Topic: Android box below P3k for Kodi - Christmas 2019 edition

[dazed]

Christmas is just around the corner and for this year, have decided to spread the love and give family/friends a media player that comes with access to my Emby server (over 1k movies and 250 TV shows, mostly HD, some 4k)

I didn't realize how much prices for these Android boxes have fallen, making it pretty affordable as a gift. I've tried several of them over the past month and thought this might be useful for those trying to do the same comparisons. Of course, requirements/preference will vary greatly from user to user, and my use-case was fairly specific:

- must be less than P3k including shipping
- Min 2GB RAM. 8GB good enough for onboard storage (as media will be streamed)
- Running on an Amlogic S905x or 912 chip. Those running on the newer S922 are still too expensive. I've also had less luck with non Amlogic based boxes in the past like Rockchip and Allwinner (looking at you, Zidoo)
- Needs to run Kodi 18.4 with the Kodi for Emby addon with no hiccups
- Netflix HD is a plus but not a deal-breaker
- Android TV OS also a plus, as its GUI is more user friendly for non-techies (subjective, I know)

Why these requirements? These boxes will be used by folks with varying levels of tech expertise, so need to be user friendly, not so intimidating, but at the same time, provides some easy expansion/app installation for those that may want to add other apps outside of Kodi. I toyed around with Coreelec/Libreelec but concluded it might get complicated to troubleshoot. At least with Android, most of my friends have some basic experience with it

These boxes are meant to run Kodi 18.4 with the Kodi for Emby addon, with an Arctic Zephyr Leia Mod skin. That will connect to an Emby server serving media from a QNAP 653A NAS. Some users have Netflix accounts, so being able to run Netflix in HD is useful

My current workhorses on the client side are the Nvidia Shield (main machine connected to a proper 7.1 setup) and multiple Minix Neo U1's. These have been super reliable, but their price points are just too high. The U1 is still running on the old S905 chip, but still going for P6k brand new.

Over the past month, I've tried several of these cheaper boxes (mostly ordered via Shopee or Lazada from a mix of local and China-based sellers). Quick thoughts on these:

Mecool M8s Plus L - Paid P1990, 2GB/16GB, 2.4G wifi (no 5G, no Ethernet), Android 7.1 Nougat on S912 chipset. Not a big fan of the launcher, but the bigger problem was the pretty slow wifi. Took a while to play streams even when on the local network. Ultimately got it to work, but not too happy with the speed.

Mecool M8S Pro L - Paid P2100 during Shopee flash sale. 3GB/16GB, 2.4G + 5G and 10/100 LAN, Android TV OS on S912 chipset. Despite running on the same chipset as the M8s Plus L, the Pro L felt zippier, wifi was slightly better, but not without hiccups. Overall not so bad already, for the price point, and quite useable.

Xiaomi MI Box S - Paid P2350 (after a sale that included a rebate) on Shopee. Regular price is around P2799 (cheapest I've seen). 2GB/8GB, 2.4G + 5G wifi (no LAN), Android TV OS on S905X chipset. Wifi is so much better than the Mecool units. Overall felt a bit more responsive too. The auto adjust refresh rate issue that was reported previously looks like it's been fixed, but doesn't show any HD Audio pass through options on Kodi. Supposed to be one of only a few boxes that can still play Netflix HD using the Netflix app without any workaround, but since I don't have a Netflix account, I haven't really tested it.

Overall, it looks like the Mi Box S is the one I'll be buying a lot of. The issue with HD Audio pass through isn't a deal breaker as most of my friends will only hook this up directly to a TV or maybe just a soundbar at best. Hoping this goes closer to the P2k price point for 11/11 or Black Friday, and will pull the trigger then

I've seen good reviews of other players like the ones from Beelink, but they're still fairly expensive. If anybody has other suggestions, would be happy to buy a test unit and give it a go

[oznola]

Very timely sir. I am actually about to purchase a box myself today and this solidifies that the Mi Box S remains to be the best bang for the buck android box in the market.

Just looking for a voucher to push down the price a bit more than the regular listed price.

