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I know many folks have been hoping that Google will release its own set top system.
I read an article yesterday that said Joe Britt, head of [email protected], has left Google and that the ADT-1 reference platform given out at google i/o this year may never land as a Google hardware product....
http://www.talkandroid.com/219739-a...t-lead-googles-androidhome-may-be-in-trouble/
However, also in the last day, I saw an article indicating that benchmarks had leaked on a device tthat looks like an Android set-top box, an "asus nexus player"
http://androidspin.com/2014/09/16/asus-nexus-player-android-tv-launch-device/
the device has a whopping 8 gig of internal storage - just like the fireTV...
I don't know how to align these two reports...
One thing I'll be interested in is whether one day we'll be able to rip the Amazon firmware completely out of this device and replace it with a port of the asus player software load.
roustabout said:
I know many folks have been hoping that Google will release its own set top system.
I read an article yesterday that said Joe Britt, head of [email protected], has left Google and that the ADT-1 reference platform given out at google i/o this year may never land as a Google hardware product....
http://www.talkandroid.com/219739-a...t-lead-googles-androidhome-may-be-in-trouble/
However, also in the last day, I saw an article indicating that benchmarks had leaked on a device tthat looks like an Android set-top box, an "asus nexus player"
http://androidspin.com/2014/09/16/asus-nexus-player-android-tv-launch-device/
the device has a whopping 8 gig of internal storage - just like the fireTV...
I don't know how to align these two reports...
One thing I'll be interested in is whether one day we'll be able to rip the Amazon firmware completely out of this device and replace it with a port of the asus player software load.
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Click to collapse
Everyone is misinterpreting the recent article at Android Police. They should have been more clear in their article to say the ADT-1 was once supposed to be a Nexus Android TV device. It fell through because some people left. That basically sums it up. Android TV isn't going away before it even launches.
I'd also take all rumors with a grain of salt. Every other day the rumors change the specs on what the Nexus 6 will be.
I have Rokus and a FireTV. Comparing the two, there are aspects of each that I like better than the other. I see the FireTV as having the potential to be vastly superior to Roku in the long term, and with this in mind I see Android TV as being in a position to jump out in front from the start if done right. I'm not holding my breath, and I'm satisfied with my current setup, but at the same time I'm looking forward to the real life hands on reviews when Android TV boxes start shipping.
Doom and gloom rumors aside, I'm pretty confident Android TV boxes are going to be released. ADT-1 reference boxes have been shipped to manufacturers and devs. ADTV versions of apps are being developed (made remote/big screen friendly), hardware manufacturers are moving forward with both the set-top-boxs and integrated into TVs. All Google needs to do is release hardware specs for compatibility (which they have done), the SDK (which they have done), and the OS (Android L). I don't care if Google never releases their own brand of Nexus TV. It's just like Android phones and tablets, let them all compete with each other to see who comes out with the best setup. Google just needs to do what they do best, the OS.
There's a new updated rolling out right now. This is the second update this month. Amazon's software page says the update contains “minor bug fixes and performance improvement.”
Fire TV version 51.1.6.1_user_516010220 - Download Link
Fire TV Stick version 54.1.2.1_user_121065320 - Download Link Unknown
Attention @rbox
Like I said on your site, any update that is running Android 4.2.2 is a major fail. Regardless of how many features are added to the updates they will all be worthless til they upgrade the OS to 4.4+. The features they have added are not good anyway.
Just my opinion though. If I want to shop on Amazon I will go to the actual site and shop, so all of the Amazon features that pertain to shopping Amazon are 100% worthless to me. Also, not one time have I ever used voice search on the Fire TV, so all of the voice search features are also worthless to me. I honestly think th ebest feature that has ben added to an update has been the clock menu, but I rarely even use that feature. I could honestly care less about more superficial features, I just want a more compatible Fire TV and that will only be possible when Amazon upgrades the Android version to at least 4.4. I do not care how many voice search features they add or how many more fire launcher catogories they add, I just want to be able to use the same apps I was using six months ago on the Fire TV that i can no longer use because they now require Android 4.4. I love the Fire TV, but there is absolutely no excuse for why I lost compatibility with over twenty apps in the past four months. Step it up Amazon, cause I am tired of losing compatibility with apps that worked perfectly before. I had my Fire TV's setup the way I wanted with apps that I have used for years on all of my devicess, but Amazon's unwillingness to keep the Fire TV up to date has ruined that.
wth are you even complaining about? my AFTV works fine.
mine works fine
mine works fine. If kodi works. the value is great. the only reason I would replace the firetv would be for 4k. but then again I'd have to buy a 4k TV and a 4k bose lifestyle 535 which does not support 4k yet.
porkenhimer said:
Like I said on your site, any update that is running Android 4.2.2 is a major fail. Regardless of how many features are added to the updates they will all be worthless til they upgrade the OS to 4.4+. The features they have added are not good anyway. [...] I could honestly care less about more superficial features, I just want a more compatible Fire TV and that will only be possible when Amazon upgrades the Android version to at least 4.4. I do not care how many voice search features they add or how many more fire launcher catogories they add, I just want to be able to use the same apps I was using six months ago on the Fire TV that i can no longer use because they now require Android 4.4.
