Maybe the best priced budget box available on Market?
7day expedited postage available for ~£2 but suggest go for the unmarked postage option to hopefully avoid import duty/handling fees.
Model: H96 Pro+ Type: TV Box GPU: ARM Mali-T820MP3 System: Android 7.1 CPU: Amlogic S912 Core: 2.0GHz,Octa Core RAM: 3GB RAM Type: DDR3 ROM: 32G Maximum External Hard Drives Capacity: 2TB Color: Black
Media supported.
Decoder Format: H.263,H.264,H.265 Video format: ASF,AVI,DAT,FLV,ISO,MKV,MOV,MPEG,MPG,RM,RMVB,TS,VOB,WMV Audio format: AAC,AC3,MP3,OGG,WAV,WMA Support 5.1 Surround Sound Output: Yes
Product details.
5G WiFi: Yes WIFI: 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac Bluetooth: Support Power Supply: Charge Adapter Interface: AV,DC Power Port,Ethernet,HDMI,SPDIF,TF card,USB2.0 Language: Multi-language HDMI Version: 2.0 Other Functions: 3D Video External Subtitle Supported: No
All comments (45)
paulwhitehead66
14 Aug 17#1
Impressive stats
AndyRoyd
14 Aug 17#2
I guess the "7day expedited postage available for ~£2" will increase likelihood of circa total £20 VAT+handling import fee?
aforumac to AndyRoyd
18 Aug 17#44
Ordered a mecool pro £30ish and thought great a couple quid for 5-8 delivery. Got an email from DPD asking for £15 taxes. Got it in 10 days but paid 50% more. The admin fee is the biggest chunk of the demand
AndyRoyd to aforumac
18 Aug 17#45
Assuming admin fee is £8, then the VAT element of the import charges will be more than the additional admin fee when the combined purchase price plus shipping is over circa £40.
danfr
14 Aug 17#3
mecool m8s pro + with s905x and widevine level 1 is the box you should be buying. it's like £28 and supports DRM and full hd netflix unlike this.
Pyrrhic to danfr
14 Aug 17#5
Have you got one / can you confirm that's the case? A box that cheap that can do HEVC 10 bit and Netflix would be very appealing (Do you know if Amazon Video is the same?)
! That's a shame. What I'd really like is Amazon to have a special flash sale on one of their fire tv 4k boxes. I'd easily buy another for £50. The first is perfect for playing basically everything.
danfr to amb47uk
14 Aug 17#9
i think scuba is the only one who has had problems
Rarnik to danfr
14 Aug 17#10
Yep, a poster says that it's the pro version with the issues, not the pro plus. Worth checking but possibly not a turd.
danfr to Pyrrhic
14 Aug 17#8
yes, it does 1080p netflix, I have three. it's 720p with the stock rom, but 1080p with android TV ROM from freaktab. best box ATM, has nougat, and because of the widevine it will be well supported and any bugs will be fixed.
robocop999 to danfr
14 Aug 17#29
I can't find it for that price? Can you help out with a link please
boro_boy
14 Aug 17#4
Fantastic price for a excellent box
danfr
14 Aug 17#11
the pro is s912, with no widevine level 1, and Pro plus is s905x with widevine level 1. you can check with an app like DRM info. In theory it would be capable of 4k netflix like the wetek play 2/hub or Xiaomi Mi box 3.
Amazon won't do above 480p on pretty much any android box, apart from Amazon fire stuff.
jaydeeuk1
14 Aug 17#12
Don't see the point of these android boxes. You won't get 4k HDR through netflix or amazon and never will.
kendosteve to jaydeeuk1
14 Aug 17#13
Plenty of points really, of which Netflix and Amazon make up less than 1% of my uses.
jaydeeuk1 to kendosteve
14 Aug 17#22
What 4k HDR sources do you mainly use then?
Quickblood to jaydeeuk1
14 Aug 17#15
Do people really buy them for Netflix and Amazon though?
danfr
14 Aug 17#14
well, the xaiomi mi box does 4k HDR through netflix. which is an s905x chip, like the mecool m8s pro plus. so it has already happened. wetek make boxes that do 5.1 uhd, but it's s905 which doesn't support hdr.
