I just couldn't resist, didn't want to wait any longer and have settled my mind on the cheapest possible suitable intermediate solution, so I have now ordered a X96 Air with 4 GB RAM / 64 GB eMMC for 41.36 EUR = US $48.70 including express shipping from Germany.
Thanks a lot for your guidance! 
41.36 EUR = US $48.70 including express shipping from Germany.
Thanks a lot for your guidance!
I just couldn't resist, didn't want to wait any longer and have settled my mind on the cheapest possible suitable intermediate solution, so I have now ordered a X96 Air with 4 GB RAM / 64 GB eMMC for 41.36 EUR = US $48.70 including express shipping from Germany.
Thanks a lot for your guidance!
Congratulations! I have ordered a similar device myself but I'm still waiting for it to arrive. Could you share your impressions, especially about installing *ELEC on it, once you get it?
Congratulations! I have ordered a similar device myself but I'm still waiting for it to arrive. Could you share your impressions, especially about installing *ELEC on it, once you get it?
The procedure to getting CoreELEC installed is super easy and explained in details here, but I'm really wondering if it is also possible to install LibreELEC Nightly (Matrix) on that device. I have read about the removal of vendor specific stuff from LibreELEC and there is no image to download, but with ARM now supporting the Open Source approach I have high hopes that it will be possible in the future. I mean, it can't be as easy as copying some missing files into a LibreELEC installation, can it?
For sheer value, simplicity, and for something that JFW's, you can't really beat the Nvidia Shield TV tbh.
As much as I've loved and used various forks of 'ELEC over the years, that device killed them all stone dead since it launched IMHO.
It will be interesting to see just how far Arm's support actually goes... yes they are being more forth coming in information and documentation on some things but thats not the same as actually releasing code... the released info will definately help as it helps eliminate a lot of the RE quess work but how much further they go is yet to be seen, as well with Nvidia buying Arm i am sure they will have something to say as well...
still tho its a good sign...
The shields are nice units its just from a cost point they are rather expensive as your getting into the territory of for a bit more you get more... I've had a few of them over the years since they were 1st introduced and adding all the extras tend to add up making them a bit on the pricey side... other then that tho i think there a decent device...
Being as i still haven't spent any money on a s905x3 device i have not tried LE's master on them but do have a bud that has played around with LE Master and has Matrix working on them... outside of the typical Matrix issues he seems to like messing around with it.. he had a issue with wifi on his brand as it has a MT7668 on his device which i got going for him... other then that he likes that it was cheap and seems to work ok...
Being as i still haven't spent any money on a s905x3 device i have not tried LE's master on them but do have a bud that has played around with LE Master and has Matrix working on them... outside of the typical Matrix issues he seems to like messing around with it.. he had a issue with wifi on his brand as it has a MT7668 on his device which i got going for him... other then that he likes that it was cheap and seems to work ok...
So how did he manage to get LE Matrix to work on a S905X3 device? I could not find any info or image for that.
I just couldn't resist, didn't want to wait any longer and have settled my mind on the cheapest possible suitable intermediate solution, so I have now ordered a X96 Air with 4 GB RAM / 64 GB eMMC for 41.36 EUR = US $48.70 including express shipping from Germany.
Thanks a lot for your guidance!
Can you post a link to vendor or message me prive where did you got it from please.
Need to get something fresh for myself as Im running daily on old s905x from sd card....
So how did he manage to get LE Matrix to work on a S905X3 device?
The whole AML stuff is already supported at LE Master for quite a while, sadly seeking/skip at a video is still broken at Kodi so a general usage is currently not really possible (RPi4 faces the same problem).
Maybe Raspberry Pi 4B+ and good cooling system.
Maybe Raspberry Pi 4B+ and good cooling system.
Absolutely the way to go for LibreELEC I think, sticking with RPi/x86 (even if the other platforms get ditched) would be a good call.
So how did he manage to get LE Matrix to work on a S905X3 device? I could not find any info or image for that.
Sorry i should have clarified that...
We are building our own stuff while working on some fixes in LE' s Master as we go... so there is no firmware files of our stuff posted here...
but as CvH said... the Amlogic projects in the LE' s master branch work if one wants to play and build them its just some packages need to be patched and fixed to get the seek to properly work as well as a few other things...
my interests are mostly focused on the older meson8m2 and gxm devices as i have a whack of S812s and S912s that i want to keep working, its not that i don't have most of the newer devices, its just less time consuming for me to fix my old stuff as i have other projects with higher priority and i have lost most of my interest in the media side of embedded devices so pretty much only dabble when asked to help by my buds.
Can you post a link to vendor or message me prive where did you got it from please.
Thanks for the hint with the current special offer at geekbuying. Their October Mega Sale, exclusive app price and New User coupon made it possible for me to purchase a second X96 Air with 4GB RAM / 64GB eMMC for just US $46.10 including shipping from Germany, which is even US $2.60 less than what I paid for the first unit on AliExpress.
If someone else wants to make use of that bargain, it's still valid for the next 10 hours and can be found here.
I've also ordered two WeChip G30 Air Mouse on AliExpress, the first one for US $8.49 and the second one for just US $6.49, both with free shipping from China. I'd say that's quite satisfying.
Hey, I'm facing the same dilemmas, also considering Intel NUC..
if you are an heavy HDMI CEC user, you should know that most NUC devices do not support CEC.
there is a list of CEC supported NUCs on Intel's site:
HDMI CEC Information for Intel® NUC
edit: lol, actually skipped page 2 where you reported buying this amlogic based device.
Greetings,
I’ve been waiting for Ugoos (due to their reputation) to release the X4 family devices using S905X4 (because of AV1 HW support), but now that those are out, it appears that S905X4 is dead and won’t be supported at all (by CoreELEC at least) due to a locked video driver or something.
Now I’m a bit lost and would like to ask, what box / SoC with AV1 HW support should I look at, which is supported by LE? Any new recommendations one year since the last post here?
Now I’m a bit lost and would like to ask, what box / SoC with AV1 HW support should I look at, which is supported by LE? Any new recommendations one year since the last post here?
AV1 requires the latest Intel chips, which are still a little experimental in places, but you know Intel is committed and will push all the driver support upstream within a reasonable amount of time. None of the SBCs have upstream support at this stage. FWIW, I've always regarded Ugoos as one of the cheaper and more awkward vendors - but that's probably because they refuse to share sources and schematics for the boxes (I'm biased).
I'm still a bit concerned about AV1 support in general tbh, the two main mobile SoC manufacturers (Qualcomm and Apple) still don't support it in their latest hardware, and until they do it'll struggle to gain much traction IMHO.
I'm still a bit concerned about AV1 support in general tbh,
One of Kodi's dev team always suggested to not spend a big amount on hardware that has to last at least 5-10 years, but only a small(er) amount to keep up with the requirements at that moment for 1-2-3 years.
IPTV providers in my country don't even use h265/hevc yet. AV1 is not that wide-spread with content providers, certainly when not all hardware manufacturers are eager enough with its implementation) so I would skip on that.
Personally I don't even have a need right for HDR yet (still need to find the right TV/monitor), so I use a simple Intel Gemini Lake (J5005 Pentium Silver) M-ITX board for my office and HTPC needs.
Hm, considered the time passed since the first questions about AV1 support in all the forums and the fact that YouTube, Netflix & Co started to stream AV1 encoded content and so on, I thought that's something for the next 1-3 years and that there are more devices offering AV1 HW support. Looks like that's not the case... Will have to figure out what else to get then.
