Well after the disaster that the Xiaomi Mi Box has become since it's idiotic developers decided to release really buggy,
untested v8.0 Oreo Firmware, we have another contender in the budget Google Certified and Netflix Approved - Android TV OS category. One that has better connectivity options as well.
Ematic Jetstream 4K Ultra HD (click)
- AMLogic S905X Chipset - 4K HDR capable (HDR YouTube as well)
- 2GB RAM
- 8GB Storage
- 2 x USB2.0
- 1 x microSDHC
- Fast Ethernet (100Mbit)
- SPDIF / Optical
- 3.5mm Analog audio headphone socket.
- Hidden Infra Red receiver (click), located behind the front facia.
- Dual Band AC WiFi
- Bluetooth 4.0+
- Bluetooth - Google Assist - Voice search remote, power adapter, and HDMI cable.
- Running Android TV - Oreo 8.1 Firmware.
- Widevine L1 + Microsoft Playready DRM & HDCP 2.2 for 4K Netflix & sideloaded Prime Video.
- Usermanual (click)
- About Ematic (click)
Early report indicate a much more stable device vs the v8.0 Xiaomi Mi Box. (a Mi Box FW 8.1 update is hopefully expected shortly)
However Live TV deinterlacing is still broken for Live Channels & Kodi's PVR's. Same as all recent AMLogic S905 devices like the Mi Boxes.
Kodi HD audio passthrough is
Not working with the Jetstream.
Reddit - Android TV - Jetstream feedback (click)
Harmony Infra Red remote config help (click)
@
clarkss12 budget box addiction continues! He's already posted a Jetstream Video....
Only 10/100 Ethernet, so high bitrate 4K is going to be out of the question, and 8GB of storage is pretty thin after the OS, but for $70 I suppose you can't complain TOO much considering it's officially certified for Netflix and Prime Video. At least it's built-in, not an extra adapter you have to buy like the FireTV Stick. I'll be very interested to hear how well it does with the color gamut conversions. Not expecting miracles at that price point, but who knows.
It is running Android 8.1 out of the box.
Edit. I am still running Android 7.0 on my Xiaomi MiBox........
Was
initially interested in this box, but w/Fire TV Stick due out soon for $50 w/all flavors of HDR + auto framerate switching, don't think it's worth it even if it does a better job than the Mi Box-es.
Keeping my eyes out for the A95X Plus AMLogic S905Y2 Android 8.1 box however. May be a great performer for LE/CE w/4GB RAM & improved CPU/GPU?
(2018-10-22, 03:27)hdmkv Wrote: [ -> ]Was initially interested in this box, but w/Fire TV Stick due out soon for $50 w/all flavors of HDR + auto framerate switching, don't think it's worth it even if it does a better job than the Mi Box-es.
LOL, I swear I did a check for an existing thread. Need to do better next time !
Quote:Keeping my eyes out for the A95X Plus AMLogic S905Y2 Android 8.1 box however. May be a great performer for LE/CE w/4GB RAM & improved CPU/GPU?
For LE on such a box, it will only be of any use if Linux compatible GPU drivers are available. Otherwise it will be dead in the water.
Also on the Android side it will be running a new AMLogic Linux Kernel on a brand new SoC - which spells trouble for early adopters, irrespective of the Tech specs.
There is more detail on new AML SoC's in this
CNX - Amlogic S905Y2, S905X2, S922X Boards (click) Webpage
As a side note, @
peak3d has improved
3:2 pulldown timing support (click) for Android Kodi Leia in the very recent nightly releases. I've noticed much improved 24fps video playback when output at 60Hz on TV's that can remove such 24p pulldown judder. It's a lot closer to 24p Netflix video playback now.
(2018-10-22, 03:27)hdmkv Wrote: [ -> ]Was initially interested in this box, but w/Fire TV Stick due out soon for $50 w/all flavors of HDR + auto framerate switching, don't think it's worth it even if it does a better job than the Mi Box-es.
Keeping my eyes out for the A95X Plus AMLogic S905Y2 Android 8.1 box however. May be a great performer for LE/CE w/4GB RAM & improved CPU/GPU?
I pre-ordered that A95X Plus a couple of weeks ago, but they keep changing the ship date everytime I look. It was to ship a couple of days ago, then it was tomorrow, now it is Oct. 30. Maybe that is good and they are working out some bugs. As Wrxtasy said, they are using a newer kernel, and it is likely it will be running Android Pie. It is my understanding that Amlogic was only going to support the Android TV OS going forward. Right now, I have no clue what that box will be running for an OS, or even if it has a locked bootloader. That particular box does not have an Ethernet port, due to the SoC specs. That kind of scares me since these boxes do not have a good track record for having a good WiFi. But I guess that is what drives me to keep buying these crappy boxes, never knowing what I am going to get. hahaha
(2018-10-21, 06:10)aerogems Wrote: [ -> ]Only 10/100 Ethernet, so high bitrate 4K is going to be out of the question, and 8GB of storage is pretty thin after the OS, but for $70 I suppose you can't complain TOO much considering it's officially certified for Netflix and Prime Video. At least it's built-in, not an extra adapter you have to buy like the FireTV Stick. I'll be very interested to hear how well it does with the color gamut conversions. Not expecting miracles at that price point, but who knows.
I wouldn't be too concerned about the ethernet speed as you have options. Dual Band AC Wifi should be faster (if you have a strong connection) and if you still prefer wired you could plug an ethernet adapter into one of the 2 usb 2.0 ports. While it won't give you gigabit speeds it should easily allow 200-300 megabit speeds which is more than enough for high bitrate 4K. As for how it handles HDR/SDR that's an open question. At any rate, for the price it's definitely interesting.
(2018-10-22, 03:27)hdmkv Wrote: [ -> ]Was initially interested in this box, but w/Fire TV Stick due out soon for $50 w/all flavors of HDR + auto framerate switching, don't think it's worth it even if it does a better job than the Mi Box-es.
Keeping my eyes out for the A95X Plus AMLogic S905Y2 Android 8.1 box however. May be a great performer for LE/CE w/4GB RAM & improved CPU/GPU?
VERY very limited auto framerate matching.
(2018-10-22, 03:27)hdmkv Wrote: [ -> ]Was initially interested in this box, but w/Fire TV Stick due out soon for $50 w/all flavors of HDR + auto framerate switching, don't think it's worth it even if it does a better job than the Mi Box-es.
Keeping my eyes out for the A95X Plus AMLogic S905Y2 Android 8.1 box however. May be a great performer for LE/CE w/4GB RAM & improved CPU/GPU?
The Fire TV stick doesn't support NTFS formatted drives, only Fat32, making it 100% useless for files over 4 gigs - which is all I have.
Also, it doesn't support USB keyboards. You have to use the remote to type stuff out in Netflix. Tedius. Deal-breaker.
May be time to look into a NAS
.
(2018-11-03, 00:05)hdmkv Wrote: [ -> ]May be time to look into a NAS .
Doesn't help with USB keyboard input.
And I don't have the funds for a NAS.
I believe all Google certified Android TV v8.1 Oreo devices, at least AMLogic ones are
Google Treble (click) compliant.
What this means is Google can now update the Android TV OS, independant of underlying device drivers and firmware. There will be much faster OS updates and devices should be supported for much longer going forward.
It's long long overdue, particularly in the Android smartphone market.
(2018-10-21, 05:32)wrxtasy Wrote: [ -> ]Live TV deinterlacing might have even been fixed by AMLogic with FW 8.1
Any confirmation about this yet?