I've completed some more tests on the VidOn box and here are the results. Anyway, did I mention the stock remote is a P.O.S.?! Worst remote ever! Gotta point it straight at the box within 3-5ft. A pain in the ass; drives me bonkers! To alleviate this, I attached an IR eye to the IR receiver area of the box (
see here) and used my Harmony One remote. It helped, but only slightly. I was constantly switching between the stock remote, my Harmony and my Hausbell Mini H7 keyboard/mouse combo. All were necessary for my tests below, and very frustrating.
First, I tested some useful and/or popular streaming Android apps:
- Netflix app = works fine as I mentioned earlier, but like other others apps, they're designed for tablets, so a keyboard/mouse is absolutely necessary for navigation within all of them! Netflix qiality, capped at 480p, is so-so. On my 133" screen, not so good. But, as I mentioned earlier, not VidOn's fault here, but Netflix.
- YouTube app = works okay. Good quality video.
- Simple.tv = works okay, but playback is not smooth (jittery, frame skips). This app basically connects to my Simple.tv DVR's. STV does live TV and saves OTA HD recordings as HLS MPEG4. My Amazon FireTV renders these very well; VidOn not.
- Pluto.tv app = Nice app with 100+ HD channels of curated Web content. Same issue: jittery, frame skips, stuttering. Works well on my Fire TV and tablets.
- PBS & PBS Kids apps = Both start fine and are usable. But, bummer, can't exit out of no matter what! Must unplug VidOn and reboot!
- IPTV app = works fine if there's a video stream that's actually working. If not, you either get a 'not available' message or VidOn locks up and you must... you guessed it, unplug and replug!
- Amazon Prime Video app = probably the best working app of the bunch! I used this method (the offical way) to install. Quality is very good, even though it doesn't appear to be HD. Better than Netflix anyway.
- Crackle app = Incompatible download via Google Play on VidOn, so I sideloaded it. Doesn't work; crashes when trying to launch.
- CBS app = Also no workie! When launching, it says update is needed, but press 'okay', nothing happens (spinning wheel of death). So, unusable.
Second, on to live TV: Previously I think I mentioned it was okay. Well, I should've watched more. I'm using HDHomeRun (the MPEG2 version, not the one that transcodes to H.264)... whether 720p (FOX) or 1080i (NBC, CBS) streams, they stuttered, broke up or had audio synch issues. Again, these work well via my Fire TV, even w/o deinterlacing happening.
Third, games. I mentioned 'Riptide GP2' doesn't work (loading circle of death or just crashes). Another 'heavy graphics' game: Asphalt 8, also crashes. I tried my Micrsoft XBOX controller, both a wired one (direct via USB) and the wireless one (via USB dongle), with a game that does work: Beach Buggy Racing, but the controllers do not work! I didn't try, but expect lightweight games to work fine, like 'Angry Birds' and 'Fruit Ninja'.
Fourth, it appears VidOn has issues with 29.970 and 59.940 content. Tried my HDDVD rip of 'The Eagles: Farewell I Live From Melbourne', which is VC-1 and has DTS-MA audio. Stuttered and pixellated like crazy. Same goes for other concerts, stuttering, if not worse.
Finally, I'm finding VidOn a little sluggish the more I use it. Don't expect Chromebox/NUC performance or even Fire TV, but lack of performance/snappiness is noticeable. I installed Amber skin in VidOn's XBMC, a lightweight, but beautiful skin. It worked okay for the most part, but I did find some
oddities like this. It appears the stock Confluence skins works best.
Bit of a honeymoon over with VidOn box, but I keep telling myself this is a $49 (well $59 with shipping) box, so gotta have expectations in check. At this point, I'm obviously keeping my Mede8er 600X3D's (I have two) as my dedicated home theater boxes, but will also keep my VidOn as a secondary box, as at this bargain price, it still does HD audio and full 3D, even with some catches.