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Click to collapse
Well it's fair that you might not care for new features. I don't use many of them, I don't even use voice search, but it makes sense that other people care about them and they could even be selling points.
However, I'm really curious what apps you're using that have cut off compatibility with 4.2? As of last month 4.2 was the second most used API version, at 17.5% of the market share. I have to say, if apps that used to support 4.2 no longer do, it's the developer's decision, and it seems like a bad one in my opinion. At any rate, while it'd be nice to get an update to KitKat or Lollipop, it's safer to assume that especially highly modified forks of Android such as Fire OS will take longer to update and to reach first gen hardware. I can't really fault Amazon for what I still consider to be the best Android-based streaming media device at its price point.
Android 4.2.2 being populr has nothing to do with anything. Toyota overtook Chevrolet as having the most popular car in the US, but people soon found out that Toyota/Lexus/Scion vehicles were death traps. Beings popular mens nothing. Also I was not complining, I was stating facts. 4.2.2 is on its last legs. Not everyone uses their Fire TV simply for Kodi, I use my Fire TV for a lot of things, so its important for the OS to stay up to date because of compatibility issues. This happens on all devices, but with the Fire TV we have no choice but to be stuck with Jellybean. If it wwere Windows, Linux, IOS etc we cold jusst update but with the Fire TV we are stuck with whatever Amazon gives us, which is fine, but they need to realize that the Fire TV needs to be up to date.
porkenhimer said:
Android 4.2.2 being populr has nothing to do with anything. Toyota overtook Chevrolet as having the most popular car in the US, but people soon found out that Toyota/Lexus/Scion vehicles were death traps. Beings popular mens nothing. Also I was not complining, I was stating facts. 4.2.2 is on its last legs. Not everyone uses their Fire TV simply for Kodi, I use my Fire TV for a lot of things, so its important for the OS to stay up to date because of compatibility issues. This happens on all devices, but with the Fire TV we have no choice but to be stuck with Jellybean. If it wwere Windows, Linux, IOS etc we cold jusst update but with the Fire TV we are stuck with whatever Amazon gives us, which is fine, but they need to realize that the Fire TV needs to be up to date.
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why does it need to be up to date though with the latest LP build....?
Your response to the questions asked of your first post seemed to have been answered with generalisations and vagueness. I do not see, in the context of the AFTV, that JB is on its last legs at all nor that the update, based on 4.2.2 is a major fail. It meets the needs of what Amazon wanted from its device and also meets my own needs when using Kodi, which it was not designed to do but does it for me very well.
Great news that Amazon is still pushing out updates and my AFTV continues to performs very well, since version 15 of Kodi has been released it seems even more responsive, might be just a placebo effect though...?
vimesUK said:
why does it need to be up to date though with the latest LP build....?
Your response to the questions asked of your first post seemed to have been answered with generalisations and vagueness. I do not see, in the context of the AFTV, that JB is on its last legs at all nor that the update, based on 4.2.2 is a major fail. It meets the needs of what Amazon wanted from its device and also meets my own needs when using Kodi, which it was not designed to do but does it for me very well.
Great news that Amazon is still pushing out updates and my AFTV continues to performs very well, since version 15 of Kodi has been released it seems even more responsive, might be just a placebo effect though...?
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A device performing well has nothing to do with it. I can install Windows 95 on an old laptop and it will perform well. The Fire TV is more than just a device for running Kodi. I use the Fire TV as it was meant to be used and not just to steal free streams from Kodi. I do use Kodi, but the Fire TV does way more than run Kodi.