I think with updates and tweaks mecool could play 4k hdr eventually.
more and more boxes will do this in an attempt to go more legit, and not just rely on kodi support.
Kodi, it's like a seedbox running Plex, Sonarr and Radarr for poor people.
restyler to ollie87
14 Aug 17#27
I've just got no idea what this means???
I just use the boxes for watching downloaded movies via usb stick but Ive recently looked into getting plex on the android box but it seems to want me to pay for a plex pass for streaming from pc to tv - can it be had without a paid pass?
ollie87 to restyler
14 Aug 17#28
To use it it properly you have a Seedbox running in your own server, with Plex for transcoding and Sonarr and Radarr for downloading the content automatically. Basically it's like having your own version of Netflix, except it has things you actually want to watch.
Plus stuff is added in real time as it appears on the internet.
drasim to ollie87
15 Aug 17#36
I prefer running Emby over Plex, the integration with Kodi is great as it can take over the library database.
lukemack
14 Aug 17#18
How's Kodi doing nowadays?
Countyforever to lukemack
14 Aug 17#20
Kodi is doing very well. It continues to improve. Some of the uses of Kodi however, may be more problematic..
Disco.Dave
14 Aug 17#21
I have this. Excellent
danfr
14 Aug 17#23
kodi is fine. and so is streaming. look on torrentfreak.com for real unbiased kodi/streaming news.
Mrgreener
14 Aug 17#25
What is a good set up to get, if you don't have 4k etc
montee
14 Aug 17#26
i've had the meecool ms8pro for about 3 months....started off okay but now it keeps switching itself off for no apparent reason.....bought it from china and took ages to arrive.......i wouldn't get another one
danfr to montee
15 Aug 17#30
yeah like we already said you have m8s pro not the m8s Pro plus. s912 is buggy compared to s905x. it's on geekbuying for £28.
amb47uk
15 Aug 17#31
80 of these sold since I posted, only 56 left... be quick!
Customer service says it supports full hd and 4k netflix - clearly a better box than the meecool
danfr to amb47uk
15 Aug 17#32
thats a lie, it does not play even 720p netflix.
danfr
15 Aug 17#33
the box in this post came out November 2016, review of specs (states widevine level 3, so Def no hd netflix):
I'm after a box pretty much just for playing 264/265 content off a stick. Is this box overkill? If so can anyone point me in the right direction please.
Omoshiroi
15 Aug 17#35
I have to say, anyone who logs in a Netflix, Google, or Amazon account on one of those boxes is making a bad life decision. They can be pretty good for Retro Game Emulation though and you can get APKs to install stuff without risking personal info.
I have a few of these boxes and with a little modding they white wash the competition in this price category. The biggest issue with this box and many others is overheating which commonly makes the box run sluggish or freeze up. The box simply has no ventilation holes whatsoever and a practically non existent heatsink on the CPU. Once sorted and running android 7.1.1 your good to go. There are currently 4 popular firmware updates for this box the newest being dated 19-06-2017. The commonly noted WiFi issues are simply incorrect antenna placement within the box and easily fixed. The bonus hidden extra USB ports are also a nice bonus.
xigent to modelman
16 Aug 17#43
When you say “Once sorted
and running android 7.1.1 your good to go” what did you do to stop the
overheating?
modelman to xigent
16 Aug 17#42
Just cutting some holes in the top makes a difference however I fitted a bigger heatsink on the CPU which cost around a £1. Not had a glitch since. These boxes have been known to top 90C when pushed hard which is a joke. Mine rarely hits 60C now modded. It's a great shame that a reasonably high spec box is reuined by a poorly designed case.
metronome
15 Aug 17#39
DO NOT BUY THIS!!!!!! I have one and it over heats as the GPU is too powerful for the pitiful heatsink... I also have one that has a dodgy power problem so it just crashes every few mins, despite even using a male - male usb cable to power it... I bought a small usb fan to actively cool it, but its loud as...
If you rip it out the case you will find there are another 2 extra usb ports which they don't cut out the case for...
