Kodi finally supports it in Krypton.
As all this is very new, users need to be aware the Firmware is immature with bugs currently being ironed out.
3D MVC (half res.) is a mixed bag too.
Hi10P H264 Anime decoding is not supported on the AMLogic S905's.
Even bug free 10-bit video output is an unknown quantity at this stage, and there are Hardware Problems with current SoC's.
After sales support is usually a BIG problem with dirt cheap AML Android devices.
S905's can be used as Fast cheap, 10-bit decoder, HDMI 2.0 boxes for those on a budget. If you can find one with decent firmware they represent good value, just beware of the current bugs for full Kodi feature compatibility.
The chipset is great but the firmware on some of these boxes isn't even fully compatible with the underlying hardware so you won't get 24p or 10bit. Best to research and look for any reviews if available. Some of the boxes are well supported by the makers and even come with optimized versions of Kodi but others are literally a capable chipset that's been trapped under non optimised firmware.
http://www.geekbuying.com/item/ZIDOO-X6-Android-5-1-Lollipop-TV-Box-RK3368-Octa-Core-Cortex-A53-2G-16B-1000M-LAN-Dual-Band-WIF-HDMI-2-0-4K-2K-H-265-KODI-3D---Silver-353626.html
Had it on pre launch and at the time the fastest box on the market other than the Shield which i also own with things like this you get what you pay for, dont expect any updates you get stuck with it as is and if its rubbish it stays rubbish. My Ziddo is always getting updates, supports everything including HD audio which no doubt this doesn't. My shield updated to Android 6 and since then Kodi hasn't worked all the backgrounds go black and its been unstable and unusable.
I've added KODI app to my Android TV. Then added something called Fusion to it. Is there any other stuff I can add. I saw something called Genesis. Is it similar to Fusion?
Weird reply ..
YouTube is your friend, just search for Kodi Wizards there.
Take your pick from this ebay store you will get what you ordered and quickly: http://stores.ebay.co.uk/justopeshop?_trksid=p2047675.l2563
I got the MX MINI from here and it is bulletproof so far on Ethernet not wifi.
Android 5.1 and an easy front end, which is good cos the remotes are always rubbish.
http://www.gearbest.com/tv-box-mini-pc/pp_232374.html
Also it does have Blutooth which I wasnt expecting as its not in the description...
Using the confluence skin in kodi helps for some reason and I got rid of the bloat and only use Exodus and Mobdro.
http://www.gearbest.com/mini-m8s-tv-box-_gear/
and press the cart icon next to the uk one.
If you dont brick it within the first 20 minutes your doing something wrong
http://www.gearbest.com/mini-m8s-tv-box-_gear/
and press the cart icon next to the uk one.
Assuming sports is not your thing what would adding other addons give me?
"Amlogic S905 CPU is rapid and stable which can give you high speed feedback and smooth response."
If I put more addons it will still just be the same movies and programmes. Admittedly I am not looking for sport or porn or amine or things of that nature.
So if I add more addons what extra will I get when I have all the top movies and programmes from a couple of popular addons?
All you do is lag the box with infinite addons that show the same stuff.
Had 3 of these boxes over the last few years and can't recommend them.
They have many issues that never get sorted.
These boxes are usually fine - you get the odd person who has issues and decides to tell everyone to avoid them, but more often than not they're fine.
I'll give the build you mention a whirl though
Makes me wonder if my box is a clone and has some different innards i suppose ..
The CPU is a 3rd generation Intel Celeron 1037U 1.8GHz
Does anyone know if this KODI box will be faster than my existing machine if I install OpenELEC on it?
Reverted to the rom i know always works then tried OpenELEC-Amlogic.arm-M8S-6.0.0.2.zip and it works!. Reboots normally and doesn't need the memory card either. Hopefully i'll be able to restore my backup I took last night as well.
I know there's a 6.0.3 version that was updated just this month, but i'm kind of thinking i don't want to tempt fate :smiley:
Have you used this particular device then ?