[frequenzy]

i would suggest to get the boxes that uses s905x2 chipset. they are the replacement for the old s905x. price should be the same but with added performance. main disadvantage of the chinese boxes is of course netflix hd, since they are not certified devices. if you want to be sure that netflix would work then mi box is your best bet.

i have a few s905x boxes that runs coreelec/kodi-plex addon. they are quite good since they can direct play almost anything, so no need to transcode from my plex server.

[dazed]

Very timely sir. I am actually about to purchase a box myself today and this solidifies that the Mi Box S remains to be the best bang for the buck android box in the market.

Just looking for a voucher to push down the price a bit more than the regular listed price.

agree - haven't seen something that performs consistently at this price point. if you can wait a few weeks, am sure there will be some deals on 11/11 or for black friday/cyber monday

i would suggest to get the boxes that uses s905x2 chipset. they are the replacement for the old s905x. price should be the same but with added performance. main disadvantage of the chinese boxes is of course netflix hd, since they are not certified devices. if you want to be sure that netflix would work then mi box is your best bet.

i have a few s905x boxes that runs coreelec/kodi-plex addon. they are quite good since they can direct play almost anything, so no need to transcode from my plex server.

i did see some of those s905x2 boxes going for less than P2k - the Magicsee N5 and the H96 Max are in the P1700-1800 range. I've seen comments complaining about spotty wifi as well, so i hesitated. maybe it's worth trying one or two out, just to see how it performs for my use-case.

and yes to letting the hardware clients do the heavy GPU lifting via direct play rather than transcoding from the server. i wouldn't want that either, specially as the number of users grow. really quite tempted to see how a coreelec box does, although if it's spotty wifi that's the problem (as was the case with the mecool m8s plus l), i doubt any OS or software will fix it.

[jnazareta]

will follow this thread as a reference for a reliable box. Sir dazed can I be a beta tester as I have a mibox 3 and on 35mbps internet.

[mhacman]

Christmas is just around the corner and for this year, have decided to spread the love and give family/friends a media player that comes with access to my Emby server (over 1k movies and 250 TV shows, mostly HD, some 4k)

sir, can we try this over my Sony Android Smart TV with Kodi v18.4 (just let me know how to do Emby addon)? I have 25mbps internet.

I think with this route, we forego an extra device (which is the streaming box).

let me know... tia!

[oznola]

agree - haven't seen something that performs consistently at this price point. if you can wait a few weeks, am sure there will be some deals on 11/11 or for black friday/cyber monday

I sure can wait for that. thanks!

[dazed]

I sure can wait for that. thanks!

FYI, there's a 20% cashback voucher at Shopee today. Not as good as an outright 20% discount, but you can use the rebate for future purchases.

[dazed]

will follow this thread as a reference for a reliable box. Sir dazed can I be a beta tester as I have a mibox 3 and on 35mbps internet.

sir, can we try this over my Sony Android Smart TV with Kodi v18.4 (just let me know how to do Emby addon)? I have 25mbps internet.

I think with this route, we forego an extra device (which is the streaming box).

let me know... tia!

Please send me PMs, will give you guys temporary access. Just to be clear, this isn't a business and I never charge for these. It's for my personal consumption and I just let friends/family ride on it, since the media is there anyway.

There are actually some monthly subscriptions being offered out there, and of course they are all illegal, so you never know how long they last (Emby themselves are looking into this as they don't want to be associated with such services). But admittedly they can be tempting, particularly if you want 4k material

For those keen, you can look at https://www.reddit.com/r/EmbyShares/

[jnazareta]

Hi sir dazed. PM sent po and thanks in advance.

[oznola]

FYI, there's a 20% cashback voucher at Shopee today. Not as good as an outright 20% discount, but you can use the rebate for future purchases.

for some reason its not applying on the Mi Box S that has the cashback tag on it. oh well.

[dazed]

for some reason its not applying on the Mi Box S that has the cashback tag on it. oh well.

Weird. Just ordered 8 boxes to start (will order the rest next month, hopefully cheaper then). Was priced at 2,888, but had the 20% cashback (in the form of shopee coins). Order went through with no issues

https://shopee.ph/product/87773654/6501038403?smtt=0.0.9

[oznola]

^you know what, my bad. Was doing it on my laptop instead of the app.

