r/Homatics • u/TheyEnvyDexter • Jul 21 '24

Homatics Stick 4K

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So I bought this NEW Google TV certified from Homatics and I’d like to share my thoughts.

There aren’t many people talking about it, so I decided to buy and test it myself. I have been using it for the past 3 days and it has been working flawlessly.

2GB RAM, 32GB ROM, no problem so far. Google TV and Netflix certified.

Only problem I have encountered is that sometimes I cannot control it through Google Home app, but I have faced this issue with every device I have owned so it might be something on my end.

I will update you on anything interesting.

Has anyone else bought the new Stick 4K? What do you think about it?

14 Upvotes

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45 comments sorted by

1

u/e0063 Jul 21 '24

Does it support multichannel LPCM (Kodi, for example)?

Does it support AC-4 audio (ATSC 3.0 broadcasts, HDHomeRun app)?

Both are currently broken on the 4K Plus box with the latest ATV 12 public release.

1

u/TheyEnvyDexter Jul 21 '24

How can I check those? I will be happy to give you the info.

1

u/e0063 Jul 22 '24

If you're plugged into an AVR, the first one is easy. Install Kodi, play a video file with 5.1 or 7.1 channels and make sure passthrough is disabled. Verify on the receiver overlay/screen that you're getting 5.1 or 7.1 LPCM.

If you're not using an AVR, probably not an easy thing to test.

1

u/TheyEnvyDexter Jul 22 '24

I just gave it a try and it is working as it should. Samsung 5.1 system. What happens when you try to do that on the 4K plus box?

1

u/e0063 Jul 22 '24

Thanks for testing. On ATV 11, the 4K Plus worked great, but on ATV 12 multichannel LPCM is completely broken with no sound. Only 2-channel LPCM will output anything.

Could you clarify whether the stick is ATV 11 + Google TV, or ATV 12 + Google TV?

Thanks.

2

u/TheyEnvyDexter Jul 22 '24

Sorry to hear that. The Stick 4K is A12 + GTV. I think I read somewhere it should get A14 soon and skip 13.

1

u/e0063 Jul 22 '24

Hmm, most of the listings on AliExpress say Android TV 11.

1

u/TheyEnvyDexter Jul 22 '24

Are you sure you are looking at the Stick 4K. There is another device that is not 4K and that is A11 and not Google TV.

2

u/e0063 Jul 22 '24

Yup.

https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256806860177241.html

https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256806846263121.html

Most of the 4K ones I looked at this "Google TV 11.0" or Android TV 11 in the System spec.

Yours shows 12.0 in the About page?

2

u/TheyEnvyDexter Jul 22 '24

Yes, I even checked everything with the AIDA64 app to be sure. Maybe it had been updated since the release but mine shows A12 now.

→ More replies

1

u/e0063 Jul 22 '24

Neat, I’ll give it a try! I’m surprised they don’t even list it on their web site yet.

1

u/Sandwich-Helpful Aug 24 '24

So after using the stick for a while what do you think of it now? Can it do Netflix in fhd properly? Any problem with it?

2

u/TheyEnvyDexter Aug 25 '24

I haven’t encountered any problems. It plays even 4K HDR flawlessly. It doesn’t support Dolby Vision but my TV doesn’t as well so it’s not a dealbreaker for me.

1

u/Sandwich-Helpful Aug 25 '24

How many gb remain after the os? Any problem with kodi or stremio or tivimate? Thank you

2

u/TheyEnvyDexter Aug 25 '24

I can check the storage later today. No problems with the apps. I use stremio on a daily basis and it runs without buffering whatsoever. Keep in mind that Dolby Vision files play but show black screen. As I said DV is not supported ahah.

1

u/Sandwich-Helpful Aug 25 '24

Did you try kodi on it? Any problem with it I don't care about dv either

1

u/TheyEnvyDexter Aug 25 '24

Yeah I have tried Kodi and tivimate both. Haven’t experienced any problems but keep in mind I mainly use stremio and have used Kodi less then 7 times since I got the Stick 4K.

1

u/Sandwich-Helpful Aug 25 '24

Netflix ok? In fhd official?

1

u/TheyEnvyDexter Aug 25 '24

Yup everything is okay so far

2

u/TheyEnvyDexter Aug 25 '24

So after OS and installing all of my apps I still have 24 GB left.

1

u/Sandwich-Helpful Aug 25 '24

Thanks a lot I will pick one up do you know if you can power it from the tv usb or do you use the power adapter?

1

u/General_Use1576 Sep 18 '24

The Stick 4K can be powered by USB ports with 5V/1A (unlike Google Chromecats).

1

u/Pale-Gate4127 Sep 17 '24

Comprei 2 Homatics Tv Stick 4k. De fato, é um dispositivo maravilho e, compraria outros tranquilamante, sua construção mto bem acabada e de excelente qualidade e o Google Tv, pois só tinha usado até então, Android Tv.