Kodi is very convenient if you just want to watch something of decent quality and not bother downloading it, something that is glaringly obvious if you knew what you was talking about.
I am rather intrigued by the fact that it can support H265 videos.
Just one more question.
99% of the material I watch is on three USB3 drives.
The Brix has a USB3 port to which I have connected a USB3 hub and it all works from there.
Would the lack of USB3 of this Kodi box affect performance at all?
A bluray player reads a disc at 40mbps max. That's 5mb a sec (I think) so no worry about transfer speed for videos reading from USB
It can just about play Dreamcast games too.
thanks for your help.
could you link me to the rom your using?
its slightly more expensive but looking at reviews and forums it seems like its better suported and has frequent OTA's the last ota it had seems to have fixed alot of issue people were having. and the openelec support is there.
Fire tv 10 times faster
MB = megabyte
Max theoretical usb2 transfer speed is 480Mbps / 60MBps
Please advise
Thanks
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mifanstech-Android-Amlogic-Supports-Streaming-M8S-C120/dp/B019SLK08I?ie=UTF8&ref_=pe_1909131_77697001_tnp_email_TE_AMZLdp_1
Regular Kodi users will have a go to add-on, if the quality isn't quite there i.e watching TV series and it's only showing in 480 they will use another add-on to see if they can get a better quality ideally in HD (this is why you have different video add-on, something completely lost to a novice like you and Wellhung).
With all these FREE to install add-ons at your disposal you think you only need 2?? I use 4 different add-on for my Movies and TV series, MTV add-on, 4 different sports add-on, Food network, Cooking channel, Football highlights, Youtube etc,etc...... Wellhung is missing out on so much because he is a novice that doesn't know and you thinking he is correct makes you look stupid doesn't it, makes you look like a novice that doesn't know.
Use an USB stick or MicroSD card or both for extra storage.
The quote about Fire Stick is nonsense. The only good advantage the amazon devices have over any of these imported amlogic boxes is that they support netflix properly.
However I have a question (which I have googled but cant find an answer) I have added a 32G SD card and also a 32G USB. I changed the download path in Exodus for example to either, it says download complete, but I can never find the downloads on the removable media?
If I download to the onboard 16G , everything is fine? Any ideas???
It'll use less power than your laptop, has a remote control but it won't do anything your laptop can't do other than run Android only apps.
A lot of them do have Miracast though which is a cool feature and may even let you stream your laptop to the TV without a cable.
just nosing around and see that the moneysports add-on is now dead apparently ..
The Piracy Box Sellers and Youtube Promoters Are Killing Kodi - direct from Kodi themselves...
https://kodi.tv/the-piracy-box-sellers-and-youtube-promoters-are-killing-kodi/
What people do with the addons is another story all together (maybe they should rename these to 3rd Party Extensions)?
Ultimately ebay needs to get it's act together allowing these to be marketed on it's platform this way as I don't see how them profiting from these items being sold and not policing the listings is any different than the file sharing websites the rights holder go out all to shutdown.
Sounds like something a Jedi would say.
anyway I would recommend Windows 10 for movies apps ect now, its as easy as pie from the app store, I have been using Windows 10 apps instead of Kodi now (just simpler and quicker) and can cast to my SmartTV (depending which apps)
but HOT for this
I have a fire tv box in the bedroom and it bugs me that its on and using wifi while I sleep - i really dont want wifi to be running through my bedroom while i sleep!
What does this compare like for power with the Fire TV box/ stick.
Is it on a par with the Fire TV box or a lot more sluggish like the stick
Cheers OP. :smiley:
What are the most important stats to consider? The two Ive tried in the past were amazingly slow and unresponsive.
It says it has an RJ45, does anyone know if it works well on ethernet instead of wi-fi? Thanks.
Also, can you install apps to the SD card if it's Android 5.1?
Does it use Play Store for apps? Could I put the Amazon App Store on it?