If you want for Netflix you will be limited to standard definition because even if it supported the DRM Netflix still will not authorise any of these boxes to be able to run at HD or even UHD
It's a fast box when it works, but you're better off getting an Nvidia Sheild (yes a lot more but it will 100% do what you need it to)
danfr to metronome
15 Aug 17#40
just about the netflix thing, I can confirm 100% that the mecool m8s pro plus, does indeed play 1080p netflix, because it has the correct widevine DRM. It is the only budget android box with widevine level 1, and it plays 1080p with the ATV rom. I'm not sure people realise how unique the mecool m8s pro plus is.
amb47uk to danfr
16 Aug 17#41
Objectophilia or what? Nobody is buying this for Netflix.
![Fresh Breakfast Meat Box (Using code) @ Campbells Meat [Haggis / Lorne Sausage / Bacon / Black Pudding & More]](/images/topics/208684_1.jpg)
![[Xbox One] Q. u. b. e: Director's Cut on Deals with Gold](/images/topics/208716_1.jpg)
Opening post
7day expedited postage available for ~£2 but suggest go for the unmarked postage option to hopefully avoid import duty/handling fees.
Model: H96 Pro+
Type: TV Box
GPU: ARM Mali-T820MP3
System: Android 7.1
CPU: Amlogic S912
Core: 2.0GHz,Octa Core
RAM: 3GB
RAM Type: DDR3
ROM: 32G
Maximum External Hard Drives Capacity: 2TB
Color: Black
Media supported.
Decoder Format: H.263,H.264,H.265
Video format: ASF,AVI,DAT,FLV,ISO,MKV,MOV,MPEG,MPG,RM,RMVB,TS,VOB,WMV
Audio format: AAC,AC3,MP3,OGG,WAV,WMA
Support 5.1 Surround Sound Output: Yes
Product details.
5G WiFi: Yes
WIFI: 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac
Bluetooth: Support
Power Supply: Charge Adapter
Interface: AV,DC Power Port,Ethernet,HDMI,SPDIF,TF card,USB2.0
Language: Multi-language
HDMI Version: 2.0
Other Functions: 3D Video
External Subtitle Supported: No
All comments (45)
Amazon won't do above 480p on pretty much any android box, apart from Amazon fire stuff.
I think with updates and tweaks mecool could play 4k hdr eventually.
more and more boxes will do this in an attempt to go more legit, and not just rely on kodi support.
google.co.uk/amp…amp
I just use the boxes for watching downloaded movies via usb stick but Ive recently looked into getting plex on the android box but it seems to want me to pay for a plex pass for streaming from pc to tv - can it be had without a paid pass?
Plus stuff is added in real time as it appears on the internet.
Customer service says it supports full hd and 4k netflix - clearly a better box than the meecool
freaktab.com/for…-bt
mecool came out July 2017, review of specs (states widevine level 1 and nogat, which are its main two selling points):
freaktab.com/for…g-n
freaktab.com/for…pro
The biggest issue with this box and many others is overheating which commonly makes the box run sluggish or freeze up. The box simply has no ventilation holes whatsoever and a practically non existent heatsink on the CPU. Once sorted and running android 7.1.1 your good to go. There are currently 4 popular firmware updates for this box the newest being dated 19-06-2017. The commonly noted WiFi issues are simply incorrect antenna placement within the box and easily fixed.
The bonus hidden extra USB ports are also a nice bonus.
It's a great shame that a reasonably high spec box is reuined by a poorly designed case.
I have one and it over heats as the GPU is too powerful for the pitiful heatsink... I also have one that has a dodgy power problem so it just crashes every few mins, despite even using a male - male usb cable to power it... I bought a small usb fan to actively cool it, but its loud as...
If you rip it out the case you will find there are another 2 extra usb ports which they don't cut out the case for...
If you want for Netflix you will be limited to standard definition because even if it supported the DRM Netflix still will not authorise any of these boxes to be able to run at HD or even UHD
It's a fast box when it works, but you're better off getting an Nvidia Sheild (yes a lot more but it will 100% do what you need it to)