Android Box

[Tom Saurus]

I do have the mini-keyboard with built in mouse pad. I did have some success with that today. We went to the wordsearch website and we were able to do some word search puzzles. I was able to select words with the mouse and pressing a button just to the left. I was also able to find a Sudoku App that works fairly well with the mini keyboard and mouse combo. Also the CBC website is working for me again and I watch some of an episode of a TV show I watch. The Tubi TV app works fairly well which is nice. I can also access Tubi TV through Kodi as it is one of the legal video addons.

[Tom Saurus]

The mini-keyboard since I ran across that little button to the left of the mouse pad is really working these apps a lot better. My Sister has played quite a few solitaire games now and a puzzle piece game. I disconnected the ethernet cable and the apps we have tried are still functioning. I think what I will do is when we are using the ethernet for the Android Box disconnect the ethernet cables to the computer and satellite receiver in the event the apps are trying to spy for information.

[teodz1984]

Well things can go wrong when plugging/unplugging the ethernet cable depending on how STURDY the Jack is..Is this to save bandwidth or are you cautious of internet security?

Well you can do certain things to take car of the latter
1. Use a separate google account for your DROID device.. (do not use your normal email). Make sure that account is not tied to a credit card so there are no automatic purchases on the play store.. esp on in app-purchases
2. Take care of what you install. Take care not to install apps you do not trust.. (esp sideloading them from 3rd party stores)
3. Don't transact business on the Android TV browser (that way you don't leave trace of info like personal info and credit card data)

[Tom Saurus]

teodz1984: I am cautious of internet security. I will follow your advice. I was concerned that the apps could with having access to the network could spy on me if for example if I am on my Desktop and my Sister is using the Android Box. On occasion I do online shop with the Desktop. Purchasing Prepaid Cards from the Post Office are my mode of online shopping.

[jagabo]

Make your own internet kill switch: https://makezine.com/projects/internet-kill-switch/

[teodz1984]

Just lock down your desktop machine with a password, log on manually for sharing don't save networks passwords (windows logins) on the box so virus don't crawl in..If forced to do sharing share with an account with non-admin privileges and limited share access on your network shares..

[Tom Saurus]

We enjoy the Android Box a lot more as of late. We try various apps to see what they are like and if we don't like them we uninstall them. The City TV app we couldn't get that to function. I tried Google Calendar and that wouldn't work so we uninstalled it. With the Chrome Browser we can play online free word search games. There are many nice free games that are web browser based.

Thank to everyone who posted to the thread as I appreciate the advice and help I have received.

[mammo1789]

It depends of the willingness to experiment (which is most of the users of this forums) and the budget in place.

I own couple of this noname boxes ( 3 have s905x with Malli 450 Penta (most common cheap chines tv boxes ) amlogic processors and one has rockchip 3336.
I fiddle couple of times with them including installing different firmware (it avoids warranty) from places like Freaktab and others and it can turn those boxes onto powerful small machines which can play literally anything besides Kodi there is MX player an VLC variants for Android.
What I find important for these boxes is firmware (Andorid 7,1 is most common) and to be 64bit OS especially if the box have 2 or 3 or more gb ram which will run kodi (64 bit also ) very smooth ( Google play alone can recognize what type of os you are running and show right links or download APKS directly and install them manually on the box ( ether one is fine). There are plenty of videos on YouTube how to use firmwares for these boxes and the process is fairly easy

For commanding the box ( on the same wifi network ) without keyboard or mouse and only remote you can use the best program that I find for that purpose on android ( like unified remote for PC) https://www.cetusplay.com/ and you can command the box(es ) i control all 4 with one mobile Iphone or android phone.
It is far easier than keyboard or mouse variants which I use for serious work on pc

I forgot to mention that these cheap ones with those processors can decode 4k 60p H265 videos (HW) and use 10/12 bit HDR 4k 60hz resolution to output to 4k TV. I don't think Roku or Raspery Pi can do that

[Seeker47]

I forgot to mention that these cheap ones with those processors can decode 4k 60p H265 videos (HW) and use 10/12 bit HDR 4k 60hz resolution to output to 4k TV. I don't think Roku or Raspery Pi can do that

I don't do 4K, but I still have playback problems with X265 / HEVC material. I found a PotPlayer APK from 2017 whose source was kinda sketchy, but haven't gotten around to testing it out yet. Player softs for Android appear limited, from what I could see.

I regret the demise of Terrarium TV, before I ever really had the chance to check it out. These apps, channels, or services come and go -- regularly -- many of them having brief lifespans. Great claims are made for them, but the reality falls far short. (Or maybe the fact that I refused to pay extra for a Real Debrid account had something to do with it ?)