Has anyone managed to connect any bluetooth headphones to it? Or a gamepad or anything like that?
Thanks!
Haven't tried installing apps via the SD card, as mines linked to the Play Store if I need any apps.
Same with bluetooth I haven't tried it as I have no need for it. I wouldn't consider using this for gaming tbh.
I thank you in advance
Flash
https://www.trustpilot.com/review/gearbest.com
Cheers
I much prefer the idea of picking and installing addons, rather than just dumping a load on.
At the moment I'm only using Exodus, Salts, and Pheonix. I see a lot of people mentioning having multiple addons to ensure a quality stream, but tbh, two correctly setup addons is more than adequate.
Anyways, heat added, even though the UK plug price has gone up.
It says it has an RJ45, does anyone know if it works well on ethernet instead of wi-fi? Thanks.
Also, can you install apps to the SD card if it's Android 5.1?
Does it use Play Store for apps? Could I put the Amazon App Store on it?
Has anyone managed to connect any bluetooth headphones to it? Or a gamepad or anything like that?
Thanks!
yes, it uses play store
I have the amazon app store / underground apps on mine. Runs fine.
I use my bluetooth headphones and work perfectly
[img]
finished tinkering with my new openELEC installation as well. VERY pleased i've finally found a working version after all this time.
It would be nice if you can post a link to you working version if possible. Thanks
What build was it
The passthrough options are there in my Fire TV but if I enable DTS output in Plex or Kodi then I just get no sound.
and then ofcourse there are apps like Netflix, Viki ect lol
It will run an Android web browser as well though in all honesty they're tuned for tablet use so don't really work well on the big screen.
And then you can run a media centre app like Kodi which can stream from a local network source like a NAS or with certain extensions of varying degrees of legality from web sources.
Not sure why you want to use Plex with this, it will play everything natively from a SMB share, and also give you all the metadata for your files if you set up kodi in library mode.
From Sky's standpoint I can see why they wouldn't want to support these devices. Providing telephone support for them would be a minefield especially since some of them come pre-loaded with Chinese hybrid Android ROMs that could be best described as 'non-standard'.
Obviously I'm talking about home LAN streaming there and not unofficial internet streaming. When it comes to the latter Kodi is pretty much unrivalled at the moment.
From what I read last weekend, Amazon Fire devices are weird when it comes to DTS. They use their own transcoding system to playback DTS from Amazon Video and Netflix but the likes of Kodi, Plex etc don't work because those try to get the box to decode DTS streams directly.
Because of the custom codec presence though, 3rd party apps still think that the hardware support is there which may be why I get the DTS options available in Kodi (even though they don't actually work) but you don't on your Android box.
Using apex everything was far more reliable.
This versus Fire TV is a much harder sell but this is absolutely a better choice than the Apple TV.
thx in advance :-)
I've seen similar re-mailing happen on Chinese products shipped through France as well.
Plex is just more clutter and unnecessary CPU overhead on your server.
THIS is actually the M8S box I have - it's an Amlogic S812, but still has 2GB of RAM.
Well if you were up at about 2:30am last night when I finally found it, I could have told you then :smile:
I used the link posted by madmal back on page 2 at post #21
http://amlinux.ru/image/devel/
I specifically used the OpenELEC-Amlogic.arm-M8S-6.0.0.2.zip version. Booted my box into recovery, did the usual wipes and flashed it from the Memory Card and it all worked fine and continues to work - i've rebooted the box multiple times and watched some of my local content and some streamed stuff and everything is perfect.
Hope that helps :smiley:
My PC's CPU is Skylake so resource requirements aren't really an issue but I did notice that the server CPU use was a little sporadic via Plex.
Also regards your "family freindly" concerns look into setting up library mode on Kodi makes eveything so much easier. No need to browse files, you'll have a netflix type interface. All you do is right click on your SMS share and designate the content as Movies or TV shows... Kodi then goes off to the internet to fetch all the metadata and images for all the files in your SMB share and then adds a Movies and TV section to main menu.