Ordered one na and got 500+ coins for it. Appreciate it sir.

[dazed]

If anybody has one of those S905X2 boxes and want to test Kodi/Emby, I can give access. Save me from buying one just to test. Thanks

[frequenzy]

congrats on the mi box purchase, only gripe with the mi box is the lack of ethernet port as I prefer to hardwire all my boxes. wireless is relegated to mobile phone and laptops.

[oznola]

^Thanks sir. Found out you can use something like this to fix the ethernet need:

[Verbl Kint]

^Thanks sir. Found out you can use something like this to fix the ethernet need:

I would suggest you do not use the USB ports on this adapter as you run the risk of overdrawing power from the very limited resources of your media player.  So basically, ethernet port lang yung dapat gamitin.

I've seen full on gaming laptops fried using USB hubs with even lower amperages than USB 3.

[dazed]

congrats on the mi box purchase, only gripe with the mi box is the lack of ethernet port as I prefer to hardwire all my boxes. wireless is relegated to mobile phone and laptops.

Completely agree. All the boxes thst I use for myself (Nvidia Shields and Minix U1s) are all connected via gigabit ethernet. Made sure I had multiple RJ45 connections built in every room when I renovated my apartment that the contractor asked if I was building a data center

the folks I'm giving these too unfortunately don't have the same luxury and most rely on wifi. that was one of the downsides of the Mecool boxes (and some of the S905X2 box reviews I saw). The Mi Box wifi seems pretty solid, with the tests that I did.

[frequenzy]

Completely agree. All the boxes thst I use for myself (Nvidia Shields and Minix U1s) are all connected via gigabit ethernet. Made sure I had multiple RJ45 connections built in every room when I renovated my apartment that the contractor asked if I was building a data center

the folks I'm giving these too unfortunately don't have the same luxury and most rely on wifi. that was one of the downsides of the Mecool boxes (and some of the S905X2 box reviews I saw). The Mi Box wifi seems pretty solid, with the tests that I did.

just wondering what is your isp upload speed? since you are sharing your plex server and that would eat your upload bandwidth.

im on pldt fibr 100M dl / 50M ul, but have only tested one remote connection. i'm thinking if it would be a problem for high bitrate 4k files.

[oznola]

I would suggest you do not use the USB ports on this adapter as you run the risk of overdrawing power from the very limited resources of your media player.  So basically, ethernet port lang yung dapat gamitin.

I've seen full on gaming laptops fried using USB hubs with even lower amperages than USB 3.

Would it be ok to use a USB hub for additional ports?

[dazed]

just wondering what is your isp upload speed? since you are sharing your plex server and that would eat your upload bandwidth.

im on pldt fibr 100M dl / 50M ul, but have only tested one remote connection. i'm thinking if it would be a problem for high bitrate 4k files.

I'm on 50/50, but haven't really maxed out the upload bandwidth. It won't be that many, maybe 20 clients max, and from experience, it's quite rare to have multiple users at exactly the same time. Usually half of them at most would be accessing at the same time

I use Emby btw, not Plex. Never really tried Plex before, and am sure there are proponents of why one is better than the other. All I know is Emby works for what I need it for, and that's good enough for me.

[czarsky]

I would suggest you do not use the USB ports on this adapter as you run the risk of overdrawing power from the very limited resources of your media player.  So basically, ethernet port lang yung dapat gamitin.

I've seen full on gaming laptops fried using USB hubs with even lower amperages than USB 3.

I plan to use one of the port for wireless dongle of wireless keyboard, kayanin naman cguro ...

[JeromeA]

Very timely sir. I am actually about to purchase a box myself today and this solidifies that the Mi Box S remains to be the best bang for the buck android box in the market.

Just looking for a voucher to push down the price a bit more than the regular listed price.

this!

[mhacman]

PM sent, sir @dazed! =)  am searching now how to install Emby add-on into Kodi... tia!

[dazed]

PM sent, sir @dazed! =)  am searching now how to install Emby add-on into Kodi... tia!

just sent the settings over - have fun playing with it!

