Android TV Mini PC

[Dos_Box]

Whilst my Raspberry Pi running RaspBMC is great for talking to my NAS box and playing all of the media, it is somewhat lacking in the 'value add' department. There is no web browser or other real additional features beyond the media playback which I would really like to use.

I have been looking at these now: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Android-Smart-internet-adaptor-Adaptor/dp/B009ERPN2A/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1365413976&sr=8-1&keywords=Mini+PC+SmartTV and at just under £37 could give me what I really need seeing as I can put XBMC on there. There is a rather lengthy review (below) showing off it's features, but I'd like to know if anyone else is suing one of these yet and what they think?

 

 

4DEC&feature=results_main

 

This is a bit of an older review and it has been upgraded since this (models now on 4.1) however it does show you the capabilities of the device quite well. Thoughts?

 

Oh, and possibly getting one of these as the controller

 

Edited April 8, 2013 by Dos_Box

[HMCTech]

Do you have an Android phone? I am sure you could use that as the remote?

[Dos_Box]

Do you have an Android phone? I am sure you could use that as the remote?

 

Yes I do, however I don't want the kids to play with it. A dedicated controller with gaming bits on seems to fit the bill nicely. Apparently the latest firmware for it add Xbox and PS3 controller support

[fiza]

@Dos_Box

Looks good - What about the problem of the "China" locale setting mentioned in the Amazon review. That could cause problems.

[Dos_Box]

I have experience of Chinese Android devices, so it's not a problem

[fiza]

@Dos_Box - I would be very much interested in your hands-on-review if you do go ahead and buy both items.

[Dos_Box]

It should be in the next few weeks, so keep an eye out. It does look very intersting, and having a workable browser + games and emulators will be quite a nice thing to have. The Pi is fine, but there isn't anything remotely as good as this available for the price.

[Arthur]

I can put XBMC on there.

Do you know if this Android TV stick is compatible with the 'Finless' custom ROM below (since this should enable hardware acceleration for videos in XBMC via libstagefright)?

 

www.freaktab.com/showthread.php?4057-NEW-UG802-Finless-1-8-Custom-ROM

[creese]

I got one of these for £45 and love it.

Android 4.0 TV Box Media Player Google Smart TV HD 1080P HDMI WIFI 1.2Ghz CPU

on eBay from Justopeshop.

[VeryPC_Andy]

Nice @Dos_Box !

 

I've been looking at TV boxes to use as low cost RDP terminal - A good place to find out what devices are out there is

 

Liliputing — Compact Computing - Good place for Android device reviews and tests

 

Tablet Pc - Android TV Box - Military Phones - Asia Pads . com - Chinese Etail site - gives a good idea of what is out there and to hunt out on Ebay.

 

www.pandawillcom- All things china - search for android TV.

Edited April 12, 2013 by VeryPC_Andy
typo

[british_government]

Firstly this looks great, I wants I wants! We have a couple of spare Logitech K400 wireless keyboards here so one of them should work with it beautifully for testing but...

 

Do you have an Android phone? I am sure you could use that as the remote?

 

Something I have never seen, how?

[creese]

Able Remote App

[british_government]

Thanks that's cool, just watching this review if a newer one, I really fancy one of these, sneak it through the IT budget for "development?"

 

[Dos_Box]

I decided to go with this one in the end: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00AFVO1EA/ref=pe_217191_31005151_3p_M3_dp_1

It's a bit more expensive, but has more storage and better a better processor/graphics. The only thing I am wary of is that apparently they don't have hardware assisted decoding. Needless to say a full review will be coming in time.

 

 

Oh, and I have ordered one of these for the controller:

 

The original one I wanted was quite expensive and currently out of stock anyway.

[Dos_Box]

Well, it arrived this afternoon and so far it plays pretty nice, but there are a few things apparent:

 

1. 1080p is not working for me. You get 2 modes for 1080p - 50 and 60Mhz - neither of which work, so I'm stuck at 720p. Apparently this isn't uncommon and certain makes/models of displays and tv's won't play correctly. Mine is a 3 series Samsung LED tv btw. However a custom ROM may fix this

 

2. The BBC iPlayer is throwing up a browser error. This too has been reported

 

3. HD playback is pretty poor and jerky, even with h264 files with XBMC not performing very well at all with them. This may be down to them streaming over wi-fi but the unit is very close to the base unit

 

 

I shall report more in depth once I've had a better chance to play with it and with a better fettled ROM installed, and please do not make the mistake of thinking it is a cheap 'pc'. It's not, it's intended to be a way of making your non-smart tv into a smart tv for very little money. Anything else is a bonus

 

Oh, and that remote KB is very sweet

[creese]

BBC iPlayer, just about the worst App out. Doesn't work or work properly on any of my devices. Can you run it from the browser?

[Danp]

Has anyone tried an MKV file through one of these? I am guessing VLC will handle it fine.

[Dos_Box]

Well, after 3 days I've decided to return this one. What they had sent me was not what I had ordered (a JUSTOP K9). It was the same specs, essentially a MK 809II but in some kid of generic case.

The Flash Player didn't work correctly and neither did any of the 1080p modes - I could only get it to display 720p. From what I have seen and read these should work fine. Perhaps I just got a turkey

[Eappariello]

Just recieved a Pivos Xios. Like the look of this as it has XBMC hardware decoder integration and you can run XBMC only in Linux or run Android JB and use the play store and all the apps etc.

 

Ill post what I think of it if anyone is interested after I have put it through its passes and thrown some Add Ins a it.

[edutech4schools]

the only item that gets 5 star on Amazon = http://www.amazon.co.uk/G-Box-Midnight-Android-Box-Streaming/dp/B009BWC3J4/ref=sr_1_5?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1366279877&sr=1-5&keywords=Android+TV+Box+Media+Player

 

• Android 4 Desktop PC on your HD TV!
  
• Full XBMC Hardware Decoding Support for 1080p High Definition Playback!
  
• Powerful A9-MIII Neon Cortex CPU & Mali400 Graphics Processor
  
• 4GB Storage / 1GB DDR3 Ram - Plenty of space for all of your apps!
  
• Fully Hackable - System comes Pre-Rooted and ready for anything you can think of!
  

[hardtailstar]

on a slightly differernt note, im looking at sorting out in car entertainment, would these work in car for maps and music?

[gshaw]

on a slightly differernt note, im looking at sorting out in car entertainment, would these work in car for maps and music?

 

If you can find a cheap HDMI touchscreen to go with it I'm all ears...

[X-13]

If you can find a cheap HDMI touchscreen to go with it I'm all ears...

 

~£87 cheap enough? [it works with a Pi.]

[hardtailstar]

If you can find a cheap HDMI touchscreen to go with it I'm all ears...

 

lilliput screens are relatively cheap

[Arthur]

the only item that gets 5 star on Amazon

That looks like a rebranded Pivos XIOS DS Media Play (the specs are identical).

 

Pivos employ two XBMC team members full-time so that's why it has full H/W acceleration.