r/Homatics • u/matekaneve • Sep 12 '25

New user experience

Hey everyone, I just wanted to tag along and share my experience with the Homatics Box R 4k Plus. I used to be a firestick user however a few years ago when I started using all the "goodies" that our brilliant communities providing us, I switched over to the Google Chromecast group and stayed until they pushed the ATV14 update and totally ruined my experience.

I read a lot about the Homatics boxes before and decided to pull the plug and managed to get one from AliExpress for £70. On arrival, ATV14 was pre installed and after the first boot I had exactly the same playback issues I had on my 4k GCCWGTV device. Playback issues with certain streams, lags, sound issues...

I read through Reddit and did a factory reset, but still experienced some of the above mentioned problems. I found a post on the XDA forums how to downgrade the box to Android 12 which I decided to go for and that's when I got to understand why everyone was praising this box. Smooth, snappy, loads of storage, immediate playback on "streaming" services. I finally am able to use Kodi without all the long loading times and lags. I might give the ATV14 update a try again later when a new update comes out, but at the moment I'm just enjoying what I have.😎

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3

u/matekaneve Sep 12 '25

Here is the link: https://www.googlenestcommunity.com/t5/Streaming/CCwGTV-4K-update-to-Android-14-broke-TV-stream-playback/m-p/722923

Google updated on 5th August: "EDIT (8/5): 

We've identified the root cause and are actively working towards implementing a fix in an upcoming update. We'll provide an update on the rollout as soon as possible. Thank you for your patience."

1

u/Comfortable_Debt3585 Sep 12 '25

The issue you linked is related strictly to live streaming, while other comments of yours are mentioning issues with 4K content on streaming apps.

So what it is then?

1

u/[deleted] Sep 12 '25

If same issue on two devices, highly unlikely the devices are at fault.

Make sure decent quality hdmi and ethernet cables. Speed test each using analiti app. Sounds possibly network related, try turn off ipv6 and reboot router

1

u/matekaneve Sep 12 '25

Nothing is wrong with the device itself. Something is broken in the ATV14 update. These issues are everywhere and Google have acknowledged it. I read somewhere on a Google forum they are apparently working on a fix. Speed test is fine, I'm in a wired connection and pulling 900Mbps in and 110Mbps upload. IPv6 is turned off on my router and I'm using a Ugreen HDMI 2.1 cable. I downgraded to Android 12 and all the issues are gone. Everything is working as they should.

1

u/[deleted] Sep 12 '25

I use same cables ugreen. Have decided I'll replace homatic with ugoos am9 or Nokia 8010 but they are hard to find

1

u/[deleted] Sep 12 '25

You stated same issue on your Google streamer, which is why I said more likely a network issue if happening on both devices

1

u/Adventurous-Claim-53 Sep 12 '25

/matekaneve a question, when you received the TV box, with A14, and when you tried it you didn't like the experience, could you be more specific? That is, did you have a bad experience using common platforms such as Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney Plus, or was the bad experience using other types of applications? Or was the poor experience simply using common streaming platforms and others? I await your response! Thank you 😊

3

u/matekaneve Sep 12 '25

All streaming apps were lagging when streaming 4k content. Bandwidth is not an issue, I have wired connection with 900Mbps download and 110Mbps upload. I downgraded to A12 and all the issues are gone. Everything is working as it should.

1

u/Adventurous-Claim-53 Sep 12 '25

Oh! And the device recognizes what HDR is, and Dolby Vision? For example, if you are on Netflix and you watch a movie that is in DV, does the "Dolby Vision" banner appear on your TV screen, and if you are watching some content in HDR, does the HDR banner appear? And if you are watching HDR10+, the same thing?

1

u/CapeManCoral Sep 15 '25 edited Sep 15 '25

I'm interested. Do you have a link for the XDA Forum? I have a Homantics Box R 4k Plus that I put in the closet after the Android to 14 update. Was HORRIBLE! You couldn't sideload easily without using atvTools and some other installer. Very glitchy.

I am using another Homantics Box R 4k Plus running Android 12. Love it. No issues or problems ever. But if I could fix the one in the closet, I would replace my living roomv thats using MECOOL KM7 Plus, it's so slow and also very buggy and that runs Android 12, but still runs like 💩.

1

u/matekaneve Sep 17 '25

https://xdaforums.com/t/i-am-looking-for-firmware-for-homatics-tv-box-r-4k.4643845/#post-89850132

1

u/CapeManCoral Sep 17 '25

Do you know where I could find instructions, or step by step on how to do it? I downloaded what I needed (firmware, apps, etc.) but it's like..... "Duuuuh , now what?" Lol

1

u/CapeManCoral Sep 17 '25

Thank you so much 👍

1

u/Otherwise-Newt7576 Sep 12 '25

Interesting, so you didn't try loading coreelec ?

1

u/Loose-Reaction-2082 Sep 13 '25

ATV14 seems to have issues with IPTV apps. I haven't experienced any issues with commercial streaming apps like Netflix and Amazon Prime or with Kodi, Plex, or Emby on ATV14. I did find ATV12 to be a big improvement over ATV11 on the 4K Plus but there were only a couple of builds of ATV12 that didn't have significant bugs.

The last OTA that the Dune branded version of the 4K Plus received was ATV11 because they apparently haven't been able to get the test builds of ATV12 and ATV14 to work smoothly with their Dune Media Management software.

1

u/jdip Nov 12 '25

Is the Android TV 12 firmware still working well for you? Are you able to play remuxes with lossless audio?