[gsmtech]

Another plus point for the Mini M8S II is that there is a very good custom Android ROM for it called Xannytech XT ROM , you can find it on Freaktab forums, it has audio passthrouigh fixes and some auto refresh rate fixes built in, developed by a former ROM maker from XDA Devs forum.

Of course you can still dual boot with LibreElec with the XannyTech ROM too.

The limitation of the S905X boxes id definitely the 100meg LAN port... Gig Ethernet would be much better, at this point I dont ahve a 4K TV so not really fussed as i canty play high bit rate content anyway.

[hdmkv]

Thanks... I'll look into this ROM. With these cheap Chinese S905/S905X boxes however, dual boot isn't as easy as with WeTek Hub/Play2.

Out of curiosity, what bitrate does it start to choke on?

Tried several full BD rips (some ISO, some MKV), and they all played almost instantly. With bitrate clips (Birds, Jellyfish), anything above 40Mbps to 80Mbps starts paused, with cache filling to 100%, then plays okay. Anything above 80Mbps seems to have more trouble.

I have an M8S II that I bought from gearbest to try Libreelec, however I have been unable to find clear simple instructions on how to install LE on a micro sd card so I can boot LE from this. Can you advise me where I can find simple instructions easy for a noob like me to follow?

This is just for the M8S II S905X 2GB RAM version...

1. Download this file, and unzip to get LibreELEC-S905.arm-7.0.3.011.img
   
2. Download this file, unzip, and rename the .dtb file to simply dtb.img
   
3. Download Win32 Disk Imager, insert mSD card into PC, and open. Write LibreELEC-S905.arm-7.0.3.011.img to mSD
   
4. Now copy over dtb.img to mSD, overwriting default dtb.img there
   
5. With power unplugged on M8S II unit, insert mSD card, then with toothpick in recovery hole in bottom, plug power. Hold toothpick in hole until LibreELEC logo appears, then pull out
   
6. Go through LE wizard, enabling SSH in the process, then note IP address
   
   // Rest is optional, but provides better performance //
   
7. Download PuTTY and open it. Type in IP address and click 'Open'. Type "root" for login, and "libreelec" for password (w/o quotes for both)
   
8. To move LE to internal NAND (wiping out Android OS), simply type the command installtointernal
   
9. After you reboot, LE will now boot up from NAND, and you can pop the mSD card out
   

[Bajann]

Thanks... I'll look into this ROM. With these cheap Chinese S905/S905X boxes however, dual boot isn't as easy as with WeTek Hub/Play2.

is easier , we need first time to squeeze the reset button on wetek no need to press resset just simply put SD card with libreelec .

[wrxtasy]

You both missed out one vital Step for WeTek Hub/Play2 when Dual booting to activate LE for the very first time - you have to hold down the remote control Power button to boot into LE.

The ODROID C2 is even simpler. Flash LE .img to SD or eMMC storage, plug it in and power on.
Say Hello to LE Kodi in about 9 seconds when using eMMC storage on subsequent reboots.

[Bajann]

Libreelec 7.0.3.012 build for S905/S905X is out ,maybe he fix high bitrate (buffering patch)

[jd17]

Anything above 80Mbps seems to have more trouble.

I recently ordered the Mini M8S II S905X 2/16 from Gearbest too (not received yet) and thought long about the 100mbit LAN limitation as well.

My conculsion at least - even if one day we will be able to go around AACS 2.0 and create an UHD BD remux - it'll hardly ever be in those bitrate ranges, even with an Atmos audio track.
If it is, you can still run an encode and bring it below that limit - picture quality will still be outstanding and most likely visually indistinguishable from the original.

After all - 23.976 Hz is still the industry standard and probably will be for quite some time. That automatically limits the video bitrate.

[hdmkv]

Agree... I only have a few HDMI capture card-capped full 4K videos, some H.264 and some HEVC, and bitrates max out around 35Mbps, with averages around 15-25Mbps.

[DEcosse]

Dual booting is simple with a S905/X box running Librelec (kszaq) on SD card.
Insert SD Card, boots automatically to Librelec; eject SD Card, boots to Android.

[DEcosse]

... I have an M8S II that I bought from gearbest to try Libreelec, however I have been unable to find clear simple instructions on how to install LE on a micro sd card so I can boot LE from this. Can you advise me where I can find simple instructions easy for a noob like me to follow?

