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Android Latest VidOn Box Impressions
Caramba....which box? VidOn or the HiMedia Q5?
(2015-02-27, 14:55)hdmkv Wrote: Maybe I should've titled this thread "Review" instead of "Impressions". I hear you guys about GPL violations, but that's a separate issue from features, functionality of the box. And, shouldn't it be something the Kodi foundation addresses with VidOn privately, especially (or more so) as they're a sponsor?

If you ask me, the foundation should start by acting by their own rules. GPL licence is a copyright license. So if you brake it, you break US copyright law's also called "piracy" and the rules are simple.

Quote:Kodi's Official Forum Piracy Policy

1. All discussions dealing directly with or linking to add-ons, websites, or services that violate US copyright laws ("pirated content") will be closed when a forum moderator has been made aware of them. The original poster or add-on creator may provide a link to a website not hosted by Kodi for further discussion and inquiries.
http://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=...#pid981646

But, I will let it go! Lost all faith in the Foundation because of it.

I use the software for my own benefit, and am also start making money from it similar as DitIsTV and partners in crime. Why? Because, I can! The worst thing that could happen is a lot of "or else" worthless statements. If the foundation can make money via condoning this crap from sponser, I can as well. Will report back if when I made enough to pay of my $10k to get it condoned as well and can start my own sales thread on the official forums.
(2015-02-27, 14:55)hdmkv Wrote: Maybe I should've titled this thread "Review" instead of "Impressions". I hear you guys about GPL violations, but that's a separate issue from features, functionality of the box. And, shouldn't it be something the Kodi foundation addresses with VidOn privately, especially (or more so) as they're a sponsor?

Anyway, back to topic, I ordered a HiMedia Q5 4K 3D to compare with VidOn. Former has gotten some buzz here, and especially over at Futeko forum, so it looked like worth trying out. Also, no membership/sub to worry about as with VidOn, and they don't call their XBMC/Kodi implementation HiMedia XBMC/Kodi. Appears you can use any Kodi version and use a "wrapper" app that basically launches their player (vs. Kodi's) to play 3D ISO's, MKV's, etc.

Where did you order it from?
MY CURRENT MEDIA PLAYER | MY HOME THEATER
MINIX NEO U22-XJ COREELEC v19 MATRIX | EGREAT A10 | NVIDIA SHIELD | LG 75 NANO90 DV/HDR+ | Sony 43 Android TV HDR
XBOX SERIES X  | PS4 PRO 4K | JBL 9.1 System 5.1.4 DTS:X/ATMOS 
Ordered from niking-niking off eBay, but didn't go through. I e-mailed them as there's a vacation setting on their store that they haven't disabled properly yet. Also considering iandroidtvbox.com, but never ordered from them before, so hesitant to try.
[H]i-[d]eft [M]edia [K]een [V]ideosaurus
My Family Room Theater
(2015-02-27, 17:09)daflyboys Wrote: Caramba....which box? VidOn or the HiMedia Q5?

Himedia Q5
(2015-02-28, 11:22)Caramba69 Wrote:
(2015-02-27, 17:09)daflyboys Wrote: Caramba....which box? VidOn or the HiMedia Q5?

Himedia Q5

Right, stay away from Allwinner sh*t. Cedar library for hw decoding of audio and video was never publicly released, and it seems Cedar-X also infrig. other patents and GPL projecets.

Even Allwinner 31S is one of the weakest quad core SoC's on market.
Ok, how about an actual impression .... once they shipped it, it was only about 3 days (China to East U.S.), though I'm still not liking to having to wait through their holiday. Asked for a shipping refund, so we'll see.

The box itself is sort of slick looking, almost like that retro sci-fi look. The remote is pretty basic and slim, but feels a bit light and doesn't have soft sounds; clicks instead. I haven't tested the range, which I was hearing is relatively short, but I'm also hearing that if you take off the dimmed front panel it increases the range. I'm already looking into an airmouse/keyboard type remote which I'll get into more.

The intial set-up was a bit cumbersome and confusing. For a few moments I had a black screen and was getting no prompts. However, eventually I got to the set-up screen which was pretty self-explanatory. Could have used a keyboard at this point (eventually I found out that my Logitech wireless keyboard and mouse weren't functioning with it). Since I had set up an account at vidon.me earlier, it was no problem getting in. The included remote was responsive in navigating around. I didn't update the device as I read on their website that the latest update was causing stuttery video and they were working on another to fix various bugs.

Once at the main menu, it showed two versions of XBMC. I went into the blue VidOn version and I think I made the mistake of foregoing the XBMC update here as I wanted just to get in and play around (now I'm not getting prompts to upgrade it). The XBMC interface itself looked exactly the same as is on my PC version. Setting the add-ons that I wanted was exactly the same, except, again, here's where a keyboard would have been good. I was even able to get XBMC to recognize my PlayOn application and was able to run PlayOn flawlessly. Everything was responsive in navigating around and since I was connected with ethernet, download times for add-on installation was quick. There are some add-ons that were either down or not compatible with this version...hard to say. However, there were quite many add-ons that worked just fine.