Forgot to mention, sometimes SMB issues are nothing to do with Kodi but the way Microsoft implements file sharing. You have to fiddle folder permissions or worst case with null sessions on your media shares.
Great deal BTW :-)
Livemix will go down soon as it is a hack of a hack of a hack lol
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/MINI-M8S-2GB-8GB-Amlogic-s905-Android-5-1-Quad-core-support-4K-Bluetooth-H-265/32633466780.html?spm=2114.01010208.3.2.IYsU6F&ws_ab_test=searchweb201556_2,searchweb201602_2_9982_10036_10035_10034_507_10020_10001_10002_10017_10010_10005_10011_10006_10003_10021_10004_10022_10009_10008_10018_10019_2020014,searchweb201603_9&btsid=3bba724b-3f58-43fc-9bb9-607b56c301ce
If you mean Kodi/source updates then that isn't really possible and you shouldn't be buying these things unless you are occasionally able to maintain them yourself anyway.
If it's daunting then stick with it, took me a few days to get into it, wouldn't be without it now :smiley:
Ordered one for an older family member, so can anyone reccomend a very user friendly build?
with that code it go`s from £25.98 to £31.37?
does not make sense lol
better without the code £25.98 lol :smiley:
Anything else goes...
but if you can get a good pvr iptv simple client and you will have all the channels you want and in HD no extra add-ons needed
Just google it or look on youtube :wink:
(saved for later)
"Our agents are too busy to sever you now"
They take their jobs VERY seriously :smile:
Also I think codes do not work if the item is a sale item? not 100% sure.
The discount is applied to the original inflated price.
Legally, yes, you're supposed to have one but if you know your rights then you don't ever have to get one.
Everything seems to have been shut down.
Specto/Phoenix/Exodus/Velocity/PubFilm/Livemix/UK turks/Navi-x/DNA/Go movies & Go TV/Izle/Niter/cCloud/Sportsdevil/NJMsoccer and many many more :wink:
Have a look here >>
Firmware Downloads
or
Android TV Box Firmware Guide
Streaming any content whether you own it or not is NOT a criminal offence, although once we leave the E.U. this year it probably will be made in one as we won't be at the mercy of EU law then. Streaming live content without a TV licence is a criminal offence and you face prosecution if you don't have a licence. So don't go thinking you have rights to not get a TV licence if you watch live broadcasts. You rights are to not engage in conversation with TV licensing and you don't have to give them your name or any details if they ask.
TL;DR
Watching live TV without a licence is a criminal offence, you face prosecution if they discover you watching live TV. Can't make it any simpler than that.
If you DON'T watch live TV then you simply do NOT have to talk or engage with TV licensing at all, despite all their letters they send you.
Currently use my PS3 for streaming from my PC, would be good to get something that doesn't need to have the files transcoded and can handle various codecs.
Anyone if there are big differences between the S812 and S905 processors?
Good find, have some heat.
Cheers :smiley:
My point still stands though - if you know your legal rights, you do not have to have a TV Licence, but of course you are quite correct in that the law states that a licence is required to own equipment capable of receiving live broadcast television.
It doesn't require "bending" of anything because you are under no obligation to even talk to the capita salespeople, so you are never in a position to have to "bend" anything.
I would get a S905 chipset box over a S812. The S912 should be out this year.
Right now they're quoting dispatch in 3-5 days but I wouldn't accept that as cold hard fact.
Thanks for the link I am a novice but I will have a look .Any advice would be most appreciate
Regards Johnr8
I was told there is less buffering on 5.1 and its a lot faster . Thanks for the info
regards johnr8
Now lets just see it arrive.
PS Google or look on Amazon for Droidsmart - great support
my own take on having the latest version of android is that it's probably a lot more relevant for mobile phones than these boxes. with these boxes, as riverdragon has said, the last good, solid version is perfectly fine and it's not necessary to upgrade because it's like you'll be upgrading to get features you'll never use.