Also Amazon has even lost native Fire TV apps because they started requiring Android 4.4, so anyone that says compatibility issues are not an issue, knows very little. It will keep gettin worse, cause everyone is starting to require Android 4.4. For some reason in the past six or so months companies have wanted to keep their apps fresh and only running on the latest software. This is the first time I have seen so many apps require such a new version of Android. Its not Amazons fault, but they need to realize that everyone is moving to newer software and they need to as well. I think all of the companies that make android devices have finally realized that the Apple way may be the best. Apple keeps every device up to date then drops support for devices after a couple years so that people will have to get the newer version. Like when the iphone 4 came out, Apple basically took every ios device from two years before and dropped support for all of them forcing people to buy the new one. It seems like thats where Android is headed in terms of software updates. Google has already basically ordered companies to stop putting SD Card slots and removable batteries on phones, so its clear they are trying to make Android devices be more like the iphone, so why not also copy the way Apple updates their devices as well. The Fire TV does need to be upgraded to Android 4.4+, cause it cannot be used to it full potential running Jellybean. Sure it can run a lot of apps, but as time goes by less and less apps will be compatible.
Its crazy that Apple has one device that outsells over 200 Android devices by itself, but its little things like software updates that tell me exactly why the iphone has a lock on the industry. Android is barely the market share leader, but the chart is extremely laughable, cause ios has three devices on the chart and every Android device combined isn't even outselling three Apple devices by a whole percentage point. Updates were the worst part of windows mobile devices and I believe that having no kind of structured upgrade system for Android devices, is one of the major drawbacks of Android devices, cause its like having windows mobile all over again. Just browse through XDA and you will see thousands of threads where people are compaining that their device came out a month before but the newer device got the upgrade first and so on. Androids major flaw is no structured upgrade system. But like I said above, I believe that is where Google will take Android and have some kind of upgrade system like Apple does with their devices.
That the good thing about Apple, if you have newer Apple devics all of them will get the same major update at the same time. Android needs to catch up.
quote " I use the Fire TV as it was meant to be used"
lol! listen to yourself, you clearly do NOT. Why do you keep contradicting yourself?
Now cut the bs and answer the question, what twenty apps have you lost compability with?
You my friend is what is called a freaking uber troll.
The only thing I see this streaming box (yes its meant for steaming and casual gaming, NOT running productivity apps) could gain from lollipop is clearly 24p and the autoswitch of refresh rate to match the video.
The built in obsolescence of android 5 has started with my VPN. I use NordVPN and the last few versions are only compatible with android 6 and up.
I am unsure as to how long my old version will last so will have to start thinking about a new box or a different VPN and I have 18 months left with Nord, it's a pity but my 2 Firetv's have served me well.
Why don't you drop those guys a note and explain the old version issue? Often, there is no real reason to bump up versions, other than lazy developers.
I like these Gen2 Fire sticks, they run great, and are rooted. I anticipate many more years of productive life, but perhaps with a shrinking app pool.
Thanks for the reply.
I have contacted them in the past and found them very helpfull. In that instance it was a version of Nord compatible with an old linux based DM8000HD satellite receiver, they did give me the last working version but, be it the receiver of NordVPN, it is not very reliable as it keeps losing all my vpn id's for no reason. I therefore expect the same to happen with the firetv box.
Hello everybody,
I'm looking for some suggestions on hardware for a little project of mine.
I recently got my hands on a few Dynalink TV Boxes after discovering the great support of LineageOS on them here in the forum. Sadly, after some testing with the hardware I got, they seem to be off the market - out of stock everywhere since new year...
So, I'm looking for an alternative. Preferably in the same price range (30-40 bucks) and form factor and able to be flashed with Lineage or another clean ROM.
FireTV Stick Lite seemed promising, same price and decent performance out of the box. Sadly Amazon locked those very hard lately so there is currently no use for them.
I got a "Q96 Stick" of AliExpress but that thing is shady, lacks of performance and there seems to be no custom roms available soon.
So is there anything you could suggest?
Small, price around 30-40, Custom Rom available (Android 10+) or has clean stock OS, no need to be Android TV. No need for Netflix and other DRM stuff.
The project is a small digital signage, I just need to figure the hardware since the Dynalink boxes seems decommissioned.
PS: Idk if I got the right section of the forum, please be gentle.
Well I can't recommend one in that price range BUT be very careful, there's a huge thread on here about cheap android boxes that have built-in bot nets so be wary. They might even live in the system after flashing idk just be careful getting cheap android boxes
spart0n said:
be very careful, there's a huge thread on here about cheap android boxes that have built-in bot nets so be wary
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yea I've heard that and that's why I'm very suspicious about this q96 Stick, stock OS is rooted, adb is active and don't ask for permission on new connections, it lies about it's specs and so on, so there is definitely something baked in deep.
On the Dynalink Box I don't sense a thread and idk I such would survive the flashing?