I thought I was in the VidOn Pro version all along, but it turns out the icon which has the familiar black XBMC icon is actually the Pro version. It seems to be running XBMC Gotham 13.2. It was a mirror image of the above except for integrating PlayOn. For some reason I couldn't get it to integrate. It was also in this version that I saw the audio sync problems others had written about. I didn't do extensive testing on shows and movies with this, and the one movie where we saw it, it was off minimally. The thing I do like about this device and remote displaying XBMC is that the remote controls the volume, which is good for me as my home audio center volume has to be manually controlled. Now it doesn't.

One of the nice apps is the integrated browser, though I doubt I will use this much. Now for the ugly: the included Netflix app (red icon) was possibly outdated as I tried to download it with many stalls. I went into the Google Play Store and installed Netflix from there, which placed the newer white icon on the UI screen and initiated. HOWEVER, with the included remote, I could not get to the sign in field as it only allowed me to start up a new account if I wanted. I have posted about this on the VidOn site to which I was told that some TV apps aren't friendly with the remote and need a keyboard/mouse (essentially, the VidOn box is an Android tablet). I don't think this is a satisfactory solution since people probably buy this box, in part, to run Netflix.

I'm not really interested in the gaming aspects of this device so I will not have any knowledge about this part of it.

Overall, I'm largely satisfied, though I have some fine tuning to do. If I can get the Netflix app to run I'm sure my overall recommendation for this box will be favorable. I don't have much in the way of backup movie files and have not tested this feature as of yet. However, everything I've read indicates that this box plays just about anything thrown at it, including ISO files. I think as I get this even further fine tuned, I'll get more satisfaction out of this purchase that is within my budget. I think if you consider getting one and don't find it preferable, it'll be easy enough to re-sell on the typical sites.

Just to be clear, personally, I think it was a good purchase and I'm looking forward to the upgrades.

Addendum: after connecting a wired mouse to navigate around the Netflix screen, it turns out that the included remote with this item is unusable for Netflix. However, even when I attempted to play selections by choosing via the mouse, some would initiate with sound but no picture. When I was able to gain a picture and the on-screen controls faded, I could not get them back. There needs to be great improvement for this thing to work smoothly with Netflix. Fortunately I can presently run Netflix via PlayOn via XBMC.
Please don't refer to banned addons. Otherwise thanks for your impressions.
If I have helped you or increased your knowledge, click the 'thumbs up' button to give thanks :) (People with less than 20 posts won't see the "thumbs up" button.)
You're welcome....but how am I supposed to know which are banned add-ons?
Thanks for the PM. You mentioned some that you know of....but is there a list? What makes them "banned"? Who's banning them? Why are they banned? How does an add-on go from unbanned to banned? Where should we talk about banned add-ons if not here?
http://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=119117
If I have helped you or increased your knowledge, click the 'thumbs up' button to give thanks :) (People with less than 20 posts won't see the "thumbs up" button.)
Thanks...fixed.
Additional observations / impressions:

I started noticing some audio sync problems that other users had been reporting with XBMC version 0.0.0.5 and above. However, I had 2 XBMC apps from install on my home page. I didn't know how to roll the one that was that version number back to 0.4, so I check the other. It had a completely different version (something like 1.4 etc.). So I decided to upgrade that one which put the version at 2.0.0.0 The only thing I can find on the VidOn website is that that would be an XBMC version number for their older box. However, I'm not complaining as the audio sync is now perfectly fine. I posted my findings there.

Another feature I like about this box is that in XBMC when the "working" arrow continues in a virtual spin, you can back out of it, which is something that doesn't seem possible in the PC version.

Additionally, once I installed "opensubtitles", the downloading, installing and use of a given subtitle in a movie is working very, very well.

Netflix via PlayOn works in a limited fashion, in that, once an item is done playing there is no continuation to the next video in a TV series. Also, you cannot add or subtract anything to or from your list/queue.

Seeing that it would now be preferable to have a wireless keyboard/mouse I went by a recommendation from someone at the VidOn forums. The Rii Mini 2.4GHz Wireless Touchpad Keyboard with Air Mouse arrived today via Amazon ($10 for the white version). Completely compatible and worked like a charm. I will say the range limit on the mouse was a bit on the slight side as the further away I got, the more difficult it was to keep it controlled. Speaking of which, the included remote with the VidOn box has a better range than people were letting on. However, it's not super sensitive and you do need it pointed directly at the box.

Overall for $60 (box plus the wireless keyboard) this was a great purchase.
Hey, daflyboys
Thank you for your reviews.
BTW, the VidOn XBMC v0.0.0.6 is expected to be released within this week (of course after we push all changed related code to the github), and the VidOn edition of Helix is also under developing and will come out very soon.
Does this update come with the 1080p update?
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