But the bottom line is that months can go by between the occasions that I fire up one of my various Android boxes. Once in awhile the Kodi version will even have expired and no longer functions. (Or maybe just some of the porn channels still work -- never could figure that one out !) The reason they see so little use is that their live sports coverage is basically nonexistent -- unless you are looking for Euro soccer matches, and I'm not -- and because I've gotten sufficiently adept at finding things I was looking for via computer download that it is just so much easier and more reliable to do that than to futz around with one of the Android boxes. (Often for hours, with very little in the way of results to show for it.)

[teodz1984]

Its not the KODI that expires, but the addons you put on it... Either the project is dead or the repositories are gone...
Part on the crackdown on ilegal ADDONS ..


There are now better processors out there now..
Some old one will not play Hi10 HEVC because of processors are not able so check reviews befor you buy

[Tom Saurus]

Thankfully there are some nice official Kodi addons such as Tubi TV, Popcorn Flix and Shout Factory TV. Also don't forget YouTube there is a lot of nice stuff on there. My Mom was watching some instruction videos how to do various types of knitting and there is crocheting instructions as well. I know I learned how to play Sudoku by some instruction videos by a nice Lady on YouTube. I just couldn't grasp how to do them and she opened my eyes and the light bulb turned on.

What I don't like about these Android Boxes is that they are reducing the number of USB slots as the generations go forward. Also it would be nice if they had a remote with play, pause, ff, rewind and goto buttons like a proper media player should have. I know you have that onscreen on the Kodi player but it is nicer when the buttons are on the remote. I do like that it plays .h265 on the Kodi Player. The Android Media Players that were part of the Apps from the beginning when we started using the Android Box would not play .h265.

[teodz1984]

SMALLER , THINNNER COMPACT is the trend these days.. So they throw expandibility out the window


Well H265 is a tall order for older processors (you need a better processor and more memory to play those)
You can try mxplayer.. it may play h265 using software decoding, but mileage may vary according to the box you are using ...

Getting a good (powered if needed) usb hub to solve lack of USB ports.. Xiaomi MI Boxes don't even have ETHERNET PORTS so that will suck if you are on a crappy wifi

[Seeker47]

What I don't like about these Android Boxes is that they are reducing the number of USB slots as the generations go forward. Also it would be nice if they had a remote with play, pause, ff, rewind and goto buttons like a proper media player should have. I know you have that onscreen on the Kodi player but it is nicer when the buttons are on the remote. I do like that it plays .h265 on the Kodi Player. The Android Media Players that were part of the Apps from the beginning when we started using the Android Box would not play .h265.

Maybe not at the higher end. Up through the TWO model (wonder if there will be a THREE ?) Skystream was bucking the trend on diminishing ports, and was upping the hardware horsepower. It had the hardware oomph to deal with HEVC / X265, but I think you still needed a suitable software player. Not sure how adequate the dedicated remote was, in terms of what you were requesting.

[Tom Saurus]

I do have this media player and it is terrific, the only thing I could think would be even nicer is if they make a new generation of box that will support .h265 files.

https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B00TOAAHG4/ref=pe_3034960_233709270_TE_item

[jagabo]

Most of the newer Android devices support h.265 (HEVC) and 4K.

[Tom Saurus]

jagabo: You are correct, the android box I have now can handle h.265 and my 360p h.265 encodes play smoothly. But the icing would be a hardware player with a full function remote with the buttons I mentioned earlier. But I can live with what is, but I felt like getting that grumbling out there. I did see on Amazon a media player listed at 299 dollars that plays h.265 but there was no close up to show the remote and somewhere in the specs or comments someone said it was an Android Box. I can't see any reason to pay over three hundred once the tax is on it for that money I could buy up quite a few The Virginian DVD box sets. I have my doubts we will ever get a Western streaming service. I was hoping they would bring the Encore Westerns channel to Canada and that is a channel my family would happily subscribed to depending on the price of course.

[jagabo]

the icing would be a hardware player with a full function remote with the buttons I mentioned earlier.

Isn't this the player you have?

https://www.amazon.com/Player-AGPtek-Full-HD-Digital-Drives/dp/B00TOAAHG4/

The picture of the remote shows the usual transport controls: rew, play/pause, fwd, prev, stop, next.

The picture in the amazon.ca link you gave appears to show the same remote.