[mhacman]

just sent the settings over - have fun playing with it!

cool!  thanks, sir @Dazed.  I saw an incoming PM -- but before I read it, here's what I did with my Kodi installed on the Android TV:

- Settings-->Add-ons -->Search
then I typed "Emby" then press Done
- 3 selections came up and I chose EmbyCon (there's a description for that option and it seems it is the Emby add-on that I need to install
- clicked ok and then installed it

on Kody's main menu, I selected Video-->Add-Ons (instead of Files -- which we should choose to select for a movie file stored on a repository/harddisk) and now come appears there the EmbyCon.  I selected it and it search for a local Emby server.  since there's no Emby server around me, it asked me if i want to manually enter an Emby server URL =)

so here comes, I'll check sir what you have shared over the PM.. hehe

thanks again!

[mhacman]

nadali, sir @dazed!  walang kagatol gatol ang Avengers Endgame 4K! haha  it's like being played from a local storage!  I even checked on the Sony TV what resolution it is playing.  and it says "HDR"  and on Kodi player, it says 4K.  so it is well true, indeed!  Audio info also says TrueHD 7.1 so I'm assuming is it an Atmos decode too?

you have a Viber account sir?  I could send pics and video of how I accessed your Emby server (after I filled in the servername url/port, I was straightly asked for the username/password)... and boom, a long list of folders came through!

sobrang daming collections mo sir, nice!  tho, I just find it hard to choose which particular category folder the movie I am to look for.  so I just immediately went with "Movies -- All" folder then crawled down alphabetically to find a test media in 4K format =)

by the way, this Sony TV with Kodi/Emby is in Wifi connection.

thanks!

[dazed]

nadali, sir @dazed!  walang kagatol gatol ang Avengers Endgame 4K! haha  it's like being played from a local storage!  I even checked on the Sony TV what resolution it is playing.  and it says "HDR"  and on Kodi player, it says 4K.  so it is well true, indeed!  Audio info also says TrueHD 7.1 so I'm assuming is it an Atmos decode too?

you have a Viber account sir?  I could send pics and video of how I accessed your Emby server (after I filled in the servername url/port, I was straightly asked for the username/password)... and boom, a long list of folders came through!

sobrang daming collections mo sir, nice!  tho, I just find it hard to choose which particular category folder the movie I am to look for.  so I just immediately went with "Movies -- All" folder then crawled down alphabetically to find a test media in 4K format =)

by the way, this Sony TV with Kodi/Emby is in Wifi connection.

thanks!

nice - that's great to hear actually

i think how android tv is implemented and actual performance still varies from tv to tv, but that's great to hear about sony. will keep that in mind for friends who have that

regarding movie categories, emby can populate by genre. there's also collections in emby (i've manually added to those), and these show up in kodi under movies - sets. although these apply when using the kodi for emby addon (not embycon as embycon doesn't touch the local kodi library database)

[mhacman]

yes, right on sir!  as our purpose is to see if Sony Android TV can manage what's intended for when using a dedicated streaming box -- and we're a success!

maybe Embycon stands for console, that's why.  I was supposed to download the Emby .zip version and install from there but somehow, I tried to search instead and Embycon appeared and so I tried it =)

so PDVD peeps on the thread, here's just one successful trial of Kodi/Emby to access an Emby server elsewhere using a Sony Android TV, 8GB ROM/16GB RAM running on Android 8 Oreo, Kodi 18.4 in Wifi connection =)

just know that there may be relative concerns on the usage/access. that both ends should be free from network hiccups especially on 4K heavy bitrate data and that the number of concurrent users doesn't clog the server's read capacity and its network stream =)

again, many thanks for the trial, sir @dazed!

[dazed]

Thanks

Just further feedback on the Mi Box S. I'm rethinking my view on the wifi on this box as well, as I have rooms where the Neo U1 on wifi, or even the M8s Pro L (but not the Plus l) perform adequately, but the Mi Box S struggles

@anazareta also reported his Mibox 3 struggling with a few more demanding streams from the same server, and I suspect it's the strength of his wifi connection that could be the issue

Hoping the folks who will be using these boxes have strong enough wifi, but on the hunt for another hopefully more reliable one for now