Simple instructions included with the build in opening post here - https://forum.libreelec.tv/thread-3588.html
And as per post above, you can dual-boot by loading the LE on the SD Card and retaining Android on the NAND

Note: - 'Some' S905 (but NOT S905X) boxes have a freeze up on boot issue - kszaq has spent a LOT of time tracking this down and provided a work-around (there is an alternative version for those boxes affected by the boot freeze)
But the M8S II is a S905X, so will not have this problem - use the std file.
Also note that for S905X first time install, you do not even have to add the device tree as it will be loaded automatically. So you can actually ignore the step about finding/installing/renaming the device tree

The following is the process extracted from link above:
(the red parts are superfluous; the purple comments are added by me; i.e. just follow the BOLD steps

SD card/USB drive:
Note: only 1 USB port is able to boot the box. You have to try them all. Some boxes are unable to boot from USB drive.[Ignore references to USB if using SD Card]
Look at the beginning of this post and find Downloads link. Download file with img.gz extension.
Burn the downloaded file to SD card or USB drive using Rufus. [https://rufus.akeo.ie/ note that you will be doing this off-line on a Windows machine]
Alternatively you can use LE tool but remember that you have to download the image manually: http://wiki.libreelec.tv/index.php?title=Installation
After this you will see that drive capacity is 512MB. This is OK as there is a second (hidden) partition on the drive for LE userdata! [Informational only]
Download a device tree, rename it to dtb.img and copy it to main folder of SD card/USB drive - replace the one that's already there. [Not required for S905X]
To boot the system for the first time you have to use one of the following:
toothpick method: disconnect the power supply, insert card/drive, push reset button and connect the power while holding the button. Wait until LibreELEC logo appears and release the button.[This one is the simplest]
menu button method (works with very few devices): disconnect the power supply, insert card/drive, push menu button on your remote control and connect the power while holding the button. Wait until LibreELEC logo appears and release the button.
recovery method: boot into Android, insert card/thumb drive and choose Reboot to recovery. Your box should boot into LibreELEC.
recovery method (2nd variant): if you have "Update" app pre-installed open it, insert SD card with LE/connect USB drive, and choose any ZIP file in the app for update. Your box should reboot to LE.
recovery method (3rd variant): if your box is rooted, use terminal emulator app and execute reboot update command
recovery method (4th variant): enable ADB (Google it) and issue adb reboot update command

Note that after the initial boot, you no longer have to use the reset button to boot - if SD Card is inserted it will boot automatically to LE; if ejected it will boot to Android.

[Bajann]

Dual booting is simple with a S905/X box running Librelec (kszaq) on SD card.
Insert SD Card, boots automatically to Librelec; eject SD Card, boots to Android.

Lol why eject ? No need for that....

[DEcosse]

Dual booting is simple with a S905/X box running Librelec (kszaq) on SD card.
Insert SD Card, boots automatically to Librelec; eject SD Card, boots to Android.

Lol why eject ? No need for that....

Of course, I get the joke
But Android is also useful, especially if you want to use Browser etc or other Apps that are easily downloaded from PlayStore. So it's actually nice to have that option
If you intend to run nothing else, than LE, then follow the rest of the process in the link to then transfer LE to the Internal Drive.

[Bajann]

Dual booting is simple with a S905/X box running Librelec (kszaq) on SD card.
Insert SD Card, boots automatically to Librelec; eject SD Card, boots to Android.

Lol why eject ? No need for that....

Of course, I get the joke
But Android is also useful, especially if you want to use Browser etc or other Apps that are easily downloaded from PlayStore. So it's actually nice to have that option
If you intend to run nothing else, than LE, then follow the rest of the process in the link to then transfer LE to the Internal Drive.

Reboot(Android to Libreelec) and Reboot from nand (Libreelec to Android)

[wrxtasy]

Dual booting is simple with a S905/X box running Librelec (kszaq) on SD card.
Insert SD Card, boots automatically to Librelec; eject SD Card, boots to Android.

But then I have to get up off the couch, conduct physical labour, and the Lounge Lizard in me does not like that very much

WeTek have made some of us lazy by just having to hold down the remote power button to select what AML OS is needed at boot time

I use Toothpicks to clean my teeth, not to pick bits of food out of holes in a media player....

[DEcosse]

I use Toothpicks to clean my teeth, not to pick bits of food out of holes in a media player....

Toothpick action is not required - once LE is loaded to the SD Card, it will boot to that when it is inserted and powered up

[d'Wooluf]

I use Toothpicks to clean my teeth, not to pick bits of food out of holes in a media player....

Toothpick action is not required - once LE is loaded to the SD Card, it will boot to that when it is inserted and powered up

wrxtasy is talking to those who might want to switch operating systems from time to time. Of course, no-one in the real world wants to boot into Android on a generic Chinese box, so problem solved. Btw, interdental brushes are much better.