[Tom Saurus]

jagabo: That is it; a beautiful remote. As I said that player has only one drawback in that it does not play h.265 files. The Android does play h.265 but the remote doesn't have those buttons and I thought that meant it is just a software player and not hardware player. But things are fine between the two boxes they play just about everything. I guess I caused some confusion I would like the Android remote to have those transport controls or the media player to evolve to play h.265 files as well.

[jagabo]

jagabo: That is it; a beautiful remote. As I said that player has only one drawback in that it does not play h.265 files. The Android does play h.265 but the remote doesn't have those buttons and I thought that meant it is just a software player and not hardware player. But things are fine between the two boxes they play just about everything. I guess I caused some confusion I would like the Android remote to have those transport controls or the media player to evolve to play h.265 files as well.

Oh, I see. I though the AGPTek device was an android box. But you're saying it's not. It probably uses the same SOCs the Android players do, just older versions without h.265. Their web site doesn't give any indications.

[Tom Saurus]

jagabo: Yes the AGPTek just plays your media files. You can chose between movies, music and pictures. It doesn't play h.265 files, or webm files and I have found that on certain mkv files it will freeze up a bit. It doesn't have an ethernet slot so no streaming via that. I am quite pleased with it for the most part. I have spent many hours watching videos on it and as I wrote the remote control is terrific.

[Seeker47]

jagabo: That is it; a beautiful remote. As I said that player has only one drawback in that it does not play h.265 files. The Android does play h.265 but the remote doesn't have those buttons and I thought that meant it is just a software player and not hardware player. But things are fine between the two boxes they play just about everything. I guess I caused some confusion I would like the Android remote to have those transport controls or the media player to evolve to play h.265 files as well.

Oh, I see. I though the AGPTek device was an android box. But you're saying it's not. It probably uses the same SOCs the Android players do, just older versions without h.265. Their web site doesn't give any indications.

Very possibly I'm wrong, but my impression was that even some of the boxes that are not explicitly labeled 'Android' boxes essentially were. Example: Is FireOS on the Amazon Fire truly something different and proprietary, or basically just Android "under the hood." An Android variant ? I believe I side-loaded Kodi onto the Gen. 1 Fire TV box, and it worked for awhile until at some point it stopped working. (Or I could be confusing this with one of the other 5 or 6 boxes I've accumulated . . . ? )

Long story short, whatever it may claim to be, if you can put an .APK onto the device's add-on storage (memory card or attached flash drive), and run it, what quacks like a duck has to be one -- No ?

[Seeker47]

Its not the KODI that expires, but the addons you put on it... Either the project is dead or the repositories are gone...
Part on the crackdown on ilegal ADDONS ..

In some instances I think your comment explains it; in other cases the (pre-Krypton ?) edition of Kodi won't even load at all anymore, whereas it used to do so, therefore I think something fundamental must have changed. ( = Defunct / Expired / DEAD / Whatever you wanna call it . . . . )

[Seeker47]

There was something in the news quite recently about the fate of the Dragon Box. Some sort of legal settlement ?

[jagabo]

There was something in the news quite recently about the fate of the Dragon Box. Some sort of legal settlement ?

https://torrentfreak.com/hollywood-studios-agree-to-settle-piracy-lawsuit-with-dragon-box/

The terms of the settlement are not public, but it seems likely that the box vendor will have to halt all copyright-infringing activities

[jagabo]

More details about Dragon Box:
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2019/01/free-tv-box-maker-agrees-to-shut-down-and-...right-holders/

[Tom Saurus]

I watched a video on YouTube that shows on Kodi 18 that there is a way to play classic video games. I think that is wonderful. It adds more value to the Android Box. We have several game apps on her android box. Thankfully I got an email address set up to enable that because you can no longer set up a new email account in G Mail or Yahoo without linking a phone number to it. As far as I know it is legal to play the games as the gaming platforms no longer are made and they are considered abandonware. But if I am wrong please let me know.

[teodz1984]

https://www.polygon.com/2018/8/15/17693556/emuparadise-roms-shut-down-threat-nintendo

[Tom Saurus]

Internet Archive Game Launcher

https://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=332966

We should figure out if the games are legal to play but I assumed since it was mentioned in this Kodi Official Forum and Kodi does a good job of following the rules.

[teodz1984]

Yes the platform is safe But some roms (e.g. NINTENDO) and the sources of the roms may be sketchy

[jagabo]

It was ruled that emulators are not illegal (see Sony vs. Bleem!). But copying copyrighted firmware and ROMs is not. There is some grey area (fair use?) where you might be able to use a copy of the ROMs with an emulator -- if you own the actual ROM.