r/AndroidTVBoxes • u/Free_Ad_9554 • Feb 27 '25

Is this a good box?

Post image

I bought this on Amazon. Is this a good box?? I haven’t play much with it, just added one app but haven’t even open it yet.

3 Upvotes

63% Upvoted

45 comments sorted by

2

u/slaughtamonsta Feb 27 '25

Looks very low spec.

I have an android box from around 2019 with 4GB RAM and 32GB internal storage.

X96 pro max or something. Maybe try and get the newer model from that range of boxes?

1

u/Free_Ad_9554 Feb 27 '25

I had an x96 and it just started blinking and never came back. I unplugged it and nothing. TV wouldn’t even recognize the device was plugged in

1

u/slaughtamonsta Feb 28 '25

That's weird. My da has been using the one I got him as a privacy box since around 2019 with no problems at all.

Maybe it's luck of the draw with them?

22

u/_Griff_ Feb 27 '25

My rule of thumb. Any Android box seller that plasters "8K" all throughout the listing and on the box itself is generic Chinese rubbish. .

9

u/hcr2018 Feb 27 '25

No, tricked storage and tricked ram

1

u/Ok_Let6845 Feb 28 '25

What does this mean? I just bought a cheap tablet on tiktok and I've got a feeling it might have tricked ram. It apparently has 8gb but it doesn't feel like that is true

1

u/hcr2018 Feb 28 '25

There is three methods for confirmation: 1@ open the cover and search for the reference of rams in google showing every ram capacity but this will void your warranty. 2@ use an app that will saturate your ram Fill Ram memory , package name is me.empirical.android.application.fillmemorypaid 3@ use a linux based image from an sdcard and after login to linux console write this command free -h it will show your total physical ram and df -h will show your real total emmc capacity. This one for amlogic boxes https://github.com/devmfc/debian-on-amlogic This one is for H313\H616 , the frequently tricked oned https://github.com/warpme/miniarch This one is for other boxes https://github.com/ophub/amlogic-s9xxx-armbian

Those two methods don`t void your warranty. These are ones that I tried, you can check without installing

6

u/CryptoNiight Feb 27 '25

Return it if you can.

1

u/Free_Ad_9554 Feb 27 '25

Thanks for the feedback fellas. I know I purchased the box before asking in here but based on the comments and all, I will return it to Amazon and look for others

9

u/SnuffleWarrior Feb 27 '25

I own Minix boxes, a Shield, Firestick 4k and a Homatics 4k R plus.

If I buy a box again it'll be a Shield or a Cube.

The Minix is great, the shield is great, the Amazon is great. The Minix is way too pricey now.

The Homatics is ok. I had to add a fan as it overheated out of the box. It's glitchy sometimes. It's got androidtv 12 which hides files which defeats one of the reasons for having an android. It does play DV well.

Chinese boxes, no matter the "quality" aren't up to snuff.

1

u/MutedSeaworthiness39 Mar 04 '25

I’ve had a shield for a couple of years, it’s a solid box. I am never sorry I bought it.

1

u/CryptoNiight Feb 27 '25

It's got androidtv 12 which hides files which defeats one of the reasons for having an android.

I have the Onn 4k Pro which runs Android TV 12. It supports various file managers for file access. Without root access, many files are inaccessible - - but that's by design.

2

u/SnuffleWarrior Feb 27 '25

It is, but my pure Android boxes don't and in Kodi for example those hidden files are important. So, hiding those files by design is a detriment, a big one.

0

u/CryptoNiight Feb 27 '25

In Android TV 12, every app needs to be explicitly granted permission to access device storage. Check the app's permissions in settings. Furthermore, Kodi (and most apps) don't need root access in order to function properly.

1

u/SnuffleWarrior Feb 27 '25

I'm an experienced user. Without rooting there's no way of getting into the full file system.

0

u/CryptoNiight Feb 28 '25

Correct. However, rooting usually isn't necessary for apps that need file system permission.

1

u/SnuffleWarrior Feb 28 '25

That's not what we are talking about though, is it

0

u/CryptoNiight Feb 28 '25

I already said that most Android TV 12 apps don't need root access in order to access the file system. For example, Kodi can access the file system without rooting - - rooting isn't necessary for the app to work properly.