Both will give you the exact same result so I guess it doesn't matter how you do it. :confused:
How would you advise someone asking you how to upgrade from 4.4 to 5.1?
it never had a tv tuner,
if you wanted that they were £150 extra
i still had to give my name and address for tv licence laws
could of said no as it never had a tv tuner
but they said its capable of recieving tv broadcast
was no point in arguing lol as i had a tv licence anyway lol
The remote is crud. Damned awful. Luckily I only use it for XBMC and can use my phone to queue and play movies etc.
I have the MX III 4k. I cannot find any firmware that works with mine, and cannot update it to say lollipop, or just even flash it with a normal rom without all the crap that this one came with.
I dont think I will buy a china box again, probably go for a roku or something more mainstream .
Fab for new films, sports live etc
Kodi will likely work as well on a laptop/tablet as this.
The advantage over a laptop/tablet is that is it likely uses less power than most laptops, it comes with a remote so no need to get up to change what you are watching, can be left permanently plugged into your tv, is fan less so possibly less noisy than a laptop. In short, even though it is cheap - the advantages are having a device which is somewhat optimised for watching content on a big screen.
Thanks
There's an old saying if it looks to good to be true, it usually is.
I'm once bitten twice shy, wouldn't be ordering anything from them again!
ordered a doogee x5 pro from gearbest on a tuesday was delivered saturday for £33 i cant complain and i am aware the warranty is not worth anything :smiley:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Android-Built-Channel-Updater-Player/dp/B00WIDHWI0/ref=sr_1_4?s=receiver-speakers&ie=UTF8&qid=1459326969&sr=1-4&keywords=android+tv+box
MiniMX.
thanks
I ordered a tablet early Jan. it still has not arrived. they will not act until 25 days have passed.
item still not arrived so they offered me HALF of my money back as STORE VOICHERS?
unbelievable. stay well clear is my advice.
Online shopping isn't flawless fella, get a refund from Paypal. Easy!
I still use Gearbest for the odd thing, you have to be prepared to take that risk :wink:
thanks
These android boxes don't really do anything that you couldn't do on a phone or even a desktop PC. Kodi can be installed on both. The packages simply aggregate streams.
If you can't be bothered with all this, just try something like Mobdro on Android. Has all the channels you could imagine...
I am also shocked that nobody has chirped up with 'You would be better off getting a Raspberry Pi' *In mock nerdy voice*.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00OQ35BOW/ref=pe_1909131_77697001_tnp_email_TE_AMZLdp_1
By Phillip Mar-30/2016 08:03:20
Question:
Is google Play Store and Amazon App store available on this box ? Can I install android apps from the google play store and amazon app store ? apps like PLEX and Games Can I install apps from other sources like showbox, cartoon HD and Mobdro ? Thanks
Reply:
Hello Phillip,
Thank you for your inquiry,you need to downlod google Play Store and Amazon App store.Of course you can install android apps from the google play store and amazon app store.Have a nice day.
ok, further reading implies it may well have been lost in translation and they don't quite know what they're on about ..
"f wi-fi.You can install apps to the SD card ,it's Android 5.1.It uses Play Store for apps.You can put the Amazon App Store on it.Y"
Can anybody help with this?
Thanks!
Up to you really. Octa-Core for Kodi will be like getting Deep Blue to play Commodore 64 games though :smiley:. It'll be nice and it'll likely work without an issue, but it's a bit of overkill really.
If your more experience Kodi user you can disable auto update and manually update your favourite add-ons which helps with lag also you can select which sources that work so that speeds up load times. Both Wellhung and chocci are novices and inexperience, blind leading the blind.
Did i read Android has split from Kodi?
What repercussions would there be for TVs running android?
Sony are not known for elongated product support are they??:confused:
I hope this helps :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dot0wq3vxX8
and choose add-on information and you will see uninstall option.
The Fire Sticks are fine for the less technically capable, but these boxes are better.