FireTV would be the best option, but not with the lockdown...
R1N4x said:
I'm looking for some suggestions on hardware for a little project of mine.
Dynalink TV Boxes after discovering the great support of LineageOS on them here in the forum.
The project is a small digital signage, I just need to figure the hardware since the Dynalink boxes seems decommissioned.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The tv box devices for which there are lineage builds are listed in the lineage thread. Most of those devices are dated, eol, or discontinued.
Why is lineage support important for your digital signage project? There are other similar S905Y2 and S905Y4 certified tv box devices that can be bootloader unlocked and rooted, but there are not lineage builds for these devices. Is root not enough? Your digital signage project also requires lineage?
Functioner said:
Why is lineage support important for your digital signage project? There are other similar S905Y2 and S905Y4 certified tv box devices that can be bootloader unlocked and rooted, but there are not lineage builds for these devices. Is root not enough? Your digital signage project also requires lineage?
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Click to collapse
No, Lineage is not required, a clean OS is. It has not to be Lineage. It would be a "nice to have".
If the stock one is clean or can be cleaned I'll be happy.
Clean is maybe the wrong term, more like trustable and somewhat up to date.
Root is also not required but would be nice.
What boxes are you talking about?
R1N4x said:
It has not to be Lineage. It would be a "nice to have".
If the stock one is clean or can be cleaned I'll be happy.
Clean is maybe the wrong term, more like trustable and somewhat up to date.
Root is also not required but would be nice.
What boxes are you talking about?
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Click to collapse
The way to get a clean build is to stay away from the generic boxes that have hobbled together mobile builds, and instead choose a certified device. In the tv box world, this means a device for which the ultimate oem is one of a few chinese manufacturers; sei, askey, or sdmc.
The nebula 4k streaming dongle (amazon B098BFDB41) has the same specs as the dynalink, but it is 49.99 US. It also uses the s905y2, which is on its way out. The nebula device runs android 10 and is made by sdmc.
The homatics lite 4k (amazon B0BNL1YS7V) has a s905y4 and 16gb storage, but it is 59.99 US. This device runs android 11 and is made by sei. In some ways the s905y4 is not quite as powerful as the s905y2 that it replaces, but the y4 does support av1.
The hako mini (amazon B0BFW3MMKJ) is the sdmc version of the homatics device. It is also 59.99 US.
The above devices often go on sale on amazon.
Okay that's a guideline.
If the SoC are on their way out that could mean there might be a successor for it and therefore for the Dynalink box (wich is made by Askey)
So I'll be patient and look at upcoming devices and also wait for an update on the locked FireTVs.
I still wonder, and don't meant to be rude or offensive, the marked is flooded with those cheap Allwinner based boxes and sticks but there is rarely an interest in this community on them? Why is that? Sure they're probably spiced with malware and what not but the hardware is cheap and available.
I don't know. I think the allwinner 616 is a junky cpu. Some of the others might be better. They aren't all that cheap.
Someone got most of the malware out of the 616 based t95. https://github.com/DesktopECHO/T95-H616-Malware
Functioner said:
Someone got most of the malware out of the 616 based t95. https://github.com/DesktopECHO/T95-H616-Malware
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Click to collapse
Yea I looked into that and was already monitoring the stick I got - nothing weird so far, at least on the network.
But still weird behavior with ADB and the fact it came rooted. Also spoofed specs like ram and storage.
Found this apparently interesting TV box more or less recently. It's sold at a very attractive price, and can be bought in configurations with up to 8 GiB of RAM and 128 GB of storage, so I guess that it must come with a 64-bit operating system or firmware. And well, according to “REVIEW: X88 PRO 20 a low-cost Android TV-Box with SoC Rockchip RK3566 @ AndroidpcTV”, the TV box's firmware supports the arm64_v8a ABI, so 64-bit yes.
About this box I only found the thread “X88 pro 20 RK3566” opened close to a year ago, but it contains just a confusing question and no further information.
So, may some of you provide feedback about this TV box? It looks appealing, but of course I need to be able to root it; this is the single most important factor. Once rooted, any limitations in the stock ROM can be fixed and it also is fully customizable; just hope it is stable, of course.
Can someone provide information on rooting this box? Custom firmwares?
Thank you.
Barkuti said:
Found this apparently interesting TV box more or less recently. It's sold at a very attractive price, and can be bought in configurations with up to 8 GiB of RAM and 128 GB of storage, so I guess that it must come with a 64-bit operating system or firmware. And well, according to “REVIEW: X88 PRO 20 a low-cost Android TV-Box with SoC Rockchip RK3566 @ AndroidpcTV”, the TV box's firmware supports the arm64_v8a ABI, so 64-bit yes.