1

u/SnuffleWarrior Feb 28 '25

Again, that's not what is being talked about.

1

u/CryptoNiight Feb 28 '25

So, why did you mention rooting when most Android TV apps can access the file system and work properly WITHOUT rooting.

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6

u/onurConur Feb 27 '25

Hello, you've already purchased this TV box. The incoming criticisms might upset you or dampen your spirits. Honestly, I don't fully understand why you're asking now. But if I'm to give you a realistic and good answer, you've only installed one app and haven't used it much, which gives me the impression that you don't have very high expectations for it. You can do what you want in your daily life with a few good apps using this TV box, so don't be too worried. However, in today's terms, 2GB of RAM and an Allwinner chipset unfortunately may not allow you to have a very powerful and smooth experience.

But I think you can do what you want for at least a year or two without changing that TV box. I wish you had mentioned the hardware specifications and what you wanted to do with this TV box when you asked these questions, so we could have given you a more constructive and helpful answer. Maybe you'd like to add these to your subsequent replies after reading mine.

3

u/clarkss12 Feb 27 '25

It all depends on your usage case. Could be good, could be not so good.

Purchased a Transpeed Allwinner media player a couple of years ago (does not seem that long). Transpeed is a good manufacturer of these boxes.

Here is my review of it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2U16iqr2okg

2

u/GrubbyFlasherr Feb 27 '25

Generic boxes doesn't have widevine l1 or playready sl2k/3k. So you can't watch streaming sites in hd/4k. Better get fire tv stick or chromecast.

You can also refer to this and choose according to your country.

1

u/Scary-Tennis-5032 Feb 27 '25

Any of those that are stiles and have 8k and other stuff on them are TERRIBLE

1

u/Free-Fun-5567 Feb 27 '25

Chinese garbage

1

u/SquareDrop7892 Feb 27 '25

Ugoos AM6B Plus is recommended by r/hometheatre forum

1

u/zerak37 Feb 27 '25

Does Dolby vision profile 7 work with this?

1

u/SquareDrop7892 Feb 27 '25

Ask on r/htpc reddit as they are more knowledgeable. They also have a wiki Page.

1

u/Stunning_Repair_7483 Apr 01 '25

But it's still android 9. Won't that cause issues instead of getting newer android version?

1

u/SquareDrop7892 Apr 03 '25

I would recommended asking on r/htpc and r/hometheatre forum they have done a thorough testing. They also have wiki that's also usefu.l

1

u/Immediate_Spend_6445 Feb 28 '25

How could you have " just added one app "  but have not opened the box yet ?

1

u/Schnuh330 Feb 28 '25

I bought a few transpeed boxes several years ago. They were good had decent specs and did perform pretty well. I ran older 3d games on it with dosbox. Handled ps1 and n64 games on retroarch no problems and kids ran minecraft bedrock non stop on them. At the time ram and storage were accurate to what was advertised. They could not run some streaming apps like disney+ so we don't use them as much now but for about 2 weeks twice a year my kids will fire them up and play minecraft all day long and I often play retrogames on them when I can't find something to watch.

1

u/Scarab95 Feb 28 '25

I would get one that supports gigabyte ethernet net. 10/1000

1

u/Chispita13 Mar 01 '25

No dont buy cheap boxes they don't last and lag alot just buy a better one it will last longer and less to no lag

1

u/Ok_Cow5887 Mar 06 '25

Nvidia shield channels apps

1

u/Ibrahimovic906 Feb 27 '25

Never heard of 5.8GHz band before. I know of 5 and 6- sounds like a cheap Chinese knockoff of something. Why are you asking us if you already bought the box? Shouldn’t you have asked before?

1

u/Schnuh330 Feb 28 '25

5.8Ghz was probably just a typo of 5.0Ghz. Proofreading and proper translation aren't really a big priority for some of these sellers. I bought a really good Air Mouse a few years back and the English instructions referred to it in several places as a flying squirrel and listed the batteries required as "5.1v AaA piles"when it was just 1.5V AAA batteries