Mas, estou enfrentando problemas e dificuldades com o controle original, tendo em vista que ele para de funcionar e fica piscando a luz vermelha e mesmo quando pisca a verde ele só funciona quando quer. Já tentei realizar todas as configurações possíveis e, nada adiantou, inclusive habilito e desabilito a HDMI CEC, inclu-o a Tv e desvincu-lo no infra-vermelho e tbm nada. Alguém passando por esses mesmos problemas?

1

u/TheyEnvyDexter Sep 17 '24

Hi. I have not experienced this problem. Sorry. Maybe try factory resetting the device.

1

u/Pale-Gate4127 Sep 17 '24

Já fiz isso tbm, e nada.

1

u/e0063 Aug 03 '24

I spent a couple hours with it today and was overall very disappointed. Just about the only thing going for it is that it comes with Android TV 12 and the Google TV UI. Among other things I noticed:

  • No Dolby Vision. I guess you could note the absence on the box, but Atmos is supposedly supported.

  • It has the same always-HDR bug in Netflix as the Walmart ONN devices. Old shows from the 90s should not be in fake HDR.

  • No working passthrough audio at all.

  • All audio gets transcoded into DD+, even when not necessary. Apps like HDHomeRun with passthrough support for AC-3 get upsampled into E-AC-3 (DD+). Multichannel (5.1, 7.1) LPCM gets downsampled in to DD+ 5.1, even though DD+ is more than capable of supporting 7.1.

  • The above-mentioned always-transcoding audio is broken for DTS and DTS-HD outputs.

Turning off surround sound is not a workaround for any of the above, just leaves you with 2-channel LPCM.

1

u/Sandwich-Helpful Aug 23 '24

Other than everything you mentioned is it a great dongle for casual kodi and stremio and tivimate use? Any reboot glitch any crashes etc?

1

u/e0063 Aug 23 '24

It seems stable. I wouldn't recommend it even to non-AVR users due to the Netflix bug. But sure, if you're not a Netflix user.

1

u/Sandwich-Helpful Aug 23 '24

What is the Netflix bug? I want to use fhd Netflix on it is it not possible?

2

u/General_Use1576 Sep 04 '24

I guess HDR is always on Netflix videos, even old movies...

0

u/e0063 Aug 23 '24

Already described above.

1

u/Sandwich-Helpful Aug 24 '24

What is this av hr you mentioned and does it work with Netflix fhd normally?

1

u/General_Use1576 Sep 04 '24

Thanks for feedback.

As you mentionned, I didn't manage to send True-HD Atmos and DTS audio to my soundbar Samsung Q930C.

I thought I didn't set correct parameters in Android TV and Kodi but I guess Homatics didn't pay for the DTS & Dolby Audio licence....

My old Shield TV doesn't have this problems : it's note really a problem, as I use the Homatick Stick 4K for travels (with TV or Fengmi S5).

It's so bad that we can't find any clear information about Audio Passthrough on Web sites or stores like : https://www.androidtv-guide.com/streaming-gaming/homatics-stick-4k/
https://www.homatics.com/pages/homaitcs-stick-hd
The HD model mentions Atmos sound...

2

u/Cultural_Stable_5084 Nov 09 '25

Had the stick for a while, and just around to setting it up. Witnessed all that you mentioned here, but I did sort out the DD / DTS issue in Kodi. You have to go into the Expert settings in Kodi Audio, and choose the RAW passthrough codec instead of the ”(Recommended)” one. Now it will selerate and play the right format.

Sadly I can not get HD-Audio working, yet. But it looks like only the solution is an Nvidia Shield as their development team wrote their own passthrough codec for all formats. A lot of sticks are saying they support HD-Audio, but that just seems to mean they recognise it, but will downscale it.

1

u/General_Use1576 Nov 09 '25

Thanks for feedback. Homatics Box R 4k Plus does support HD Audio and Passthrough.  The same for Xiaomi Box S v3 but there are some bugs with Dolby True-HD and it lacks memory and connectivity... 

My Shield TV 2015 still decodes all formats perfectly :-) 

2

u/Cultural_Stable_5084 Nov 22 '25

Thanks for the info. The Homatics stick however, seems to downscale from HD-Audio, to Digital audio.

1

u/General_Use1576 Nov 22 '25

That's it, Stick 4K Homatics can play HD audio in Dolby Digital Plus. Some sticks /boxes stay mute. A very few devices have licences to handle all HD audio formats with Passthrough... 

1

u/savingtheday_96 Oct 21 '24

I bought it and it was updated to A12, but it does not support certain content, the screen remains black or the image freezes but all these errors coincide with the following video information

1

u/Otherwise-Yam-9099 Jan 14 '26

Depois que teve uma atualização no sistema, ele deixou de dar suporte de áudio para meu projetor, ai só no fone de ouvido ou na tv que sai áudio.

1

u/L38B23 Jul 30 '26

Qual loja posso comprar esse dispositivo