About this box I only found the thread “X88 pro 20 RK3566” opened close to a year ago, but it contains just a confusing question and no further information.
So, may some of you provide feedback about this TV box? It looks appealing, but of course I need to be able to root it; this is the single most important factor. Once rooted, any limitations in the stock ROM can be fixed and it also is fully customizable; just hope it is stable, of course.
Can someone provide information on rooting this box? Custom firmwares?
Thank you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have one, and the only method for rooting is installing another rom, I think the rom with root is the "hk1-rbox-r2-RK3566_DC_R2_HK5235F_11_20210705.1409", but the T95 Plus and H96 Max rom also works (but it doesn't have root), other thing you can do is flash a linux debian using the tutorial described in the forum t95plus.com, but sadly my x88 pro 20 is defective, every app I open (while using android) crashes after some time, and while in linux firefox keeps crashing, I don't know what's the issue, and since so few people have this box I can't find anyone else having this problem
Thanks for contributing, GamingSoldier. My interest in this box sort of vanished, mainly because I was just finding a good TV box solution to pair with an old good TV which I have lying around for someone else, and that someone else decided to buy a new inexpensive set… Of course, suffice to say these people must not be aware of the very limited Android system they are getting, or of how much better it could be.
Anyway, I digged on the subject of rooting without a custom recovery, and found the following very helpful video and article:
Extract Boot.Img Directly From Device Without Downloading Firmware @ DroidWin
This pretty much enables rooting of any device with minimum hassle.
Besides this, I'd love to know if the ROM of this device is stable and works well. I understand you are probably not going to say much in this respect, GamingSoldier; unless you get a new one, that is.
Barkuti said:
Thanks for contributing, GamingSoldier. My interest in this box sort of vanished, mainly because I was just finding a good TV box solution to pair with an old good TV which I have lying around for someone else, and that someone else decided to buy a new inexpensive set… Of course, suffice to say these people must not be aware of the very limited Android system they are getting, or of how much better it could be.
Anyway, I digged on the subject of rooting without a custom recovery, and found the following very helpful video and article:
Extract Boot.Img Directly From Device Without Downloading Firmware @ DroidWin
This pretty much enables rooting of any device with minimum hassle.
Besides this, I'd love to know if the ROM of this device is stable and works well. I understand you are probably not going to say much in this respect, GamingSoldier; unless you get a new one, that is.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't know if the rom is stable, because my x88 has a hardware issue that keeps making apps crash, and it's not the software because I tested multiple ROMS and all of them cause this issue, about the magisk, I already know the app, but the magisk is unable to patch the rockchip boot.img
Well GamingSoldier, it's clear that you would need to get a new RK3566 X88 Pro 20 for testing its ROM, or at least fix the problem your box has if you are able. Speaking of which, did you open the box to check inside already? Because the problem could be something simple to fix like improper SoC cooling or some electronic component. After all, if the box doesn't works there's nothing to lose in doing so except a little bit of time and effort.
Concerning Magisk not being able to patch the RK3566 boot.img (sure?), I was going to say that you could say something in this respect in the Magisk thread, although I see it was closed long ago. So, the best thing to do is to inquire topjohnwu directly about Magisk's support for Rockchip SoCs, I guess. There's also topjohnwu's GitHub page with further information and etcetera.
And now that we're here I am not going to say that these boxes probably suck in certain ways, although I could. A working hardware matters, and proper working software matters too.
A tad off topic, very recently I've been checking the Orange Pi 5 Plus, for whatever reason. It uses a far more powerful and fully fledged Rockchip RK3588 SoC, and I see it somewhat below $200 (or even a hair below $180!) in 16 GiB of RAM configuration and including USB-C power supply. It clearly is something in another league, and very recently got new Android 12 images for SD card boot and fast 2280 M.2 NVMe storage boot; and it has accessible source code, which is very important developer wise.
It's a lot more money to spend at, but it also is a real Android computer which you can attach to TVs or monitors…
First thing I did after the apps started closing was to open the box and I added a bigger heatsink, I also tried increase the SOC voltage to see if it was a low voltage issue, and if I'm not mistaken I also tested the ram while I was using linux, and still, a paper weight...
After I discovered this issue and was unable to fix it I started to flash any RK3566 or RK3568 rom in to my x88 pro 20, most of them appear the logo screen, but are stuck in that image, I don't know much about these rom's, but might be just one thing or two preventing me from booting into the system